US2920627A

US2920627A - Brassiere

Info

Publication number: US2920627A
Application number: US687930A
Authority: US
Inventors: Williamson Anne Ohman
Original assignee: FORMFIT Co
Current assignee: FORMFIT Co
Priority date: 1957-10-03
Filing date: 1957-10-03
Publication date: 1960-01-12
Anticipated expiration: 1977-01-12

Description

Jan. 12, 1960 BRASSIERE A. `o. WILLIAMSON Filed oct. s. 1957 ENTOR- @mem wywl, awwwn Patented Jan. 12, 1960 BRASSIERE Anne Ohman Williamson, Chicago, Ill., assigner to The Format Company, Chicago, lll., a corporation of lllino Application october s, 1951, sei-tai No. 687,930

s claims. (cl. 12s-ass) The present invention relates to brassieres, and particularly, to an improved brassiere of the padded cup type including stay means for causing the brassiere and the pads thereof to retain their shape and to snugly engage the body of the wearer in a proper and comfortable position `at all times.

A variety of stay means and manners of associatin the same with a brassiere have heretofore been proposed in the art for the general purpose of causing brassieres of both the strap and strapless types conformably to engage the wearer, and for retaining brassieres of the strapless type in the intended position. Many of these proposals have met with varying degrees of commercial success, but most, if not all, suffer serious shortcomings. In particular, in padded cup bnassieres, the pads after use and washing lose their shape and render the brassiere ill-fitting, and actually unusable due to the obviousness of the fact of padding, even though the brassiere is fully equipped in known manners with stays. Also, stays are considered by most wearers as a necessary evil, particularly in strapless brassieres, due to the fact that the stays press sharply into the body of the wearer and result in severe discomfort.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved padded cup brassiere, particularly an improved padded cup strapless brassiere, wherein the pads may be either thick or thin as required, the pads and the brassiere retain their original shape despite extensive use and repcated washing, the wearer is fully protected against discomfort, and the brassiere snugly engages the wearer in a comfortable position at all times.

lAnother object of the invention is to provide an improved padded cup brassiere, especially of the strapless type, wherein the upper portions of the bnassiere are caused to engage the body of thewearer snugly and in a natural condition, even though the wearer engages in strenuous movements.

The speciiic object of the invention, and the means by which the more general objects of the invention are attained, is the provision in brassieres of an improved ent of stay means comprising a pair of stays secured to and preferably imbedded in each cup pad in a generally upright position whereby the stays impart stability to the pads and the brassiere cups with which the pads are associated, and are so padded themselves as to be practically undiscernable, especially by the wearer.

A further object of the invention is to so imbed the said pair of stays in each cup pad that the stays are quite widely spaced at their lower ends adjacent the lower margin of the pad, converge upwardly to adjacent the upper margin of the pad, conform to the curvatures of the pad whereby the stays permanently retain the initial curvatures of the cupped pad and cause the pad and the brassiere cup with which the pad is associated snugly to engage the body of the wearer.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent in the following detailed description lof a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Now, in order to acquaint those skilled in the art with the manner of making and using the improved brassiere and brassiere pad of my invention, I shall describe, in connection with the accompanying drawing, a preferred embodiment of my invention and a preferred manner of making the same.

In the drawing:

Figure l is a perspective view of an improved padded cup strapless brassiere provided according to the present invention, the view indicating in dotted lines the stays of the brassiere;

Figure 2 is a vertical cross section of one of the brassiere cups;

Figure 3 is a rear view of one cupped pad, the view showing in dot-dash lines the lines of juncture of the pad parts and in dotted lines the position of my improved stay means; and

Figure 4 is across sectional view of one cupped pad taken along the longitudinal axis of one of my improved stay means.

Referring now to the drawings, an improved brassiere of the strapless type provided according to my presentl inventori is shown in Figurel as comprising, as is conventional, a body encircling band 10 formed at least in part of elastic or elasticized material and a pair of breast cups 12 secured to the band. Due to the specic improvements provided according to my invention, the brassiere is provided with a minimum number of stays and then only of such type and location as to assure the complete comfort and security of the wearer. In Figure l, the stays in the main or body portion of the brassiere are comprised, simply, of a vertical stay 14 disposed in the band 10 to each side of the cups 12 and a pair ofconstruction, is secured at its peripheral edge to the.

cup 12. p

Each of -the pads 18 is preferably formedy of foam rubber in any one of the manners hereinafter described and may be of such thickness as required for any given person. To attain the benefits of the present invention, thin pads may even be provided in brassieres intended for women who normally do not require the benefit of padding.

