Claims
- 1. A garment for use in sports activities comprising:
- a substantially tubular, body covering portion of stretchable fabric adapted to be worn by a person engaged in a sports activity;
- impact absorbing protective means comprising a plurality of rib-shaped pads, said pads being located on an outer surface of said body covering portion for protecting the wearer in the event of a fall, said pads comprising at least a first plurality of relatively narrow, elongated diagonal pads each commencing at an upper end in the vicinity of a wearer's waist and curving, when worn, around the wearer's hip bones, and a second plurality of relatively narrow, elongated, diagonal pads each terminating at a relatively forwardly disposed lower end substantially in line with the lower portion of the buttocks of a wearer, said second plurality of pads having relatively rearwardly disposed upper ends below the waist of the wearer.
- 2. A garment according to claim 1, wherein said rib-shaped pads are diagonally disposed on said garment and said pads extend from an upper rearwardly disposed end to a lower forwardly disposed end and curve around the outside of a wearer's leg.
- 3. A garment according to claim 2, wherein said protective pads are specifically positioned to protect at least the hip and buttocks of a wearer against side or backward falls.
- 4. A garment according to claim 3 wherein said tubular body covering portion comprises a pair of shorts and said pads are affixed to said pair of shorts.
- 5. A garment according to claim 4 wherein said plurality of elongated protective pads are affixed to said shorts substantially in spaced apart parallel relation with each other and are positioned in line with the contour of each of the buttocks.
- 6. A garment according to claim 5 and further comprising a triangular pad of impact absorbing material positioned to rest over the coccyx.
- 7. A garment according to claim 3 wherein the outer surface of each pad is coated with a hardened substance selected from the group consisting of polyethylene, vinyl laminate, nylon and an epoxy-based paint.
- 8. A garment according to claim 4 wherein each protective pad is encased by a layer of spandex material.
- 9. A garment according to claim 3 wherein each pad is encased by a non-porous, stretchable covering.
- 10. A garment according to claim 9 wherein each protective pad is composed of a gel.
- 11. A garment according to claim 9 wherein each protective pad is composed of air.
- 12. A garment according to claim 4 wherein each protective pad is composed of closed cell, high density foam.
- 13. A garment according to claim 2 wherein said upper rearwardly disposed ends of at least some of said protective pads extend to the vicinity of the wearer's spine and upper ends of others of said pads overlay the wearer's hip bones.
- 14. A garment according to claim 3 wherein said lower forwardly disposed ends of said at least some of said pads extend to a lower extremity of said garment.
- 15. A garment according to claim 1 wherein said means for affixing said pads comprises an adhesive between said pads and the outer surface of said garment.
- 16. A garment according to claim 1 wherein said means for affixing said pads comprises a piece of stretchable fabric overlaying each said pad and sewn to the outer surface of said garment.
Parent Case Info
This is a continuation, of application Ser. No. 08/227,786, filed Apr. 14, 1994, and now abandoned which, in turn, is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/007,489, filed Jan. 25, 1993, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/002,599, filed Jan. 11, 1993, each of which is abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (11)
Continuations (2)
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Date |
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227786 |
Apr 1994 |
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Parent |
07489 |
Jan 1993 |
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Continuation in Parts (1)
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02599 |
Jan 1993 |
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