GB2174289A - Incontinence briefs and pants - Google Patents

Abstract

A pair of incontinence pants or briefs (10) includes a pocket located in the crotch region and defined by an outer wall (20) of a liquid-impermeable material which is longer than it is wide and an inner wall (22,24) of like material whose edges define a substantially oval hole (26). A portion of the inner wall overlaps but is not connected to another thereof and the edges (28,30) are crossed over one another at one end of the pocket. Preferably, the edges (28,30) are elasticated. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Incontinence briefs and pants This invention retatesto incontinence briefs and pants forwear by males and females.

Prior proposals for pantsforwear by females, and provided with means for attaching or accommodating pads to absorb urine or menstrual discharge are to be found in numerous prior patent specifications, for example British Patent specifications numbers 292,464; 358,765; 436,869; 855,020; 878,455 and 888,827.

It has been proposed in British Patent No. 1143419 that a so-called sanitary slip should have a flexible supportforcontaining or locating an absorbent member. The slip and support have and are connected together by corresponding fastening elements. British patent No. 1178212 discloses a sanitary garment comprising a stretchable panty body having in its crutch section a lining of waterproof material, the ends of which are respectively attached to the front and back panels ofthe panty for, whereas its side edges are gathered to the respective adjoining leg openings, the lining at each end being further covered with sections of waterproof material forming a front and a back pocket for inserting the ends of an absorbent pad, such as a sanitary napkin.In such a garment there is folded a double layer of thin waterproof material weldabletothe lining and welded thereto th rough a pairofspacedwelding seamsformingagapfor maintaining the end ofthe absorbent pad.

It has been suggested in International Patent Application Publication No. W085/03430 (BRIER) that a disposable waterproof encasement for an absorbent sanitary pad should be releasablyfixed to an under garmenttoconvertthatgarmentintoasanitarypanty or a stress incontinence garment. A rather similar idea has been previously proposed in British Patent No. 1 441087 (KANGA). This arrangement provides a pocket fora removable pad of absorbent material which in use absorbs accidentally-discharged urine.

British Patent No. 1 580550 (Fail Safe Apparel Corporation; inventor PAPAJOHN) relates to a panty with a holderfora sanitary napkin. The holder is of waterproof material and opens with VELCRO flaps at either end so that the sanitary napkin can be inserted or removed. In normalwear,theflapsarefixedclosed to retainthe napkin in place. Itisafeatureofthis arrangement, which is not particularly disadvantageous in the context of a holderfora sanitary napkin thatthe holder is open-ended, in the sense that the folding overoftheflaps into the closed position, i.e. so they are adjacent the outerwall ofthe holder, provides no liquid barrier.

For incontinence briefs or incontinence pants intended for normal or daily wear ratherthan hospital or geriatric use, it is desirable to have a pocket which (i) allows easy insertion and removal of an absorbent pad, (ii) securely retains a pad in position once inserted, (iii) is comfortable and yields to a certain extent in response to movement by the wearer, (iv) does not bulge and is unobtrusive, (v) is easily fixed in the garment either during its manufacture orsubse- quently and (vi) prevents or reduces the likelihood of any urine reaching fabric parts of the garment. The present invention has been developed in an attempt to address these conflicting and demanding requirements.

According to one aspect of the invention, a pair of incontinence pants or briefs includes a pocket located in the crotch region and defined by an outerwall of a liquid-impermeable material which is longerthan it is wide and an innerwall of like material whose edges define a substantially oval hole, a portion ofthe inner wall overlapping but not connected to another portion thereof and the edges being crossed over one another at one end of the pocket.

In this specification the words inner and outer are used in relation to a garment as worn.

According to a second aspect of the invention, a pair of incontinence briefs or pants includes a pocket located interiorly of the fabric of the crotch region, said pocket having an innerwall and an outerwall both of liquid impermeable material such as thin rubber or rubberised cloth, the pocket being open at a region facing towards the vagina or male gentalia when the briefs or pants are being worn by a wearer, the edges oftheopening being partlyorwhollyelasticated.

