Foundation garments – Breast or chest – e.g. – brassieres – Closable aperture permits access to breast i.e. – nursing type
Reexamination Certificate
2002-04-25
2003-11-11
Hale, Gloria M. (Department: 3765)
Foundation garments
Breast or chest, e.g., brassieres
Closable aperture permits access to breast i.e., nursing type
C450S008000, C002S104000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06645041
ABSTRACT:
This application claims the benefit of Danish Application No. PA 2002 00483 filed Apr. 2, 2002.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a brassiere, preferably for use when nursing, comprising a front portion with two cups, wherein a center portion is arranged between the two cups, a back portion, two side portions connecting the front and back portion, a band fitting snugly around the chest under the breasts and a pair of shoulder straps extending from the back portion and connected to each of the cups of the front portion and wherein the cups are completely or partly formed from a double layered fabric.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
For a woman nursing a child the use of a traditional brassiere can cause problems, since this often is designed so that the woman in order to expose a breast has to do one of the following:
lift the cup up over the breast thus placing the cup on top of the breast, which causes the cup and band to press/pull down on the breast tissue and which may cause a stop in the lactation;
open the brassiere so that the brassiere is so loose that it is possible to expose a breast. However, this causes a lack of support from the brassiere for the breast not used for nursing and it can be difficult to hold a child and at the same time try to open/close the brassiere with one hand.
pull the shoulder strap down the shoulder, which means that the woman must pull off her clothes partly. In some situations having to undress in order to nurse a child is not desirable for a woman.
Furthermore, there are a number of traditional brassieres designed mainly for nursing women. Nursing brassieres have previously been made from several different pieces of fabric which have been subsequently sewn together causing a lot of seams. Those seams can irritate nursing women as their breasts are already tense and very sore. These women will thus feel some discomfort when using a brassiere with a number of seams which may irritate or apply pressure on the breast tissue.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,287,168 discloses how a substantially seamless brassiere is made from a circularly knitted fabric blank and the way in which the brassiere can be made from either a single layer or a double layered fabric. The type of brassiere described is unsuitable for use when nursing since it cannot open in the front. It is only possible to adjust the length of the shoulder strap, which will not help a nursing woman because she still has to either pull a cup up over or under the breast, pull the shoulder strap down the shoulder or loosen the brassiere in order to expose a breast.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, the object of the present invention to provide a substantially seamless brassiere which is comfortable to wear, allowing the woman easy access to expose one breast at a time.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This is achieved with a brassiere characterized in that the brassiere is manufactured substantially without seams from a piece of circularly knitted fabric, wherein, at a position immediately above or at the upper edge of each cup, a first clasp is provided, which co-operates in a easily releasable manner with a corresponding second clasp on a shoulder strap and wherein said second clasp connects the shoulder strap with an inner cup layer.
In this connection a seamless brassiere is understood as a brassiere in which there are no seams in the cups, the front and back portion, but in which there may be seams in marginal areas such as the outer edge and arm openings.
In the following a brassiere is described for use by nursing women, but the invention also applies in other situations, such as:
during the nursing period where a nursing pad can be fastened between the inner and outer cups of the brassiere,
during pregnancy where an especially elastic brassiere will be useable since the size of the women's breasts is increased and they are at times sore and tense,
after breast surgery where a brassiere with a double layered cup can be used for holding a breast prosthesis,
for bandaging where a brassiere with a double layered cup can be used as various bandages can be placed between the two layers.
In order to manufacture a brassiere which is comfortable for women to wear and allows a nursing woman easy access to exposing one breast at a time, the brassiere according to the invention has been provided such that the brassiere, preferably for use when nursing, comprises a front portion with two cups, wherein a center portion is arranged between the two cups, a back portion, two side portions connecting the front and back portion, a band which fits snugly around the chest under the breasts and a pair of shoulder straps extending from the back portion and connected to each of the cups of the front portion and where the cups are completely or partly formed from a double layered fabric, where the brassiere is manufactured without seams from a piece of circularly knitted fabric, wherein at a position immediately above or at the upper edge of each cup a first clasp is provided, which co-operates in a easily releasable manner with a corresponding second clasp on a shoulder strap and wherein said second clasp connects the shoulder strap with an inner cup layer.
This embodiment of a brassiere makes it possible for a woman nursing her child to use a brassiere which, because of the seamless design, is comfortable to wear since there are no or very few seams to irritate the tense and sore breasts.
Because of the design of the two clasps, the shoulder strap is connected to both the inner cup and the outer cup of the brassiere when the woman is not nursing. The clasps make it easy for a woman to loosen the outer cup of the brassiere and pull the outer cup down in order to expose one or both breasts without experiencing the problems that can arise when a woman either has to loosen the brassiere or pull the shoulder strap down the shoulder or lift the cup up over the breast.
Because the shoulder strap is connected to the inner cup of the brassiere, pulling down the outer cup of the brassiere will not cause the shoulder strap to slip over the shoulder and disappear, the brassiere will not feel loose and the supporting effect of the brassiere on the other breast will not disappear.
The woman can now place the child at the exposed breast and perform the nursing, after which she can support the child with one hand/arm while she pulls the outer cup of the brassiere back up with the other hand and fastens the cup to the shoulder strap and, possibly, unfastens the other outer cup of the brassiere from the other shoulder strap, pulls down the second outer cup of the brassiere and places the child at the other breast.
To manufacture the brassiere, two layers are formed from a circularly knitted fabric blank which are folded and assembled substantially without seams. In order to achieve the desired shape of a brassiere, material is removed from one of the two layers, typically material from the inner layer.
By producing the brassiere in a circularly knitted fabric it is, furthermore, possible to manufacture a seamless brassiere from one piece of fabric, where it has been taken into account in the production of the circularly knitted fabric blank that the different parts of the brassiere must perform different functions.
The cups are knitted as pouches on the circularly knitted blank with a knitted structure looser than that of the surrounding fabric areas. This makes the cups comfortably elastic and able to surround and maintain the breasts in the desired position.
The center portion between the two cups must be manufactured from a piece of fabric which is shorter and/or has less elasticity than the cups per se. This means that the center portion pulls in on the material which forms the cups and joins the material in front on the front portion and, thus, assists in forming two cups and maintaining the shape of the cups. If the center portion is not made from a shorter and/or lesser elastic material, the effect of two cups will not be achieved, but only one cup is manufactured which supports both breasts at the same t
Creighton Wray James
Hale Gloria M.
Narasimhan Meera P.
Tytex A/S
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