Patent Application
20160309791
The present invention relates generally to an undergarment, and, more specifically, to a disposable undergarment and, even more specifically, to a disposable undergarment having releasable portions.
It is often necessary for a patient to remove his or her clothing and expose areas of the body in order to receive a medical examination or procedure, connect medical devices, or allow access to medical devices. For many surgical and medical procedures, undergarments must be completely removed. Some patients are understandably sensitive when asked to expose certain body parts to a physician or health care professional. This sensitivity can make the health care provider feel awkward, and can make the examination or procedure harder to conduct. Health care providers have attempted to provide patients with a sense of privacy. For example, if an examination of the abdomen or genito-urinary systems is required, the patient is typically covered with a bed sheet, however this still leaves the patient exposed to a certain extent.
In the hospital setting, patients are often given an option to wear a hospital gown. prior to a medical or surgical procedure. Even so, many people are uncomfortable with disrobing and wearing a hospital gown, often with the feeling that their bodies are prone to unnecessary exposure due to the way the gowns are constructed. The unease of the patient is exacerbated if she is being examined or treated by a new health care professional, at an urgent care center, or in an emergency room due to a lack of familiarity with the health care practitioner and/or the surroundings.
In addition to impinging upon a patient's sense of privacy, there are many practical medical limitations to current hospital gowns. They typically have a full length opening in either the back or front side and may be held together by means of one or two ties. In order to conduct certain exams on a patient wearing such a gown, a doctor might have to untie the ties of the gown and place the patient into an unnatural position to gain access to certain portions of the patient's body. Unfortunately, in emergency situations doctors are pressed for time and such gowns can waste time which might otherwise be spent saving the patient's life.
Typical fitted undergarments, such as briefs, make access to the lower abdomen, groin and lower back areas extremely difficult for purposes of diagnostic examinations, surgery and continuing treatment in and near those areas of the body. One such undergarment is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,795 (Lonon). The '795 patent describes a garment including a back body panel and a front body panel where the back panel is larger than the front panel and the panels are seamed together at the sides. A flap is attached to the lower portion of the back panel and extends to the front panel. Hook-and-loop fastener is used to secure the flap to the front panel. Hook-and-loop fastener is also used to secure the flap along the back panel so that the flap is out of the way.
Another garment is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,675,918 (O'Brien). The '918 patent describes a one-piece brief having a front panel and a rear panel. A short tab portion extends from the front panel, and a longer portion descends from the center of the rear panel and is securable to the short tab portion extending from the front panel. Fastening tape is provided at the side edges of the front and rear panels and at the lower edges of the short tab and longer portions. To wear the brief, a person places the rear panel behind them, wraps the front panel across their front, and then brings the longer portion up between the legs and presses the fastener tape on the longer portion onto the front short tab portion.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0267225 (Gandemo) discloses a pant diaper including a front portion, a rear portion, side portions, a crotch portion and an absorbent body. In use, the rear portion is arranged on a rear side of a wearer, the front portion is arranged on a front side of a wearer, the side portions are arranged on sides of the wearer and the crotch portion is arranged between legs of the wearer. The absorbent body is either folded from the front portion toward the rear portion or vice versa. One of the side portions and the crotch portion is openable.
Unfortunately, when a patient is lying on his or her back, a health care professional must make at least two separate motions in two substantially opposite directions to remove the garments described in the '795 and '918 patents from a patient. The lower edges of the longer portions must be pulled in a direction substantially downwardly and rearwardly with respect to the wearer, and then the side edges of the front portions must be pulled in a direction substantially forwardly with respect to the wearer. In other words, the health care professional must make a rearwardly motion, retrace that motion with a reciprocating frontwardly returning motion, and then continue in a substantially frontwardly motion to detach the sides of the brief. Thus, detaching the garments takes time that may be crucial to the health of the patient in an emergency situation.
Further, in the situation where the patient is lying on his or her back on an operating table, once the longer portions are detached from the front panels, the longer portions will remain between the patient's legs. With respect to the '225 publication, the absorbent body is always situated between a wearer's legs. Such garments may be a distraction during a surgical procedure due to the portions cluttering an operating table between the patient's legs and being in the way of the surgeon.
Therefore, there is a long-felt need for an improved undergarment that provides privacy to a wearer and is easy to remove with efficient motions so that more time can be spent focusing on other tasks. There is also a long-felt need for an undergarment that minimizes the amount of material remaining between the legs of the wearer when the undergarment is detached.
The present invention is an undergarment including a first portion arranged to contact a rear side of a person, the first portion including a first top edge, a first bottom edge separated from the first top edge by a first length, a first lateral edge, and a second lateral edge, a second portion arranged to contact a front side of the person, the second portion including a third lateral edge secured to the first lateral edge of the first portion, a fourth lateral edge releasably securable to the second lateral edge of the first portion via a first attachment means, a second top edge, a second bottom edge releasably securable to the first bottom edge via a second attachment means, the second bottom edge separated from the second top edge by a second length where the second length is longer than the first length and the first length is at least half of the second length.
The present invention is a method of assembling an undergarment including the steps of: fixedly securing a first lateral edge of a front portion to a second lateral edge of a rear portion, wherein the front portion has a first top edge and a first bottom edge separated by a first length, and the rear portion has a second top edge and a second bottom edge separated by a second length shorter than the first length, the second length being at least half of the first length, releasably securing a third lateral edge of the front portion to a fourth lateral edge of the rear portion via a first attachment means and releasably securing the first bottom edge of the front portion to the second bottom edge of the rear portion via a second attachment means.
The present invention is a method for removing an undergarment having a front portion with a first top edge and a first bottom edge separated by a first length, a rear portion with a second top edge and a second bottom edge separated by a second length shorter than the first length where the second length is at least half of said first length, the method comprising the steps of: releasing a first attachment means by pulling in a first direction composed of a first set of directional components, the first attachment means releasably securing the first bottom edge of the front portion to the second bottom edge of the rear portion; and, releasing a second attachment means by pulling in a second direction composed of a second set of directional components, wherein each directional component of the second set is no more than |±90|° from each of the components in the first set of directional components, the second attachment means releasably securing a first lateral edge of the front portion to a second lateral edge of the rear portion.
The undergarment of the present invention can be used in outpatient settings such as, for example, primary care clinics, obstetrics and gynecology clinics, urgent care centers, and in the emergency room. The undergarment of the present invention can also be used in operating rooms, ambulatory surgery centers, and cardiac catheterization labs. The undergarment can be used in inpatient settings as well and can be worn under hospital medical gowns, especially those that leave the rear portions of the body exposed.
A general object of the present invention is to provide an undergarment to be worn that can be efficiently removed. For example, one has to simply release the releasable fasteners at the appropriate locations on the undergarment to gain access to the body, and simply secure the releasable fasteners after the provider is done with an examination. Especially for elderly and frail patients, this will decrease the difficulty and inconvenience of dressing and undressing with the undergarment.
As a specific example, a rectal examination can be carried out by turning a patient onto his left side, undoing the releasable fastener on the right side of the undergarment, and reattaching the same fastener upon completion of the examination. Detaching the crotch member by releasing only the fastener on the midline portion of the undergarment enables the genital area to be examined without requiring the right side of the undergarment to be detached. In this way, the undergarment can be removed without moving body parts of the patient.
In an example embodiment, the undergarment is made out of cotton fabric, enabling the undergarment to be washed (or sterilized) and reused. In an example embodiment, the undergarment is made out of paper or wax material to make it disposable and cost effective. Making the undergarment disposable and cost effective enables the undergarment to be used in sterilized environments, such as an operating room. Also, the undergarment can be made with various sized crotch portions. An embodiment of the undergarment for a female might have a smaller crotch portion whereas, an embodiment of the undergarment for a male might have a larger crotch portion. The undergarment can further be colored to designate a male undergarment versus a female undergarment, such as blue for males and pink for females.
In example embodiments of the present invention, the undergarment can use any releasably securable means known in the art, such as hook-and-loop fasteners, drawstrings, adhesive strips, buttons, zippers, ties, and/or snap fasteners. The undergarment may be made of perforated paper so the health provider can perforate the undergarment at the appropriate sites as needed. Also, the undergarment can have an elasticized or drawstring waistband. Further, the undergarment can include a piece of absorbable material or materials, such as the kind typically used in diapers or feminine hygiene products, in order to accommodate patients that may suffer bladder or bowel incontinence, or, vaginal or rectal bleeding.
These and other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will be better appreciated by those having ordinary skill in the art in view of the following detailed description of the invention in view of the drawings.
