Button fastener

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6442808
  • Patent Number
    6,442,808
  • Date Filed
    Friday, May 25, 2001
    23 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, September 3, 2002
    22 years ago
Abstract
A garment fastener, especially for brassieres, with a press-button action and configuration, utilizes a pair of circular members welded to the garment and through which the fabric is visible and a circular member attached to the strap and forming a press connection with either of the two circular members attached to the fabric. The members have prongs which are engaged in the fabric of the garment and are welded to the member on the opposite side of the fabric.
Description




FIELD OF THE INVENTION




Our present invention relates to a button fastener, especially for brassieres and, more particularly, to a fastener which can be used to attach a strap or the like to a garment, such as a brassiere, utilizing a press-fit between male and female members.




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




While a variety of fasteners have been used heretofore to attach, for example, the strap of a brassiere to the body thereof, there is a continuing desire for improvement in this field. Hook and loop fasteners, for example, have aesthetic disadvantages, while eyelet type fasteners may require stitching of fabric pieces or fastener parts to the garment. Most fasteners provided heretofore have been relatively complex, time-consuming in application to the garment or unsatisfactory from the point of view of laundering and manipulation by the user.




In some cases problems have been encountered with a particular fabric material to which the fastener is to be attached. For example, for some materials like those of jeans and jackets, the fastener can be applied easily. With, however, certain knitted or woven materials which are softer, more flexible and more delicate, like brassieres, lingerie, swim wear and baby wear fabrics, earlier fastener types cannot be used as effectively.




OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION




It is, therefore, the principal object of the present invention to provide a garment fastener, especially between a strap and the body of a brassiere, which is easily applied to the fabric, can be connected and disconnected easily, is capable of withstanding repeated laundering and poses no danger to other delicate garments in the wash, and is aesthetic in appearance in all stages.




Another object of the invention is to provide a fastener which can have a part attached to a garment body, for example, that of a strapless brassiere, so that another part, for example, a strap, can be applied as need arises.




It is also an object of this invention to provide a fastener for the purposes described which can be used as a decorative element on the garment.




Still another object of the invention is to provide a garment with improved aesthetic and improved reliability and ease of functioning of these garment fasteners.




Yet a further object is to eliminate drawbacks of earlier garment fasteners, especially for brassieres.




It is an object of this invention, as well, to provide an improved fastener for a reversible garment, especially an undergarment and most particularly a brassiere, which is compatible with the difference in colors of the sides of that garment.




A related object is to provide an improved reversible garment which can be fabricated economically and more efficiently than earlier garments, utilizing a button-type fastener.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




These objects and others which will become apparent hereinafter are attained, in accordance with the invention, in a fastener for two parts of a garment, e.g. a strap and a brassiere body, and having respective fastener parts attached to the two parts of the garment to be joined together. According to the invention, one of these parts is a ring which is formed with an opening and is composed of two sections, one on each side of the fabric piece carrying the fastener part and welded together through the fabric so that the fabric is exposed through the opening. The other fastener part forms a press button with the first fastener part and preferably has a formation complementary to the formation on either of the two sections of the ring and can be press-fitted onto it. The formations are respectively a male formation and a female formation. The female formation can be an inwardly-extending overhang surrounding the opening in the respective ring section while the male formation can be a generally cylindrical collar boss or rib having an outward bulge engageable behind the overhang.




The outer configuration of the male member can correspond to that of the female members so that when the two parts of the fastener are joined together, they appear identical from front and back. The male member can engage in the female fastener part at either one of its sections, i.e. on one side of the fabric or the other and in that case the fastener may be reversible and the garment carrying the fastener can be reversible. The fact that the fabric of the garment is exposed through the openings in both the male and female fastener parts has been found to contribute to the overall aesthetics of the fastener which has a press button configuration and in which the female fastener part can form a decorative element for the body of the garment even if no strap is applied.




According to a feature of the invention, one of the sections of the female part of the fastener can be provided with a plurality of spaced-apart pins which are pointed and can pierce the fabric when the two parts of the female fastener are pressed together and joined by welding to one another and to the fabric. The other sections of the female fastener parts may have a plurality of recesses or depressions dimensioned to receive the projections.




