CA1123156A - Knee protector for work pants or the like - Google Patents

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

A knee protector for insertion in a pocket in the legs of work pants or the like is of a V-shaped cross-sectional configuration to improve appearance of the pants with the pad in place, to reduce inconvenience of wearing the protector and to provide a self centering effect reducing inadvertent side-wise shift of the padded part of the leg away from its operative position in front of the wearer's knee. A pocket for use with the pad is of a width sufficient for stitching the pocket to the pant leg along a stitch line coincident with the inseam and the outseam of the leg to enable further improvement in the appearance be concealing the stitch line and placing the pocket inside the respective leg. Both the pad and the pocket can also be used with a different pocket or pad, respectively.

Description

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A KNEE PROTECTOR FOR I~ORK PANTS OR THE LIKE
The present invention relates to knee protectors for use in conjunction with work pants and in particular to a knee pro-tectors of the type having a removable cushion-like material inserted within a pocket arranged on the knee of legs of a pair of trousers, working pants or the like. The present invention relates, by the same token, to the structural features of a pocket for use with such knee protector. Also, the pres-ent invention relates to the protecting cushion itself.
In a great number of different occupations, it is des-irable to protect one or both knees of the worker. Carpenters, electricians, floor tilers, roofers and airline employees load-ing the luggage and freight into the bellies of the planes are but a few of such occupations. These tradesmen often have to kneel for an extended period of time, and it is important that a suitable padding be provided for the person's knee not only to increase the comfort while working but also to avoid the development of damages to the knee due to it's exposure to relatively high pressures while kneeling.
Two basic kinds of knee protectors are known in the art.
The first kind is represented by a knitted type knee pad which is pulled directly over the leg. The disadvantage of the pull-on type knee pad is that it restricts at the back of the leg when the knee is bent and also is very warm and thus uncomEort-able to wear.
The second group of known knee protectors is secured to the work pants. Basically, the legs of the pants are provided with a rectangular pocke~ in the knee portion and inserted within the pocket: is a generally flat panel of a foam rubber-like material wh;ch can be removed when it is desired to wash - : ~

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the pants and reinserted into the pocket afterwards. One of typical features of the known knee protectors of the type of inserts in work pants is that they attempt to s~mulate as closely as possible the rounded shape of the knee. This gives rise to a certain discomfort as in certain positions there is not enough air ventilation between the pant leg with the cusion inserted and the knee, thus only partly eliminating one of the problems mentioned in comlection with the pull-on type knee pad. Another problem associated with the known work pants of the above type is in that the pocket receiving the cushion distorts to a substantial degree the appearance of the pants while worn. This disadvantage is particularly considerable in work pants or uniforms wherein the appearance of the garment is of virtually the same significance as the effectiveness of the knee protector.
Uniforms for tradesmen servicing applicances and uniforms for cargo handling personnel of airlines are typic~l examples of a field wherein the appearance of the pants is of signicance.
Prior art referred to above is exemplified by the embodiments disclosed in Canadian patent 971,703 issued July 29, 1975 to James AtacX et al., U.S. Patent 727,243 issued ~ay 5, 1903 to Samuel T~lilkinson and in U.S. Patent 3,168,746 issued February 9, 1965 to R.D. Smith. The above Canadian patent describes athletic trousers including a reinforcing and protecting knee patch provided at the knee of each leg and attached by stitching. In addition, auxilliary pockets may be provided at the knees for the in-sertion of padding if desired. The knee pads are flat, oval pieces as best seen by schematic representations in Fig-ures 1 and 2 of the reference . U.S. Patent 727,243 is an indication that it has long been known to provide pockets at the exterior of the knee portion of the legs of a pair of pants for inserting therein a rectangular pad which can be removed while washing the garment. A flap closing the pocket is also disclosed. Basically the same structure is shown in the aforesaid U.S. Patent to R.~. Smith, number 3,168,746.
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It is an object of the invention to further advance the art of knee protectors of the second group as referred to before.
In ~articular, the ob~ect of the invention is to provide a knee protecting device of the above tvpe which would secure suf ficient ventilation between the knee and the inside of the trouser leg to which the protector is secured while, at the same time, improving the appearance of the trousers by avoiding the substantial dis-tortion of the shape of the front crease of the trousers in the knee portion due to the inserted padding.
There are several aspects of the present invention which contribute to the advance in the art. In one aspect, a knee protector is provided which comprises a padding element adapted to be removably secured to the knee portion of a trouser leg, and comprised of a pocket to be stitched to said leg and of a removable padding element complementary with the pocket for removable insertion into same, wherein said pocket includes a main panel having a normallv top edge portion, a normally bottom edge portion and two side edge portions, the spacing of said side edge portions from each other generally corresponding to the front width of the respective leg at the knee region thereof as measured from the respective inseam, over the respective front crease portion, to the respectlve outseam, whereby the pocket can be stitched to the respective leg along two lines generally coincident with the inseam and with the outseam of the leg, respectively.
In another aspect of the present invention a pliable pocket is provided for use as a holder for removablv securing a knee padding element to a trouser leg, said pocket including a main panel of a size sufficient to allow the stitching thereof to a trouser leg along lines generally coincident with the inseam and with the outseam of the respective leg, while Xeeping the surface of the main panel generallv coextensive with the surface of the leg at the knee region thereof.
In a further aspect, the present invention provides, for use with at least one of a pair of trouser legs, a knee protector pocket means adapted to be stitched to a respect-ive leg, to provide a pocket for removably inserting therein a knee protective paddin~ element, said pocket means includ-' ~

~3~L~6 ing a pliable main panel having two mutually opposite sideedge portions defining the width of the panel, said width generally corresponding to the frontal width of the knee region of the respective leg as measured by the sum of cross-sectional distance from the inseam to the front crease, and from the front crease to the outseam of the leg, whereby said pocket means can be stitched to the respective leg along the inseam and the outseam thereof with one face of said panel being generally coincident with the surface of a portion of the leg at the knee thereof.
The present invention can also be defined as providing pliable pocket means adapted to be stitched to a knee of a trouser leg, said pocket including a pliable main panel whose width generally corresponds to the front width of the respect-ive leg at the knee portion thereof r as measured from theinseam, over the front crease portion, to the outseam of the leg.
In a still further aspect, the present invention pro-vides a knee pad made of a cushioning material for placement into a pocket formed in the knee portion of a trouser leg, said Xnee pad comprising two generally flat padding panels gen-erally integral with each other and disposed at an angle relative to each other to define a generally straight ridge ~ortion, whereby said pad can be secured to a trouser leg at the knee portion thereof with said ridge generally coexten-sive with the front crease region of the knee portion.
In accordance with another aspect of the present in-vention, a padding member or element is provided for use as a padding insert in a leg of a pair of trousers, said padding member comprising two generally planar panel-like sections disposed such that the padding member is of a generally V-shaped cross-sectional configuration.
The present invention also provides a knee padding as-sembly comprised of a pliable pocket member adapted for stitching to a leg of a pair of trousers, and a resilient padding element compl~mentary with ihe pocket member for removable insert:ion into same, w~erein said pocket member includes a panel whose width generally coresponds to the front width of a respective trouser leg as measured from the inseam,over the front crease, to the outseam of the leg, ` .;' ~3~

whereby the width of said panel is sufficient for stitching of the panel to a respective leg of trousers by stitches generally coincident with the inseam and with the outseam of the leg, respectively.
The knee padding assembly oi the present invention can also be defined, in another aspect, as being comprised of a pliable pocket member adapted for stitching to a leg of a pair of trousers at the knee section thereof, and of a resilient padding element complementary with the pocket member, wherein said padding element is comprised of two cushioning panel-like sections combining to form a V-shaped cross-sectional configuration having a ridge extending from a normally upper end of the padding element to a normally lower end thereof, whereby the padding element can be placed into said pocket member when the latter is stitched to the respective leg, such that said ridge is generally parallel with the front crease of the respective leg at the knee portion thereof.
The invention can also be defined as providing work pants of the type having leg portions, at least one, preferably each leg portion having a pliable pocket for receiving a cushioned member at the knee portion of the leg, said pocket being generally coextensive with a part of the leg at said knee portion, said pocket including a panel having two mutually opposite side portions stitched to the inseam region and to the out-seam region, respectively, of the leg, to conceal the stitch-ing of the side portions.
The present invention can be also referred to, in general terms, as providing, in combination with work pants of the type having leg portions, each leg portion having a pliable pocket stitched to the knee part of the respective leg; a padding element complbmentary with the respective pocket for insertion therein, each padding element being made of a resiliently deformable material and comprising two panel-shaped sections adjoining each other at an angle to form aridge extending from a normally u~per end of the element to a normally lower end thereof, whereby the padding element is of a generally '~-shaped cross-sectional configuration.
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- 5a -According to a broad aspect of the invention a pair of trousers is provided including a pocket secured to at least one of the legs of the trouse:rs interiorly of a front knee portion thereof, for receiving a padding element to protect the knee of a user, wherein said pocket is stiched to the respective leg solely by stitches disposed on sides of the pocket and generally parallel with the side seams and with the crease of the respective leg.

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The invention will no~ be described by way of two al-ternative preferred embodiments of work pants utilizing two embodiments of the pocket member and one embodiment of the padding element, it being understood that modifications to the shown embodiments are possible within the scope of the present invention. The preferred embodiments will be described with reference to the accompanving drawings in which:
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a pair of working pants with a diagrammatic indication of the location and shape of the knee protectors;
Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 but showing a modified embodiment of the work pants utilizing only one aspect of the invention;
Fig. 3 is section III-III of Fig. l;
~ig. 4 is section IV-IV of Fig. l;
Fig. 5 is section V-V of ~ig. l;
Fig. 6 is section VI-VI of Fig. 2;
Fig. 7 is a perspecti~e view showing only the padding el-ement insertable into a pocket;
Fig. 8 is a perspective view showing a preferred em-bodiment of the pocket; and Fig. 9 is a ~erspective view similar to Fig. 8 bu~
showing another embodiment cf the pocket For the sake of simplicity, the individual elements o the embodiments of Figs. 1 and 2 are shown as being identical to each other and will therefore be referred to with the same reference numerals.
Reference numeral 11 designates a pair of work pants 30 having two legs 12, 13, each leg having an inseam 14, and an outseam 15 transversely opposite to the inseam 14. Reference numeral 16 designates front crease of leg 12 and reference numeral 17 designates similar crease of the leg 13.
As is well known, when the pant legs are flattened such that the creases 16, 17 form the respective edges of the flattend configuration, the inseams 14 and outseams 15 are generally coincident and are slightly closer to the front creases 15 than to the rear creases of the legs. Thus, when s~

when the legs are stretched such as to flatten the respective crease 16 or 17 while rendering the inseam and outseam of the respective leg to form the "edqe" of the transversley strech-ed leg, the distance between the two seams as measured across the front crease 16 or 17 is slightly less than the corresponding distance as measured over the rear crease of the respective leq, which is shown by the fabric at the back being loose. This ~eripheral distance is also reerred to as a "front" or "frontal"
width of the respective leg. The front width of the respective leg is significant with respect to terminologv used hereinafter with respect to some aspects of the present invention. Brieflv, the front width is the sum of distance between inseam 14 to crease 17 plus the distance between the crease 16 to the outseam 15, it being understood that reference to the respective portions at both legs is being made strictly for the sake of convenience as the measurements are identical for both legs of the pants.
The fi~st measurement is referred to with reference numeral 18, the second with reference numeral 19.
In Fig. 1, a rectangular pocket 20 is shown as being stitched interiorly of each of the leg 12, 13 and receiving a particularly shaped cushion insert 21 as will be described in greater detail later on. ~igs. 1, 3, 4 and 5 show that the pocket 20 is stitched to each respective leg 12, 13 solel,,v along the res~ective inseam 14 and outseam 15, there being no stitches (Fig. 5) securing the pocket to the respective leg in addition to the two vertical stitch lines. A flap covering the pocket receiving the cus~ion 21 can also be provided if desired but it was found out that it can be omitted if the cusion i9 made of a material having sufficient frictional resistance at its surface.
The embodiment of ~ig. 2 is different in that the pocket 20 is stitched at the exterior of the respective legs 12, 13.
The stitching in this case is not identical with ~he stitchinq of the embodiment of ~ig. 1 in that the vertical stitch lines of the pocket 20 are spaced from the resoective inseam and outseam.
The pocket itself, therefore, is of the known type (of the above U.S.
patent to R.D. Smith). It is visible, however, even with the pants of Fig. 2, that the particular shape of the cushion 21 : , . . .
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as will be referred to hereinafter, still contributes to an im-proved appearance of the pants. It will be noted that in Fig. 2, the pocket 20 is additionally stitched to the respective leg alon~
a bottom transverse line, at stitch 22. 'Tertical stitches 23, 24 which, in the embodiment of Fig. 1, are generally identical with the respective inseam 14 and outseam 15, hold the sides of the respective pocket 20 to the respective leg.
Thus, in s~marv, the difference between the two embodiments is that Fig. 1 does not have the t:ransverse stitch 22 and in that the vertical stitches 23, 24 in ~ig. 1 are coincident with the inseam and with the outseam of the respective leg. It is par-ticularly the embodiment of Fig. 1 that enhances the eve appealing neatness of the pair of legs bY concealing the pad inside the respective leg while enhancing, on top of the leg, the contin-UitY of the front crease. However, even with the embodiment of Fig. 2, the appearance of the pants is enhanced by at least gen-erallY maintaining the shape o the legs at the crease region of the knee section thereof.
Reference may now be had to the prefered embodiment of the padding element shown in Fig.7 . The padding element or cushion 21 is an integral ~iece made of neoprene foam. The material is preferred because it is light, resistant to oil or the like, provides sufficiently high friction at the surface relative to the cloth of the pocket and of the ~ants which is of advantaqe from the standpoint of keeping the cushlon 21 within the pocket 20 bY avoiding its undesired "travel" out of the pocket while the person wearing the pants is walking or the like.
The cushion is of a generall~ rectangular configuration in Plan and consists of two rectangular panel-like sections 25, 26, each section 25, 26 being generallY planar and being disposed at an angle of slightlY less than 90, to produce a ridge 27 extending from the normally upper end 28 to the normally lower end 29 of the cushion 21. The width of sections 25 and 26 is preferablv the same. The overall width from one side 30 to the other side 31 across the ridge 27 is such as to allow for convenient inserting of the cushion 21 into the pocket 20. It was found out that, for instance, with the embodiment of Fig. 1, the width of the .

