Patent Application
20060085885
1., Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to clothing. More particularly, the invention concerns a novel perspiration absorbing, odor eliminating shield and the method of making same for use in connection with garments, such as undershirts, socks and the like.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
A number of different types of perspiration shields have been suggested in the past to protect garments from becoming soiled due to excessive perspiration. Most common of these prior art perspiration shields are dress shields that are particularly designed for women. Typically, the prior art dress shields are designed to block and absorb underarm perspiration so as to prevent the perspiration from soaking through to the outer garment and becoming visible underneath the sleeve area of the garment.
In the past, little attention has been given to the design of perspiration shields for use by men. By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,282,720 issued to J. Mayera discloses lightweight tightly fitted garment for women that include potential for perspiration shields in the underarm area. However, as is apparent from the patent drawings, the Mayera design is to be used only by women and is created to be an alternative to the heavier weight, larger design of men's T-shirts. More particularly, the Mayera T-shirt is basically characterized by a fabric torso enclosure and a pair of fabric sleeves, each having inner and outer end openings. The torso enclosure has a top, a neck opening in the top, a bottom including a waist opening, and a pair of arm openings at upper side locations. Seams connect the inner end openings of the sleeves to the torso enclosure at the arm openings. The seams are positioned to extend over the clavicle/acromin regions of a wearer of the shirt. Each sleeve has a top length measured from the seam to the sleeve outer end opening at the top of the sleeve, and a bottom length, measured from the seam to the sleeve outer end opening at the bottom of the sleeve. The bottom length of the sleeve is longer than the top length of the sleeve. The sleeves provide perspiration absorbing fabric contiguous both armpits of the wearer.
In addition to giving little concern to perspiration shields suitable for use by men, the prior art has suggested no type of perspiration shield that both absorbs perspiration and at the same time tends to eliminate unpleasant perspiration odors.
As well as being specifically designed for use by women, the prior art perspiration shields are often difficult to correctly position in the area of perspiration, do not adequately conform to the garment being worn by the user and have a tendency to bunch up and become dislodged during use.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome the deficiencies of the prior art and, for the first time, to provide a novel perspiration shield that is suitable for use by both men and women. The perspiration shields of the present invention can be conveniently affixed to a garment in an area of perspiration and, as will presently be discussed, uniquely embody a blend of wicking yarn and silver coated, odor eliminating yarn. In this regard, it has long been known that silver has a broad spectrum of antimicrobial properties. Accordingly, silver has been widely used in healthcare products, including bandages, burn care treatments, catheters and any number of products where infection control is critical.
Advantageously, techniques have been developed for irreversibly binding silver to polymer fibers and yarns that can be used to construct fabrics that can be used for a variety of purposes. When the silver coated fabrics are used in the production of articles of apparel, such as those of the present invention, the antimicrobial properties of the silver function to eliminate odor causing bacteria, thereby substantially reducing perspiration odor. Ammonia and denatured proteins are also contributors to odor in certain types of apparel. Advantageously both ammonia and denatured proteins readily bond to silver resulting in substantial odor reduction in these types of apparel.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an odor reducing article of apparel and the method of making same which includes perspiration shields that are strategically located contiguous to areas of perspiration which not only effectively block and absorb perspiration, but also significantly reduce perspiration odor.
More particularly, it is an object of the invention to provide an article of apparel of the aforementioned character in which the perspiration shields function to substantially eliminate odor causing bacteria contained within the perspiration of the wearer.
Another object of the invention is to provide an article of apparel as defined in the preceding paragraphs, in which the perspiration shield is of a character that becomes more effective in a hot, wetter environment.
Another object of the invention is to provide an article of apparel of the character described which includes perspiration shields that contain no chemicals or pesticides.
Another object of the invention is to provide a perspiration shield that can readily be affixed to an article of apparel at a location of heavy perspiration and which uniquely absorbs perspiration and at the same time substantially reduces perspiration odor.
Another object of the invention is to provide a perspiration shield of the character described in the preceding paragraph that includes a thin barrier membrane that is disposed between the perspiration absorbing component of the shield and the article of apparel to which the shield is affixed, thereby protecting the article of apparel from the perspiration of the user.
Another object of the invention is to provide a perspiration shield of the class described that is of a simple construction and one that can be inexpensively manufactured in large volume.
Referring to the drawings and particularly to
As best seen by also referring to
In the present form of the invention, the perspiration absorbing, odor reducing components 20 each comprise a fabric swatch constructed from a polyester wicking yarn 24 that is interwoven in a conventional manner with a silver coated polymer yarn 26 (
In a manner presently to be described, the garment shield components 22 are securely interconnected with perspiration absorbing, odor, reducing components 20 to form a precursor subassembly. As indicated in
When the perspiration shields are interconnected with the article of clothing 14 in the manner shown in
Considering next the methods of the present invention, in one form of the invention, the method of making the perspiration shields 18 comprises the steps of first constructing the perspiration absorbing, odor reducing component 20 by interweaving in a conventional manner the polyester wicking yarn 24 with the silver coated yarn 26 in the general configuration depicted in
In accordance with the method of the invention for constructing an odor reducing article of apparel from a selected garment, the perspiration shields 18 formed in accordance with the method described in the preceding paragraph, are affixed to the selected garment in the area exposed to heavy perspiration by any suitable manner, such as sewing or adhesive bonding.
When the perspiration shields are to be affixed to the garment by adhesive bonding, the heat activated adhesive 32 is randomly deposited on surface 28b of the membrane 28 by any suitable means and the assemblage thus formed of is heated in a manner to effectively fuse the heat activated adhesive 32 to the surface 28b. This heating step can be accomplished in various ways, including passing an infrared heater above the surface of the membrane at a suitable, elevated temperature sufficient to melt the adhesive without damaging the membrane film.
Bonding of the adhesive coated perspiration shield to the garment is accomplished by first placing the adhesive coated perspiration shield over the perspiration area, such as the underarm covering portion of the T-shirt shown in
Having now described the invention in detail in accordance with the requirements of the patent statutes, those skilled in this art will have no difficulty in making changes and modifications in the individual parts or their relative assembly in order to meet specific requirements or conditions. Such changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention, as set forth in the following claims.
