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[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention generally relates to children's garment and also to the field of teaching aides which can be worn, and more particularly to articles of clothing adapted for interaction with a child, infant or learner.
[0003] 2. Background of Related Art
[0004] Articles of clothing such as bibs, aprons, smocks, and the like have long been used for the protection of clothing worn by infants or children while engaging in activities such as eating or playing. Since these articles are used for children, often times they are decorated with bright primary colors and designs pleasing to children. U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,428 to Waldman et al teaches of a general bib with applied ornamentation. These articles may also serve multiple uses as suggested by U.S. Pat. No. 2,461,430 to Mack demonstrating the bib device as a greeting card.
[0005] Often times garments are used for educational purposes which provide insignas, alphabet, pictures and the like. The U.S. Patent to Lenart, U.S. Pat. No. 5,468,152 discloses educational children's clothing having a plurality of pockets displaying educational concepts. The U.S. Patent to Poskanzer (U.S. Pat. No. 5,943,697) also teaches of an educational garment which permits reversible adhesion with attachable stickers on the garment. These stickers are disclosed as educational or entertainment articles.
[0006] The above examples have recognized the use of clothing as a valuable forum for the education and appeasement of children. Some in this field have gone as far as providing educational clothing that is to be worn by the adult rather than the child. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,101 issued to Slezak discloses a teaching cape having numerous patch pockets with detachable patches for aiding in alphabet and phonics instruction. Similarly, the U.S. Patent to Bull et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,710,979 discloses another garment for use by an adult where herein the mother wears an apron to actively participate in the baby's play which involves detaching or reattaching two-dimensional cut out toys to the front of the apron. Bull et at teaches of a variety of detachment tasks being performed by the child while the mother monitors or assists in directing the infant. Akin to the above mentioned is the Wright, Jr. child activity bib (U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,323). Wright, Jr. also discloses a garment to be worn by an adult while presented for interaction by a child facing the adult. This garment provides a plurality of pull tabs providing the educational activity means.
[0007] What is missing from all the prior art is an article such as a bib used for educational means wherein the wearer engages in a self-induced activity. Unfortunately, each of the educational and entertainment oriented garments known hereto suffer from a common drawback in that they fail to give the wearer, i.e., the child, self-motivated learning activities with the clothes/garment that the child is wearing. There are no teachings of articles of clothes worn by an infant or child which are specifically designed to actively interact with the wearer to stimulate the senses in mental and physical development.
[0008] Therefore, the principle feature and advantage of this invention is to provide an improved bib, a learning bib, which permits stimulating interactive indicia located on the garment. Instead of providing a garment to be worn by an adult, and instead of having inscriptions which interact with the wearer in a passive manner or in a purely decorative manner, the present invention overcomes this with indicia displayed in an upside-down manner but is actually right-side-up relative to the wearer. Thus, the present invention permits the infant/child wearing the garment to actively learn and play while wearing the garment.
[0009] The preferred embodiment of the present invention is a bib worn around the neck of a child adapted to engage the attention of the wearer with learning elements inscribed in an upside down manner, relative to a front-face viewer. Such an inscription, which is right side up relative to the wearer, is displayed on an elongated body portion of the bib.
[0010] Other embodiments include a bib or apron-type device as described above, but may have patches, tabs, stickers or the sort which may be adhesively re-attachable by the wearer.
[0011] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated and constitute part of this disclosure, illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention and serve to explain the principles of the invention.
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[0018] The disclosed learning bib as seen in
[0019] Since the indicia
[0020] Various securing means
[0021] The learning bib may include manipulation means which comprises a plurality of patches
[0022]
[0023] In as much as music is a well known educational component, the disclosed invention may be adapted to play music.
[0024] The learning bib is designed with the idea of it being worn by a learner with educational means designed to interact with an infant or child wearer, However, the wearer need not necessarily be young and may also include those persons, youth and adult, with various learning disabilities. The bib as disclosed may also be used for an adult during rehabilitative learning exercises for recovery from mental illnesses, such as amnesia or the like, which may require mental rehabilitation exercises.
[0025] The present invention described herein represents a small aspect of how the learning bib can be used for educational purposes. For example, child group exercises can be performed wherein children wearing the same or similar learning bibs can be performed wherein children may be required to participate in specific game-type activities and so forth.
[0026] The learning bib described herein is exemplary and are provided merely to show how the bib is used in a manner that provides fin intellectual exercises while simultaneously developing visual perceptions, motor skills and hand-eye coordination.
[0027] The present invention has been described in detail with particular reference to these preferred embodiments, other embodiments can achieve similar results. For example, the garment may take the form of a smock, or an apron. The garment may also include any article of clothing such as shirts, sweaters, pants, gloves, skirts and so on. However whichever the garment, the inverted indicia is a key factor to the object of the invention. Variations and modifications of the present invention will be obvious to those skilled in the art and it is intended to cover in the appended claims all such modifications and equivalents. It is therefore intended that all matters in the foregoing description and shown in the accompanying drawings be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. Thus, the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents.