EP1207763B1

EP1207763B1 - Motorcyclist suit

Info

Publication number: EP1207763B1
Application number: EP00954897A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Lino Dainese
Original assignee: Dainese SpA
Current assignee: Dainese SpA
Priority date: 1999-08-10
Filing date: 2000-08-10
Publication date: 2006-03-08
Anticipated expiration: 2020-08-10
Also published as: DE60026537T2; DE60026537D1; WO2001010254A1; EP1207763A1; ATE319339T1; ES2258979T3; IT249902Y1; ITVE990024U1; AU6724500A

Abstract

A motorcyclist suit (1), comprising an elasticized insert (10) arranged at its abdomen portion.

Description

The present invention relates to a suit for a motorcyclist. In particular, it relates to a suit for a motorcyclist comprising an elasticized insert.
It is known that suits for motorcyclists, in particular those for agonistic competitions, must have excellent wearability, so as to remain perfectly adhered to the motorcyclist's body while driving and to favorably influence his/her aerodynamic properties. At the same time, these suits must be able to protect the motorcyclist him/herself in case of falling.
In order to meet such contrasting requirements, suits for motorcyclists are usually made of a highly resistant and non-stretchable material, typically leather, and modeled onto the motorcyclist's body in the position he assumes when he/she is sitting on the motorbike.
In order to allow the motorcyclist a certain freedom of movement, and in particular the movements with limited excursion required while driving the motorbike, the aforementioned suits also have parts with greater compliance, implemented by means of inserts of elastic material. Typically, these parts are found at the bottom of the back, the shoulder blades and the thighs immediately above the knee.
The above-described suits for motorcyclists of the known art have some major drawbacks.
The main drawback lies in the fact that when the motorcyclist is in the typical position of agonistic driving, i.e. sitting on his/her motorbike with the torso bent over and leaning forward, in the suit, at the abdomen portion, there is a tendency that folds and/or bulges will form. The latter are rather bothersome to the motorcyclist, constricting him to drive in a rather uncomfortable position, and above all worsening the aerodynamic properties. For these reasons, such a non-optimal wearability of the suit may adversely affect the motorcyclist's performance.
In the attempt to avoid this disadvantage, manufacturers of suits for motorcyclists tend to shorten the front part of the bodice of the suit itself with respect to the length corresponding to the actual size of the motorcyclist. However, such an expedient makes the suit, when the motorcyclist assumes a more upright position compared to that of agonistic driving, cause a bothersome pulling at the crotch, impeding the movements of the motorcyclist him/herself. This pulling effect is particularly accentuated when the motorcyclist assumes a normal erect posture before or after the race. Furthermore, the aforementioned expedient also does not allow obtaining a perfect adherence of the suit to the body, in particular in the region of the abdomen, while driving.
DE 28 50 692 discloses a sport garment having an elastic waist portion with elastic fibers extensible in the transverse direction, i.e. parallely to the waist of the garment. The object of such elastic waist is to support the wearer torso muscles during sport activities.
FR 2 416 657 discloses a method for making an elasticized insert comprising the steps of pre-stretching a piece of elastic material and fixing it, in such condition of pre-stretching, onto a piece of non-stretchable material.
US-A-3086214 discloses a garment with an elastic stretch panel between shoulder and waist to provide the garment to fit to different sized wearer as well as freedom of movement.
The technical problem underlying the present invention is that of providing an elasticized suit for a motorcyclist which allows to overcome the drawbacks mentioned with reference with reference to the known art.
This problem is solved by a motorcyclist suit according to claim 1.
According to the same inventive concept, the present invention also refers to a method for making a motorcyclist suit according to claim 11.
The present invention provides some considerable advantages.
The main advantage is that the aforementioned elasticized insert improves the adherence of the suit to the motorcyclist's body while driving, increasing hos/her aerodynamic properties.
Furthermore, said elasticized insert enables the motorcyclist to change comfortably from the bent over riding position to an erect position without experiencing annoying pulling in other parts of the suit.
Other advantages, characteristics and methods of using the present invention will become clear from the following detailed description of one embodiment thereof, given by way of non-limitative example. Reference will be made to the figures of the enclosed drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 shows a front view of a suit for a motorcyclist according to the invention;
Figs. 2A and 2B refer to the method of making an elasticized insert according to the invention, each showing a perspective view thereof; and
Fig. 3 refers to the ways of connecting the insert of Figs. 2A and 2B onto the remaining part of a motorcyclist suit, showing a perspective view of said insert.

