Patent Application
20250082047
The invention refers to the technical field of undergarments, in particular to a brassiere.
Bra cup cores can be formed by two separated left and right bra cups. A joint is provided or not provided in center front gores of the bra cup cores. Or bra cup cores can be a semi/one piece bra cup cores, and a joint thereof is formed between center front gores during a molding process.
The side band fabric panels will be attached to the bra cup cores or molded fabric panels via design, and can be provided with elastic/fabric straps attached to shoulder strap platforms in an upper portion of the bra cup cores or molded fabric panels. Then the shoulder strap platforms will extend from the front to the back of the body and be attached to the side bands. The two ends of the elastic/fabric straps will be attached with fastening buckles to secure the bra cup cores on the breasts and along the chests to the back of the body.
Traditionally, the molded or stitched bra cup cores are assembled on the fabric panels via stitching along the peripheries thereof.
Such method for manufacturing brassieres has been developed for many years. However, the process is time consuming. The fabric panels need to be cut, jointed and stitched by skilled workers. Moreover, the brassieres made in this way look cumbersome, and the joints and seams make wearers feel itchy and dis-comfortable.
Seamless brassieres fused with the bra cup cores have appeared in the market. Generally, the fabric panels will be fused on the cavity side of the bra cup cores to cover human breasts there. The fabric panels can be fused at the concave side or convex side or both sides of the bra cup cores.
At present, one way of such operation is that, the fabric panels will be molded and fused with the bra cup cores with male and female mold heads within one process.
Adhesives will be sprayed on the bonding sides of the bra cup cores. The adhesives as shown in the present invention are sprayed on the concave sides of the bra cup cores. The fabric panels will be placed at the tops of the female fusing mold heads, and the bra cup cores have been placed on the cavities thereof in this place. Then the fabric panels will be molded and fused with the bra cup core within one process.
By virtue of such method, the fabric molding and the bra cup core fusing will be accomplished between a convex profile of the male mold head and the concave profile of the bra cup cores at one time. Therefore, the two profiles need to be matched completely, otherwise, the cavities of the bra cup cores will be squeezed and deformed by the convex profile of the male mold head.
The problem of this method is that different fabrics will have different constructions, physical properties and thermal properties, so that the profiles of the molded fabrics will be changed according to the molding depth and curvature. Therefore, if the convex profile of the male mold head is limited as the concave profile of the bra cup cores. If the depth of the molded fabric panels is too shallow, then the vertexes of the molded fabric panels cannot contact and be fused with the vertexes on the bra cup cores. If the cup depth of the molded fabric panels is too deep, to the contrary, then the excessive fabrics from the molded fabric profiles will become wrinkled or folded in the cavities of the fused bra cup cores.
Some bra cup cores may be manufactured in the shape like this, such as those with shallow bra cup depth and little deviation of the cup periphery, as shown in
The other method is two-step molding and fusing technology. The fabric panels will be molded as the profile of the side surface of the bra cup cores and the bra cup cores will be fused at the side surface thereof.
The adhesives will be sprayed on the bonding sides of the bra cup cores, for example, on the concave side, as shown in the illustrations of the present invention. The fabric panels will be placed on the top of the female fusing mold head, the bra cup cores have been placed on cavities thereof in this place, and then the fabric panels will be fused with the bra cup cores.
The vertexes are the highest point on the convex profile of the molded circular cones. The concave side of the molded circular cones will be arranged vertically inward. The human breast nipples are placed in these places.
Both of the methods have the same difficulty, that is, how to accurately align the vertexes with the two parts relative to the human breast nipples.
As shown in the illustrations of the present invention, the vertexes on the concave sides of the bra cup cores need to be accurately fused with the vertexes on the convex sides of the molded fabric panels, otherwise the two parts will shift in the same or opposite direction relative to the points of the human breast nipples, move left/right and/or up/down. As a result, the bra cup cores fused with the fabric panels will shift left/right and/or up/down relative to the human breasts.
One way to restore the shifted bra cup cores relative to the peripheries of the fused fabric panels is to use larger fabric panels for the fabric molding and the bra cup core fusing, and then to trim off the fabric edge to restore fabric panels fused with the bra cup cores to their original design patterns.
Two points are marked on the board with a distance as the two vertexes of the bra cup cores fused on the fabric panels, and then peripheral carving lines are used on the board as the final fabric patterns relative to the two vertexes. Two convex solid shape modules with vertexes and profiles are used as the concave cavities of bra cup cores. The bra cup cores will be vertically matched with the two vertex marks on the board with vertex positions. Moreover, the two convex shape modules relative to the fabric panels of the fused bra cup cores are fastened on the board in a way of rotation, and the cutting module will take the periphery as its final fabric panels.