The male fastener part can be connected to the strap by a pair of shield-shaped plates which straddle the strap and are welded thereto. It has been found to be advantageous to form the male fastener part with a laterally-projecting lug which is connected to the aforementioned plates. The lug can be provided with pins engageable in holes in the plates or holes can be provided in the lug through which pins of one or both of the plates can extend. For aesthetic reasons, it is desirable to have the pins connecting the plates together and/or to the lug project from a side of one of the plates. In this case, one of the plates can be provided with the pins which pass through holes in the lug and in the other plate.




The invention also encompasses the garment provided with such a fastener, especially a brassiere. In that case, a body of the brassiere is provided with the female fastener and the male fastener can engage in this female fastener from either side and can be carried by the strap.




The fastener of the invention has been found to be particularly effective with reversible garments, especially reversible undergarments such as brassieres. A brassiere, according to the invention, can be fabricated from molded cups entirely by a welding process, i.e. without stitched seams, and such that the fabrics on the opposite sides of the brassiere have different colors so that either of these colors or fabrics may be the outer fabric and the other the inner fabric of the brassiere, depending upon how the garment is reversed. According to the present invention, one of the annuluses of the female fastener may be of one color while the other annulus is of another color to match the fabric or side of the brassiere to which the respective annulus is welded.




Since the male fastener part is attached to the strap by welding and the female fastener part has its annuluses or rings also attached by welding, not only is the garment itself fabricated by a welding process free from stitching but the reversible fastener can be applied also entirely by welding operations. Naturally, the opposite sides of the male fastener part may be of different colors corresponding to the colors of the annuluses or rings of the female fastener part so that the male fastener part, upon reversible of the garment, need only be turned over to provide a match between the visible portions of the two fastener parts.




According to another aspect of the invention, a garment fastener can comprise a first fastener part secured to the fabric of a garment and comprising a pair of thermoplastic synthetic resin fastener sections on opposite sides of the fabric and a second fastener part having a pair of fastener sections on opposite sides of another portion of fabric or a member which is attached to the fabric, and complementary male and female formations on one of the fastener sections of the first fastener part and one of the fastener sections of the second fastener part respectively for releasable engagement by press-button action to engage the second fastener part with the first fastener part.




In this aspect of the invention, the two fastener sections on opposite sides of the fabric can be ultrasonically welded through the respective layer of the fabric and at least one of those fastener sections can be provided with a multiplicity of prongs extending toward the other fastener section of the respective fastener part. The prongs of the one fastener section can be ultrasonically welded to the other section. Preferably, especially for soft material like baby wear and delicate lingerie fabrics, both sections of each fastener part have multiplicities of prongs reaching toward a welded part of the other section. While, in the past, prongs which are intended to penetrate a fabric have been practically conical from their base at the section from which they protrude, according to the present invention, the prongs are columnar and have a shank portion which is cylindrical or only slightly conical or tapered but have pointed tips.




In a typical configuration, six prongs can be provided on each of the sections and these prongs can be angularly equispaced and arrayed along a circle.




According to a feature of the invention, one of the sections of each part is basically flat and that section can be provided with the male formation or the female formation. The other section of the respective part may be slightly convex and rounded along its surface turned away from the other part. With this configuration, especially thin fasteners can be provided.




One or the other or both of the convex surfaces can be embossed with a decorative pattern and it is possible to provide noncircular shapes for the fasteners. For example, they may be of triangular, square or even flower shape.




According to another feature of the invention, one of the sections can be a prong section which is applied directly to a strap by an ultrasonic welding operation without a second section joined thereto.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING




The above and other objects, features, and advantages will become more readily apparent from the following description, reference being made to the accompanying drawing in which:





FIG. 1

is a perspective view of a brassiere provided with a fastener according to the invention;





FIG. 2

is an elevational view showing one side of the female part of this fastener applied to a fabric;





FIG. 3

is a perspective view of one section of the female fastener part;





FIG. 4

is a perspective view of the other section;





FIG. 5

is a perspective view of the two sections joined together, albeit without the fabric between them;





FIG. 6

is a perspective view broken away showing the two sections joined and without the fabric between them;





FIG. 7

is a perspective view partially broken away showing the fastener with the male and female parts joined but again without the fabric between the two sections of the female parts;





FIG. 8

is an enlarged elevational view of the male portion of the fastener seen from one side;





FIG. 9

is a view similar to

FIG. 8

showing the male fastener part as seen from the opposite side;





FIG. 10

is a side elevational view of the plates affixing the male fastener part to the strap;





FIG. 11

is a side elevational view of the two plates connected together but without the strap or the lug of the male fastener part.