The nature and mode of operation of the present invention will now be more fully described in the following detailed description of the invention taken with the accompanying figures, in which:
In the drawings, like reference characters are used for like elements of the present invention or elements of like function. For the sake of clarity, only those elements and reference characters which are of relevance to the shown aspects of the respective embodiment of the present invention are shown repeatedly. While the present invention is described with respect to what is presently considered to be the preferred aspects, it is to be understood that the invention as claimed is not limited to the disclosed aspect. The present invention is intended to include various modifications and equivalent arrangements within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
Furthermore, it is understood that this invention is not limited to the particular methodology, materials and modifications described and as such may, of course, vary. It is also understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular aspects only, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, which is limited only by the appended claims.
Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood to one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Although any methods, devices or materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of the invention, the preferred methods, devices, and materials are now described.
Referring now to the drawings,
Left lateral edge 18 of front piece 14 is fixedly secured to left edge 24 of rear piece 15. Further, right lateral edge 19 of front piece 14 is releasably secured to right edge 25 of rear piece 15, and crotch member 20 is releasably secured to butt portion 26.
Front piece 14 is fixedly secured to rear piece 15 via stitching 28, which secures left lateral edge 18 and left edge 24 together to form left hip portion 11. However, it should be appreciated that left lateral edge 18 and left edge 24 can be fixedly secured by any means known in the art. For example, front piece 14 and rear piece 15 may be integrally formed from the same piece of material, making left lateral edge 18 continuous with left edge 24. Alternatively, permanent adhesives such as glue may be used. Further, it should be appreciated that front piece 14 can be fixedly secured to rear piece 15 by fixedly securing right lateral edge 19 and left edge 25 to each other, instead of left lateral edge 18 and left edge 24.
Right lateral edge 19 and tight edge 25 are releasably secured to each other, preferably via hook-and-loop fastener strips 29 and 30 configured on front and rear pieces 14 and 15, respectively. Strip 29 is positioned on inner surface 16 of front piece 14, and strip 30 is positioned on outer surface 23 of rear piece 15, thus requiring that right lateral edge 19 of front piece 14 overlaps right edge 25 of rear piece 15. Strip 30 on the outer surface of rear piece 15 is preferably made of hook material and strip 29 on the inner surface of front piece 14 is preferably made of loop material because strip 29 is more likely to come into contact with the wearer's skin and will provide less irritation. It is contemplated that, instead of strips 29 and 30 being aligned parallel with right lateral edge 19 and left edge 25, respectively, the strips may be angled such that top ends 31 and 32 of strips 29 and 30, respectively, are proximate right lateral edge 19 and right edge 25, respectively, and bottom ends 33 and 34 are distal to right lateral edge 19 and right edge 25. The angle facilitates a singular motion for removal, which is described in further detail below with respect to
Crotch member 20 is releasably secured to butt portion 26 via hook-and-loop fastener strips 35 and 36 (shown in
Left leg gap 37 is formed when crotch member 20 of front piece 14 is secured to butt portion 26 of rear piece 15. Right leg gap 38 is formed when both crotch member 20 is secured to butt portion 26, and right lateral edge 19 of front piece 14 is secured to right edge 25 of rear piece 15.
In an example embodiment, front piece 14 is substantially T-shaped with waist portion 21 configured perpendicularly to crotch member 20. Crotch member 20 includes bottom edge 39, left edge 40, right edge 41, and width W1 between left edge 40 and right edge 41. Waist portion 21 includes top edge 42, bottom edges 43 and 44 separated by crotch member 20, and width W2 between top edge 42 and right bottom edge 44. In an example embodiment, the width of waist portion 21 between top edge 42 and left bottom edge 43 is the same width between top edge 42 and right bottom edge 44, i.e., width W2. In an example embodiment, width W1 is the same as width W2. However, crotch member 20 can be fabricated as having different widths W1. For example, crotch member 20 can have a larger width W1 to accommodate the genitals of a male wearer, or a smaller W1 for a female wearer.
In an example embodiment, rear piece 15 is substantially V-shaped with butt portion 26 including left edge 45 and right edge 46 sloping towards each other and extending from waist portion 27. Butt portion 26 also includes bottom edge 47 between left and right edges 45 and 46, respectively. Waist portion 27 includes top edge 48 and can include left and right bottom edges 49 and 50, respectively. Left bottom edge 49 extends between left edge 45 of butt portion 26 and left bottom edge 43 of waist portion 21 of front piece 14. Right bottom edge 50 extends horizontally from right edge 46 of butt portion 26.