No matter whether the vertexes on the bra cup cores are fused on the fabric panels in the correct position, a trimming process is needed to trim off the excessive fabric edges to restore the original design patterns.
The concave sides of the fabric panel fused with the bra cup cores will be placed on the top of the two convex modules by trying to move and match the vertexes corresponding to the nipples on the convex sides of the bra cup cores to the vertexes on the convex sides of the solid modules, and then placing a die cutting module on the carving line on the board to cut off the redundant fabric edge overlapping the carving line.
Because it is difficult to match the positions corresponding to the nipples on the concave sides of the bra cup cores to the vertexes of the covered convex module, a misplacement for the fused fabric panels of the bra cup cores on the top of the convex solid shape module will occur. If the vertexes are shifted between the convex module and the fused fabric panels of the bra cup cores, then the fused fabric panel will be misplaced relative to the grid lines carved on the board relatively. As a result, the fabric panels will be repositioned or punched. The punching module will be placed on the top of the fabric panel of the bra cup cores in a way of aligning a cutting blade of the punching module with the carved grid line, and the fabric edge overlapping the carved grid line will be trimmed off.
The restoring process is feasible. The standard of the restoring process is to accurately place the fused fabric panel of the bra cup cores on the convex solid shape mould, otherwise the shifting of the vertexes on the fused fabric panel of the bra cup cores relative to the patterns of the original fabric panels will be retained.
In case of no joint between the center front gores, it is additionally difficult to align the vertexes of the bra cup cores with single left and right cups. The left and right cups will independently move left/right and/or up/down. As a result, the left and right cups will be separated from or close to each other and/or move up/down relative to the vertexes of the molded fabric panel.
The function of the joint between the center front gores of the bra cup cores is to limit the movement of the breasts from east to west. If the seamless bra is composed of a single left cup and a single right cup, then the control function of the joint between the center cup gores will completely depend on the physical properties and the distance of the fabric panels between these fused cups. Therefore, where the cups should be positioned and fused is crucial.
If the distance between the cups exceeds the tolerance, the current method for restoring the fused fabric decorative cups of the bra cup cores to the original design pattern thereof will be helpless for the bra cup cores with the single left and right cups.
In the process of punching the fabric edge, skilled workers cost time to correctly place the panel of the bra cup cores and additional fabric materials to restore the original pattern, and all additional costs will be added back to the final products.
The present invention aims at using the 3D bonding technology for the bra cup cores instead of a traditional method for stitching the bra cup cores with the fabric panels, which can minimize the discomfort caused by joining and stitching, so as to propose a more economical, effective and excellent seamless brassiere. In this way, consumers will have a better choice.
A brassiere according to the present invention includes a bra cup core; a molded fabric panel, adhered to concave sides of the bra cup core, and covered a convex side of the bra cup core; at least one piece of foam material, adhered with one layer of the molded fabric panel; side bands, attached from underarm of the bra cup core or the molded fabric panel, and extended to a back of a body; and shoulder straps, attached with and extended from upward sides of the bra cup cores or upper front of the fabric panel, and connected to the side bands near the back of the body.
The shapes of the bra cup cores and the molded fabric panels are defined by the numbers of the peripheries thereof and the three-dimensional shape profile.
In order to achieve the object of the present invention, the following designs are provided: enabling new adhesive materials and a coating machine, a fabric rack, a tool and a clamp for the application of the adhesive to work together with precisely designed fabric panels for molding; disposing the bra cup cores with three-dimensional coordinates (X, Y and Z) around via pop-out notches designated on the fabric periphery; providing the fabric rack with horizontal and vertical reference lines for the alignment and installation of all molds; a reference line on the fused mold head used for placing the bra cup cores and orderly process flow for the fabric panel molding and the bra cup core fusing in machine design; and the sequential process flow used for designing the machine for molding the fabric panel and fusing the bra cup cores. All designs together can fix the vertex alignment between the bra cup cores and the molded fabric panels, so that an additional fabric panel trimming process is not needed.
By virtue of adopting a better workflow and system, the deviation of vertex alignment during fusion, the layout deviation of the fabric panels of the bra cup cores integrated on a panel for die cutting is reduced, and no additional die cutting for fabric edges on the fabric panels does not need, so as to save the time of skilled workers and the cost of additional fabric materials. The seamless brassiere is well matched in the present invention. Such bra will bring comfort, lightness and feeling of control to human breasts.
In order to make it easier to understand, the present invention is described by accompanying drawings, but is not limited to the accompanying drawings as shown hereinafter.
The brassiere of the present invention is further described in detailed with reference to the drawings hereinafter in order to understand purposes, structures and functions of the present invention well.
