GB2220837A

GB2220837A - Trouser-type protecting garment

Info

Publication number: GB2220837A
Application number: GB8817273A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Christopher Bray Rudd
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1988-07-20
Filing date: 1988-07-20
Publication date: 1990-01-24
Also published as: GB8817273D0

Abstract

A garment for protecting the legs of a wearer comprises two leg covers (12, 13) which can be folded into compact configurations adjacent to a waist-band (10) and can alternatively be wrapped around the legs of a wearer and secured in tubular configuration by releasable fastening elements (22, 23). <IMAGE>

Description

Title: "Garment" Description of Invention According to the present invention, there is provided a garment comprising a waist-band and two leg covers which, in use, cover, at least partly, respective legs of the wearer, wherein each said leg cover has a margin, called herein the bottom margin, which is remote from the waist band when the leg cover is extended, and has two further margins, called herein lateral margins, which are mutually opposite and extend from the bottom margin towards the waist-band, when the leg cover is extended, and wherein each said leg cover is provided near to its lateral margins with releasable fastening means for fastening one lateral marginal portion to the other and thereby giving the leg cover a tubular form.

When the leg covers of a garment in accordance with the invention are not required to cover the legs of the wearer, they can be carried in a compact configuration on the waist-band. At the onset of rain or other conditions such that the wearer requires protection for his legs, the leg covers can be extended, folded around his legs and secured in tubular form by the releasable fastening means. Thus, it is not necessary to draw the leg covers over boots or other foorwear.

The waist-band may be in the form of a belt and may be an integral part of the garment or a separable belt on which the leg covers are releasably mounted. The waist-band may be used to support the leg covers, both when the leg covers are folded and when the leg covers are extended and enclose the legs of the wearer.

An example of a garment in accordance with the invention will now be described, with reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein: FIGURE I shows a front view of the garment with one leg cover extended and the other leg in a compact configuration; and FIGURE 2 shows the garment approximately in the configuration in which it is used to protect the legs of a wearer and viewed from the rear.

The garment illustrated in the accompanying drawing includes an elongated waist-band 10 which may be a belt of known construction and which has releasable fastening means 11 provided on opposite end portions of the band for fastening the band in a closed loop about the waist of a wearer.

The fastening meons is preferably such that the size of the loop can be varied to fit the wearer.

First and second leg covers 12 and 13 qre attached to the waist-band.

In Figure 1, the leg cover 12 is shown in an extended configuration; whereas the leg cover 13 is in a compact configuration and is concealed from view.

Each leg cover can be folded from the extended configuration into the compact configuration. There is provided on the waist-band retaining means for retaining the leg cover 12 in its compact configuration. This retaining means has the form of a flap 14 which is connected with the waist-band adjacent to an upper margin of the waist-band and which can hang down the outside of the waist-band and leg cover 12. There is provided on that face of the flap 14 which faces towards the waist-band, when the flap hangs down outside the waist-band, releasable fastening means 15 may be a strip of the fastener sold under the designation "Velcro", a complementary strip 16 being provided on the leg cover 12. A corresponding retaining flap 17 is provided on the waist-band for retaining the leg cover 13 in its compact configuration.

In an alternative arrangement, there is provided for the leg covers a single flap which is capable of holding both leg covers in the compact configuration.

In a further alternative arrangement, there is provided on the waist-band a pouch for receiving the leg covers or respective pouches for the leg covers.

Whilst in the particular example illustrated, the complementary fastener portion 16 is on the leg cover 12, this fastener portion may alternatively be provided on a portion of the retaining means, for example an extension of the flap 14 which projects downwardly below the waist-band.

It will be noted that the dimension of the retaining flap 14 which extends in a direction generally along the waist-band 10 is small, as compared with the corresponding dimension of the extented leg cover 12. Typically, this dimension of the flap is less than one third of the corresponding dimension of the leg cover.

The leg cover 12 has a wider portion 19 which is remote from the waistband 10, when the cover is in the extended configuration, and a narrower portion 18 which extends from the waist-band to the wider portion.

Conveniently, both the narrower portion and the wider portion are parallelsided and one rectilinear edge of the leg cover may be common to the wider and narrower portions. A bottom margin 20 of the leg cover is conveniently rectilinear and perpendicular to the lateral margins of the leg cover.

Adjacent to one lateral margin 21 of the wider portion 19 of the leg cover, there is provided a row of releasable fastening elements 22. A row of complementary fastening elements 23 is provided near to the opposite lateral margin 24 of the wider portion of the leg cover. By means of the fastening elements 22 and 23, a marginal portion of the leg cover adjacent to the lateral margin 21 can be held in overlapping relation with a marginal portion adjacent to the lateral margin 24, the wider portion 19 of the leg cover 10 having a tubular form. The fastener elements 22 and 23 are conveniently strips of the fastener sold under the designation "Velcro".

When the leg cover 12 is in the extended configuration, the separation between the lateral margins 21 and 24 is preferably at least five hundred millimetre. The separation between the lateral margins 25 and 26 of the narrower portion 18 of the leg cover is typically less than one half of the separation between the lateral margins of the wider portion. The length of the narrow portion also is preferably somewhat less than the length of the wider portion 19.