An advantage ofthe arrangement disclosed he?ein is that it allows easy insertion of an absorbent pad and yet securely retains the absorbent pad in its effective position during normal wear, including during sporting activities.

Preferably, the outer longitudinal edges ofthe inner wall portions and the outerwall are not stitched to the material of the garment but are stitched together by by respective seams. This results in a free-floating fixing ofthe middle portion ofthewaterproof pocket which is inwardly spaced from the crotch portion of the garment. This feature has the advantages firstly that the same manufacturing equipment can be used to make pants which include a pocket, as well as those which do not; and secondly that the free floating arrangements results in a less stiff and more comfortable crotch portion and permits minor adjustments of the location of the waterproof pocket by the wearer.

With such an arrangement,theouterand innerwalls are positioned so asto retain, in use, the elongate absorbent pad in the pocket with its marginal edges sandwiched between the inner and outerwalls and its central region in registry with the hole ready to absorb any urine which may be discharged. The elasticated edges assist in preventing dislodgement of the absorbent pad. The arrangement does not require the awkward end insertion procedure such as exemplified in British Patent No. 1 441 087.

In the arrangement according to the invention particularly disclosed herein, the seams around all foursidesofthesubsequentlyrectangularpocket prevent liquid exiting in any ofthese areas, in contrast to the arrangement in Patent 1 580 550 referred to above.

Furtherfeatures of the invention will be better understood from the following non-limiting descrip tion of examples thereof given with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:~ Figure lisa frontview of a pairofpantsforwear bya female and in accordance with one example ofthe invention; Figure 2 is a sketch showing the shape oftwo liquid impermeable panels which may be used to define a pocket for receiving an absorbent pad in the pants of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a front view of a pair ofY-fronttype briefs forwear by males and in accordance with a second example ofthe invention; and Figure 4 is an exploded view illustrating the construction of the pocket for insertion into theY-front type briefs in accordance with Figure 3.

The present invention aims to provide versatile briefs and pants especially suitable forwear by active persons who suffer mild incontinence. As will be understood, for user acceptability it is desirable that the pants and briefs should approximate as closely as possible to currently available styles and fashions intended for those not incontinent. The present invention aims to meet this need.

In the drawings, like numerals represent like parts.

Referring now to Figures 1 and 2, the illustrated incontinence pants forfemale wear (also called briefs) 10 havefrontand rear panels 12, l4ofconventional elasticated fabric, a waist band 16 and a crotch portion 18. The crotch portion has a pocket located interiorly thereof defined by an outerwall 20 and inner walls 22, 24 of liquid impermeable material which may be a liquid impermeable plastics sheet or a fabric. The outerwall 20 is located within but closely adjacent to and parallel to the fabric ofthe crotch portion ofthe briefs. The innerwalls 22, 24 define a hole 26 (Figure 2) therein which during wear is the path for any expelled urine to reach an absorbent pad (not shown for clarity of illustration). The pad is inserted in and is located in a pocketformed between the outerwall 20 and the inner walls 22, 24.The hole 26 has its boundary defined by the edges 28, 30 ofthe respective walls 22, 24 and these edges are preferably elasticated. They may be provided with a suitable binding. The hole 26 is illustrated as substantially oval but may be of any convenient shape. A substantially oval hole is preferred.

Thewall or panel 20 is secured to the wall or panel 22,24 and the resulting pouch or pocket is held in place by crossseams36and42.Thecross-seam 36 (Figure 1 ) connects the rear panel 14to the ends 40 ofthe walls 20, 22, 24. At the front ofthe garment, a cross seam 42 (Figure 1) connects the end 44 (Figure 2) of the wall or panel 20 to the frontfabric panel 12 of the briefs. The corresponding ends 46 and 48 ofthe respective inner walls 22, 24 are seamed to the front panel 12 bytheseam 42 butthewalls 22,24 overlap at the region 27 and are not sewn together at their edges in this region to provide a gap between the panels.

This gap is an importantfeature of the invention and is at the top front end ofthe pocket. It serves to facilitate insertion and removal of an absorbent pad (not shown).

