US2316588A - Riding breeches - Google Patents

Description

H. z. lsAACS n 2,316,588

RIDING BREEGHES April 13, `1943.

Filed Dec. 9. 1940 I g. grime/vm T2 .A j .755505 Patented Apr. 13, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RIDING BREECHES Harry Z. Isaacs, Baltimore, Md. v Application December 9, 1940', Serial No. 369,344

2 Claims.

This invention relates to riding breeches, and has for its general objects to 'construct a garment of the class described having simple and eicient provisions for altering the garment in the region of the calf and knee for tting a stock sized garment to various figures.

'I'he conventional type of riding breeches to which the subject inventive principle appertains comprises a pair of front panels and a pair of back panels. The front panels are each of one piece, extending from the waist band to the bottom of the leg, said front panels coming together at the front fly and narrowing as they descend, so that they cover less than half of the girth of the leg in the knee and calf region. The back panels are each composed of upper portions which extend from the waist band to a point just below the knee, being joined in the mid back, extending beneath the crotch, the thigh and knee portions extending around the sides of the legs. The lower portions of the back panels are separate pieces, each preferably constituted by two parts joined in a longitudinal seam in the middle of the back of the leg, said lower portions being stitched to the upper portions and extending around the back and sides of the calf portion of the leg.

The purpose of making the lower portions of the back panels in two pieces is to enable the part which overlies the bulge of the calf to lie at agreater bias angle than the part which overlies the inside of the shin, as a better conformation of the garment to the curves of the leg is thereby secured.

The lateral edges of the two piece lower portions of the back panels coincide with the lateral edges of the one piece upper portions.

The lateral edges of the back and front panels are joined in inner and outer side seams. The inner side seam is usually overlain by a protective patch, which may be of leather or other suitable material, and which is stitched to the adjacent portions of the front and back panels. The outer side seam is customarily cleft for a suitable distance from the bottom of the leg, and furnished with suitable fastening means, underlain by a fly.

Now, if it were desired to make this conventional garment so that it could be altered to make it larger in the knee and calf portions, the obvious way would be to allow excess material in either the inner or outer side seams or both of said seams. In altering such a garment, either or 4both of said side seams would be ripped and re-sewn, utilizing some of the excess material.

Such a mode of alteration requires complicated tailoring, for it involves, on the one hand, removing and replacing the patch, or on the other hand, resetting the fastening' means, including the fly associated with said fastening means. Such method of alteration is in common use, but is unsatisfactory, due to its complication.

The longitudinal seam between the two parts of the lower portion of the back panel does not, in the conventional garment, afford means for enlarging the knee or calf girth, for the cloth above the head of said seam is integral and seamless, and there is no reservoir of material above said seam which can be drawn upon to effect the enlargement of the girth of the legs of the breeches above the lower portion of the back panel. l l

One of the objects of the p-resent invention is to provide riding breeches in which the upper portion of the back'panel in the knee and calf zone is cut with a width in excess of the conventional width for a given size of garment, said portion of the back'panel being formed with a cleft which will fall approximately at the middle of the back of the leg, and extending from the bottom of said upper portion upwardly to a point above the knee zone, the two parts of the lower portion of the back panel being made of a width substantially coexten'sive with the Width of the respective bottom edges of the upper portion of the back panel on opposite sides of the cleft, and being united thereto along said respective edges, the sides of said cleft and the adjacent sides of the parts of the lower portion of said back panel being stitched together in a common seam which takes in the excess width of material, thus providing a reservoir of material on the inside of the seam available for future alteration of the garment.

