GB2261635A

GB2261635A - Buoyancy swim suit

Info

Publication number: GB2261635A
Application number: GB9124854A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Joyce Pelan
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1991-11-22
Filing date: 1991-11-22
Publication date: 1993-05-26
Anticipated expiration: 2011-11-22
Also published as: GB2261635B; GB9124854D0

Abstract

A swimsuit, or other water worn garment, with built-in buoyancy consists of a design in conventional swimwear fabric which is integral with any suitable area of air-pccketed polymeric film such as is presently available in the trade as "bubble packaging". In one embodiment the bubble packaging film is sewn-up with the swimsuit fabric in the construction of the garment; in another it is sown-up within two layers of fabric as the sandwich construction and in a third embodiment it is hold in position on the single layer of fabric by hot melt micro-spot adhesive in the manner of textile fusible interlining technology.

Description

BUOYANCY SWIM SUIT This invention relates to a buoyancy swim suit which is tailored in the usual make-up techniques of the textile trade but which is composed of a textile fabric and a polymer film which have been made integral by the use of flexible low melting point fusible particles of the type which are used in the production of fusible interlinings. Added buoyancy is often required by the human body in situations where a person is in process of learning to swim or where disabled people are placed in swimming ponds for therapeutic reasons and in all these cases the buoyancy is attained by the use of inflated arm-bands,inflated body rings(like life belts)or by the simple use of hand-held blocks of polystyrene or polythene foam.These measures are useful for certain applicat- ions but all suffer from non-uniform buoyancy because of the localisation of the hydrostatic upthrust at the arms, or the finger tips or the waist depending upon the type of device used. There is a need for a permanent, no-holding, uniform body buoyancy which is non-obtrusive and which cannot be easily detached in the pool. Such a device would be intrinsicially safe and in the case of hydrotherapy it would allow one physiotherapist to attend up to six patients without the stress of intense supervision since safe buoyance would be assured.

Such a device is the subject of this described innovation and accordingly there is provided a buoyancy swim suit which comprises a stretch fabric which is tail ored in the appropriate style for the wearer and which is lined with a polymer film which has a uniform distribution of spherical cr hemisphori-al alI pockets throughout its surface. Such polymeric film is now freely available in the packaging market where it is used as bubble packaging for the wrapping of delicate or fragile goods.For swimsuit application it need not be manufactured from low density polyethylene,as at present,because the same machines which laminate the sheets to produce the air pockets can easily be run on other feed sheeting such as nylon, polyester or PV. A specific embodiment of the invention would entail the procurement of some lengths of swimsuit textile fabric,preferably one which contains a proportion of a segmented polyurethane yarn in order to endow the cloth with some stretch properties. For the present invention the prototypes were produced from cloth which contained a proportion of Lycra(trade name)type of segmented polyurethane. The cloth was cut to the swimsuit pattern as was also the length of previously described polymer blister film.The two were placed one upon the other and sewn to make up a stylish swimsuit. If the film is selected with 6mm to Smm diameter air pockets the presence of the individual air sacks are barely visible when the suit is in use due to the compression of the hemispheres into oblate hemispheres under the mild tension of the stretch fabric. In another embodiment of the invention the swimsuit is produced in the same manner as described above except that the stretch fabric is selected of lower weight and the suit is cut and made-up in the normal way so that the polymeric blister film is sandwiched between two layers of the textile fabric. This sandwich construction prevents the bunching-up of the plastic bubble film and on the whole efficiently disguises the presence of air pockets throughout the surface of the garment.In yet another embodiment the stretch fabric is first passed through a fusible interlining manufacturing machine where it is sprinkled on one side only with very small particles of low melting point polymer granules which are made to adhere to the surface by passing the treated fabric through an infra-red heated tunnel where the controlled temperature of processing is that of incipient melting of the granules. When the fabric leaves the heat treatment zone of the machine it is covered sparingly,abou of its surface area,with adhering micro-granules of the melt polymer. If this treated cloth is now used to produce a swimsuit by the first described embodiment it is found that if the made-up suit is hot pressed the fusible particles melt and act as spot adhesives between the fabric and the polymer film thus preventing the previously described bupohing-up without the expense of the extra cloth layer which was required in the sandwich embodiment.

There are many design variations in the use of this bubble film in the manufacture of buoyancy swimsuits and according to the needs of the wearer the buoyancy film can be incorporated in large areas of the suit both back and front or in the restricted areas around the front and back of the neck.

Claims

1. A buoyancy swimsuit comprises a stretch fabric which is tailored in the appropriate style of the wearer and which is lined with a polymer film which has a uniform distribution of spherical or semi-spherical air pockets throughout its surface.

2. A buoyancy swimsuit as in Claim 1 wherein the air-pocketed polymer film is constructed within the swimwear as a sandwich between two layers of the textile stretch fabric.

3. A buoyancy swimsuit as in Claims 1 and 2 wherein the air-poketed pbXyeer film is made-up or constructed from fabric which has the inner facing side covered with particles of hot melt adhesive as in fusible interlining technology.

4. A buoyancy swimsuit as in any of the above Claims wherein the air-pocketed polymer film is produced by the use of thermoplastics such as polyethylene,PVC, nylon or polyesters.

5. A buoyancy swimsuit as in Claims 1,2 and 3 wherein the design of the swimwear complies with the needs of the wearer who may require the garment for leisure or hydrotherapy purposes.