GB2273038A - Protective clothing - Google Patents

Abstract

An overall comprising front and back body portions and two raglan sleeve portions joined by body side seams, raglan sleeve seams and arm seams characterised in that each of the seam lines 18, 20 for the raglan sleeve seams forms a straight line from neck to body side seam and in that underarm curvature for each sleeve is provided by a concave curve in the arm seam adjacent the join with the body side seam. Conventional raglan sleeve seam lines are shown at 18A, 20A. <IMAGE>

Description

PROTECTIVE CLOTHING The invention relates to protective clothing, workwear garments and other overalls and is particularly directed to the type of overall known as a coverall.

For the avoidance of doubt, by a "coverall" is meant a full length protective garment with sleeves and often a hood the lower part of which is normally but not necessarily in the form of trousers.

Conventional protective clothing has been formed with either set-in sleeves or raglan sleeves. More recently grown-on sleeves have become popular especially when a non-woven material such as Tyvek is used. A grown-on sleeve is one which is cut in a single piece with the body. There is therefore no sleeve to body seam, but there is a body side seam.

Raglan sleeves may be formed either with body side seams to join the front and back portions of the garment, or without if those front and back portions are formed from a single piece of fabric. A conventional raglan sleeve seam forms a gentle concave curve line from front neck downwards which becomes tighter in the underarm area approaching the body side seam, if present, and then curves in the reverse way up the other side to the neck back, the whole of the seam at front and back forming a U-shape. The raglan sleeve seam may be sewn by a single seam line continuously down one side of the garment and up the other or by two separate seam lines at front and back.

With these conventional sleeve designs various problems exist. For example, set-in sleeves may restrict freedom of movement of the arms while both raglan and set-in sleeves may be subject to tearing or seam spliting in the armpit area. Depending on the width of fabric used grown-on sleeves may involve considerable wastage of fabric.

Furthermore, protective clothing is often made in only a limited range of sizes because of economies of scale. The existence of a limited range of sizes means that an overall will not fit an individual particularly well being, for example, too baggy in some areas or too tight in others.

In accordance with the present invention there is provided an overall comprising front and back body portions and two raglan sleeve portions joined by body side seams, raglan sleeve seams and arm seams characterised in that each of the seam lines for the raglan sleeve seams forms a straight line from the neck to body side seams and in that underarm curvature for each sleeve is provided by a concave curve in the arm seam adjacent the join with the body side seam.

The term "portion" as used herein refers to the part of the garment covering the relevant part of the body. That part of the garment may be made up of one or more pieces of fabric. In certain cases, two or more portions may themselves be formed from the same piece of fabric without a seam e.g. left front and left back portions when as in some prior art garments no body side seam is present.

The novel cut of the sleeves gives improved resistance to tearing especially in the armpit region compared with conventional raglan sleeves used on overalls. The shape provides good freedom of movement in the armpit area and so helps to reduce problems of fit associated with certain sleeve designs.

Furthermore, because the seam line for the raglan sleeve forms a straight line from neck to side seam and hence the cutting edge for both sleeve pieces and front and back body pieces are straight lines, there is considerable material saving at the cutting stage.

In certain jobs, for example where sterility is important or where the overall becomes exceptionally dirty during use, the overall will be thrown away after use rather than laundered. Any minor saving in the cost of a disposable overall can lead to a considerable saving to the purchaser over the course of time. Thus, the reduction in cost afforded by material saving can become very noticeable for disposable garments which although they have a low unit cost are sold in large quantities.

The overall may be formed from any suitable material depending on the use for which the overall is intended including both woven material and non-woven material. For example some disposable overalls for medical use may be paper based. One non-woven material particularly suitable for protective clothing for more heavy duty use is spun-bonded polyethylene such as that sold under the trade mark TYVEK.

While overalls of the present invention include those which comprise merely front and back body portions and raglan sleeve portions in a midlength or full length dress or coat shape, where full protection for the legs combined with good mobility is desired the overall will more usually be in the form of a sleeved trouser suit in which case the body portions will end at waist level and be joined to trouser portions. Conveniently the body portions will be joined to the trouser portions by an elasticated seam. The presence of an elasticated seam helps to improve the fit. For example, where the overall is designed for a person of standard size and is being worn by a short person the elasticated seam will help to pull the crotch of the trousers into the correct position while preventing excessive bagging of fabric in the body area.

Where complete protection is required the body and sleeve portions may be joined at the neck to a hood.

To improve ventilation in an overall made of a non-breathable fabric, for example Tyvek, perforations may be provided in the fabric of the overall in a region which is not expected to suffer severe dirt contamination. For example, in the case of a paint spraying overall where most of the contamination will be on the front of an operator perforations may be provided in the back body portion.

The present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to a specific embodiment as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Referring to the drawings: Figure 1 is a schematic representation of a front view of a coverall according to the present invention.

Figure 2 is a schematic representation of a rear view of a coverall according to the invention.

Figure 3 shows selected pattern pieces for the torso of a coverall of the prior art.

Figure 4 shows pattern pieces for the torso and hood of a coverall according to the present invention.