Another object of the invention is to provide the back panel, in riding breeches of the type described, with a longitudinal seam in the mid back region of the leg extending from the bottom of the leg to a point above the knee zone, having a margin of surplus material on the inside, along at least one edge of said seam, available for alteratio n, the upper end of said seam terminating ata point distant from either of the side seams of the leg of said garment, whereby in making alterations which extend to the upper terminus of said seam, it is not necessary to dissect the side seams. y

Other objects of the invention will appear as the following description of a preferred and practical embodiment thereof proceeds.

panel of the subject invention indicating the width allowance to compensate for taking -in surplus material at the alteration seam,

Referring now in detail tothe several `figures, the numerals I and 2 represent the front pan.- els, each of which is preferably a single piece of cloth extending from .the waist band 3 to the bottom .of the ieg. -It will be noted that .below the hip bulge of' the garment the front -panels narrow as `theydescend along the front of the legs, so as to cover less than :half the'. girth dimension of lthe legs, particularly in the vknee and calf zone. The front panels are joined together along the median `longitudinal front `line 4 of the garment.

The back panels are as a Whole .designated f by the reference numerals 5 and y6. Each back `panel is composed of an upper portion 1 .and a lower portion 8. The upper portions of the back panels preferably extend from .the waist band 3 to a line 9 just below :the Aknee region. AThe lower portions 8 are each formed of two parts I and II, said parts being joined by a seam I2 at the middle `of the back of the -leg. The back panels are joined lin a longitudinal median s eam I3 in the back, and below the hip bulge, particularly in the knee and calf zone they embrace more than half the girth dimension of the leg.

:The back and front panels are joined together at their lateral edges into the .outer ,side seams I 4 and inner side seams I5. On accountof the relative narrowness of the leg portions of the front panels, the inner and outer side seams in the leg regions appearY on the front of the garment when it is laid fiat, as `shown .in Figure 1.

Protective patches I6 and IAI, which may be of leather or other suitable material, are customarily placed in a position overlying the inner side seams I and the adjacent portions of the front and back panels being stitched to said panels. The outer side seams are usually provided with clefts I8 and I9 Vextending from the bottoms of the legs upward for a desired distance, and provided on opposite sides of said clefts with cooperating fastening means which may be a slide fastener IQ', and withan underlying fly 20.

Everything that has been described up to this point is old in the type of riding breeches to which. the present inventief; eppertains- In altering such a garment it is customary to leave a marginal surplus of material on the insides of either the inner side seams or outer side seams, or both,V and in altering, to rip the side seams upward Vfrom the clefts I8 for the desired distance and to rre-stitch said side seams, letting out the desired amount of surplus material in making the enlargement. Such an alteration requires that the protective patches I6 and I1 be first removed, erthat theI fastening device be removed and reset, together with the iiy. This, Y

as has been stated in connection with the objects of the present invention, is a complicated tailoring job, and while it is the customary method employed for making alterations in the knee and calf portions of riding breeches, it is unsatisfactory and frequently very poorly executed.

Referring to Figure 4, which shows the conventional back panel it can be readily understood that the longitudinal seam I2 which joins the two parts I0 and II of the A lower back panel is not useful in altering the leg inthe calf and knee zone for the material just above the head 2-I of the seam I2 is a flat integral piece of cloth to which the parts I0 and II are stitched fand 4which prevents the letting out of any surplus y.material which might have been provided on the inside margins of the seam I2.

The subject .invention provides a special alteratien .seam 22 extending longitudinally along the back panels from the bottom of the lower edge of the upper portions '1 of said .back panels v.to .a'point 2.3. above the @knee zone, and intenrxediate the inner and .enter .side edges. I4 and linalisnment with the seams 1,2 which join the I'parte which constitute .the lower'portions -8 of Said back panels. In order to adapt ,the :alteration seams 22 to perform their function, the construction of the back panel is as follows, reference -being had particularly to Figure 5. 'The `lower part of the upper portion of the back panel which extends below the upper ter-minus 23 of the alteration seams is cut with a width in excess of the width of the corresponding part of the conventional back .panel shown in Figure 4, by an amount eqnal uto the desiredvsurplus of material which is to be incorporated into' the; alteration seam. Figure 5 indicates in the convergent broken lines :24 and 25 the line along which the alteration seam will be stitched together, the triangular `area between said broken lines representing the `available excess of material .which may be incorporated on the inside of .said seam and later let outl for alteration purposes. The lower part of I-the upper portion 'l of the back 4panel will be made suiiiciently wide so vthat when the lines 24 and 25 are brought into coincidence and stitched together, the width of the lower part of said upper portion-of theback panel will be the .same as the width of the corresponding part in Figure 4. The upper portion of the back panel is preferably formed with a longitudinal cleft 26 extending from the bottom edge 9 of said upper portion through the middle of the area which will be taken in by the alteration seam and extending the full length of said seam.