According to the present invention, stay means are secured to and preferably imbedded within each of thepads 18. In the preferred embodiment as shown in Figure 3 a pair of stays 22 are imbedded in each foam l rubber cup pad 18 in a generally upright position to opposite sides of the vertical center line of the pad. The stays may be of any known type, but I prefer to employ the type comprising a length of wire bent to undulating form due to the fact that such stay is resilientlyk flexible in both directions transversely of its longitudinal axis. Each stay extends from adjacent the lower margin of the pad to adjacent the upper margin thereof and is bowed outwardly intermediate its ends to conform to the curvature of the pad. Each stay is preferably pre-stressed to bowed form whereby the same will normally retain the initial curvature and shape of the cupped pad. Also, the bowing of the intermediate portion of the stay causes the ends thereof to exert inwardly directed forces on the upper and lower margins of the pad, and thus of the cup, to cause these marginal portions snugly to hug the body of the wearer at all times, even when ,the wearer leans',

forward or engages in strenuous activity.

Due to the conformation thereof to the initial curvature of the cupped pad, and their rigidity or ability to retain form in relation to the soft flexible material of the pad, the stays 22 wiil positively retain the pads 18 in their original shape or form despite extended periods of use and repeated washings. Since the cups v12 and the inner coverings 20 are simply formed of cloth and are stitched to the periphery of the pad, they will conform to the shape of the pads, whereby the stays preserve the initial shape or form of the brassiere as a whole. Yet, due to their flexibility in both directions transversely of their longitudinal axes, the stays when the brassiere is in use will facilitate intimate conformation of the brassiere and the pads to the form of the wearer, thereby to insure a natural appearance attering to the wearer. Since the stays are rigid along their Vlongitudinal axes, and yhave rm engagement with the body of the wearer at their lower ends, the stays will also hold the brassiere pads and cups up in the proper position, thereby further assuring a natural appearance and affording the wearer complete security. Being imbedded in the foam rubber of the pads, the stays are in no way noticeable and the portions thereof bearing against the wearer are so thoroughly padded as to result in no discomfort kto the wearer.

While the pair of stays 22 may simply be secured to or imbedded in each pad 18 in an upright position as described, with the consequent advantages pointed out,

the present invention provides for optimum conforma,- tion of the pads to a shape duplicating the form of the ideal `or perfectly formed human breast. To this end, the stays 22 in each pad are disposed in upwardly convergent relation to the opposite sides of the vertical center line of the pad, the vlower ends of the stays being widely spaced and positioned adjacent the lower outside corner portions of the pad. By virtue of this arrangement, excessive horizontal stress is avoided, the lower margin of the pad is spread and the 'upper margin of the pad is drawn in to assure retention of the desired form. This also enhances the body hugging function of the stays, particularly atthe upper margin of the pad where the function is` attained primarily by the stays and not by the band as is the case at the lower margin of the cups. The stays may be bowed slightly in the plane thereof, as well as transversely thereof, to insure a prestressed condition positively retaining the pad in its intended form.

The improved pad of the invention, i.e., the combined pad and stay means, may be formed in a direct molding process wherein the pre-formed or pre-stressed stays are molded directly into the pad. For present day commercial practice, however, I prefer to 'form the pad` in the conventional manner and to apply the stays thereto in a subsequent operation. Specifically, as shown in Figure 3, each pad 18 is formed of upper and lower parts 18a and 18b. The lower part 18b is cut at with a V-slot in its upper edge and is then drawn together and glued or cemented along the edges of the slot, as indicated at 24, to formgenerally, one-quarter of a sphere. The top part 18a which is cut with an arcuate lower edge, is thenbowed and cemented at said edge, as indicated at 26, to the upper edge of the lower part 18b to complete the pad. The stays 22,which as noted are formed of an undulating wire, are provided at each end with a sheetmetal fitting to prevent the ends of the wire from piercing the foam'rubber. vThe stays are bent to a form complementing the completed'cup and are each cemented to a strip 28 of V'foam rubber of a length and width greater than that of the stay. The strips 28 of foam rubber carrying the stays are then cemented to proper position onto the inner surfacev of the pad, thus effectively toeimbed'the stays in the foam rubber pad. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, an inner cloth reinforcementBO is then cemented over the entire exposed inner surface of the pad 18 and strips 28 to complete the assembly of the pad.

