1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods of manufacture of neckties, and, particularly, means and methods for manufacturing an improved apparatus to anchor a four-in-hand necktie to a shirt so that it remains properly restrained and centered when adorned.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional "four-in-hand" necktie is tied about the neck with a knot at a shirt collar and generally has an outward facing section passing down the shirt front to conceal shirt buttons and a somewhat narrower tail section which hangs down from the knot and is concealed by the outward facing section. Normally, a wearer might use one of a number of possible methods to control a tie, including: letting both the outward section and the tail section hang free; passing the tail section through a manufacturer's label regularly provided on the back of the outward facing section so that the two sections of the tie hang as a unit; or attaching the two sections to the shirt by use of various forms of jewelry, such as a tie-tack, a tie bar or a tie pin to keep the tie in place.
The problem with the non-restrained methods of wearing a tie mentioned above is that the tie sections hang free. This not only regularly presents disarray in appearance, but the tie sections frequently interfere with work, are soiled or ruined by dragging through food or other staining material, and may be quite hazardous if accidentally caught in a doorway or machinery.
The use of jewelry holding devices is common, but also suffers from a number of drawbacks. First, these devices often pass in and out of favor depending on preference and fashion trends. Second, they are often expensive and regularly cause damage to the fabric by creating permanent holes, creases, and blemishes in the tie. Finally, these jewelry devices anchor the tie to the shirt and often do not permit vertical movement of the tie relative to the shirt. Torso movements of the wearer cause the anchored tie to pull on the knot causing displacement of the knot and general disarray so as not to present an elegant appearance.
Not surprisingly, a number of solutions have been proposed to attempt to avoid the above problems, but none is believed wholly satisfactory. U.S. Pat. No. 4,920,579 to Swain describes an apparatus to restrain necktie tails of a four-in-hand tie at the front of the shirt by relying on the manufacturer's sewn-in-place label on the back of the outward facing section and a flat plastic loop threaded through that label and attached to buttons on the shirt front. The plastic loop is somewhat stiff and has button holes at each end with a fixed distance between them. This arrangement is believed to have numerous drawbacks, including that it is awkward to employ--requiring keeping track of the loop, re-positioning the loop each time a new tie is worn, and often re-tying of the tie to center the device properly. Further, this device relies on the distance between buttons fixed by the manufacturer of the shirt which is not always the same from shirt to shirt. Moreover, this device may cause tie damage through constant pulling on the manufacturer's label--a use for which the label is not designed. Finally, the stiff plastic loop may prove uncomfortable to wear.
Another approach is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,827,576 to Prince, Jr. There a button-slot neck tie fastener is permanently affixed to the manufacturer's label and a stiff portion having button slots is affixed to a shirt button. Apparently the tie's vertical movement relative to the shirt is permitted by the slot engaging the button. This device is believed to suffer from most of the same drawbacks as the Swain device, and may have the additional problem of possibly wearing out the shirt front where it contacts the device and the button stitching--thus possibly damaging both the tie and the shirt.
Still another solution to keeping a conventional tie in proper position is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,972,523 to Begg. Begg contemplates the use of complementary VELCRO.RTM.-type loop-and-hook material, with a first element thereof on the back of the outward facing section and a second element thereof on a loop around the tail section. The second element has a slot on its opposite side for engagement with a shirt button. The two hook-and-loop elements engage each other to hold the tie in position and the tail section of the tie is threaded through the loop. Although this arrangement solves some of the problems presented by the Swain and Prince devices, its separate elements are believed to be somewhat awkward to use and the loop element may be prone to loss. More importantly, this design does not allow vertical movement of the tie relative to the shirt to follow movement of the torso of the wearer--leading to some of the same presentation problems as conventional jewelry restraining devices.
Applicant's device disclosed in the parent application solves all of these problems. The invention disclosed in the parent application employs a tie restraint apparatus with a vertical member attached at its top and bottom to the back of the front section of the tie, and a horizontal member which surrounds the vertical member and slides between the vertical member's top and bottom positions. The horizontal member includes one or more openings in it which attach to buttons on the shirt.
In operation, once the necktie is tied in a conventional manner, the horizontal member is easily slid into a position on the vertical member which aligns with an opening with a button on the shirt. The button is then secured within the opening to provide an anchor for the tie. The concealed tail section of the tie may be inserted through the horizontal member to keep it safely secure. This entire apparatus may be permanently affixed to a tie and constructed from material identical or similar to the tie's so that it is completely concealed from vision and its presence is not evident to the wearer.
The attachment of the horizontal member to the shirt has proven to be a very secure method of retaining the tie in place. This is due in part to the free movement of the horizontal member on the vertical member which assures that the tie always stays in a straight and low-stress orientation. Moreover, the invention of the parent application is extremely simple and reliable in operation, may be instantly attached without complicated positioning of the tie relative to shirt buttons, may be inexpensively incorporated as original equipment on any conventional tie, and, due to its automatic adjustability, always presents an orderly appearance regardless of a wearer's torso movement.
Despite the many advantages of the invention of the parent application, further improvements are considered to be possible, particularly in the method of manufacture. Although the invention of the parent application may be constructed from virtually any material, it has been determined that the apparatus functions significantly better if the material is stiffened to provide for smoother sliding between the vertical and horizontal members. Although this can be readily accomplished by employing a relatively stiff fabric for the apparatus, this tends to make the apparatus stand out from the tie in an undesirable manner.
A problem which then emerges is how to employ the same material as the tie itself, so as to camouflage the apparatus, while providing a suitably stiff apparatus. Experimentation with lining the tie material has proven somewhat effective to this end, but is viewed to be far too cumbersome for full scale production.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a fabric apparatus for maintaining a necktie in place which is stiffened to assure smooth operation.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacture of such an apparatus which readily provides full camouflage of the apparatus during use.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacture of a necktie restraining means which is as simple and straightforward as possible to be readily adapted for full scale production.
These and other objects of the present invention will become evident from review of the following specification.