Disposable boxer shorts

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6539554
  • Patent Number
    6,539,554
  • Date Filed
    Tuesday, January 29, 2002
    22 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, April 1, 2003
    21 years ago
Abstract
A pair of disposable boxer shorts is comprised of a back panel, a right front panel, and a left front panel made of a strong tissue paper. The back panel has a crotch between leg portions. Each front panel has a leg portion with a half crotch along an inside edge. The shorts are made by folding down and securing the top edges of all the panels, folding and pressing the inside edge of the left front panel, joining the lower portions of the inner edges of the left and right panels with a seam to form a fly above the seam, securing the edges of the half crotches on the front panels to the corresponding edges of the crotch on the back panel, attaching the front panels to the back panel at the sides, and attaching adhesive strips to the front panels at the waist.
Description




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




1. Field of the Invention




This invention relates generally to disposable garments.




2. Prior Art




The need for clean underwear is almost universal. Most people prefer to change into clean underwear at least once a day, and more frequently in hot and humid areas that promote perspiration. Preparing clean underwear is usually not a problem at home, but it may be very inconvenient when traveling, camping, etc.




Many types of disposable underwear have been disclosed in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,636 to Lunt discloses a disposable brief comprised of a single panel folded at the crotch and connected at the sides. It has no fly, which makes urinating inconvenient. The waist has no opening, so that entry is also inconvenient. Further, the flat crotch area does not provide enough room for comfort.




BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




A pair of disposable boxer shorts is comprised of a back panel, a right front panel, and a left front panel made of a strong tissue paper. The back panel has a crotch between leg portions. Each front panel has a leg portion with a half crotch along an inside edge. The shorts are made by folding down and securing the top edges of all the panels, folding and pressing the inside edge of the left front panel, joining the lower portions of the inner edges of the left and right panels with a seam to form a fly above the seam, securing the edges of the half crotches on the front panels to the corresponding edges of the crotch on the back panel, attaching the front panels to the back panel at the sides, and attaching adhesive strips to the front panels at the waist.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING





FIG. 1

is an exploded front view of the present disposable boxer shorts.





FIG. 2

is a perspective view thereof during assembly.





FIG. 3

is a perspective view thereof during assembly.





FIG. 4

is a perspective view thereof during assembly.





FIG. 5

is a perspective view thereof during assembly.





FIG. 6

is a perspective view thereof during assembly.





FIG. 7

is a perspective view thereof when finished.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION




A preferred embodiment of the present disposable boxer shorts is shown in an exploded front view in FIG.


1


. It is comprised of a back panel


10


, a right front panel


11


, and a left front panel


12


, all made of a strong cloth-like paper, such as the material used for making the paper towel sold under the trademark “VIVA” by the Kimberly Clark company. Back panel


10


has leg portions


13


and


14


with an arch shaped crotch


15


in between. Front panels have leg portions


16


and


17


with right and left half crotches


18


and


19


along an inside edge that has a substantially different shape than a corresponding side of crotch


15


on back panel


10


. Specifically, the edges of half crotches


18


and


19


are substantially longer than the corresponding edges of crotch


15


. The panels are folded about the dashed lines during assembly, which is shown in

FIGS. 2-7

.




In

FIG. 2

, top edges of


20


-


22


of back panel


10


, front panel


11


, and left panel


12


are folded along the dashed lines in FIG.


1


and secured with stitches or a seam


23


-


25


to form waist portions


26


-


28


. An inner edge


29


of left panel


12


is folded to form a folded edge


30


.




In

FIG. 3

, which shows the exterior sides of panels


11


and


12


, folded edge


30


of left panel


12


is placed in an overlapping position on a non-folded inner edge of right panel


11


. A strong, external vertical seam


32


and a strong, external transverse seam


33


are stitched to the lower portion of the overlap between panels


11


and


12


. An outer edge of a fly


45


is defined above seam


33


.




In

FIGS. 4-5

, right panel


11


and left panel


12


are reversed to position their inner sides upward, and placed on top of back panel


10


, which is turned to place its inner side downward. As shown in

FIG. 5

, crotch


15


on the back panel is purposely mismatched in shape with half crotches


18


and


19


on the front panels. Lower edges


34


and


35


of half crotches


18


and


19


on the front panels are aligned with and stitched to the lower ends of crotch


15


, and the arched upper edges


36


and


37


are “eased” to match the contour of crotch


15


as the crotch is secured with a seam


38


, as shown in FIG.