FIG. 12

is a cross sectional view through a fastener according to another aspect of the invention;





FIG. 13

is a detail view of one section;





FIG. 14

is an end view of that section;





FIG. 15

is a perspective view of the end section of

FIG. 13

;





FIG. 16

is a cross sectional view through another section;





FIG. 17

is an end view of the section of

FIG. 16

;





FIG. 18

is a perspective view of the latter section;





FIG. 19

is a cross sectional view of an outer section;





FIG. 20

is an end view thereof;





FIG. 21

is a perspective view of that section;





FIG. 22

is a cross sectional view of the other section of the other part;





FIG. 23

is an end view thereof;





FIG. 24

is a perspective view of the latter section;





FIG. 25

is a perspective view of a fastener in which a section is directly attached to a strap;





FIG. 26

is a cross sectional view thereof;





FIG. 27-29

are elevational views showing other configurations of the fastener according to the invention;





FIG. 30

is a cross sectional view similar to

FIG. 12

showing another type of fastener which can operate either as a push button fastener as has been described or as a hook and eye type fastener;





FIG. 31

is an elevational view of the eye portion of this fastener; and





FIG. 32

is an elevational view of the portion of the fastener acting as a hook.











SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION




The principles of the invention will be apparent from

FIG. 1

which shows half of a brassiere


10


having a cup


11


and a back strap


12


. A shoulder strap


13


can be connected to the brassiere by a pair of press-button fasteners represented at


14


and


15


, respectively.




The fastener


15


comprises male and female members


16


and


17


attached to the strap


13


and to the brassiere body


10


, respectively, and interconnected at a button


18


of circular shape. The cylindrical boss


19


of the male member


16


can be seen within the hole formed by the ring


20


of the female member. The male and female members are both carried via lugs


21


and


22


by pairs of shield-shaped plates


23


and


24


, welded to the strap


13


and to the cup fabric, respectively. A press-button fastener of this type is described in the copending application Ser. No. 29/120,109 filed Mar. 14, 2000 (see U.S. Pat. No. D-433,965).




The press-button fastener of the present invention differs from that shown at


15


in that the female member is formed from two ring-shaped sections, one of which is visible at


25


in

FIG. 1. A

similarly-shaped circular ring fastener part is provided on the opposite side of the strap


12


of the body of the brassiere and is not visible in FIG.


1


. The male member


26


, however, is engageable in the opening on either of these two annuluses and thus can be affixed to the female fastener part on either side of the strap


12


. In either case, a fabric portion


27


is visible through the opening of the female member and will be visible through the opening


28


of the male member when the latter is pressed onto the female member.




The female member of the fastener is identified at


30


in FIG.


5


and is formed as two halves or sections


31


and


32


straddling the fabric


33


of the garment. The external appearances of the two halves are identical and thus each has an opening


34


surrounded by a thin ridge


35


separated by a groove


36


from a thicker bead


37


. The ring half


31


has been shown in FIG.


3


and the complementary half


32


has been illustrated in FIG.


4


. From

FIGS. 3 and 4

it will be apparent that each of the female fastener sections has a flat surface


38


or


39


adapted to lie against the fabric


33


while the section


31


has angularly-equispaced pointed pins


40


adapted to pierce the fabric and engage in corresponding recesses


42


formed in the member


32


. The two sections are joined together as shown in

FIG. 6

with the projections


40


in the recesses


42


and the sections thermally or ultrasonically welded together and to the fabric


33


sandwiched between them but not visible in

FIGS. 5

,


6


or


7


.




As is also apparent from

FIG. 6

, the narrow ribs


35


of the two sections form overhanging edges


43


and


44


which engage behind a bulge


45


in the cylindrical rib


46


projecting from the flat surface


47


of the male member of the fastener. The side of the male member


50


of the fastener from which the cylindrical projection


46


juts is visible in FIG.


