Ref. 11. (12) Patent Application Publication (10) Pub. No.: US 2012/ A1. (19) United States. Polstein et al. (43) Pub. Date: Jun.

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1 (19) United States US 2012O159696A1 (12) Patent Application Publication (10) Pub. No.: US 2012/ A1 Polstein et al. (43) Pub. Date: Jun. 28, 2012 (54) METHOD AND DEVICE FOR PROVIDING AN OPENING ON A HEAD STRAP ON A BASEBALL OR SOFTBALL SPORTS PROTECTIVE FACE MASK TO PERMITA PERSON TO THE BACK THEIR HAR OR WEAR A PONYTAL STYLE WHILE PROPERLY SECURING THE HEAD STRAP (76) Inventors: Matthew Evan Polstein, Winter Park, FL (US); Jason Michael Polstein, Orlando, FL (US); Michael Allan Polstein, Miami, FL (US) (21) Appl. No.: 12/977,927 (22) Filed: Dec. 23, 2010 Publication Classification (51) Int. Cl. A4ID 3/II ( ) (52) U.S. Cl.... 2A417 (57) ABSTRACT A method or device for providing an opening on a head strap on a Baseball or Softball sports protective face mask: permit ting the person to tie their hair back or place their hair in a ponytail style, wherein the head strap would remain properly secured to the person's head Ref. 11

2 Patent Application Publication Jun. 28, 2012 Sheet 1 of 3 US 2012/O159696A1

3 Patent Application Publication Jun. 28, 2012 Sheet 2 of 3 US 2012/O159696A1 Ref. 11 FIG 2

4 Patent Application Publication Jun. 28, 2012 Sheet 3 of 3 US 2012/O159696A1 Ref 10 Ref. 13

5 US 2012/O A1 Jun. 28, 2012 METHOD AND DEVICE FOR PROVIDING AN OPENING ON A HEAD STRAP ON A BASEBALL OR SOFTBALL SPORTS PROTECTIVE EACE MASK TO PERMIT A PERSON TO THE BACK THEIR HAIR OR WEAR A PONYTAL STYLE WHILE PROPERLY SECURING THE HEAD STRAP BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 0001 Broadly, an embodiment of the present invention generally provides a method and device for providing an opening on a head strap on a Baseball or Softball sports protective face mask to permit a person to tie back their hair or wear a ponytail style while properly securing the head strap Persons engaged in Baseball or Softball sports uti lize a protective face mask while playing defense to prevent facial injuries. These protective face masks are worn on the person's head through the use of elastic straps that wrap over and around the person's head to hold the protective face mask to the persons face. 0003) Normally, a person engaged in Baseball or Softball sports utilizing a protective facemask is unable to tie their hair back or put their hair into a ponytail style because doing so prevents the elastic strap from being properly secured on the person's head. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 0004) The following detailed description is of the best currently contemplated modes of carrying out exemplary embodiments of the invention. The description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention, since the scope of the invention is best defined by the appended claims Various inventive features are described below that can each be used independently of one another or in combi nation with other features. However, any single inventive feature may not address any of the problems discussed above or may only address one of the problems discussed above. Further, one or more of the problems discussed above may not be fully addressed by any of the features described below An embodiment of the present invention includes a method and device that accomplishes the functional task of providing an opening on ahead strap on a Baseball or Softball sports protective facemask to permit a person to tie back their hair or wear a ponytail style while properly securing the head strap. The method or device is an opening in the protective face mask head strap that permits the person to put a ponytail style or other tied back hair style through the opening to allow the head strap to be properly secured An embodiment of the invention provides an open ing on a head strap on a Baseball or Softball sports protective facemask to accommodate a ponytail style or other tied back hair style method An embodiment of this method or device could be composed of any type of material. This could include, but is not limited to: 0009 Elastic 0010 Cloth or Fabric 0011 Foam 0012 Plastic 0013 Rubber (0014 Paper or Cardboard An embodiment of this material and/or process can be sized and shaped to fit any design and/or shape as it is needed An embodiment of this method could be applied to any and all baseball or softball protective face masks to permit the person to tie their hair back or put their hair in a ponytail style while properly securing the head strap An embodiment of the method or device would involve an opening on a head strap on a Baseball or Softball sports protective facemask to accommodate a ponytail style or other tied back hair style that could be either permanently or temporarily installed on the protective face mask. This would allow the baseball or softball contest participant to use a protective face mask and still be able to tie their hair back or place their hair into a ponytail and properly secure the head strap It should be understood, of course, that the forego ing relates to exemplary embodiments of the invention and that modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 0019 FIG. 1 is a perspective view ahead strap constructed in accordance with the teaching of the present invention; 0020 FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a head strap con structed in accordance with the teaching of the present inven tion that is attached to a protective face mask FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a head strap con structed in accordance with the teaching of the present inven tion, that is attached to a protective face mask and worn by a person that has their hair tied into a ponytail hair style. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 0022 Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a head strap, generally designated Ref. 10, constructed in accordance with the teaching of the present invention. The head strap (Ref. 10) is installed on a protective face mask (Ref. 11) so that the protective face mask (Ref. 11) can be worn on a player's head (Ref. 12) while the players is wearing their hair tied up in a ponytail (Ref. 13) or other hair style It can therefore be seen that according to the present invention, there is provided a novel head strap (Ref. 10) that Solves the issues encountered by players when they attempt to wear a protective face mask (Ref. 11) on their head (Ref. 12) while the player has their hair tied up into a ponytail (Ref. 13) or other hair style While the invention has been described with respect to a preferred physical embodiment constructed in accor dance therewith, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and improvements may be made without departing from the Scope and spirit of the invention. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited by the specific illustrative embodiment, but only by the scope of the appended claims. We claim: 1. A method or device for providing an opening on a head strap on a Baseball or Softball sports protective face mask permitting the person to tie their hair back or place their hair in a ponytail style wherein the head strap would remain prop erly secured to the person's head c c c c c