In an example embodiment, the width between top edge 48 and bottom edges 49 and 50 is the same as width W2 of waist portion 21 of front piece 14. In an example embodiment, undergarment 10 does not have bottom edges 49 and 50, such that left and right edges 45 and 46 of butt portion 26 extend to left lateral edge 24 and right lateral edge 25, respectively, of rear piece 15.
Still referring to rear piece 15, left and right edges 45 and 46 of butt portion 26 slope outwardly and upwardly from bottom edge 47 to left and right bottom edges 49 and 50 of waist portion 27, respectively. Left and right edges 45 and 46 meet bottom edges 49 and 50 of waist portion 27 at points 51 and 52, respectively. The top of butt portion 26, i.e., where left and right edges 45 and 46 meet waist portion 27, has width W3 between points 51 and 52. Bottom edge 47 of butt portion 26 has width W4 between left and right edges 45 and 46.
Rear piece 15 can have a range of W3:W4 ratios with the upper limit of this range being when W3=W5, which is the width between left and right lateral edges 24 and 25 of rear piece 15, and when W4=0 (meaning left edge 45 meets right edge 46 directly and there is no bottom edge 47). The preferred lower limit of this range is 1, which is when W3=W4. Preferably, width W4 should be large enough to accommodate the releasably securable fastening means that secures butt portion 26 to crotch member 20. Further, width W4 should be small enough that undergarment 10 is comfortable to wear. Fastening strip 36 can have the same size as fastening strip 35 on crotch member 20, or strip 36 can be larger than strip 35 or vice versa. With strip 36 on butt portion 26 larger than strip 35 on crotch member 20, crotch member 20 can be secured slightly to the left or right between the wearer's legs, which may enable a larger exposure area to a desired side of the groin area without having to leave crotch portion 13 (shown in
The slope of left and right edges 45 and 46 of butt portion 36 depends on the W3:W4 ratio. At the upper limit of the W3:W4 ratio, i.e., when W3=W5 and W4 is essentially zero (when there is no bottom edge 47), then rear piece 15 is an irregular pentagon resembling home plate in baseball and softball. At the preferred lower limit of the W3:W4 ratio, i.e., when W3=W4, then rear piece 15 can be either a quadrilateral or T-shaped. Rear piece 15 is a quadrilateral when W3=W4=W5 (and bottom edges 49 and 50 of waist portion 27 do not exist), and rear piece 15 is T-shaped when W3=W4≠W5 (and bottom edges 49 and 50 of waist portion 27 do exist)
In an example embodiment, top edges 42 and 48 of front piece 14 and rear piece 15, respectively, form a straight line. However, top edges 42 and 48 can have any shape or characteristics as long as waist portions 21 and 27 of front piece 14 and rear piece 15, respectively, are configured to wrap around a wearer's waist.
Front piece 14 has length L1 between bottom edge 39 of crotch member 20 and top edge 42. Rear piece 15 has length L2 between bottom edge 47 of butt portion 26 and top edge 48. In all embodiments of the present invention, L1 is larger than L2. That is, front piece 14 is longer than rear piece 15. It should be appreciated that in a preferred embodiment, L2 is at least half of L1. In an example embodiment, L2 is at least 75% of L1 In a further example embodiment, L2 is approximately 87% of Li. In other words, in a preferred embodiment, the ratio of L2:L1 is at least 0.50:1, more preferably, at least 0.75:1, and more preferably, approximately 0.87:1. The importance of this characteristic will become apparent with the description of
In
In
As was mentioned with respect to the description of
To wear undergarment 10, rear piece 15 is placed behind the butt of the wearer with left lateral edge 24 on the left hip of the wearer and fight lateral edge 25 on the fight hip of the wearer. Front piece 14 wraps across the front of the wearer from left to right in the example embodiment illustrated because left hip portion 11 (shown in
Crotch member 20 can be secured to rear piece 15 prior to the wearer placing rear piece 15 behind them. The wearer can then step into left leg gap 37 and pull undergarment 10 up until crotch portion 13 is properly configured between the legs of the wearer. Then, right hip portion 12 is secured as described above.