With reference initially to Fig. 1, a motorcyclist suit is denoted as a whole by reference numeral 1. According to the invention, the suit 1 comprises an elasticized insert 10 arranged at the abdomen portion of the suit 1 itself.
In the present embodiment, the insert 10 has a substantially quadrangular shape. This allows to the suit 1 to adapt itself to the shape of the motorcyclist's abdomen and to adhere thereto in an optimal way when the motorcyclist assumes the aforementioned riding position, bent over on the motorbike and with the torso leaning forward. To further improve the wearability of the suit 1, the insert 10 of the present embodiment is substantially diamond shaped.
To guarantee an optimal elastic deformation in relation to the various positions assumed by the motorcyclist, the insert 10 is arranged with two vertices, an upper vertex 11 and a lower vertex 12 respectively, substantially aligned along the longitudinal axis of the suit 1, indicated by A in Figure 1.
Furthermore, again with the aim of improving the fit of the suit 1 on the motorcyclist's body in the various positions he/she assumes, the elasticized insert 10 preferably has an anisotropic, i.e. different in the different directions, elastic deformability, namely a different elastic module in said different directions. In particular, the elastic deformability of the elasticized insert 10 is advantageously greater in a direction substantially parallel to the longitudinal axes A of the suit 1.
Generally speaking, the insert 10 will be preferably elongated according to a main direction substantially parallel to the aforementioned preferential direction of elastic deformability, as occurs in the present case by virtue of the aforementioned diamond shape.
The aforementioned preferential direction of elastic deformability of the insert 10, together with its arrangement, provides it, when the suit 1 is put on, with the ability to adapt its own longitudinal extension, and therefore the longitudinal extension of the entire upper part of the suit 1, to the position assumed by the motorcyclist, and in particular to both the aforementioned agonistic riding position and erect posture.
The specific methods of making the insert 10 of the present embodiment will be illustrated further on, with reference to Figs. 2A and 2B.
The insert 10 is applied at a front portion of the bodice 2 of the suit 1, made of leather. This front portion of the bodice 2 is provided, at the top part thereof, with means of connection to a rear portion of the suit. In particular, this comprises two zip fasteners 3, each extending laterally from the neck of the suit 1 up to a respective arm portion of the suit. This means of connection ensures a comfortable putting on of the suit 1 and an optimal positioning of the insert 10 at the motorcyclist's abdomen.
The suit 1 additionally comprises, at the shoulder and knee portions thereof, protection means 4, which in the present embodiment includes protective members of Titanium, also indicated by reference numeral 4. As this latter material has a low friction coefficient with asphalt compared to the carbon protections conventionally used, the protective members 4 prevent, in case of falling, the motorcyclist from rolling on the asphalt and hurting himself due to this rolling. According to variants of the present embodiment, such protective members of Titanium 4 can be used in addition to or in association with the carbon protections already known, and arranged in different regions of the suit as compared to those mentioned above.
The remaining parts of the suit 1 are made of leather, and can have protective padding and/or inserts in elastic material arranged at the bottom of the back, at the shoulder-blades and at the thighs, according to what was already described with reference to the known art. Since these remaining parts of the suit are of conventional type and well- known by a person skilled in the art, no further description thereof shall be made.
The ways of making the elasticized insert 10 will now be described with reference to Figs. 2A and 2B.
With reference initially to Figure 2A, the elasticized insert 10 comprises a piece of elastic material 101 and a piece of substantially non-stretchable material 102. The expression "substantially non-stretchable" is herein understood as meaning a material with an elastic deformability almost null or anyway very limited compared to that of said elastic material. Advantageously, the substantially non-stretchable material used will be leather, which has properties of resistance and ease of putting on already widely proven in the field of motorcycling.
For the sake of simplicity, the aforementioned pieces will hereinafter be referred to as elastic piece 101 and non-stretchable piece 102.
As indicated in Figure 1A, first of all the elastic piece 101 is put in a state of pre-stretching. Such state of pre-stretching can be produced by applying a uniform pre-stretching tension in all directions, as shown schematically in Figure 1A, or a tension of pre-stretching different in different directions. Of course, if the elastic material has one or more preferential directions of elastic deformability, this will correspond to a uniform stretching with a different deformation in the different directions.
It is to be understood, however, that the pre-stretching tension applied and the elastic properties of the material could be chosen and associated with each other in order to satisfy in an optimal manner every specific requirement of wearability of suit 1.
As shown in Figure 1B, the elastic piece 101, in the aforementioned state of pre-stretching, is fixed onto the non-stretchable piece 102. This connection is preferably carried out by means of so-called stitching and then sewing operation.
It will be appreciated that the method just described allows obtaining an insert which is both resistant and elastic at the same time, which is thus able to satisfy the contrasting requirements of protection and compliance mentioned with reference to the known art. In particular, the pre-stretching brought about in the elastic material results in the insert having a certain elastic deformability, while the non-stretchable material gives the insert itself the required resistance.
The aforementioned method is also extremely fast and economical.
As shown in Figure 3, the insert 10 thus obtained can then be sewn onto the remaining part of the suit 1, in the arrangement already described above. Advantageously, this remaining part of the suit 1 will have been already carried out completely and assembled according to conventional techniques.
A person skilled in the art will understand that to the embodiment of the suit according to the invention described herein many variants can be applied. In particular, the suit could comprise not a single elasticized insert, but two or more different inserts applied at the abdomen. Such a solution could yet further improve the wearability of the suit 1 and the range of movements allowed to the motorcyclist.
Based on the considerations reported herein, it will be understood that the present invention also refers to a method for carrying out an elasticized insert for a motorcyclist suit, comprising the steps of:

