Cushion backed sports shirt

Abstract

A shirt having a pocket on the rear, and a cushion insertible into the pocket. The pocket may account for half of the height of the shirt, and forty-five to fifty percent of the width of the shirt. The pocket may have a flap covering an opening of the pocket. The cushion may be made from open or closed cell synthetic foam, and may include a flexible covering having an air bleed hole to accommodate compression and expansion of the synthetic foam.

I claim: 
     
         1 . A protective shirt for protecting a back of a body of a wearer, comprising:
 a torso section including
 a front panel for covering a chest and an abdomen of the wearer, 
 a rear panel connected to the front panel along sides of the body of the wearer, 
 a neck opening dimensioned and configured to pass a head of the wearer therethrough, 
 a first arm opening located at one of the sides and an opposed second arm opening at another one of the sides, the first arm opening and the second arm opening dimensioned and configured to pass respectfully a right arm and a left arm of the wearer therethrough, 
 a waist opening dimensioned and configured to pass a waist of the wearer therethrough, and 
 a pocket on the rear panel of the torso section, the pocket including an access opening for insertion of a cushion and joined to the rear panel along a periphery of the pocket except at the access opening, the pocket covering at least one third of the area of the rear panel when the torso section is laid flat with the rear panel overlying the front panel; and 
   a cushion dimensioned and configured to be received in the pocket by insertion through the access opening in close cooperation with the pocket.   
     
     
         2 . The protective shirt of  claim 1 , wherein the access opening faces the same direction as the neck opening. 
     
     
         3 . The protective shirt of  claim 1 , wherein the pocket is a parallelepiped in plan view when the protective shirt is laid flat with the rear panel overlying the front panel. 
     
     
         4 . The protective shirt of  claim 3 , further comprising a flap covering the access opening. 
     
     
         5 . The protective shirt of  claim 4 , wherein the pocket is rectangular in plan view when the protective shirt is laid flat with the rear panel overlying the front panel, and the flap covering the access opening is joined to the pocket along a right edge of the flap, along a top edge of the flap, wherein the top edge faces the same direction as the neck opening of the torso section, and along a left edge of the flap, and is unjoined to the pocket along a bottom edge of the flap. 
     
     
         6 . The protective shirt of  claim 5 , wherein the pocket has a height extending from the neck opening to the waist opening when the torso section is laid flat with the rear panel overlying the front panel, and the flap has a height parallel to the height of the pocket in a range of fifteen to twenty-five percent of the height of the pocket. 
     
     
         7 . The protective shirt of  claim 1 , wherein the cushion comprises a synthetic foam which is at least one of an open cell foam and a closed cell foam. 
     
     
         8 . The protective shirt of  claim 7 , wherein the cushion further comprises a flexible covering over the synthetic foam. 
     
     
         9 . The protective shirt of  claim 8 , wherein the flexible covering has an air bleed hole to accommodate expulsion and return of air when the cushion is compressed and expanded. 
     
     
         10 . The protective shirt of  claim 1 , wherein the torso section has a height extending from the neck opening to the waist opening when the torso section is laid flat with the rear panel overlying the front panel, and the pocket has a height parallel to the height of the torso section about half the height of the torso section. 
     
     
         11 . The protective shirt of  claim 10 , wherein the cushion has a height parallel to the height of the torso section and in a range of forty to fifty percent of the height of the torso section. 
     
     
         12 . The protective shirt of  claim 1 , wherein the torso section has a width extending from a right edge of the rear panel to a left edge of the rear panel when the torso section is laid flat with the rear panel overlying the front panel, and the pocket has a width parallel to the width of the torso section in a range of forty-five to fifty percent of the width of the torso section. 
     
     
         13 . The protective shirt of  claim 12 , wherein the cushion has a width parallel to the width of the torso section and in a range of forty to forty-five percent of the width of the torso section.