Figure 5 shows pattern pieces for the trousers of a coverall according to the present invention.

Figures 1 and 2 show respectively front and back schematic views of a coverall according to the present invention. The coverall comprises front and back body portions 2 and 4, left and right sleeve portions 6 and 8, left and right trouser portions 10 and 12 and a hood 14. The back body portion 4 is made from two pieces of fabric 4 and 4' as is the front body portion (2 and 2'). The hood is made from left and right hood pieces 14 and 14'. A zip 16 is provided up the front of the coverall running from the trouser portions 10 and 12 up between the front body pieces 2 and 2' to the neck and the coverall has an elasticated waist seam 24.

Seam lines in the finished garment are shown by dashed lines. Raglan sleeve seams 18, 19, 20 and 21 are visible in these sketches between the raglan sleeves and the front and back body pieces. The centre back seam 22 is also shown.

The raglan sleeve seams 18, 19, 20 and 21 can be seen in Figures 1 and 2 to form a straight line from the neck to the join with the body side seam. It will be particularly noticed that the underarm curvature for the armpit area of the garment is provided by the raglan sleeve portion as can be seen from the concave curve in the arm seam adjacent the join with the body side seam. The dotted line shows a conventional raglan sleeve seam of the kind which would be produced by the pieces illustrated in Figure 3 discussed below.

Schematic representations of the pattern pieces for a coverall of the kind illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 appear in Figures 4 and 5. The left hand body and sleeve pieces of this can be compared with those for the left hand side of the body illustrated in Figure 3 which have a conventional raglan sleeve shape.

The pieces illustrated in Figure 3 are left hand front 2A and left hand back 4A body pieces and left hand sleeve piece 6A. The solid line delineating these pieces illustrates the cutting line while the dashed line within that indicates the seam line. The small arrows indicate how adjacent pieces are aligned together. They should align so that the regions of fabric with opposing arrows abut.

For ease of comparison with the pattern pieces of the present invention illustrated in Figures 4 and 5, Figure 3 shows the pieces for a conventional raglan sleeve with a body side seam. However, it has been more common with conventional non-woven overalls with raglan sleeves for the front and back pieces 2A and 4A to be formed from a single piece of fabric with a U-shaped cut out where the sleeve is to be sewn in.

In such a case there would be no seam ZZ. Sometimes the trouser portion descends also from this same single piece of fabric without a waist seam.

It can be seen that the front and back raglan sleeve seam lines of this conventional design shown in Figure 3 each form a gentle curve from the neck which becomes tighter towards the armpit region. The appearance of this in the finished garment is shown on Figures 1 and 2 by dotted lines 18A, 19A, 20A and 21A. It will be noted that the raglan sleeve seam lines end at the armpit. This can be compared with the seam lines for the present invention which end below that point. This is because in the case of the present invention the underarm curvature is provided by a concave curve in the arm seam adjacent the join with the body side seam.

Figures 4 and 5 show the cutting lines for all the pieces for a coverall according to the present invention and seam lines for joining the left front piece 2, left back piece 4 and left sleeve piece 6.

It can be seen that in this case the raglan sleeve seam line forms a straight line from the neck to the join with the body side seam. There is then a region C having a concave curve in the arm seam adjacent the join with the body side seam and this provides the underarm curvature for the coverall of the invention.

The coverall of the invention is seamed together by firstly joining the front left 2, back left 4 and left sleeve 6 pieces along the seam lines shown so that seam lines XX and YY are joined together. Then the body side seam and arm seam are formed by sewing along seam lines wW and ZZ.Similar seaming is performed on the right hand side of the body. The left and right back pieces 4 and 4' are seamed together down the middle back.

The trousers are seamed together in the usual manner as is the hood and these are joined to the body portions at the waist and neck in the usual manner. A zip is seamed into the front of the coverall in the usual way.

It will be appreciated that in an alternative embodiment of the invention the trouser portions may descend from the same piece of fabric as the front and back portions without a waist seam. However, due to difficulties in seaming the raglan sleeve seam the front and back portions would not normally be formed from the same piece of fabric without a body side seam.

Claims (10)

CLAIMS:

1. An overall comprising front and back body portions and two raglan sleeve portions joined by body side seams, raglan sleeve seams and arm seams characterised in that each of the seam lines for the raglan sleeve seams forms a straight line from neck to body side seam and in that underarm curvature for each sleeve is provided by a concave curve in the arm seam adjacent the join with the body side seam.

2. An overall as claimed in claim 1 characterised in that it is formed of non-woven material.

3. An overall as claimed in claim 2 characterised in that it is formed of spun-bonded polyethylene.

4. An overall as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3 characterised in that the body portions end at waist level and are joined to trouser portions.

5. An overall as claimed in claim 4 characterised in that the body portions are joined to the trouser portions by an elasticated waist seam.

6. An overall as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5 characterised in that the body and sleeve portions are joined at the neck to a hood.

7. An overall as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6 which is a coverall for use when spray painting.

8. An overall as claimed in claim 7 which is provided with perforations in the back body portion.

9. A coverall substantially as illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 4 and 5.

10. An overall substantially as described herein other than as prior art.