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~3:~i;6 g cushion 21 can be considerably less than that of the pocket.
In one embodiment, for instance, the width of the pocket is about 24 cm while the overall width of the cushion amounted to only about 18 cm.
~hose skilled in the art will readily appreciate that a cushion member such as the cushion 21 can be readily used even in conjunction with known types of ~pockets or pants, for instance, as disclosed in the above Smith U.S. Patent, 3,168,746.
Reference will now be made to Fig. 9 which shows what 0 is believed to be the simplest embodiment of the pocket 20 for use in a combination as shown in Fig. 1.
The pocket lS made of a pliable textile material. It con-tains a main panel 32 having a normally upper edge 33 and a normally lower edge 34. The lower edge 34 is formed by a turned-over extension of the fabric, to provide a second panel 35 whose width is generally the same as that of the main panel 32 but the height of the second panel is smaller.
The two panels are stitched to each other along sides 36, 37.
In accordance with one inventive aspect of the present in-vention, the spacing between the side 36, 37 is such asto correspond to the distance (18 + 19) of the leg of work pants with which the pocket is to be used. This allows for stitching of the pocket 20 to the respective leg such that the stitch securing the pocket 20 to the leg 12 or 13 is concealed by making same coincident with the inseam and out-seam of the leg.
It will be appreciated on comparing Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5 that the second panel is dis~osed between the main panel 32 and the inside surface of the respective pant leg 12 or 13.
The turned-over lower edge 34 of the pocket thus forms the bottom of the pocket when the same is stitched to the pants and holds the cush_on 21 securely without the need of a transverse stitch such as stich 22 of Fig. 2.
Fig. 9 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the pocket 20 which is intended to merely show that the embodiment of Fig. 3 can be modified to a more or less sub-stantial degree without departing from the scope of the present invention. In the embodiment of Fig. 9, the pocket :, ':: ~