In view of the foregoing, it is to be appreciated that the present invention provides an improved brassiere pad and an improved padded brassiere, especially of the strapless type, that assures complete naturalness of appearance, retains the pads, cups and brassiere in their initial and intended condition even after extensive periods of use and repeated washings, assures the complete comfort and security of the wearer, and causes the pads and cups to securely hug the body of the wearer at all times even during strenuous activity on the part of the wearer.

While I have shown and described what I regard to be the preferred embodiment of my invention, it is to be appreciated that various changes, rearrangements and modifications may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

l, In a padded cup brassiere, the improvement comprising a pair of stays imbedded in each cup pad tor opposite sides of the vertical center line of the cup, each stay extending upwardly from :adjacent the lower margin pad in which imbedded, Veach stay at its ends being spacedA -inwardly from the adjacent marginsl of the respective pad and having its ends imbedded in the pad whereby the stays cannot 'dig into the body of Ithe wearer.

2.In a padded cup brassiere, the improvement com-- prising alpair of stays imbedded in each cup` pad, said stays being widely separated `at their lower ends and extending upwardly in convergent relation from adjacent the lower margin of the pad to adjacent lthe upper margin` thereof, said stays being spaced to opposite sides of the vertical center line of lthe pad, each stay being relatively stiff longitudinally thereof and being exible in both directions transversely of its longitudinal axis, said stays intermediate their ends being bowed outwardly in both directions transverse to a line joining the ends ofthe respective stay, said stays exerting `a spreading force yadjacent the lower margin of the pad land a contr-acting force adjacent the upper margin thereof forretaning the mounded curvatures of the pad, -and adjacent their ends exerting an inwardly directed force for causing -the pads and the brassiere cups in use snuggly to engage the body of the wearer.

3. In a brassiere, a foam rubber pad sewn into each cupl of the brassiere, a pair of stays secured to each pad adjacent the inner `surface thereof, each stay Ycomprising an undulating wire and being relatively stiff along the longitudinal center line of the stay and exible transversely of said center line, the pair of stays on each pad being spaced to opposite sides of the vertical center line of the pad and extending from adjacent the lower margin to adjacent the upper margin of the respective pad, said stays being bowed outwardly intermediate their ends and conforming to and retaining the curvatures of the respective pa'd, said stays adjacent their ends exerting an inwardly directed force on the respective pad and cup, and a foam 'rubber covering for each stay.

y4. In a padded cup brassiere, the improvement cornpri'sing a pair of stays yimbedded -in each cup pad, said stays being widely separated at -their lower ends and extending upwardly in convergent relation from adjacent the lower margin of the pad Vto iadjacent the uppermargin thereof, `said stays being spaced -to opposite sides of the vertical'center line of the pad, each stay being relatively "stiff longitudinally thereof and being flexible in kboth directions transversely of its longitudinal axis, said stays intermediate ,their ends being bowed outwardly in bothV jacent the -.lower margin of the pad and a contracting force adjacent ythe upper margin thereof for retaining *be mounded curva-tures of the pad, and adjacent their ends exerting an inwardly directed force for causing the pads kand the brassiere cups in use snuggly to engage the body of the wearer, each stay at its ends being spaced inwardly from the adjacent margins of the respective pad `and having its ends `imbedded in Ithe pad whereby the stay cannot dig into the body of the wearer.

5. In a padded cup brassiere having stay means imbedded in each cup pad, the improvement comprising that each stay consists of `a length of wire bent to serpentine form and having a fitting at each end thereof for preventing piercing of the pad by the ends of the wire, the

serpentine wire being relatively stiff along the longitudinal center line thereof and exible in both directions transversely of said center line.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS