Foundation garments – Breast or chest – e.g. – brassieres – Combined with apparel-type garment
Reexamination Certificate
2002-11-26
2004-11-02
Hale, Gloria M. (Department: 3765)
Foundation garments
Breast or chest, e.g., brassieres
Combined with apparel-type garment
C002S067000, C450S031000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06811462
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a garment with a removable interior garment, and more particularly, is directed to an activewear garment with a removable bra.
Designing a women's activewear garment is a difficult problem. Women's breasts have different sizes, shapes and separations. The amount of desired breast support varies by wearer and by type of activity. While support is necessary, it is also highly desirable to look “natural”; thus, the bra should be unobtrusive. A further challenge is that the garment must be economic to manufacture.
A sleeveless top such as a camisole or tank style of activewear garment will now be discussed. It will be appreciated that this discussion also applies to the upper body portion of a women's leotard or one-piece swimsuit.
Generally, when the same feature appears on the left and right sides of a garment, only one instance is numbered, to avoid cluttering the illustration.
FIGS. 1
,
2
and
3
show views of a tank top with built-in underwire bra. The exterior of garment
1
appears smooth, as shown in FIG.
3
.
FIG. 1
shows a view of the interior portion of the front with the back opened for illustration; the actual garment has a continuous back. Liner
2
extends along the front of shoulder strap
11
from the shoulder seam of shoulder strap
11
to slightly under the wearer's bust line. The top and sides of liner
2
are permanently sewn into the shoulder seams of strap
11
, the side seams of strap
11
, neckline seam
8
, and garment side seams
7
. The bottom of liner
2
is sewn to elastic band
4
. Elastic band
4
extends horizontally across the wearer's chest at slightly below her heartline. The ends of elastic band
4
are permanently sewn into garment side seams
7
. At the center of liner
2
, at the top of the wearer's heart, fastening patch
6
is sewn to liner
2
. Fastening patch
6
permanently anchors the inner ends of underwires
5
. The outer ends of underwires
5
are permanently sewn into the armhole seam formed at the outer side of shoulder strap
11
. Panel
3
has a top edge formed by wrapping its material around underwires
5
and a bottom edge sewn to elastic band
4
; the sides of panel
3
are permanently sewn into side seams
7
. Side seam
7
has selvedge
9
.
FIG. 2
shows that, in use, the wearer's breast mass is supported by panel
3
, specifically in the pouch area formed by panel
3
and liner
2
, when underwire
5
is pulled away from liner
2
.
FIGS. 4
,
5
and
6
show views of a swimsuit with a removable bra portion, reproduced from U.S. Pat. No. 5,478,278 to Irwin Greenblatt.
FIG. 5
shows a bra portion having vertical extensions
40
bearing fastening material
60
. Attached to side extension
50
is fastening material
70
.
FIG. 4
shows swimsuit
20
having shoulder straps
22
bearing fastening material
80
adapted to couple to fastening material
60
on the shoulder extensions
40
of the bra portion. Swimsuit
20
also has side seams
24
bearing panels of fastening material
90
adapted to couple to fastening material
70
on the side extensions
50
of the bra portion. The fastening material consists of hook and loop fasteners stitched to the swimsuit and bra portion, but may be any suitable fastening material or connectors.
FIG. 6
shows another bra portion lacking vertical extensions and thus being suitable for a strapless swimsuit such as a “bandeau”; this bra portion has side extensions
350
bearing fastening material
370
. When the bra portion is inserted, the back portion of the suit functions as the back of the bra portion. That is, the inserted bra portion and the back of the suit form a bra.
FIGS. 7 and 8
show views of a halter top with a removable bra portion, reproduced from U.S. Pat. No. 2,493,179 to Margaret H. Wittenberg. As shown in
FIG. 8
, bra portion
10
B has sides with buttonholes
40
B, for detachably securing the sides of the bra portion to garment side extensions
46
bearing buttons
38
B. The bra portion has loops
46
at the top of the side portions for detachably securing the bra portion to garment hooks
48
. The garment hooks
48
are part of buckles
50
carried by garment interior straps
52
stitched inside garment front portion
18
B. Garment halter strap
54
is terminated at the top ends of garment interior straps
52
. When the bra portion is secured to the garment, the back of the garment also functions as the back of the bra, to eliminate the need to provide a back portion to the bra portion, and improving the appearance of the garment on the wearer.
FIGS. 9 and 10
show views of a camisole with built-in underwire bra. This camisole has a very low back. Underwire
71
is located in a channel formed by stitching garment
60
. Top lining
68
is fixed between the neck edge and contour seam
70
. Bottom lining
69
is fixed between contour seam
70
and underwire
71
. Top lining
68
is formed from the same fabric as the main body of garment
60
. Bottom lining
69
is a lighter weight stretchy fabric. Piece
72
is formed of a non-stretchy fabric and is permanently sewn into the neck edge of the garment at its top, and at its side, to the center parts of underwires
71
. The bottom edge of piece
72
is loose.
FIGS. 11-14
show views of a camisole with built-in cookies.
FIG. 13
shows cookie
93
, a foam pad for wearing at the base of a breast to increase apparent breast size due to its own volume and by pushing the breast up thereby creating more cleavage. Liner
80
is permanently sewn at its top in the neck edge of the camisole, at its sides in cookie contour seams
87
and at its base into horizontal contour seam
94
. Elastic band
92
extends around the inner circumference of the camisole. The top of elastic band
92
is sewn to the bottom of shelf piece
91
. At the back of the camisole, the top of shelf piece
92
is sewn in the top edge of the camisole. At the front of the camisole, the top of shelf piece
92
is sewn into horizontal contour seam
94
. Cookie inner piece
89
extends from the junction of horizontal contour seam
94
and cookie contour seam
87
along about ¾ of contour seam
87
and is sewn into these seams; the outer side edge of cookie inner piece
89
is loose. Cookie outer piece
90
is sewn at its outer side edge to the side of the camisole, at its top edge to cookie contour seam
87
and at its bottom edge to horizontal contour seam
94
. Cookie outer piece
90
extends along about ⅓ of the cookie contour seam
87
. The inner side edge of cookie outer piece
90
is loose. Cookie outer piece
90
overlaps cookie inner piece
89
such that the loose edges can be pulled apart to insert cookie
93
and then returned to their flat state to create a retaining pocket for cookie
93
. Horizontal contour seam
94
and cookie contour seams
87
are visible on the front of the camisole.
FIGS. 15 and 16
show views of a camisole with built-in shelf bra. The camisole has a continuous back. The top of liner
103
is sewn into neck seam
102
and top back seam
105
. The bottom of liner
103
is sewn to elastic band
104
, forming a floating shelf bra.
FIGS. 17 and 18
show views of another camisole with built-in shelf bra. This camisole also has a continuous back. The top of liner
113
is sewn into the camisole's neck seam, while the sides of liner
113
are sewn into sides
116
of the camisole. The bottom of liner
113
is sewn into horizontal chest seam
1114
, forming a completely built-in shelf bra.
FIGS. 19 and 20
show views of yet another camisole with built-in shelf bra. This camisole has a continuous back. The top of liner
125
is sewn into the bottom seam of v-neck portions
123
and
124
. The sides of liner
125
are sewn into sides
127
of the camisole. The bottom of liner
125
is sewn to elastic band
126
, which is loose in its main portion although sewn at its side edges into sides
127
of the camisole.
None of these garments provide adequate support for high impact activity across a range of breast sizes. Accordingly, th
Hale Gloria M.
Pomerance Brenda
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