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20 has a main panel having a plurality of stitches along its sides 36, 37 to designate cut lines along which the main panel 32 can be cut to match the respective frontal width of the pant leg with which the pocket is to be used. By the same token, the second panel 35 is shown to be of a width less than that of the main panel, the second panel 35 being stitched to the main panel along side seams 38, 39, spaced a~art a distance ..
sufficient for defining a pouch capable of receiving the padding element. Of course, the distance between the side seams 38, 39 is selected such as to allow convenient inserting and removal of a cushion 21.
Thus, the present invention provides several vendible products. For instance, the cushion element 21 can be sold separately for use with known work pants having pockets already secured to the knee portion of the legs. The cushion 21 can also be sold as a part of a kit, with a pocket such as the pocket 20 shown in Fig. 8 or 9 adapted to be secured to the inseam and outseam sections of the legs of the work pants. It is not preferred but is conceivahle to use the pockets 20 with a different type of cushion, for instance, with the cushion such as described in the above Smith patent 3,168,746. Accord-ingly, the pocket can also be sold separately. It is preferred, however, to combine the pocket with the V-shaped cushion as described above, particularly if the appearance of the crease section of the legs is important.
The V-shaped configuration of the padding~apart from im-proving the overall appearance of the work pants, also provides the feature of "self-centering" of the pant leg on the knee, whereby side-wise displacement rom a position of the pad directlv in front of the knee is more readilv pre-vented or rectified than with generally flat pads of prior art. This feature is significant in certain applications of the invention, e.g. in baggage handling and loading by airline personnel.
Furthermore, the making and selling of work pants having the pocket of E'ig. 8 or 9 secured but not necessarily con-taining the cushion element as described above is also ,: . -' ~

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readily conceivable. It is shown by Figs. 2 and 6 that the inventive cushion can also be used without utilizing the inventive feature allowing for securement of the pocket in the inseam and outseam regions of the legs, without departing from one aspect of the present invention.
The above are but few examples of different modifications of the preferred embodiments as referred to above, which do not depart from the scope of this invention as recited in the accompanying claims.

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Claims (29)

CLAIMS:-

1. A knee protector comprising a padding element adapted to be secured to the knee portion of a trouser leg, and com-prised of a pocket to be stitched to said leg and of a re-movable padding element complementary with the pocket for insertion into same, wherein said pocket includes a pliable main panel having a normally top edge portion, a normally bottom edge portion and two side edge portions, the spacing of said side edge portions from each other generally corres-ponding to the front width of the respective leg at the knee region thereof as measured from the respective inseam, over the respective front crease portion, to the respective outseam, whereby the pockets can be stitched to the respective leg along two lines generally coincident with the inseam and the outseam of the leg, respectively.

2. A knee protector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the normally bottom edge portion of said panel is integral, over a turned-over portion, with a second panel, the turned-over edge portion forming a bottom section of the pocket, whereby the pocket can be stitched to the respective trouser leg solely along the sides thereof coincident with the respective inseam and outseam.

3. A knee protector as claimed in claim l or 2, wherein the size of the main panel is complementary with the size of the padding such that with the padding inserted within the pocket, the main panel covers at least a substantial portion of that surface portion of said padding element which is turned away from the knee portion when the pocket and the padding element is applied to a trouser leg.

4. A pliable pocket for use as a holder for removably securing a knee padding element to a trouser leg, said pocket including a pliable main panel of a size sufficient to allow stitching thereof to a trouser leg along lines generally coincident with the inseam and with the outseam of the respective leg, while keeping the surface of the main panel generally co-extensive with the surface of the leg at the knee region thereof.

5. A pliable pocket as claimed in claim 4, further com-prising a second panel integral with said first panel and adjoining same at a turned-over lower edge portion of the main panel, whereby the turned-over edge portion forms a bottom of the pocket, thus allowing the securement of the pocket to the respective trouser leg solely along the inseam and the outseam of the leg.

6. A pliable pocket as claimed in claims 4 or 5, wherein said main panel is of the size sufficient for fully covering one surface of a knee padding element when the latter is in-serted in said pocket.

7. For use with at least one of a pair of trouser legs, a knee protector pocket means adapted to be stitched to a respective leg, to provide a pocket for inserting therein a knee protective padding element, said pocket means including a pliable main panel having two mutually opposite side edge portions defining the front width of the panel, said width generally corresponding to the width of the knee region of the respective leg as measured by the sum of cross-sectional distance from the inseam to the front crease, and from the front crease to the outseam of the leg, whereby said pocket means can be stitched to the respective leg along the inseam and the outseam thereof with one face of said panel being generally coincident with the surface of a portion of the leg at the knee thereof.

8. A knee protector pocket means as claimed in claim 7, further comprising a second panel generally coextensive with the main panel, secured to said main panel and integral with same at a turned-over normally lower edge of the main panel.

9. A knee protector pocket means as claimed in claim 7 or 8, wherein the size of the main panel is sufficient to entirely enclose a padding element when the latter is inserted into the pocket.

