Patent Application
20190328049
This invention relates generally to bras, and more particularly to an adhesive bra that does not extend around a woman's back or shoulders, but it held in place with an adhesive.
Prior art bras include cups for receiving the woman's breasts and covering the nipples, and include straps that go over the woman's shoulders and around her chest for securing the cups. Negative health benefits have been found to arise from the constrictive nature of standard bras.
There is a need in the market for a bra that provides modesty and some level of support to a woman's breasts, without constricting the woman's chest and giving rise to health problems. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further advantages as described in the following summary.
The present invention teaches certain benefits in construction and use which give rise to the objectives described below.
The present invention provides a bra comprising a flexible bra sheet having a top surface and a bottom surface that extend to a perimeter, the flexible bra sheet extending laterally so that the flexible bra sheet has a width that is greater than a distance between a woman's nipples. An adhesive layer covers at least part of the bottom surface of the flexible bra sheet. Nipple covering portions are formed on the bottom surface of the flexible bra sheet.
A primary objective of the present invention is to provide a bra having advantages not taught by the prior art.
Another objective is to provide a bra that does not extend around a woman's back or shoulders, but it held in place with an adhesive.
A further objective is to provide a bra that provides support without constricting the woman's body, and in particular not compressing against the woman's lymph nodes, or otherwise causing negative health effects which may be caused by traditional bras.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following more detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention.
The accompanying drawings illustrate the present invention. In such drawings:
The above-described drawing figures illustrate the invention, an adhesive bra that provides support and modesty without the constriction and other disadvantages related to the use of standard bras.
The flexible bra sheet 20 is flexible, and in some embodiments may be elastic. In one embodiment, the flexible bra sheet 20 is a synthetic mesh. In another embodiment, it may be made of cotton, a cotton/synthetic blend, a synthetic fabric or other material, paper, or other material that may be selected by one skilled in the art as suitable for the present invention. In one embodiment, a combination of elastic and inelastic fibers, covered by cotton or similar fibers, may be used.
The flexible bra sheet 20 is planar in construction, and does not include three dimensional structure such as cups that are used in prior art bras. The flexible bra sheet 20 is of single piece construction, and is preferable formed of a single sheet of material.
In the embodiment of
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In this embodiment, as shown in
In this embodiment, the adhesive layer 30 is a low-tack pressure sensitive adhesive. In one embodiment, the adhesive layer 30 includes an amphiphilic copolymer of at least one hydrophobic acrylic monomer or oligomer; at least one hydrophilic or amphiphilic monomer or oligomer; and a crosslinker. In one embodiment, the hydrophilic or amphiphilic monomer or oligomer is selected from acrylamides, N-alkylacrylamides, N,N-dialkylacrylamides, N-alkylaminoalkylacrylamides, methacrylamides, amino methacrylates, N-alkylamino acrylates, N,N-dialkylamino acrylates, N-alkylamino methacrylates, acrylamido alkylsulfonic acid and its salts, N-vinylpyrrolidones, N-vinylcaprolactams, and combinations thereof; and the crosslinker is selected from polybutadiene dimethacrylate, trimethyolpropane trimethacrylate, and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate.
In one embodiment, the adhesive layer 30 includes 55 to 75% of a continuous phase and from 25 to 45% of a discontinuous phase. In this embodiment, the discontinuous phase includes hydrophilic polymers in the form of hydrocolloids, and the continuous phase containing from 5 to 10% of a texture copolymer consisting of a styrene-isoprene-styrene or styrene-butadiene-styrene-type block copolymer, a tackifying agent, and a plasticiser (percentages being given relative to the composition as a whole). The adhesive layer 30 may to further include essential oils, fragrances, and/or other additives that are beneficial to the woman wearing the bra 10.
In one implementation, the adhesive layer 30 may include any adhesive which will allow the bra 10 to adhere to the skin of a user without irritating the user's skin. In particular, the main ingredient can include a single compound or a mixture of compounds. For example, the main ingredient can include polyacrylate. Additionally or alternatively, the adhesive can include a solvent which is configured to evaporate or break down after application of the adhesive, leaving the main ingredient behind. For example the adhesive can include about 50% of the main ingredient with the rest of the adhesive comprising solvent. In at least one implementation, the solvent can include ethyl acetate.
The bra 10 is adapted to be easily applied and removed, and to provide support without constricting the woman's body, and in particular not compressing against the woman's lymph nodes, or otherwise causing negative health effects which may be caused by traditional bras.
As used in this application, the words “a,” “an,” and “one” are defined to include one or more of the referenced item unless specifically stated otherwise. The terms “approximately” and “about” are defined to mean+/−10%, unless otherwise stated. Also, the terms “have,” “include,” “contain,” and similar terms are defined to mean “comprising” unless specifically stated otherwise. Furthermore, the terminology used in the specification provided above is hereby defined to include similar and/or equivalent terms, and/or alternative embodiments that would be considered obvious to one skilled in the art given the teachings of the present patent application. While the invention has been described with reference to at least one particular embodiment, it is to be clearly understood that the invention is not limited to these embodiments, but rather the scope of the invention is defined by the following claims.
