Apparel – Nether garments – Bifurcated
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-25
2001-07-17
Mohanty, Bibhu (Department: 3741)
Apparel
Nether garments
Bifurcated
Reexamination Certificate
active
06260209
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
A pants assembly designed to be used in combination with a utility belt or a gun belt of the type typically worn by uniformed police officers, wherein an upper waistband portion of the pants assembly remains in a secured position about the wearer's waist is attached to a lower, portion of the pants assembly such that the utility belt is still in place, without requiring the removal of the utility belt as well as the upper portion about which it is secured. Thereby facilitating access to a toilet facility to the wearer by separating along the inner leg seam vertically from one leg to the next in a manner to lower the underwear of the wearer when necessary.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well known that uniformed police officers are required to adhere to a strict dress code in terms of standard, substantially identically uniforms. As a requisite part of such uniform, police officers, whether male or female are required to include a belt with a handgun, radio, handcuffs and/or other objects which aid in the conducting of their duty. Typically, the “utility belt” used to support the handgun as well as the other above noted objects, is secured in a somewhat conventional fashion generally about the waist of the wearer and in supported or removably secured relation to the exterior surface of the waist portion of the pants assembly defining a part of the uniform, such as through belt loops. Because of the weapon and other objects carried on the supporting belt, such belt becomes extremely heavy, bulky, and as a result extremely troublesome to repeatedly detach and remove from the wearer and then replace in its proper location along with the pants.
Professions other than police officers also frequently require the wearing of certain uniforms as well as some type of utility belt which is used to support tools, radios/phones, etc. needed in the performance of the wearer's job duties. Naturally, a utility or tool belt of the type required also becomes extremely heavy due to the weight of the tools or like objects supported thereon.
Because of the difficulties and/or general inconvenience associated with removal and replacement of such utility belts, and because of the need to maintain the utility belt and gun in a safe location, there is a tendency, particularly with uniformed employees of the female gender, to resist removal of such utility belts even in times of necessity, such as when the wearer must access toilet facilities. The result is a tendency to delay in the removal of the belt and accordingly a delay or postponement of the use of toilet facilities. Indeed, it has been established that prolonged or repeated delays of the act of urination may possibly result in urinary infections, which in turn, if continued, can result in even more serious medical complications. Male employees, regardless of their profession, involved in those job descriptions which require the wearing and utilization of a utility or tool belts are not faced with the problem of repeatedly removing and replacing such belts since the conventional design for a pants assembly or trousers normally includes a frontal opening particularly structured to avoid the removal or lowering of the trousers for purposes of urinating. However, even though the frequency of removal of such heavy, cumbersome belts of the type described, does not occur with such frequency as with female uniformed personnel, there are less frequent occurrences where accessing toilet facilities is necessary. As a result, the trousers have to be lowered, in turn causing the utility belt to be removed.
It is also recognized that other conventional articles of clothing do not take into considerations the problems faced by uniformed personnel required to wear heavy, cumbersome, utility and/or gun belts of the type set forth above. Accordingly, such conventional articles would not be adaptable to standardized or substantially conventional uniforms of clothing articles such as pants or trousers.
There is a recognized need, therefore, for a pants assembly which allows the wearer to have access to toilet facilities with normal frequency without requiring the removal of the gun belt, utility belt, etc. Such a preferred structure would allow at least partial separation of the vertical inner leg seams of the pants (unzipping from one leg up to the crotch and down to the next leg) wherein the bottom portion of the pants looks like a skirt for purposes of providing toilet access to the wearer or for any reason. In turn, the utility belt, remains positioned in supported orientation about the exterior surface of the upper waistband portion. In addition, such a preferred pants assembly should have the outward appearance and overall design or configuration substantially identical to conventional trousers or pants such that, if desired, a female uniformed employee could wear the preferred, separable pants assembly and male employees, because of the conventional design of trousers, could wear conventional pants. In this instance, the outward appearance of both the preferred, separable pants assembly and substantially the same.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed towards a separable pants assembly particularly of the type which may be utilized as part of a uniform for police officers or other personnel requiring the wearing of uniforms and also requiring the wearing of some type of utility belt. In the situation involving uniformed police officers, the belt on which a hand gun is supported normally carries other objects or devices to aid in the performance of the police officer's job requirements. In such instances, the gun belt or utility belt is generally mounted in a removable but supported fashion about the exterior surface of the waist portion of the pants assembly defining a part of the uniform. Accordingly, in order to avoid the necessity of repeatedly removing and replacing the gun belt or utility belt when the wearer thereof is required to use toilet facilities, the present invention comprises a pants assembly having a separable inner leg seam portion.
More specifically, the pants assembly is of conventional construction and style. The utility and gun belt is secured in a position generally surrounding the waist of the wearer. The lower portion of subject pants assembly is dimensioned and configured to cover the lower torso and at least the upper leg portion of the wearer, depending upon the length of the pant legs. A frontal opening is conventionally positioned and includes an open and upper end and a closed lower end.
A separating assembly is secured in part to both the inner leg seams running continuous to the next leg. More specifically, it is structured to establish a separable interconnection between the inner leg seams from one leg to the next beginning at the fold of the hemline by embodiment of a conventional or separating zipper. In a preferred embodiment, the attachment assembly may be in the form of an elongated zipper. Alternately, the attachment assembly may include a plurality of spaced apart cooperatively structured first attachment components and second attachment components, respectively mounted in the inner leg seams running continuous to substantially aligned relation to one another. Correspondingly positioned ones of the first and second attachment components may be readily connected and disconnected from one another depended upon whether the wearer desires the inner leg seams to be separated. Such a variety of additional embodiments could include buttons and button holes, snaps, hook and loop type fasteners, etc.
The zipper position is further defined by a relative to the attachment assembly along the length thereof. Therefore, the attachment assembly is not readily viewable or detectable, which is of particularly importance for uniformed personnel requiring uniformity of dress.
Therefore, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a separable pants assembly which facilities without the removal of a utility belt secured to t
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