Artificial thermoplastic materials are used for manufacturing bra cup cores and fabric panels. These materials are molded by three-dimensional profile mold heads with convex and concave halves. The bra cup cores and the fabric panels prepared in this way can be in a profile shape, so that they are more comfortable and fit to human breasts.
The molded bra cup cores include one layer or multiple layers of materials. The number of layers is not limited. Generally, a top layer (1) can be an artificial thermoplastic fabric layer, a middle layer (2) can be a thermoplastic polyurethane (PU) foam or fiberfill layer, and a body layer (3) can be an artificial thermoplastic fabric layer. The artificial thermoplastic fabrics can be, for example but are not limited to the materials, such as nylon or spandex, polyester, polyester or spandex, polyester or cotton, synthetic elastane and spandex.
The construction of the bra cup core should be provided with at least one layer (2) or a combination of layers (1), (2) and (3). The combination does not have to be in order or need to be combined with all these layers. It can be multiple layers with different combinations.
Embedded materials can be provided for additional functions between the top layer (1) and the middle layer (2). The embedded materials can be, but are not limited to the materials, such as plastic wire or steel wire with a housing on the bottom cup, fabric or plastic sheet or thermoplastic nets as a sling for stabilizing, supporting and forcing, a layer of foam for buffering and supporting, and oil or air plastic bags for pushing upward. The combination of these embedded materials will depend on requirements, design and function. Adhesives or fusible films or glue will be applied between these layers to provide adhesion to prevent delamination between layers.
One or multiple layers of materials used for the bra cup cores will be handled through the molding process via a series of two halves convex and concave mold heads to form a three-dimensional cup shape to fit the human breasts.
The molded fabric panel includes at least one of top layer fabrics or body layer fabrics. The bra cup cores will be fused in the body layer. The fusing can be on the concave sides of the bra cup cores with the convex sides of the molded fabric panel at the bottom. The fusing can be on the convex sides of the bra cup cores with the concave sides of the molded fabric panel at the top. The fusing can be on both concave and convex parts of the bra cup cores between the molded top fabric panel and the bottom fabric panel.
Molded fabric panel can be made of, but not limited to the materials, such as knitted tubes/opening knitted fabric materials manufactured by Santoni machines. The fabric panel can be made of artificial thermoplastic fabrics, such as nylon/spandex, polyester, polyester/spandex, polyester/cotton, Lyrca and spandex. Due to the advantages of design and workflow for the fabric molding and the bra cup core fusing, it is possible to work with some heat sensitive natural blend cellulose fabrics, such as polyester/cotton, cotton/modal, blend cotton and blend modal fabrics.
The top layer and the body layer of the fabric panel can be molded together or separately, and will be molded with the profiles of the convex side and the concave side of the bra cup cores respectively.
The adhesives need to be pre-sprayed on the bonding sides of the bra cup cores, and be made of geothermal melt polyurethane (PUR) preferably, but not limited to solvent based polyurethane (PU) or thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) adhesives.
The top/body fabric panel will be cut according to the designed pattern of the designated pop-out notch therearound. A fabric clamps are needed for additional clamping during the fabric molding process.
The bra cup cores and the molded fabric panels used in the present invention need to form into a three-dimensional cup shape before fusing the two components together. Different functional materials can be attached to at least one of the top or body side of the fabric to provide additional functions. The attached materials can be, but are not limited to, silicone resin/polyurethane (PU) resin, which can be a resin covered with flocking materials, and an artificial thermoplastic fabric as a sling to provide additional support and control.
In order to overcome the mentioned difficulties, the workflow, the fabric rack, clamps and tools are designed, and a computer numerical control used for the fabric panel molding machine and the bra cup core fusing machine is redesigned, as shown in
The bra cup cores are in different forms, which are limited by the number of periphery thereof and three-dimensional profile. In illustrations of the present invention,
Correspondingly, the fabric panels are also in different forms, such as being semi one piece covering the body, which are connected with the side bands through stitching or bonding, or being one piece, like knitted tube fabrics, wounding from the front to the back of the body without an opening, and being continuously folded from the middle half part of the transverse side of the fabric, being fused with elastic thermoplastic materials or stitched with elastic straps along the bottom of the longitudinal side of the inner folded fabric, as chest straps for controlling the fitting to the body. The folded fabric panel becomes two layers, the top layer and the body layer. The bra cup cores can be fused between the top layer and the body layer. Or the two layers of fabrics can be fused or sonic welded on the edge of the longitudinal side, and then fused with the elastic thermoplastic materials or stitched with the elastic straps along the longitudinal side. The fabric between the layers becomes the chest strap for controlling the fitting to the body. The joint layer of the fabric panels becomes the top layer and the body layer of the fabric panels, so that the bra cup cores can be fused between the top layer and the body layer.