providing a piece of elastic material as described above;
providing a piece of substantially non-stretchable material as described above;
pre-stretching the elastic material piece according to the ways illustrated above; and
fixing the piece of elastic material, in the above-mentioned condition of pre-stretching, onto the piece of non-stretchable material, according to the ways already described.

The present invention has up until now been described with reference to preferred embodiments. It is to be understood that there may be other embodiments which embrace the same inventive concept, all included within the scope of protection of the claims stated hereinafter.

Claims

A motorcyclist suit (1) of the type made of a substantially non-stretchable material, comprising an elasticized insert (10) arranged at a front bodice portion of the suit characterized in that said insert (10) is arranged in correspondence of the suit front abdomen portion only and has an anisotropic elastic deformability which is greater in a direction substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis (A) of the suit such that, in riding position, said suit adheres to the motorcyclist abdomen.
The motorcyclist suit (1) according to claim 1, wherein said elasticized insert (10) comprises a piece of pre-stretched elastic material (101) fixed onto a piece of substantially non-stretchable material (102).
The motorcyclist suit (1) according to claim 2, wherein said substantially non-stretchable material is leather.
The motorcyclist suit (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said insert (10) is elongated according to a main direction substantially parallel to said longitudinal axis (A) of the suit.
The motorcyclist suit (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said insert (10) has a substantially quadrangular shape.
The motor cyclist suit (1) according to claim 5, wherein said insert (10) is substantially diamond shaped.
The motor cyclist suit (1) according to claim 5 or 6, wherein said insert (10) has an upper vertex (11) and a lower vertex (12) substantially aligned along the longitudinal axis (A) of the suit.
The motorcyclist suit (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein a front part of the suit bodice (2) is provided with means of connection (3) to a rear portion of the suit.
The motorcyclist suit (1) according to claim 8, wherein said means of connection comprises two zip fasteners (3), each extending laterally from the neck of the suit up to below a respective arm portion of the suit.
The motorcyclist suit (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising protective members (4) of Titanium arranged at the shoulder and/or knee portions of the suit.
A method for making a motorcyclist suit (1), comprising the steps of:
- providing a piece of elastic material (101);

- providing a piece of substantially non-stretchable material (102);

- pre-stretching said piece of elastic material; and

- fixing said piece of elastic material, in said condition of pre-stretching, onto said piece of non-stretchable material, so as to obtain an elasticized insert (10),

characterized in that it also provides the step of
- inserting said elasticized insert as the abdomen portion of an already completely assembled motorcyclist suit of the type made of a substantially non-stretchable material, so that the direction of pre-stretching that has a greater elastic deformability is substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis (A) of said suit.
The method according to claim 11, wherein said step of pre-stretching said piece of elastic material (101) provides the application of a uniform pre-stretching tension in all directions.
The method according to claim 11, wherein said step of pre-stretching said piece of elastic material (101) provides for the application of a different pre-stretching tension in different directions.
The method according to any one of claims 11 to 13, wherein said step of fixing said piece of elastic material (10) onto said piece of non-stretchable material (102) provides for a stitching operation and then a sewing operation.