9


. The opposite side is seen in FIG.


8


and has a narrow rib


51


separated by a groove


52


from a wider bead


53


similar to that of the sections


31


and


32


shown in

FIGS. 3-7

so that the appearance remains generally the same whether the male and female members are connected or the female member is seen alone. In any case, the fabric piece


27


can be viewed through the openings in the male and female members. The male member is in addition formed with a lateral lug


54


which can have holes receiving pins


57


of a plate


58


projecting through these holes and through holes in another shield-shaped plate


59


.




The pins


57


are visible in

FIGS. 10 and 11

as well and the plates


58


and


59


can be seen to have projections


60


which grip the strap


13


when the latter is sandwiched between the plates and is welded thereto. Of course the plates


58


and


59


are not only welded to the strap


13


but to one another and to the lug


54


via the pins


57


.




The welding here as well can be ultrasonic or thermal or a combination of the two.




The parts of the fastener can be injection molded from synthetic resin material and the plates


58


and


59


can have a different color from that of the male fastener portion and/or the female fastener portion and, while all of the parts can be of a matte finish, various textures or finishes can be provided.




As will be apparent from

FIG. 1

, the brassiere body


10


can be fabricated entirely by welding processes, the cups


11


of the brassiere being molded. Advantageously, the opposite sides of the brassiere


10


, shown by different shading in

FIG. 1

, may be of different colors and hence the ring of the female fastener part applied to one side of the garment can be of a different color from the ring applied to the opposite side. The male fastener part may be of different colors on opposite sides as well so that, like the garment, the strap can be reversed to ensure a match between the respective side of the male fastener part and the ring of the female fastener part which it engages. In that case, each of the male and female fastener parts are of two colors to match the two colors of the garment.




While the principles previously described are applicable to the fasteners of

FIGS. 12-29

in that the sections thereof may be annular and reveal the fabric through the respective fabric sections, and the principles of the embodiments of

FIGS. 12-29

may be applicable to the fasteners of

FIGS. 1-12

in that the prong arrangements shown may be included in the annular sections of those fasteners,

FIG. 12

shows a preferred embodiment of a press-button fastener of the type which can be used on delicate fabric.




This fastener comprises a first fastener part


110


and a second fastener part


120


comprised respectively of sections


111


and


112


and


121


and


122


. As can be seen from

FIGS. 12 and 13

, the section


112


is formed with an array of prongs


130


and with a male member or boss


140


whose outer bulge


141


is engageable behind the ridge


124


surrounding an opening


123


in the section


121


best seen in FIGS.


12


and


16


-


18


. The ridge


124


of the boss


141


forms a press-button fastener as has been described previously. The sections


111


and


112


are both provided with the prongs


130


and the sections


121


and


122


are similarly provided with the prongs


130


. Each of the prongs


130


can be formed with a shank


131


which is slightly tapered or cylindrical and is provided as a point


132


. As can be seen from

FIGS. 20 and 21

, the convex surface


125


of section


122


can be embossed with a pattern


126


, for example of a comet and stars.




In practice, the fabric is placed between sections


111


and


112


and between the sections


121


and


122


and the two sections of each fastener part are pressed together and ultrasonically fused to one another and, in the case of an appropriate fabric, to the fabric itself.




The sections


112


and


121


are generally disk-shaped but, to allow the fastener parts to nest well together, the section


112


can be recessed at


150


to accommodate the convex shape


151


of the section


121


.




The sections


111


and


122


are curved and convex as shown at


126


and


125


, respectively. The press-button of

FIGS. 12-24

allows the female section to be formed with two identical parts sandwiching the fabric between them.




In addition, the section


112


can be ultrasonically bonded to a tape


160


as shown in

FIGS. 25 and 26

, in which case the prongs partly penetrate the tape


160


which can be composed of a thermoplastic synthetic resin.




As will be apparent from

FIGS. 27-29

, the external configurations of the fastener can be triangular as shown at


170


, square or rectangular as shown at


180


or even of a flower shape as shown at


190


.