6


. Half crotches


18


and


19


are substantially longer than the corresponding edges of crotch


15


, so that when they are eased together, they form a bulging and roomy crotch area. Outer sides


39


and


40


of right panel


11


and back panel


10


are joined by seams


41


, and outer sides


42


and


43


of left panel


12


and back panel


10


are joined by a seam


44


.




In

FIG. 7

, the shorts are turned outside out. A right adhesive strip


46


is attached to waist portion


27


on right panel


11


. A left adhesive strip


47


is attached to waist portion


28


on left panel


12


and projecting therefrom in a position to meet adhesive strip


46


for adjusting the waist size on a wearer. The adhesive strips may be comprised of pressure sensitive adhesive, hook-and-loop fasteners, etc. If they are pressure sensitive adhesive, they should be provided with peel-off paper covers.




Although the foregoing description is specific, it should not be considered as a limitation on the scope of the invention, but only as an example of the preferred embodiment. Many variations are possible within the teachings of the invention. For example, different attachment methods, fasteners, materials, dimensions, etc. can be used unless specifically indicated otherwise. The relative positions of the elements can vary, and the shapes of the elements can vary. Therefore, the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents, not by the examples given.



Claims
  • 1. A disposable boxer shorts, comprising:a back panel with a pair of leg portions and an arch shaped crotch between said leg portions, wherein said back panel is comprised of a paper material; a right front panel with a right edge connected to a right edge of said back panel, wherein said right front panel is comprised of said paper material; a right half crotch on an inner edge of said right front panel joined to a right side of said crotch on said back panel; a left front panel with a left edge connected to a left edge of said back panel, wherein said left front panel is comprised of said paper material; a left half crotch on an inner edge of said left front panel joined to a left side of said crotch on said back panel; an overlap between said inner edge of said right front panel and said inner edge of said left front panel; a seam joining a lower portion of said overlap between said right front panel and said left front panel, said seam comprising a vertical lower portion and an upper portion extending between said lower portion and an edge of said overlap; a fly defined along said overlap above said seam; a right adhesive strip attached along an upper edge of said right front panel; and a left adhesive strip attached along an upper edge of said left front panel.
  • 2. The disposable boxer shorts of claim 1, wherein said right half crotch on said right front panel and said left half crotch on said left front panel are substantially longer than respective edges of said crotch on said back panel to form a bulging and roomy crotch.
  • 3. A method for making a pair of disposable boxer shorts, comprising:folding and securing an upper edge of a paper back panel with a pair of leg portions and an arch shaped crotch between said leg portions; folding and securing an upper edge of a paper right front panel with a right half crotch along an inner edge thereof; folding and securing a top edge of a paper left front panel with a left half crotch along an inner edge thereof; overlapping said inner edge of said right panel with said inner edge of said left panel; joining a lower portion of an overlap between said inner edge of said right front panel and said inner edge of said left front panel with a seam to define a fly above said seam, wherein said seam comprises a vertical lower portion and a transverse upper portion extending between said vertical lower portion and an edge of said overlap; joining said right half crotch on said right front panel and said left half crotch on said left front panel to respective edges of said crotch on said back panel, wherein said right half crotch and said left half crotch are substantially longer than said respective edges of said crotch on said back panel to form a bulging and roomy crotch area for comfort; joining a right edge of said right front panel to a right edge of said back panel; joining a left edge of said left front panel to a left edge of said back panel; attaching a right adhesive strip attached along an upper edge of said right front panel; and attaching a left adhesive strip attached along an upper edge of said left front panel.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 09/801,884 filed on Mar. 8, 2001 now abandoned.

US Referenced Citations (6)
Number Name Date Kind
2037060 Black Apr 1936 A
3418660 Shumate Dec 1968 A
3611443 Braun Oct 1971 A
4327448 Lunt May 1982 A
4698855 Hicks Oct 1987 A
4745636 Lunt May 1988 A
Continuation in Parts (1)
Number Date Country
Parent 09/801884 Mar 2001 US
Child 10/059812 US