To remove undergarment 10 without detaching right hip portion 12 or crotch portion 13, a wearer or a helper simply slides undergarment 10 down below the hips and removes the legs from leg gaps 37 and 38 similarly to typical briefs. Alternatively, in a preferred example embodiment, the wearer or the helper can remove undergarment 10 by detaching crotch portion 13 by pulling bottom edge 39 of crotch member 20 in direction D1, and detaching right hip portion 12 by pulling right edge 19 of front piece 14 in direction D2. Right hip portion 12 can be detached before or after detaching crotch portion 13. Front piece 14 can then be set to the side so that undergarment 10 is in a position resembling
Direction Di of the motion to detach crotch member 20 has direction vectors V1 and V3, and direction D2 of the motion to detach right edge 19 has direction vectors V1 and V6, Since directions D1 and D2 do not have any directional components that are 180° from each other, i.e., V1 is |±90|° from V3 and V6, undergarment 10 does not require movement that undoes the progress of another movement. Thus, undergarment 10 can transition from the fully attached mode to the fully detached mode efficiently.
As was discussed above, front piece 14 overlaps rear piece 15 in both right hip portion 12 and crotch portion 13. Crotch portion 13 is detached by pulling crotch member 20 in direction D1. Similarly, right hip portion 12 is detached by pulling right edge 19 in direction D2. Front piece 14 overlapping rear piece 15 enables both directions D1 and D2 to have a forwardly directional component, i.e., direction vector V1. It should be appreciated that neither D1 nor D2 have a rearwardly directional component, i.e., direction vector V2.
In a situation such as a medical patient wearing the garment and lying down essentially horizontally on a table, the patient is applying a force having a rearwardly directional component, i.e., vector V2, to rear piece 15 due to gravity. Thus, in order to detach the hip and crotch portions 12 and 13, the health care provider only needs to pull front piece with a force having a substantially forwardly directional component, i.e., vector V1. Rear piece 15 does not need to be handled by the health care provider because it is held between the patient and the table. This enables the front piece to be removed out of the way of the health care provider in an efficient manner by eliminating the need to pull the rear piece rearwardly, which requires an additional reciprocating return motion to subsequently detach the hip portion.
It is contemplated that left hip portion 11 (which is fixedly secured in the example embodiment illustrated in the Figures) is secured via a first releasably securable means that is less easily detachable than a second and third releasably securable means used for right hip portion 12 and crotch portion 13. For example, first releasably securable means may have a larger surface area of hook-and-loop fasteners, a more robust hook-and-loop fastener (due to, for example, the hook-and-loop design or material used), a snap fastener, ties, etc. Any combination of the first releasably securable means to the second and third releasably securable means can be used as long as the first releasably securable means requires more force to release, or requires a force to be applied in a different direction to release than the second and third releasably securable means.
It is also contemplated that, instead of strips 29 and 30 being aligned parallel with right lateral edges 19 and 25, the strips may be angled such that top ends 31 and 32 of strips 29 and 30 are proximate edges 19 and 25, respectively, and bottom ends 33 and 34 are distal to edges 19 and 25. The angle facilitates a singular motion for removal by making strips 29 and 30 more susceptible to being pulled apart by a force applied in direction D1 for the crotch portion. This is because direction D2 of the motion to detach the hip portion shares a directional component with D1, i.e., component V1. Angling the strips decreases the magnitude of force required to detach the hip portion along the non-shared directional component V6 and increases the magnitude of force required to detach the hip portion along shared directional component V1. Thus, the same net magnitude of force is maintained while requiring less directional variation in the motion for removing undergarment 10.
It should be appreciated that, although undergarment 10 is referred to an “undergarment” throughout this description, undergarment 10 is not required to be worn under another garment. Further, undergarment 10 is preferably capable of being sterilized either for repeated use or packaged for a single use.
Thus, it is seen that the objects of the present invention are efficiently obtained, although modifications and changes to the invention should be readily apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art, which modifications are intended to be within the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed. It also is understood that the foregoing description is illustrative of the present invention and should not be considered as limiting. Therefore, other embodiments of the present invention are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as claimed.
This application is a continuation-in-part patent application and claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §120 of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/692,406 filed Apr. 21, 2015, which application is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 14692406 | Apr 2015 | US |
| Child | 15015700 | US |