FIG. 30

is a view similar to

FIG. 23

but showing a fastener which can be used like that of

FIGS. 12 through 29

as a pushbutton fastener but, alternatively, can be utilized in a hook and eye mode like the fasteners of our application Ser. No. 09/662,299 filed Sep. 15, 2000 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,347,438 which is hereby incorporated by reference.




The fastener of

FIG. 30

comprises two fastener halves


210


and


220


each of which is comprised of two sections


211


and


212


which can be pressed from opposite sides against the fabric and ultrasonically welded together as has been described in connection with FIG.


12


. Both of these sections


211


and


212


are formed with pins


230


as has been described and section


212


is recessed at


250


to fit against the surface


251


of a section


221


of the other fastener half


220


. The latter includes a section


222


which can be ultrasonically welded to section


221


through the fabric, these sections


221


and


222


including pins


230


in the manner described.




In this fastener, the male formation


240


has a split head


241


which can engage beneath the overhanging edge


224


of an opening


225


upon being inserted through an outwardly diverging mouth


226


as has been described in the latter copending application. Thus the male formation


240


can either be inserted into the member


221


in a pushbutton action or slid into the latter through the mouth


226


in a hook eye fashion. To separate the members


210


and


220


, they can be pulled apart transversely as a pushbutton fastener is separated or laterally as a hook and eye fastener is separated.



Claims
  • 1. A garment fastener comprising:a first fastener part secured to fabric of a garment and comprising a pair of annular fastener sections on opposite sides of the fabric; a second fastener part having a pair of annular fastener sections on opposite sides of a support; and complementary male and female formations on one of said fastener sections of each of said fastener parts for releasable engagement by press-button action but engage the second fastener part with the first fastener part, at least one of said fastener sections of each fastener part being formed with a multiplicity of prongs in a circular array surrounding said formations, penetrating the respective fabric and support and fused to the other fastener section of the respective fastener part.
  • 2. The garment fastener defined in claim 1 wherein at least some of said fastener sections are of circular configuration.
  • 3. The garment fastener defined in claim 1 wherein at least one of said fastener sections is of a noncircular configuration.
  • 4. The garment fastener defined in claim 1 wherein at least one of said fastener sections is a ring and a fabric to which the respective part is attached is visible through the ring.
  • 5. The garment fastener defined in claim 1 wherein the male and female formations are respectively an annular boss having an outer bulge and an inwardly-extending edge of an opening of the respective part.
  • 6. The garment fastener defined in claim 1 wherein all of said sections are circular.
  • 7. The garment fastener defined in claim 1 wherein each of said prongs has a substantially cylindrical shank and a point at an end of said shank.
  • 8. A garment fastener comprising:a strap; a first fastener part comprised of an annular fastener section on one side of said strap having a multiplicity of prongs in a circular array engaged in and ultrasonically fused on another fastener section on an opposite side of said strap; a second fastener part comprising a pair of annular fastener sections on opposite sides of a fabric, at least one of the sections of said second fastener part having a circular array of a multiplicity of prongs penetrating said fabric and ultrasonically fused to the other section of the second fastener part; and complementary male and female formations on one of the sections of each of said parts for releasable engageable by press-button action to engage the second fastener part with the first fastener part, the arrays of prongs surrounding said formations.
  • 9. The garment fastener defined in claim 8 wherein said prongs has a substantially cylindrical shank and a point at an end of said shank.
  • 10. A garment fastener comprising a first fastener part secured to fabric of a garment and comprising a pair of fastener sections on opposite sides of the fabric;a second fastener part having a pair of fastener sections on opposite sides of a support, one of the fasteners sections of said first fastener part being formed with a head and one of the fastener sections of the second fastener part being formed with an opening receiving said head and formed with an outwardly diverging mouth enabling said head to be selectively press fitted into said opening and inserted transversely into said opening, the sections of at least one of said parts having prongs extending toward the other section of said one of said fastener parts for penetration into fabric and enabling the sections of said one of said fastener parts to be welded together.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation-in-part of copending application Ser. No. 09/578,060 filed May 24, 2000 (U.S. Pat. No. 6,298,527 of Oct. 9, 2001).

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Continuation in Parts (1)
Number Date Country
Parent 09/578060 May 2000 US
Child 09/866441 US