As shown in
The bra cup cores (2, 3 and 4) need to be manufactured by the bra cup core molding machine shown in
The bra cup core (2, 3 and 4) has two cup cavities. The shape of the cup is defined by the periphery and profile thereof, thereby providing coverage and support the breasts of a person.
The periphery of the bra cup cores (2, 3 and 4) includes a under burst 9, a neckline 10 and an underarm 6, which define the cup shape and the covering range of the bra cup. The shoulder strap platforms 5 define the bra cup core (2, 3 and 4) with shoulder traps 48. A joint of two cups can be or can not be provided between the center front gores 7. The joint is used for controlling the position of the cup cavities cover the breasts. The vertex 1, the highest point on the profile of the bra cup, is projected inward vertically into the cup cavities, and the breast nipple will be positioned at this vertex.
The bra cup core (2, 3 and 4) is formed by one or multiple layers of foam sheets 16 laminated with fabric panel 15 on at least one of one side or both sides. The fabric panel 15 will be placed between two halves of mold heads. The male mold head 11 in a convex projected shape 13 can be in different designs, such as even/uneven thickness on the profile thereof to generate different functions on the cavities side of the bra cup core (2, 3 and 4), such as bump for pushup effect and indented lines for visual appearance. The female mold head 12 (as shown in
The bra cup cores (2, 3 and 4) can provide different functions for the human breasts. Different functional materials can be inserted between the foam layers to provide additional functions. The inserted materials can be, but are not limited to, at least one of a foam layer, a fabric layer or a plastic material layer on the designated area. For example, inserting fabric sling along at least one of the underarm 6 or the under burst 9 of the bra cup cores (2, 3 and 4) to provide force and stability so as to avoid the movement of the breasts, and/or inserting the plastic/steel wire with wired housing into the under burst 9 so as to provide lifting and control, or inserting one or combination of polyester fiber filling or polyurethane foam plastic or artificial fabric or plastic sheet or thermoplastic polyurethane or ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer plastic net or thermoplastic polyurethane plastic wire or steel wire rings with polyester wire housing or at least one of air or oil bags so as to provide different functions. In order to prevent delamination, an adhesive will be applied between the layer materials before molding. The adhesive is preferably but not limited to hot-melt polyamide (PA), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and polyurethane (PUR).
With regard to the molding of the bra cup core (2, 3 and 4), the two halves molds 11 and 12 in
The fabric rack 27 in
As shown in
As shown in
The fabric panel 19 becomes a molded fabric panel 38 with fabric vertexes 24, and is held on the fabric rack 27. In
The molded fabric panel 38 on the fabric panel rack 27 in
The molded fabric panel 38 has the vertexes 24 of the highest points on the molded convex profile 39 and two molded fabric cavities 40. The fabric vertexes 24 will align with the vertexes 1 of the bra cup cores. These components are fused together to form the fused bra cup core with fabric panel 46.
The designated pop-out notches are additionally cut/trimmed off by unskilled workers within the least time.
As a result, the fabric panel molded in a smoother and more effective sequential process and the bra cup cores fused in a correct alignment manner on the vertexes of the molded fabric panels and the bra cup cores are provided. The innovative design of the workflow in the present invention, the reference line on the fabric rack for the alignment of the mold heads, the reference line for placing the fabric panel, the reference line on the inclined plane of the cavity of the fusing mold head, the fabric panel molding and the bra cup core fusing under the same group of machines in order, can solve all the problems mentioned about the positioning of the bra cup cores.
The present invention can be applied in another form and process without any specific details in public. The same set of technical knowledge, spirit and concept, innovative design in the workflow, the fabric rack, the tools and the clamps, and computer numerical control in the machine can work together with different formations of the fabric panel molding and the bra cup core fusing. For example, the layout of the machine does not need to be the fabric panel molding machine on the left and the bra cup core fusing machine on the right. The two layers of fabric panel or the continuous fabric are folded and molded with the clamps and the tools to become the top fabric panel and the body fabric panel. The upper and lower fabrics are arranged in a reverse direction, and fused with the half molds. The fusion can occur on the convex side of the bra cup cores with concave side of the top molded fabric panel. In the same machine group with repeated processes for the fabric molding and bra cup fusing machines, the adhesion of the bra cup core can be fused between the molded top and body fabric panel, and the same machine group with additional tools and clamps can be made together with the tube knitted fabrics. Therefore, the present invention should not be limited by the specific disclosure herein, but should be regarded as appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202122962748.8 | Nov 2021 | CN | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/CN2022/095992 | 5/30/2022 | WO |