10. A knee protector pocket means as claimed in claim 7, wherein the main panel and the second panel are each of a generally rectangular shape of generally the same width.

11. A knee protector pocket means as claimed in claim 7 or 8, wherein the size of the main panel is sufficient to entirely enclose a padding element when the latter is inserted into the pocket, the main panel and the second panel being each of a generally rectangular shape of generally the same width.

12. A knee protector pocket means as claimed in claim 8 or 10, wherein said second panel is shorter than the main panel, in a length measured in a direction generally parallel with said mutually opposite side edge portions of the pocket means.

13. Pliable pocket means adapted to be stitched to a knee of a trouser leg, said pocket including a pliable main panel whose width generally corresponds to the front width of the respective leg at the knee portion thereof, as measured from the inseam, over the front crease portion, to the outseam of the leg.

14. Pliable pocket means as claimed in claim 13, further comprising a turned-over edge at the bottom of said pliable main panel, at which the pliable main panel is integral with a turned-over second panel, whereby the turned-over edge portion forms a bottom of said pocket.

15. Pliable pocket means as claimed in claim 14, wherein said second panel is of a length shorter than that of the main panel.

16. A pliable pocket means as claimed in claims 14 or 15, wherein the width of said second panel is generally the same as that of the main panel, whereby both panels can be stitched to the respective leg at the inseam and at the outseam thereof, respectively.

17. A knee padding kit comprised of a pliable pocket member adapted for stitching to a leg of a pair of trousers, and of a resilient padding element complementary with the pocket member for removable insertion into same, wherein said pocket member includes a panel whose width generally corresponds to the front width of a respective trouser leg as measured from the inseam, over the front crease, to the outseam of the leg, whereby the width of said panel is sufficient for stitching of the panel to a respective leg of trousers by stitches generally coincident with the inseam and with the outseam of the leg, respectively.

18. A knee padding kit as claimed in claim 17, wherein the length of said panel generally corresponds to the length of said resilient padding element, whereby on the insertion of the padding element into said pocket member, said panel generally entirely covers the padding element.

19. A knee padding kit as claimed in claim 17, wherein said panel is a main panel adjoining a second panel of the pocket member over a turned-over, normally lower edge portion of the main panel.

20. A knee padding kit as claimed in claim 19, wherein said second panel is shorter than the main panel.

21. A knee padding kit as claimed in claims 17, 18 or 19, wherein the padding element is comprised of two generally planar panel-like members adjoining each other along a ridge, whereby the padding element is of a V-shaped cross-sectional configur-ation.

22. Work pants having two legs, at least one of the legs having a pliable pocket for receiving a cushioned member at the knee portion of the leg, said pocket being generally co-extensive with a part of the leg at said knee portion, said pocket including a pliable panel generally corresponding in width to the front width of the respective leg as measured from the inseam, over the front crease portion, to the outseam of the respective leg, said panel having two mutually opposite side portions stitched to the inseam region and to the outseam region, respectively, of the respective leg, to conceal the stitching of the side portions.

23. Work pants as claimed in claim 22, wherein said pocket is disposed at the exterior of the leg.

24. Work pants as claimed in claim 22, wherein said pocket is disposed interiorly of the respective leg.

25. Work pants as claimed in claims 23 or 24, wherein said panel is a main panel merging, at its normally lower edge, over a turned-over edge section, with a second panel disposed between the main panel and the knee portion of the respective leg portion.

26. Work pants as claimed in claims 23 ox 24, wherein said panel is a main panel merging, at its normally lower edge, over a turned-over edge section, with a second panel disposed between the main panel and the knee portion of the respective leg portion, the length of said second panel as measured in a direction generally parallel with elongation of the respective leg portion, is shorter than that of the main panel.

27. Work pants as claimed in claims 23 or 24, in combination with a padding disposed within said pliable pockets.

28. Work pants as claimed in claims 23 or 24, in combination with a padding disposed within said pliable pockets, said padding being of the type including two generally identical panel-like portions, integral with each other at a ridge generally coextensive with the front crease of the respective leg portion.

29. Work pants as claimed in claims 23 or 24, in combination with a padding disposed within said pliable pockets, said padding being of the type including two generally identical panel-like portions, integral with each other at an angular ridge generally coextensive with the front crease of the respective leg portion, the length of said padding as measured along the respective crease portion being generally the same as the corresponding length of said main panel, whereby the padding is entirely received within said pliable pocket.