Patent Application
20170055602
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to protective sports garments and, more particularly, to a universal breast protective garment for women that absorbs and dissipates impact forces to the breasts, while discouraging pinching and squeezing of the breasts that occurs in women's contact and collision sports.
Discussion of the Related Art
Women participating in contact and collision sports are prone to all sorts of injuries including breast injuries (e.g., bruising) that can result from direct forces of impact to the breasts, as well as from pinching and squeezing of the breasts by other participants. Examples of direct forces of impact may be caused by being struck by another participant, which may be by incidental collision or intentional punching or elbow jabs. Direct and potentially injurious forces of impact to the breasts may also result by being struck by a ball or other object during play, as well as from impact with the ground, floor or ice playing surface. Bruising and other injuries to the breasts during women's contact and collision sports occur quite frequently, can be severe and present a significant concern.
In the past, others have proposed various sports bras and upper body garments that are designed to provide protection to the breasts while participating in sports activities. All known breast protective garments in the related art are lacking in femininity and some are rather bulky and unsightly. Some of these garments in the related art provide extra padding in the breast area, including polymers that are adhered to the fabric of the garment. While these breast protective garments can help to cushion impact forces to the breasts, they are not structured to deflect impact forces, nor do they completely absorb and dissipate impact forces to the breasts. Therefore, a woman wearing the various breast protective garments in the related art may still suffer significant bruising and other injury despite the fact that the protective garment may have reduced the severity of the impact force. Moreover, these various protective garments in the related art are not designed to resist forces from pinching and squeezing of the breasts which occurs quite frequently during the course of women's competitive contact and collision sports events. A further problem associated with the various breast protective sports bras in the related art is the inability to easily remove the protective material in the breast cup of the bra. In most cases, the protective cushioning material is permanently adhered to the fabric of the garment and cannot be removed for separate laundering or replacement with varying density materials to accommodate particular sports activities.
Others have proposed breast protective garments in the related art that have breast cups formed of a compressible cushion polymer material covered by an outer rigid shell. While this proposed structure may have some benefit to resist against pinching and squeezing, the use of the rigid cup in many instances is not acceptable, as it will cause further injury to the wearer, as well as possibly to other participants. For example, in boxing and mixed martial arts, a participant may suffer serious hand injury from punching a rigid cup fitted over the opponent's breasts. Moreover, the edge of a rigid cup will hit the wearer's chest and cause bruising and other injury when the rigid cup is subjected to forces of impact.
Accordingly, despite the efforts of others in the related art, there still remains a definite and urgent need for a universal breast protective garment, generally in the form of a sports bra, that retains a feminine appearance and which is specifically structured to protect a woman's breasts and chest while participating in women's contact and collision sports by significantly reducing the effect of impact forces to the breasts and chest. Moreover, there is an urgent need for a universal breast protective garment that is specifically designed to at least partially deflect impact forces to the breasts, while resisting pinching and squeezing, and to absorb and dissipate impact forces that are not initially deflected, thereby protecting the breasts from bruising and other injury.
The present invention is directed to a universal breast protective garment for significantly reducing impact forces to a woman's breasts when participating in contact and collision sports. The universal breast protective garment is structured and configured to adjustably fit around a woman's upper torso and includes a front chest portion that comfortably surrounds and configures to the wearer's breasts. Left and right breast pockets are formed in the front chest portion between outer and inner layers of elastomeric material (e.g., neoprene) and include an opening for inserting and removing a protective breast cup assembly in each pocket. Each breast cup assembly includes an inner cup formed of a compressible elastomeric polymer that absorbs and dissipates impact forces, and an outer shell formed of a semi-rigid polymeric material that is harder than the inner cup and structured for deflecting impact forces and resisting pinching and squeezing. Shoulder straps, side panels and other areas of the garment are adjustable for proper fit on the wearer.