Afurtheralternativeembodimentofthe invention is illustrated in figure 3 which shows male briefs of the Y-front type. The illustrated briefs 200 have conven tional front fabric panels 202 and 204 which are a continuation of a conventional rear panel, part of which is seen at 206. Thefabric may be a conventional elasticated fabric. The briefs have a conventional waistband 208. A "Y" seam 210,211 joins the panels 202 and 204to a crotch portion 212. Inthis embodi ment of the invention the crotch portion has a pocket fixed, e.g. by stitching to the innersurface thereof.The pocket (see Figure 4) consists of an outer wall 220 of waterproof material and an innerwall which is made upoftwowall portions222Aand222B.Thesetwowall portions define a substantially oval-shaped hole 224 in the innerwall. Their edges 226A, 226B, which define this hole are ruched and bound with elasticated material. The two wall portions are seamed together at 228 at the end ofthe pocket which is at the rearwhen the garment is worn, and each wall portion is seamed as shown at 230 to the outerwall 220 around the peripheryofthe latter, so defining a pocket whose entrance for urine is the hole 224 referred to. Any urine which may have been released or leaked bythe wearer, when the garment is being worn, reaches the absorbent pad via the hole 224.As shown in Figure 4, the upper portion ofthe pocket is pointed in order to correspond with the structure of conventional Y-front briefs; of course the upper region of the pocket could instead be of a different shape if desired, e.g. "square ended" similarto the arrangementforfemale pants shown in Figures 1 and 2.

The crotch portion2l2(Figure3)isjoinedbythe seam 211 to the fabric panel 204. In line with conventional Y4ront construction, a gap is left between the seam 21 which attaches the pocket to the crotch portion 212 and the seam (notshown, but located immediately behind seam 210 of Figure3) which defines the front upper edge of the panel 202.

This gap permits the wearer, should he so desire, to insert an absorbent pad into the pocketfrom outside the garment by passing it through this gap. As an alternative however, he mayinsertthe absorbent pad by removing or partly removing the briefs from his body, pulling apartthe edges 226A and 226B, and inserting the pad inthatwayfrom the interior ofthe garment. This facility whereby an absorbent pad may be inserted by either procedure is believed to be a unique feature in male incontinence garments.

The waterproof pocket constructed as described is preferably stitched by seams 231 atthe ends of the pocket (see Figure 3) to the fabric panel 21 2forming the crotch portion. With the illustrated construction, the comfort and appearance of Y-fronts are obtained in incontinence briefs.

It will be seen thatthere have been particularly described and illustrated herein briefs or pants which can accommodate an absorbent pad, which are comfortable to wear, which are of a modern-fashion- able design, and in which the pad can readily be removed and replaced with the minimum of awkward manipulation by the wearer. The designs are such that manufacture requires no special equipment and is realtively inexpensive.

It will be understood that obvious modifications and variations, e.g. in material chosen, pattern and dimen sionswill occurto one skilled in the art, andthe invention is intended to include all such modifications and variations.

Claims (7)

1. A pair of incontinence pants or briefs including a pocket located in the crotch region and defined by an outerwall of a liquid-impermeable material which is longerthan it is wide and an innerwall of like material whose edges define a substantially oval hole, a portionoftheinnerwall overlapping butnotcon- nected to another portion thereof and the edges being crossed over one another at one end of the pocket.

2. A pair of incontinence briefs or pants including a pocket located interiorly ofthefabric of the crotch region, said pocket having an innerwall and an outer wall both of liquid impermeable material, the pocket being open ata region facing towards the vagina or male gentalia when the briefs or pants are being worn by a wearer, the edges ofthe opening being partly or wholly elasticated.

3. A pair of briefs or pants according to claim 1 in which the free edges of the innerwall are elasticated.

4. A pair of briefs or pants according to any one of claim 1-3 in which the front and rearwalls are connected together by side seams and end seams, and the end seams but not the side seams connectthe pocket to the briefs or pants as the case may be.

5. A pair of briefs according to any preceding claim and which are of Y4ront construction, in which a gap is provided whereby an absorbent pad can be inserted into the pocket from the exterior of the garment.

6. A pair of briefs substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

7. Any novel combination or sub-combination disclosed and/orillustrated herein.