Patent Application
20140059735
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to apparel. More particularly, the invention disclosed herein relates to apparel that is worn to aid one in contouring various parts of one's body.
2. Description of the Related Art
The public's continuing concern with fitness and fashion has resulted in many people wanting to improve the appearance or shape of their bodies or specific parts of their bodies. This situation has result in the creation of many types of diets, exercise programs, equipment and products for promoting weight loss.
However, many of these never yield their intended benefits—often due to the obstacles that are created as a result of people going about their typical, busy daily schedules. New methods and products for promoting weight loss are needed that do not require people to alter their typical daily schedules.
There do exist garments which are meant to accelerate one weight's loss—but these are what's known as “aerobic garments” and are designed primarily to be worn as outer garments while exercising (i.e., performing aerobic actions—those requiring more oxygen consumption)—thus, not worn when going about one's typical, non-exercise-included daily activities. For example, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,376,808, 8,123,663, 6,223,565, 5,875,491, 5,857,947, 5,737,773, 5,720,042, 5,700,231, and 5,176,600. Many of these are in some way patterned after of the widely known “sauna suit” (i.e., a non-breathable garment that is worn by persons who wish to accelerate their water weight loss through sweating), but often differ by using more expensive elastic materials and incorporate other cost raising items (e.g., zippers, specialty elastic straps).
A “sauna suit” could conceivably be worn under one's regular clothing in the workplace and as one goes about his or her typical daily activities. Such a non-breathable garment would help to create and trap or capture an insulation layer of air around the body and impair one's ability to transfer the heat given off by the body to the surrounding environment during one's daily activities. This lack of heat transfer from the body will increase the body's core temperature and could cause one to sweat enough so the resultant water loss yields a temporary weight loss.
However, one barrier to using a “sauna suit” for such a purpose is that the typical “sauna suit” is designed to generally cover a person's total body, except for the hands, feet and head. This creates the situation where it is possible that extensive sweating may result from only minimal physical activity. Such an occurrence probably renders impractical the idea of wearing of a “sauna suit” under one's regular clothing in the workplace—where excessive sweating would be considered inappropriate behavior.
A further barrier to wearing a sauna suit under one's regular clothing is that most sauna suits are quite baggy and essentially cover one's entire body, therefore the ability to easily and comfortably conceal them is limited at best.
Various garments appear in the patent literature that might be relevant to the task of developing a garment that would promote weight loss during typical daily activities, but none of these are really meant for weight loss purposes and directed to specific parts of the body where one might desire to lose weight for body sculpturing or other purposes. See for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,123,590, 6,223,565, 5,638,546, 4,569,087, 4,229,833, and 4,187,855.
Despite the existence of many types of methods and products for promoting weight loss, the percentage of people in our population who are overweight continues to annually increase. New and improved methods and garments for promoting weight loss during one's typical daily activities are needed, especially low-cost garments that are easy to use and do not require people to take time out of their busy schedules for exercise.
Recognizing the need for the development of new and improved methods and products for promoting weight loss, especially those which are easy to use since they do not require one to alter his or her daily schedule, the present invention is generally directed to overcoming the problems with and barriers to the wearing of new and improved types of “sauna garments” during one's everyday activities.
In accordance with a variant of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a non-aerobic garment to be worn to promote weight-loss from a wearer's arms is a SAUNA BY SECTION™ sleeve garment that includes: (a) a pair of sleeves, each of which is configured such that a wearer can place an arm through a sleeve and have the sleeve's distal end enclose a wrist of the wearer while the proximal end of the sleeve encloses the top of the arm of a wearer, (b) means for adjustably attaching together the proximal ends of the front and rear portions of these sleeves, (c) means for holding the distal and proximal ends of these sleeves in close proximity to the arm of a wearer and configured so as to help form an enclosed air layer around the wearer's arm, and (d) wherein the materials of construction of these sleeves are non-breathable materials that have high thermal insulation and low water vapor permeability properties.
In accordance with another variant of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a non-aerobic garment to be worn to promote weight-loss from a wearer's torso is a SAUNA BY SECTIONTM torso garment that includes: (a) a torso sleeve that is configured such that a wearer can place it around the wearer's torso such that this sleeve's bottom end fits around the wearer's waist and the sleeve's top end fits around the wearer's torso at a point that is above the wearer's abdomen, (b) means for holding the top and bottom end of this sleeve in close proximity to the wearer's torso and configured so as to help form an enclosed air layer around the wearer's torso, and (c) wherein the materials of construction of this sleeve are non-breathable materials that have high thermal insulation and low water vapor permeability properties.
Thus, there has been summarized above (rather broadly and understanding that there are other preferred embodiments which have not been summarized above) the present invention in order that the detailed description that follows may be better understood and appreciated.
Before explaining at least one embodiment of the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention takes the form of a non-aerobic, SAUNA BY SECTION™ garment that is configured to be worn over only a portion of either one's arms, legs or torso (e.g., thighs, calves, upper arms, stomach region, hips) and under one's normal clothing, while one goes about one's daily activities, and not be seen by others who come in contact with this garment's wearer and without causing any change in the orientation of the wearer's normal clothes so as to suggest that this garment is being worn below one's normal clothes. It has been found that such garments, do promote weight-loss from the limited areas of one's body that they are covering even when one is non-exercising and only going about one's daily activities.
A feature that these garments possess that prior weight loss garments do not have is that they are very comfortable and easy to wear under one's normal clothing since, being designed to cover only limited parts of a wearer's body, they do not cause the overall overheating of the wearer's body and result in excess sweating—a condition that can normally not be tolerated as one goes about one's daily activities.