The parts I0 and I I Which constitute the lower portion of the upper panel are made of correspondingly increased width and are each stitched to the respective portions of the bottom edge 9 on opposite sides of the cleft 25 forming a transverse seam which, as shown in Figure 5, extends through the surplusage area which is taken in by the alteration seam. The adjacent edges 21 and 2B of the parts I0 and II form a continuation of the cleft 2S. The broken lines 29 and Sil indicate a continuation of the alteration seam 22 across the lower portion of the back panel, and the rectangular areas between the broken lines 29 and 30 represent the surplusage of material which will be taken in on the inner side of that part of the seam which crosses the lower portion of the back panel and which together with the triangular portions between the lines 24 and 25 constitute the reservoir of material to be drawn upon in enlarging the garment.

In the completed garment the alteration seam is sewed together along the coinciding lines 24 and 25 and 29 and 30, the appearance of the back panels being as shown in Figure 2, the seams 22 and their continuations, the seams I2, appearing as a simple line extending down the back of the leg portions of the garment. In making the alteration it is necessary merely to rip the seams I2 and 22 and to take in or let out as much material as may be required.` The seams are then restitched. It is obvious that the side seams do not have to be disturbed, nor d0 the patches I6 and I'I or the fastening device I8, nor the ily 20 have to be interfered with.

It has been heretofore proposed as an alteration expedient to provide an insert in the legs extending to a point above the knee, one side of the insert coinciding with the outer side seam, and the other side of the insert constituting an alteration seam which has its terminus in the outer side seam above the knee zone. Such an insert is not adapted for a garment of the type to which the present invention relates, inasmuch as it cannot be practically employed where the lower portions of the back panels are constituted by separate parts having a relative bias angle between one another, and with the upper back panels to which they are secured. Furthermore, where the alteration seam of the insert runs into the side seam, it becomes necessary to dissect the side seam at least in part, lshould the required alteration extend to the upper terminus of the alteration seam.

While I have in the above disclosure described which I believe to be a preferred and practical embodiment of the invention, it will be understood to those skilled in the art that the specific details of construction and the arrangement of parts as shown and described are by way of example, andnot to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention defined in the appended claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

l. Riding breeches including leg portions for embracing the legs in the zone of the calf and knee, said leg portions each comprising front and back fabric panels united laterally in inner and outer side seams, said back panel comprising upper and lower portions, the lower portion of each back panel comprising two parts in lateral close adjacency stitched to the bottom edge of the upper portion, the upper portion of said back panel having a longitudinal cleft intermediate thev inner and outer side seams, extending from the line of juncture of said upper with said lower portion to a point above the knee zone, and in substantial alignment with the line of separation between the parts of said lower portion, said cleft, including said line of separation being closed by an alteration seam uniting the sides of said cleft and the parts of said lower portion, along a continuous line remote from the edges of said cleft and the adjacent edges of said parts, thereby providing marginal surplus of material on the inside of said seam substantially throughout its length. f

2. Riding breeches including leg portions for embracing the legs inthe zone of the calf and knee, said leg portions each comprising front and back fabric panels united laterally in inner and 'on the inside of said seam, which surplus includes portions of said transverse seam.

HARRY Z. ISAACS.

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