US2707280A - Girdles - Google Patents

Description

May 3, 1955 E. G. MAYl-:R 2,707,280

GIRDLES Filed April 29, 1955 BY 5W/- Mga@ 2,707,280 Patented May 3, 1955 hee GIRDLES Edgar G. Mayer, Jackson Heights, N. Y., assigner to Rivoli Corset Company Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application April 29, 1953, Serial No. 352,008

3 Claims. (Cl. 237) This invention relates to girdles and similar garments and more particularly to a construction thereof which permits free leg movements as during walking or sitting.

I am aware that many such garments have been designed with the purpose of minimizing restriction of leg movements. A very common attempted solution was the provision of crossed, disconnected front panels, each of which was permitted to ex independently ot' the other so as to facilitate leg movements. I have discovered, however, that such an attempted solution, while eective for its own purpose, tended to defeat the over-all purposes of the garment. Thus, the provision of such front panels was instrumental in decreasing the control features of the girdle. On the other hand, when panels were formed so as to have a lesser eli'ect on the control features of the girdle, they were correspondingly detective in the provision of free leg activity.

Bearing the foregoing in mind, l have designed a girdle incorporating crossed front members which are so disposed as to have little or no deleterious effect on the function of the girdle as a whole. By thus disposing such crossed front members, I am enabled to fabricate them of elastic material, the elasticity being predominantly transverse, without transferring the elastic characteristics thereof to portions of the girdle where they would be considered undesirable.

The girdle of the instant invention provides a pair of crossed, elongated elastic pieces which are confined to substantially the lower front end of the girdle. The elastic pieces extend diagonally downwardly along said lower front end and are anchored at the extreme lower end of the sides of the girdle where they interfere as little as possible With the required non-elastic characteristics of the front panels while nevertheless supplying the elastic characteristics where most needed i. e. in the swinging leg movements. closed as being elastic in substantially one direction i. e. transversely of the garment. In this way, the pieces tend to maintain the non-elasticity of the front panel although a minor or lesser degree of elasticity in the vertical and bias directions may well be included in such pieces.

The invention will be further understood from the following description and drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the girdle as worn;

Figure 2 is a front elevational view thereof;

Figure 3 is a rear elevational View thereof;

Figure 4 is a Across-sectional view as taken along the line 4-4 of Figure 2; and

Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view as taken along the line 5-5 of Figure 2.

The girdle body comprises a rear panel which may be of Lastex material and stretchable predominantly vertically. The front comprises a pair of panels 11a and 11b which are inelastic and could be of one piece construction. Front panels 11a. and 11b are joined by a central line of stitching 12. The girdle body further cornprises elastic side portions 13 and 14, the elasticity being predominantly transverse or horizontal. An elastic waist- In addition, the elastic pieces are disband 15 is disposed along the upper rear edge of the girdle. A hookless fastener 16 is disposed along the front side of the girdle. The parts hereinabove described are more or less conventional and may be substituted by like conventional parts.

The instant invention is directed to a pair of crossed, elongated elastic pieces 17 and 18 which are disposed at the lower front edge of the girdle. In fact, they constitute such lower front edge. Each elastic piece is diagonally disposed at the base of the respective front panels 11a and 11b. Each of the pieces is four sided and is formed with a straight upper end or side 19. The extreme upper portion of end 19 of elastic piece 17 forms an upper corner 20 which is anchored :at the center line of the body as represented by the line of stitching 12. For purposes of physically locating the corner or point 20, which represents the uppermost extremity of both crossed pieces, it may be noted that it is disposed approximately at the vertical level of the hip portion of the girdle.

The lower end or side 21 of each elastic piece is stitched to the sides of the girdle body at the extreme lower side edges of the respective front panel sections. Each such lower end is considerably narrower than its upper end 19 of the elastic piece, being in the order of from one to two inches wide as contrasted to about four to five inches for the end 19. These gures are of course illustrative and approximate. Upper end 19 of insert 17 is stitched together with the diagonal lower end 22 ot' panel 11b to a portion of the diagonal side 23 of elastic piece 18. In the same manner, the upper end 24 of elastic piece 18 is stitched, together with the lower diagonal end 25 of panel 11a to the diagonal side 26 of elastic piece 17. The elastic pieces are otherwise unconnected to each other so that their bottom sides or edges are completely free of each other, and permit the relative expansion noted in Figure l.

Pieces 17 and 18 are elastic in predominantly the transverse direction or along their lengths. This gives further desirable expansion characteristics. It will be noted that since the pieces 17 and 18 are restricted to the lower edge of the girdle body, their elastic characteristics do not affect the required inelastic properties of panels 11a and 11b. Furthermore, the front panels 11a and 11b terminate in sharp angular bottom ends 27 and 28 so as to provide maximum control to the front panel. It will be observed that these sharp angular bottom ends of the front panels jointly form an inverted V in the lower front of the garment and that the pieces 17 and 18 are set in the included angle of the inverted V.

What is claimed is:

1. A girdle having a body portion comprising an inelastic front panel structure and a pair of crossed elastic pieces each having four sides and both being disposed at and constituting the lower end of said front panel structure, each of said pieces being horizontally elongated and being diagonally disposed at said lower end, three sides of each piece being sewn to said front panel structure and the fourth side being the bottom edge of each piece, and each of said bottom edges being free along substantially the entire length thereof from both said front panel structure and from the bottom edge of the other piece, the uppermost extremity of the crossed pieces being at the vertical level of the hip portion of the girdle.

2. A girdle having a body portion comprising an in elastic front panel structure, the lower end of said front panel structure being in inverted V form and a pair of crossed elastic pieces wholly disposed substantially within the included angle of said inverted V, each of said pieces being horizontally elongated and being diagonally disposed along the arms of the inverted V, the extreme bottom edges of each elastic piece being free of each other 3 and of the body portion of the girdle and jointly comprising the extreme front bottom edge of the body p01'- tion, the uppermost extremity of the crossed pieces being at the vertical level of the hip portion of the girdle.

3. A girdle according to claim 2 and wherein the lower 5 cnd of each piece is narrower than the top end, said lower end being connected to the sides of the body portion, the top end of each piece being connected to the upper portion of one arm of the inverted V-shaped front panel lower end and the elasticity of said crossed pieces being 10 substantially transverse of the body portion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Benjamin Dec. 30, 1924 Gutschow Jan. 27, 1925 Fridolph July 20, 1948 Rago Aug. 22, 1950 Colby May 15, 1951y

Images