Patent Application
20060282934
Our present invention relates to maternity and sports brassieres and, more particularly, to a brassiere cup enhance for use particularly with maternity and sports brassieres but with universal applicability for strap undergarments generally.
A brassiere generally comprises a front portion formed with two cups, a back portion connected to the front portion and extending around the back of the wearer and shoulder straps which are connected at the cups and are joined to the back portion. The brassiere may have a front closure between the cups or a back portion joining parts of the back portion together in a releasable manner. The straps generally can be adjustable by buckles or fasteners and can be connected to the cup portions by detachable fasteners.
In maternity brassieres, the front portion may have flaps which are detachably connected to allow a breast to be exposed for nursing generally by releasing a clip securing that flap at the front of the brassiere at the connection between the respective cup portion and the shoulder strap.
In a sports bra, which can have less structured cups, the connector to the strap may be a ring through which the strap can be looped.
In all brassieres of the type described it is desirable to be able to draw the cup upwardly toward the shoulder in an adjustable manner and particularly in nursing brassieres and in sports brassieres, a greater range of adjustability may be desirable. In addition, since the shoulder straps are usually somewhat narrow they may tend to cut into the wearer and limit the comfort of the brassiere.
It is, therefore, the principal object of the present invention to provide an improved brassiere whereby the drawbacks mentioned can be avoided and comfort is improved.
Another object is to provide a component which can be fitted to existing brassieres and can increase the versatility thereof and particularly the adjustability of the shoulder strap to the cup and vice versa.
Another object of this invention is to provide a brassiere cup enhancer, particularly for nursing or maternity brassieres but also for sports brassieres which will increase the adjustability thereof, improve comfort and provide improved appearance.
These objects and others which will become apparent hereinafter are attained, in accordance with the invention in a brassiere which comprises:
a brassiere body formed with two cups;
a back portion extending rearwardly from opposite sides of the brassiere body and adapted to extend around a back of a wearer;
respective shoulder straps adapted to support the so cups and connectable to the back portion; and
a respective cup enhancer between each shoulder strap and the respective cup, each of the enhancers comprising an elongated flexible strip of a width greater than that of the respective shoulder strap and formed at one end with a connector detachably engageable with the respective strap and at an opposite end with a connector detachably engageable with the respective cup.
Key to that brassiere is the cup enhancer which is capable of being used for maternity or nursing brassieres or sports brassieres, but even for ordinary shoulder strap brassieres, and which comprises:
an elongated flexible strip formed at one end with a connector detachably engageable with a shoulder strap of a brassiere and at an opposite end with a connector detachably engageable with a respective cup of the brassiere.
According to the invention, a seamless, laminated and cushioned shoulder strap component is provided with a row of female fasteners adapted to accommodate male combination press and hook fasteners. The component can be used for maternity brassieres as well as for sports brassieres, usually will be detachable from the frame or body of the brassiere and can be widened with respect to the shoulder strap to prevent cutting into the wearer. The cushioning can be provided by laminating a cushion layer between the upper and lower layers and the two, three or four female fasteners can be integrated in the component toward the end of the component where the breast begins. The opposite end of the component can be connected with an elastic, adjustable shoulder strap in a detachable or fixed manner.
When the unit is applied to a maternity brassiere, the flap can be connected to one or another of the fasteners while the undercup can be connected to the end of the component, thereby increasing the adjustability of the brassiere to a breast which can be full or empty of milk.
According to a feature of the invention, one of the connectors of the cup enhancer is a length of strap adapted to be passed through a ring and secured to a surface of the strip at a selected one of the fasteners and thus is provided at its end with a male combination press and hook fastener.
The connectors at one or both ends may be rings, preferably with an openable and closable side.
The strip itself is laminated from a pair of coextensive outer layers which are welded together, preferably with the cushioning layer between the outer layers. The cushioning layer may be narrower than the outer layers and can extend over only part of the length of the respective strip.
The above and other objects, features, and advantages will become more readily apparent from the following description, it being understood that any feature described with reference to one embodiment of the invention can be used where possible with any other embodiment and that reference numerals or letters not specifically mentioned with reference to one figure but identical to those of another refer to structure that is functionally if not structurally identical. In the accompanying drawing:
A brassiere 10 can, as shown in
The enhancers 26 and 27 have connectors 28 and 29 releasably joining them to the cups 12 and 13.
As can be seen in
The ring 35 can be opened and closed to the side 36 and is connected to a pair of aprons 37 sandwiching the strip 30 between them and welded thereto. The openable and closable D ring can correspond to the D ring disclosed in our copending application Ser. No. 11/113,354 filed 22 Apr. 2005 and incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. The strip 30 can be formed with a row of female fasteners 38 which can be welded to the strip so that toward the body, the backs of the fasteners are hidden or not hidden as desired. These fasteners can cooperate with male combination press and hook fasteners, e.g. as shown at 39. Fasteners of this type are described in our copending application Ser. No. 10/978,238 filed 29 Oct. 2004 and incorporated herein by reference.
The fastener 39 is formed at the end of a length 40 of strap extending from the strip 30 and adapted to be passed through an arm or loop so that the male fastener 39 can engage one of the female fasteners 38 as shown in
As can be seen from
The strap 34 has a length adjuster 45 of conventional configuration and a hook 46 allowing it to be engaged detachably in a loop along the back of the brassiere.
In
In