The narrower portion 18 of the leg cover 12 is attached to the waistband 10. This attachment may be releasable. However, the leg cover is preferably attached permanently to the waist-band in a region immediately adjacent to an upper margin 27 of the leg cover but which region is confined to a part only of the width of the narrower portion 18 of the leg cover. Thus, the permanent attachment extends from the lateral margin 25 of the narrower portion a part of the way towards the margin 26, typically half of the way towards the margin 26. Releasable fastening means 28 is provided adjacent to the lateral margin 26 and the upper margin 27 for releesably attoching the narrower portion 18 to the waist-band at a position spaced along the waist-band from the leg cover 13.This releasable attachment also may be provided by fastening elements formed of the strips sold under the designation "Velcro".

It will be noted that the releasable fastening elements 22 and 23 are confined to the wider portion 19 of the leg cover. The length of the upper margin 27 of the leg cover is preferably no more than seventy per cent of the overall width of the leg cover and is more preferably no more than fifty five per cent of the overall width of the leg cover.

The leg cover 13 is a mirror image of the leg cover 12 and is permanently secured to the waist-band 10 at a position immediately adjacent to the leg cover 12. Releasable fastening means 29 is provided on the waistband at a position spaced from the leg cover 12 for releasably securing a corresponding portion of the leg cover 13 to the waist-band at a position remote from the leg cover 12. The configurations of the leg covers are such that, when both leg covers are in their extended configurations, the narrower portions of the leg covers lie side-by-side and the wider portions overlap each over, the major part of each wider portion being overlapped by the other wider portion.

Each leg cover can conveniently be folded from the extended configuration about three fold lines which are parallel to the lateral edges of the leg cover and then folded repeatedly about fold lines perpendicular to the lateral edges until the leg cover is in a sufficiently compact configuration to he held by the corresponding retaining flap. When protection of the wearer by the leg covers is not required, the garment can be worn with the leg covers in the compact configuration. When protection is required, it is necessary merely to release both of the leg covers from their retaining flaps, so that the leg covers fall down in front of the legs of the wearer, then to wrap each leg cover around the corresponding leg and secure the wider portion of -each leg cover in a tubular configuration by means of the releasable fastening elements.

The leg covers 12 and 13 are separate from each other to the waistband 10 and are preferably connected only via the waist-band. Each leg cover is preferably formed of a single piece of shower-resistant sheet material.

The features disclosed in the foregoing description, or the following claims, or the accompanying drawings, expressed in their specific forms or in terms of a means for performing the disclosed function, or a method or process for attaining the disclosed result, as appropriate, may, separately or in any combination of such features, be utilised for realising the invention in diverse forms thereof.

Claims

CLAIMS:

I. A garment comprising a waist-band and two leg covers which, in use, cover, at least partly, respective legs of the wearer, wherein each said leg cover has a margin, called herein the bottom margin, which is remote from the waist-band when the leg cover is extended, and has two further margins, called herein "lateral margins", which are mutually opposite and extend from the bottom margin towards the waist-band, when the leg cover is extended, and wherein each said leg cover is provided near to its lateral margins with respective fastening means for fastening one lateral marginal portion to the other and thereby giving the leg cover a tubular form.
2. A garment according to Claim I wherein both of said leg covers are permanently united with the waist-band.
3. A garment according to Claim I wherein each leg cover has an upper marginal portion at which the leg cover is permanently united with the waistband.
4. A garment according to any preceding Claim wherein retaining means is provided on the waist-band for releasably holding both leg covers in a compact configuration close to the waist-band.
5. A garment according to Claim 4, as appendant to Claim 2 or Claim 3, wherein a first part of the upper marginal portion of each leg cover is permanently united with the waist-band at a first position and wherein releasable fastening means is provided for fastening a second part of the upper marginal portion to the waist-band at a second position spaced along the waist-band from the first position.
6. A garment according to Claim 5 wherein the respective first parts of the upper marginal portions of the leg covers are adjacent to each other on the waist-band and are between the releasable fastening means for the second parts of the upper marginal portions.
7. A garment according to any one of Claims 3 to 6 wherein each leg cover includes a narrower part near to its upper marginal portion and a wider part near to its bottom marginal portion.
8. A garment according to Claim 7 wherein the releasable fastening means near to the lateral margins of each leg cover are confined to the wider part of the leg cover.
9. A garment according to Claim 7 or Claim 8 wherein the width of each leg cover immediately adjacent to the waist-band is no more than seventy per cent of the overall width of the leg cover.
10. A garment according to Claim 7 or Claim 8 wherein the width of each leg cover immediately adjacent to the waist-band is no more than fifty five per cent of the overall width of the leg cover.
II. A garment according to any one of Claim 7 to 10 wherein the length of the narrower part of the leg cover is no more than fifty per cent of the overall length of the leg cover.
12. A garment according to any preceding Claim wherein the releasable fastenening means near to the lateral margins of each leg cover are adapted to fasten the lateral marginal portions in mutually overlapping relation.
13. A garment according to any preceding Claim wherein the lateral margins are substantially parallel to each other when the leg cover is flat.
14. A garment according to any preceding Claim wherein the leg covers are separate up to the waist band.
IS. A garment substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.
16. Any novel feature or novel combination of features disclosed herein or in the accompanying drawing.