US2392724A - Undergarment - Google Patents

Description

F. A. COHEN UNDERGARMENT Jan. 8, 1946.

Filed July 23, 1945 INVENTOR FRANK A. Comsw Patented Jan. 8, 1946 UNI-TED UNDERGARMENT Frank. A. Cohen, Brookllm. N; Y.

Application Jul- 1 23, 1943-, Serial. No. 495312 9.. Claims ljhis invention relates to undergarments and, more particularly, to form constricting and molding undergarments such as corsets; girdles and the like.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a garment of the character described in which an improved control panel, such as is shown in my eopending application for Form constricting and; molding garments, Serial No. 495,811 filed July 23', 1943-, is employed to mold the body symmetrically about an anchor line-running centrally down the front of the wearer.

Another object of the invention is to provide a garment of the character described wherein such control panel afiordsa variation in resilience throughout its height corresponding to the variation' in girth occasioned at diiferent body levels upon movement of a wearer.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and in part hereinafter pointed out.

The invention accordingly consists in the features oi construction; combinations'or elements and arrangements of parts which will beexemplifled in the construction hereinafterdescribed and of which the scope of application will be indicated inthe appended claims.

In-the accompanying drawing, in which there is shown one of the several possible embodiments of this invention,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a corset embodying=- my invention as it appears when worn, a portion thereof being broken away toillustrate the construction and location of the rear layer'of the control panel;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the inside of the corset, partly broken away to show the location of the outside layer of the control panel; and- Fig. 3 is an enlarged section taken substantially along the line 3-.--3 ofFig. 2.

In my aforesaid co-pending application, I have shown a control panel which comprises two superimposed layers of equal widths and shapes Whose side edges are registered and attached to each other; One of the layers has a vertically extendingarea of flexible elastic material adjacent one side edge of the panel and the other layer has a vertically extending area of flexible elastic material adiacent the other side edgeof thecontrol panel. The remaining portion oi." each layer consists of a vertically extending area of flexible inelasticmaterial. Thus each elasticarea either overlies or underlies an inelastic area in the other layer so that when the control panel is stretched an inelastic area moves. in a direction opposite to" that in which the. Opposed elastic layer moves and since the control panel is curved. in use, this relative motion is opposed by frictional rubbing of the superimposed layers. As the layers are of equal width, this friction comes into. im-. mediate play: to increase the control eifeoted by t e panel, lessen the strain imposed upon. the elastic areas and aiiordmaximum control for the. quantity of elastic material employed. The clash tic areas are also of equal width, and for this reason equally distribute the: strain, createia max-- i-mum of friction, and obtain maximum stretch: forgiven widths. The expression of equal width'- is used in a'limited senseto connote equal widths. at the same horizontal level; i

Although a control panel of. this construction may extend over substantially the entireiront on rear of a garment, as shownand described in. my said co-pen-ding application, I have found: that panels so disposed, although tending to provide a certain desirable control of the figure in profile, do not maintain symmetrical. control about a line running centrally down the wearer's: front In accordance with the present. invention, as will now be seen, I have. incorporated my improved control. panel in a garment in such manner that all the desirable functions thereof are retain-ed and atthe same time the garmentwillaflord such symmetrical control.

Referring now in detail to the-.- drawing," lit denotes a. corset embodying the present invention. Said'oorset comprises a backsection t2.of conventional construction consisting; for example, oi two. panels M, [16"; each iariricated froma. flexible in elastic material. such as woven cloth: which is stiffened by a plurality of" vertically extending pocketed stays l8. The two back panels may be interconnected by a row of. lacing on, such as. is usually employed in the art.

Twostandard. brassiere. sections. 22;. 24. may. be secured to the upper side edges; of each. back panel Hl E6; The freeedges of these sections are provided with hooks 26. and eyes 28 forxdetachahly securingthe; sections to. each other at the. front oi thebody and form, in conjunction. with. a top part of the back section l2, encmclin: bustsupporting handeam Gonventionalslmulder straps may; complete. the: upper part or thesesment.

In accordance with the present invention, the. lower" front part oi the; garment. It? comprises two control panels 32, 3.4, each. of which embodies the construction illustrated and: described; in my said ctr-pending applicati'on,is e., each. control panel 32;, 34. comprises .a frontlayer Sit and marine: 38; Therfiront'layer includes a vertically extend ing area of flexible inelastic material such as plain woven cloth and consists of a plurality of strips 40, 42 of such material sewed to each otherby a vertical line of stitching 44. Additionally, this inelastic area may include a'vertically extending pocketed stay 46. Said front layer 36 also has a vertically extending strip 48 of elastic material as, for example sheet rubber, lastex, or any' woven or knitted fabric which includes strands of a a resilientmaterial like rubber. One side of this elastic strip forms an edge of th front layer 36. a The rear layer 38 likewise includes a vertically extending area of inelastic flexible material which L" comprises a strip 50 of cloth, and a vertically extending area of elastic material such as the strip 52 of lastex. Both the elastic and inelastic areas of the rear layer 38 are mirror images of the elastic and inelastic areas of the s'uperim-. posed front layer 36. One side of the elastic strip 52 in the rear layer also forms one of the edges of said layer.

. The front and rear layers 36, 38 are of identical shapes and widths, the side edges being superimposed and attached to'each other'by vertical lines of'stitch'ing 54; 56.

front layer overlies the inelastic strip 50in the rear layer and the elastic strip 52' in the rear layer underlies the inelastic strip 40 in the front layer. In this fashion the elastic strips frictionally contact inelastic strips and relative move-' ment thereof must be effected when the garment isforced to change its; shape at such time as the body of a wearer moves.

