Shooting garment

Jao. 3, 1950 η. o. smith 2,493,370

SHOOTING GARMENT

Filed May 24, 1947

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Patented Jan. 3, 1950

2,493,370

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,493,370

SHOOTING GARMENT

Howard O. Smith, Des Moines, Iowa

Application May 24,1947, Serial No. 750,293

Claims.

The principal object of my invention is to provide a shooting coat or jacket that is so padded and designed as to afford great comfort in use.

A further object of this invention is to provide a target shooting garment that has fitted curved sleeves in order to eliminate uncomfortable sleeve distortion when the arms of the user are in a firing position.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a shooting garment that is successfully padded against the usual discomfort experienced during shooting, while at the same time permitting free movement of the arms of the user at all times.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a shooting garment designed and padded for the use of rifles having sling straps.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a shooting garment for prone, kneeling, sitting, and standing shooting positions.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a padded shooting garment that is refined in appearance, durable in use, and economical in manufacture.

These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of the device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front view of my garment ready for use.

Fig. 2 is a left side view of my garment in use.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the left arm sleeve of the garment, taken on line 3—3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the left arm sleeve of my garment, taken on line 4—4 of Fig. 2.

Shooting garments are universally used by sportsmen and are intended to provide comfort to the shooter and increase the accuracy of his shooting. Such garments usually have a pad element over each elbow portion, and a pad element at the gun butt arm socket. Such garments, however, do not have either proper pads at the gun butt, arm socket, nor properly designed and positioned padding around the sleeve where the gun sling strap embraces it. Furthermore, the sleeves of such shooting garments are not properly curved to fit the arms of the user when the gun is at the shoulder and the arms are bent. I have overcome such objections by providing a properly padded and designed shooting garment (Cl. 2—94) giving both comfort and protection and freedom of movement.

Referring to the drawings, I have used the numeral 16 to designate the body portion of my 5 garment. The actual design of this portion of the garment is not material, provided it is of proper fit and provided with the usual pockets. The important phases of my garment are the sleeves, padding, and gun butt arm socket pad. 10 Both the left and right sleeves of the garment may be of the same general construction and in the drawings I show them as each made of three main sections, i. e., the upper arm section 11, the middle arm section 12, and the lower arm section 15 13. Each of these portions 11, 12, and 13 is substantially cylindrical with the upper edge of the portion 11 sewed to the arm pit of the body of the jacket and with its lower marginal edge sewed to the upper marginal edge of the portion 12. The 20 lower marginal edge of the portion 12 is sewed to the upper marginal edge of the portion 13, as shown in Fig. 1. The free sides of these portions are secured together by the seam 14. This seam 19 is not under the arm as in most coats, but is 25 well up and to the front of the sleeve, as shown in Fig. 1. The length of the back of each of the portions 11, 12, and 13 is greater than their respective lengths at the front and at this seam and by and because of this construction the 30 sleeves are not straight tubes, but are curved forwardly and downwardly, as shown in Fig. 1, to better fit the bent arms of the shooter at the time the gun is at the shoulder position. This shaping of the sleeves of the garment is very important 35 as well as the forward placement of the sleeve seam 14. If desired, a small gore 15 may be inserted in the sleeve to further effect its shaping during manufacture. The numeral ! 6 designates an elbow pad sewed on the section 12 of each 40 sleeve. The numeral II designates the gun butt shoulder pad sewed on the front of the body portion 10 and the front portion 11 of the right sleeve. This pad II has its lower marginal edge portion split a substantial distance at the arm hole seam, 45 as shown in Fig. 1. This construction permits a large effective shoulder pad, giving both protection to the chest and upper portion of the arm of the user, while at the same time permitting free and comfortable movement. The numeral 50 18 designates the gun sling pad on the portion 11 of the left sleeve. This pad element 18 is in the shape of a band extending transversely of the length of the sleeve and has its two ends terminating a slight distance apart and at each side 65 of the seam 14, as shown in Fig. 3. The top

2,493,370 marginal edge of this pad extends to a line just under the arm pit and its lower marginal edge terminates above and in spaced relationship to the elbow pad 16 of the left sleeve. In the manufacture of my garment the pads i6 and 18 are sewed onto the sections of the sleeves before the sleeves are put together and onto the body portion of the garment. By the construction of my sleeves the elbow pads 16 and the gun sling pad 18 do not overlap any seams, thereby not only making for a comfortable garment, but facilitating manufacture and permitting the proper shaping of the sleeves. In use, the gun sling strap 19 completely embraces the arm with the pressure on the back, outer side, and inner side of the pad

18. By providing a space between the ends of the pad 18, the sling strap may tightly pull and fit the pad 18 around the upper arm of the user with the resultant slack in the sleeve taking place between the two ends of the pad, as shown in Fig. 4. By the seam 14 being between the two ends of the pad 18 it will bunch up between the pad with the rest of the slack of the sleeve, at which position it will not cut into or bind on the arm of the shooter. As all of the wrinkling of the sleeve when the gun sling .is tightened will be between the two ends of the pad 18, the back and two sides of the pad and the portion of the sleeve it embraces will fit snugly around the muscle of the arm of the user without wrinkles. This important feature of my garment makes it automatically conform to the size of the arm of the shooter at the time of firing with the pad 18 substantially completely surrounding the arm. The garment shown in the .drawings is for right handed shooters. Obviously, for left handed shooters, the pad 17 would be put to the left shoulder and .the pad 18 on the right sleeve. Most pad elements are preferably of pliable leather and are formed by sewing their marginal edge portions to the garment and placing suitable padding material 23 between the leather and the garment.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of my improved shooting garment without departing from the real spirit and purpose of my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my .claims any modified forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents which may be reasonably included within their scope.