Chef's hat

A disposable chef's hat comprising a head band part, a side wall part extending vertically above the upper edge of said head band part and a crown part secured to the upper marginal portion of said side wall part, all of said parts being respectively formed of individual rectangular blanks of flexible sheet material cut to equal lengths and joined together along parallel lines extending horizontally about the peripheral extent of the hat with the corresponding ends of all of said blanks in vertical registry, said joined blanks being commonly creased along a pair of vertically extending lines spaced apart a distance less than half the overall length of said blanks to provide a flat folded assembly thereof having opposite side panels extending from front to rear of the hat, one of said side panels being continuous in length and the other being split between said crease lines to provide it with a pair of sections of unequal length disposed in overlapping relation, and wherein:

• a. said head band part of the hat is horizontally folded upon itself to provide an outer panel of uniform depth having downwardly and upwardly turned inner portions freely overlying the inner face of said outer panel, the overlapping end sections of said head band being telescopically interengaged for adjustment thereof to a selected head size,
• b. said side wall part of the hat, formed of a material of substantially greater flexibility than that of said head band, is folded upon itself to provide it with a plurality of closely related vertical pleats spaced about the full circumferential extent thereof and has its bottom edge portion secured to said upwardly turned inner portion of the head band so that it extends upwardly beyond the upper edge of said head band to provide the hat with a side wall of substantial height rising as a vertical extension of said head band, and
• c. said crown part, formed of a material having a flexibility at least as great as that of said pleated side wall part, is disposed interiorly of said hat with its flat folded sections respectively disposed in overlying relation to the corresponding flat-folded sections of said side-wall part and its top horizontally extending marginal portion secured throughout the full length thereof to the corresponding top marginal portion of said side wall part of the hat, said crown part depending freely from its said secured top marginal portions thereof to a level intermediate the horizontally extending top and bottom edges of said side wall part of the hat, the longer one only of the overlapped sections of the split side panel of said crown part having its depending horizontally extending bottom marginal portion thereof secured along the full extent thereof to the corresponding marginal portion of that section of the opposite side panel of said crown part which extends continuously between the aforesaid vertically extending crease lines of the hat whereby when said hat is expanded from its flat folded condition into a generally circular head-fitting shape the sections of the opposite side panels of the crown part which have their marginal bottom portions secured together are drawn into a position extending generally flat-wise across the top of the expanded hat while the remaining unjoined portions of said crown part are relatively spread apart to provide an opening for ventilating the interior of the hat.