-The two control panels 32, 34 are of substantially similar construction and configurationso that they exert substantially similar'degrees of figure control. 'Each controlpanel is connected at one side thereof to an edge of one'of the back panels, l4, I6 by a line of'stitching 58. The other edge of-eachcontrol panel is stitched to an edge of' neof apairof central panels 60 on whose opposite edges there are disposed a plurality of aligned attaching and detaching means, such'as alower series of hooks'62 and eyes 64 and an upper series of sockets 'BB'andheaded studs 68. The. stripof material to which these rapidly attachable and detachable meansiare connected is of inelasticmaterial and defines aline extending vertically and centrally down the front of a wearer. This line. is stiffenecl and reinforced against circumferential"deflection by a pair of heavy metal strips on'which-th'e sockets 66 and studs 68 are permanently and rigidly mounted. Said line serves as an anchor to both sides of which the control. panels '32, v34 symmetrically control the figure andv symmetrically yield to fig-' ure movement.

I have found that this constructionefiects an absolutely symmetrical molding of the figure about aline extending vertically and centrally Said front and back layers are so arranged that the elastic strip 48 in the apex if desired. Since the strips 48, '52 are mirror images of each other, as mentioned above, and since it is desirable to have the outer edge of the strip, which forms an edge of a control panel, ex-

tend almost vertically, the two strips appear to V slant in opposite directions as clearly shown in Fig. 2. By tapering the strips in this manner I provide a substantial degree of resilience adjacent the bottom of the control panel and gradually and uniformly decrease the degree of resilience toward the top of said panel. This variation of resilience and thus of figure control, in proportion to the distance from the bottom of the garment is highly advantageous. Heretofore where backs of the previous constructions, however, 7

down'thefront of the wearer, as distinguished from garments such as shown in my co-pending application which only control a'figurein profile, and from garments employingsingle and double ply elastic control panels which, due to unsymmetrical yielding of the panels, can control neither in profile nor about the central line men tioned. .3 V A feature of the: invention resides in the particular shape of theelastics'trips T48, 52', comprising the .elastic areas of the-front. andback layers of a control panel. Thes strips are broad at" the bottom and taper upwardly 'in gradual I and substantially. uniform manner, to'a pointed lies the inelastic area inthe back layer, and the a control panel of the type under consideration was employed the elastic areas were of substantially uniform width. Such a control panel, dependingupon its size and resiliency, tended to exert either too strict'a control in the region'of the hips or too little in the region of the. diaphragm. This was due to the. fact thatv on the On hand frictionalengagement between overlying elastic and inelastic panels was very hard to overcome if a narrow area of elastic was employed, and on the other hand frictional engagement, did not exert a sufficient controlling influence if a wide area of elastic was employed. .All the drawhave been avoided by tapering the elastic panels upwardly as describedso that although th diae phragm increases in girth but slightly upon move ment of the body, nevertheless, because the width of the resilient area is so slight in this region, the frictional effect is almost immediately felt. In contrast,- by employing an undue width of. elastic in'the region of the hips the frictional restraint exerted by the panel does not appreciably afiect'the control aiforded'by the garment until a substantial change in the girth of the garment at such point'is caused' by movement of the,

wearer.

-It will thus beseen that I have provided a gar-v ment in which .the'several objects of this invention' are achieved and. which is well adapted to meet the condition of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made it of the above invention and as various changes might'be'imade in the-embodiment above set forth, it is to be understood thatall matter herein described or shown in the accompanying drawing is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a panel being of identical configuration and equal widths, the remaining portion of .each layer including a vertically extending inelastic area whereby the elastic area in the front layer overelastic area in the back'layer underlies the inelastic area in the frontlayer 'andfriction opposes are stretched in use. '1 1 2. An undergarmenaas set forth in claim 1, wherein a side edge Of each of 'theelastic areas opposite movement of the layers when the panels forms a side edge of the layer of which it is a part.

3. An undergarment, as set forth in claim 1, wherein a side edge of each of the elastic areas forms a side edge of the layer of which it is a part, wherein said layers are of identical configuration and width, and wherein the elastic areas in the front and back layers are mirror images of each other.

4. An undergarment, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the layers in a panel are of identical width and the elastic areas in a panel are of identical width.

5. An undergarment, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the elastic areas taper in width from the bottom edge of the garment upwardly.

6. An undergarment, as set forth in claim 1, wherein an anchor line is provided in the garment extending vertically and centrally down the front thereof along said fastening means.

7. An undergarment of the character described comprising a back section and a front section, said front section including two central panels joined to each other vertically and centrally of the undergarment by a line of rapidly attachable and. detachable fastening means, a vertically extending metal strip in each of said central panels forming an anchor line running vertically and centrally down the front of the garment, and a control panel between each central panel and said back section, each control panel comprising a front layer and a back layer, said layers being of identical configuration and width and each including a vertically extending elastic area adjacent a different side edge of said control panel, the remaining portion of each layer including a vertically extending inelastic'area whereby the elastic area in the front panel overlies the inelastic area in the back panel, and the elastic area 'in the back panel underlies the inelastic, area in the front panel and friction opposes opposite movement of the layers when the control panels are stretched in use, the elastic areas of the front and back panels being mirror images of each other.

8. An undergarment, as set forth in claim '1, wherein at least a portion of said line of rapidly attachable and detachable fastening means are rigidly and permanently secured to the metal strips.

9. For use in a garment of the character described, a control panel which includes an outer layer and an inner layer superimposed on one another and of equal widths and shapes, the side edges of the layers being registered and attached to each other, one of said layers having a vertically extending area of flexible elastic material adjacent one side edge of the panel, and the other of said layers having a vertically extending area of flexible elastic material adjacent the other side edge of the panel, the remaining portions of each layer comprising a vertically extending area of flexible inelastic material which constitutes a major part of the layer whereby the

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