Since it is a desired to keep the manufacturing costs of such garments low as possible as a means to help introduce them into the marketplace, these garments are generally fabricated as sleeves with a tubular construction, top and bottom ends and an overall shape which is configured so as to cover the specific region of the body (e.g., thighs, calves, upper arms, stomach region, hips) where one desires to lose weight. For those garments designed for use on one's arms or legs, they are meant to be put on one's body by extending one's hand or foot through the top and bottom ends of the garment and then pulling the top end of the garment up to the top of the bodily area where one is seeking the weight loss. The length of such sleeve garments is set so that the bottom end of the garment will extend down and cover the bottom end of the desired weight loss area when the top end of the sleeve is situated at the top end of this area. Alternatively, the higher priced versions of these garments can have a slit or opening that connects its ends so that it can be wrapped directly around the targeted bodily area and the two edges of its slit joined so as to form it into a continuous piece of material that encircles and encloses a wearer's targeted bodily area.
The top and bottom ends of these sleeves are provided with respective adjustable bands or means for holding these ends in close proximity to, respectively, the areas above and below the targeted bodily area. These bands are configured so as to provide the wearer with the ability to adjustably locate the garments' ends and to help form a partial, air tight seal of this sleeve about a wearer's targeted bodily area. These seals contribute to helping form an enclosed air layer around a wearer's targeted bodily area; thereby retaining heat and ultimately causing the wearer to potentially sweat in this region and lose water weight around one's targeted bodily area.
Suitable materials of construction for the non-aerobic garments of the present invention are low-cost, non-breathable materials that have high thermal insulation and low water vapor permeability properties, e.g., polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or coated nylon cloths. The garments themselves may be made of a single or double-ply (i.e., two overlapping layers of the garment's fabric) construction depending on the wearer's targeted bodily area and how much heat trapping capacity the garment needs to have when its wearer is only doing typical, non-exercise daily activities in order to promote a desired rate of weight loss. Additionally, different portions of these garments may be constructed from different non-breathable materials so as to try to provide them with additional fitting properties that make them easier to wear & maintain and to extend their useful lives. Furthermore, the materials of construction for the present invention are further chosen so as to make them machine washable and capable of withstanding multiple washing cycles.
Referring to
Connecting the proximal ends of these sleeves on their rear portions is a rear means or rear garment portion 30 for attaching the two sleeves proximal ends 16, 26 together. Many types of attachment means are suitable for this purpose. For example, it could consist of an elastic type of material that is connected to and stretches between these ends, or pieces of material to which hook and loop or some other type of fastener is connected so as to allow this means to provide for adjustability in the distance between these ends when the garment is being worn.
The distal ends 18, 28 of the sleeves are provided with elastic cuffs 40, 42 or means for holding these ends in close proximity to a wearer's wrists. These are configured so as to provide the wearer with the ability to adjustably locate the garments' ends to a preferred location on a wearer's wrist or arm. This proves to be a helpful feature for the wearer's comfort and, in case the wearer prefers it, in helping to situate these ends so that they lie beneath a wearer's shirt or coat sleeve, etc. These cuffs also serve to help form a partial, air tight seal of the garment at a wearer's wrist. Such seals contribute to helping form or capture an enclosed air layer around the wearer's arms. It is the encapsulation or trapping of this air layer next to a wearer's arms that helps to make this garment effective at retaining the heat given off by the wearer's arms and ultimately causing the wearer's arms to sweat and lose weight.
The proximal ends 16, 26 of the sleeves are also provided with means for holding 46, 48 these ends in close proximity to a wearer's body so as to further aid in forming the enclosed or trapped air layer around the wearer's arms. Many types of holding means are suitable for this purpose. For example, it could consist of a material that, when moisten by a wearer's sweat, tends to cling to the wearer's skin, e.g., a plastic type of material.
Connecting the proximal ends of these sleeves on their front portions is a front means for attaching these two portions or ends 16, 26 together. Many types of attachment means are suitable for this purpose. For example, the means shown in
This torso garment can be of a tubular construction such that one puts it on by slipping it over one's head or pulling it up over a wearer's hips. Alternatively, it can have a slit or opening that connects its ends so that it can be wrapped directly around one's torso and the two edges of its slit joined so as to form it into a continuous piece of material that encircles a wearer's torso.
Its top and bottom ends are provided with respective adjustable chest 66 and waist 68 bands or means for holding these ends in close proximity to, respectively, the area above the stomach on a wearer's torso and the area around the wearer's waist. These bands are configured so as to provide the wearer with the ability to adjustably locate the garments' ends and to help form a partial, air tight seal of this sleeve about a wearer's torso. As previously noted, these seals contribute to helping form an enclosed air layer around a wearer's mid-section torso that retains heat and ultimately causes the wearer to sweat in this region and lose water weight around one's mid-section.
Many types of holding means are suitable for these bands. For example,
The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the present invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described herein. For example, it is conceivable that SAUNA BY SECTION™ garments will be created for other parts of the body not shown in this application's drawings (e.g., thighs, calves, upper arms). Accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention that is illustratively set forth in the following representative claims to the present invention.
This application claims the priority and benefits of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/696,857, filed Sep. 5, 2012 by the present inventors and entitled the same as the current application. The teachings of this application are incorporated herein by reference to the extent that they do not conflict with the teaching herein.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61696857 | Sep 2012 | US |
