1. Field of Invention
The improvement described herein pertains to the field of clips for clothing and particularly to products that enhance a woman's figure.
2. Description of Prior Art
Many clothing clips exist today. They often entail a two part pin clip system with one part presenting a pin and a second part securing it. The two parts are then placed on the opposite surfaces of two items desired to be clipped together and then the pin is pushed through both items. The pin is then anchored by the second part of the system and the clip attachment complete. This system is used for tie tacks and many other clothing items.
A second clipping system is the safety pin where a needle is pushed through a clothing article twice and then anchored to itself on the outside of the fabric. This system is often used for corsages and nametags.
A third system of less common usage is the magnetic clip. This system uses two magnetically attracted pieces. One is placed on opposite sides of one or two articles of clothing and the magnetic clip attaches to itself and grips the clothing. These function to magnetically attach the clip to the clothing article and do not directly enhance the article itself. Objects are mounted on the outside of the magnetic clip such as a ferric golf ball marker or other.
Mars in U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,451 (1998) & U.S. Pat. No. 6,282,760 (2001) discloses such a magnetic clothing clip. However the clip described includes anchors fastened to the outermost magnet for securing articles to it. The function of the clip is thus described as securing other display articles to the clothing.
Capparelli in U.S. Pat. No. 6,205,585 (2001) discloses a means of attaching an inner garment to an outer garment but the means do not include magnetism.
Jackson in U.S. Pat. No. 1,632,137 (1927) discloses an outer garment and bra attached with an integral releasable mating system for the purpose of supporting the outer garment from the shoulder straps of the bra. Only the bra strap is noted as connecting to the outer garment. Jackson teaches a mating system for the physical support of the outer garment without which he outer garment would fall off. No mention is made of utilizing the midsection of the bra as a connecting point nor of using the bra to contour the outer garment.
Good in U.S. Pat. No. 5,604,960 (1997) discloses a releasable magnetic closure system used to join two garments. The magnetic closures are integral to the garments and permanently attached with an adhesive. The mid section of a bra is never noted as a connection point and the purpose of contouring a top to an underlying bra is never envisioned. All of Good's magnets are completely encased.
Magnetic clips for front bra closures are known in the field. Lilly and others market such a bra.
Make Your Mark golf accessories has a clip on magnet that is suggested to be worn on a bra shoulder strap. A steel golf ball marker then may be attached on the outside of the outer garment thus leaving the marker readily available.
Magnets are also sometimes placed in bras for therapeutic reasons. The magnets are claimed to enhance circulation.
No clips are known to connect a woman's top garment to a bra midsection and none are known to do so for the purpose of conforming the woman's top garment to the bra. All magnetic clips use a two component magnetic system. All known clothing clips have an intended purpose of securing an independent article to the clothing so that the independent article may be viewed or utilized. No known clip utilizes a three component system to anchor two layers of clothing together.
The improved magnetic clip described herein causes a woman's top garment to take on the contours of the underlying bra. This increases the contours of the woman's top garment and adds curve to the figure of the wearer. The clip is preferentially magnetic to aid in the ease of attachment and adjustability.
Accordingly, several objects and advantages of the disclosed improvement follow.
No magnetic clip on the market today is known to connect a woman's top garment to a bra midsection for the purpose of contouring the top garment. The clip as disclosed is designed to accomplish this. The woman's top garment will be pulled onto the bra and conform to the contours thereof.
The clip is designed to be magnetic and thus can easily be attached and removed without the accuracy of placement required for pin style clips. The clip can be used for many different clothing combinations so that only a single clip can serve many outfits.
The fastener component of the magnetic clip worn on the outside of the woman's top garment could be a simple magnetic disc or a more decorative ornament including a magnet. The ornament could include extensions parallel to the mating surface of the magnet that would press the woman's top garment against her torso in areas other than just the mating surface. This would cause a larger area of the woman's top garment to take on the shape of the bra and thus increase the contouring effect.
The magnetic clip adds an option to detailing an outfit by adding an additional piece of jewelry.
The magnetic clip would preferentially contain small, powerful magnets. The strongest magnets currently available include rare earth elements such as neodymium or samarium. Magnets including these elements are often called rare earth magnets or super magnets.
Still further objects and advantages of the disclosed magnetic clip will become apparent from consideration of the following figures and their accompanying descriptions.
From the above descriptions, it is evident that the invention detailed herein improves upon the current art of accenting a woman's figure.
The magnetic clip emphasizes the wearer's figure by adding the double, rounded contours of the bra to the woman's top garment. This gives contours to a woman's top garment similar to a bikini top. Today's fashions emphasize the feminine figure and the woman's top garment magnetic clip furthers this emphasis.
Many any other permutations are possible than the main embodiment illustrated. Many variations on the sequencing of the steel and magnetic components of the magnetic clip are feasible. A magnet may be glued on the outside of the midsection or simply placed on the inside of the midsection after the bra is on. Then a ferric object or magnet could be placed outside of the woman's top garment and attached to the magnet inside. If a magnet is used on the outside of the woman's top garment, then the elements located on the bra could be of non-magnetic ferric material.
A ferric object alone could also be used inside the bra midsection or glued or clipped to its outer surface. Then a magnet would be used outside of the woman's top garment to attract the inner ferric object. Also a ferric object could be used inside the bra midsection along with an outer midsection magnet and an outer woman's top garment ferric object used to complete the clip. This would have the advantage of being less expensive than the main embodiment due to the use of one magnet instead of two. However this single magnet clip would not hold together as firmly as the two magnet clip.
The bra fastener component elements will preferentially be disc shaped with a diameter of approximately one quarter inch to one inch. The woman's top garment fastener component could be of similar size. All of the components of the magnetic clip would preferentially have flat inner and outer surfaces except the outer surface of the woman's top garment fastener component could be variable.
All magnets would preferentially be high energy magnets such as neodymium magnets. Neodymium magnets have a high energy to weight ratio.
Therefore the scope of this invention should not be construed to be limited to the few examples described herein, but by the appended claims and their legal equivalents.