The universal breast protective garment of the present invention is useful in a wide variety of women's contact and collision sports as a breast and chest protector including, but not limited to, the following:
Considering the forgoing, it is a primary object if the present invention to provide a universal breast protective garment that adjustably fits and conforms to a wide range of body sizes, and wherein the breast protective garment has universal application for a wide variety of women's impact and collision sports, and further wherein the breast protective garment is specifically structured to deflect at least a portion of impact forces to the breasts, while resisting pinching and squeezing of the breasts, and to further absorb and dissipate impact forces that are not deflected, thereby protecting the breasts from bruising and other injury.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a universal breast protective garment that adjustably fits around and conforms to a wide range of women's sizes, and wherein the breast protective garment is structured to resemble a sports bra, and further wherein the universal breast protective garment is structured for significantly reducing impact forces to the breasts.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a universal breast protective garment that retains a desirable feminine appearance while also protecting the breasts and chest by significantly reducing the effect of impact forces to the breasts and chest.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a breast protective garment, generally in the form of a sports bra, and which includes pockets in the breast area for removably receiving protective breast cup assemblies therein, and further wherein the breast cup assemblies include and inner cup formed of a compressible elastomeric polymer that is compressible and has full elastic memory and an outer shell formed of a semi-rigid polymer material that is harder than the inner cup but still compressible with full elastic memory as well.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a breast protective garment, as described above, wherein the protective breast cup assemblies are removable from the pockets of the garment to allow for separate washing in the laundry of the garment and breast cups.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a universal breast protective garment, as described above, and wherein the garment is provided in the form of a sports bra made of neoprene, polyester or cotton.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a universal breast protective garment generally in the form of a sports bra, as described above, wherein the sports bra and protective breast cup assemblies are all fully breathable to avoid excessive heat and perspiration.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a universal breast protective garment that includes pockets for removably receiving protective breast cup assemblies, and wherein the breast cup assemblies include an outer shell formed of a semi-rigid polymer material designed to deflect forces of impact and resist pinching and squeezing, and an inner cup formed of a compressible elastomeric polymer that is structured for absorbing and dissipating impact forces.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention are more readily apparent with reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
For a fuller understanding of the nature of the present invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
Like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of the drawings.
Referring to the several views of the drawings, and initially
The universal, form-fitting breast protective garment 10 is adjustable to accommodate a wide range of upper body sizes and breast sizes. To provide for universal sizing, form fit and proper support, the garment 10 includes adjustable shoulder straps 28, adjustable overlapping side flaps 26, 27 below the arms, and a size adjustment feature between the breasts. In a preferred embodiment, the left and right shoulder straps 28 each include front segments 30, rear segments 32 and buckles 34 or other members to allow for sliding passage of front strap segments 30 and adjustment of the shoulder strap length. Releasable attachment means, such as hook and loop fasteners, allow for securing overlapping portions of the front shoulder strap segments 30 at adjusted positions to fit to the size of the wearer. The overlapping side adjustment flaps on each side of the garment include a front side flap 26 that extends from the front chest panel 20 and a rear side flap 27 that extends from the back panel 25 of the garment 10. The overlapping side flaps are provided with releasable fasteners 38, such as hook and loop fasteners, for adjusted attachment of a rear side flap 27 to a front side flap 26. In a preferred embodiment, the size adjustment between the breasts is provided by a lace or drawstring 40 that passes through eyelets 42, as seen in
The left and right chest portions 22, 24 on the front chest panel 20 are constructed to have an inner layer of material 50 and an outer layer of material 52 (see
Referring to
The breast cup assemblies 60 are inserted within and removed from each respective pocket 54 through the pocket opening 56. This allows for removal of the breast cup assemblies for washing the garment 10 and individually hand washing the inner cup 62 and outer shell 66 as necessary. The ability to easily insert and remove the breast cup assemblies 60 also allows for interchanging breast cup assemblies of varying cup size to accommodate different breast sizes as well as to change the hardness of the outer shell 66 and/or inner cup 62 as appropriate for different activities.
Adjusted movement of the left and right chest portions 22, 24, as described above, serves to selectively move and hold the left and right breast pockets 54, and left and right breast cup assemblies 60 therein, closer together or further apart through a range of adjusted positions.
While the present invention has been shown and described in accordance with a preferred and practical embodiment thereof, it is recognized that departures from the instant disclosure are fully contemplated within the spirit and scope of the present invention which are not to be limited except as defined in the following claims.
