US3088120A - Flarable garment combination - Google Patents

Description

May 7, 1963 Filed Sept. 12, 1960 A. A. GOULD FLARABLE GARMENT COMBINATION 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. AA 552 T A. 004 0 jgm Z ATTaQA fVr May 7, 1963 Filed Sept. 12, 1960 2 SheetsSheet 2 Patented May 7, 1963 3,088,120 FLARABLE GARMENT COMBINATION Albert A. Gould, Bronx, N.Y., assignor to Arthur Imerman Undergarment Corp., Jersey City, N.J., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Sept. 12, 1960, Ser. No. 55,269 6 Claims. c1. 2216) This invention relates to a method and means of obtaining a flounced effect in a garment, more particularly it relates to a skirt or undergarment structure which permits the skirt or undergarment to be worn either flounced or draped as desired.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my US. application Serial No. 849,924 filed October 30, 1959, now abandoned.

Flouncing in skirts or undergarments is normally obtained by attaching one or several additional bands of relatively stiff fabric material thereto and/ or by embedding stiff boning material or wire in the garment adjacent the area to be flounced. Such garments are expensive to make and bulky to store and to pack for shipping. Frequently, for shipping, the stiffening wire is removed from the garment and coiled in a separate package. This requires the user to rethread the wire into the garment before use.

Among the objects of this invention is to provide an undergarment, to which it is desired to impart a flounced or boulfant efiect without the addition of wire and boning materials and with a means to expand the lower portion thereof to at least three times the diameter of the waist without at the same time increasing the bulkiness of the garment when stored or packed for shipping to any substantial degree.

Another object of the invention is to provide an undergarment with a compressively adjustable waist line.

The invention is particularly related to undergarments where a very pronounced bouifant effect is desired but it may also be applied to skirts of dresses, ballet costumes and bathing suits, when very pronounced flouncing is desired in these garments.

The objects of the invention are obtained by providing the undergarment with means to hold one or more airtight, flexible tubes adjacent the hem and/or the waist band or other portion thereof to be expanded. The tube should preferably extend almost completely around the undergarment. The tube is provided with a valve and/ or an extension so that it can be blown up with air or gas to tend to assume a ring shape. When not containing much air or gas, the tube or tubes are flexible and unnoticeable in the undergarment but when blown tight it assumes a relatively stiif ring shape sufficient to produce a flounoed effect in the garment to which it is attached.

The tube may vary in diameter from about A for light small skirts for children to about 3"5" or more for larger garments. The tube can be made of any airtight material, such as polyethylene, polyvinyl resins, nylon, Mylar polyester resin, regenerated cellulose film which has been coated to improve its impermeability to air, cellulose acetate and similar cellulose esters, methyl cellulose and similar cellulose ethers, polypropylene, plastic coated paper tubes, rubber and synthetic rubber, etc. The tubes can be attached to the garment in any way which does not puncture the tubular chamber. An especially desirable effect is obtained by making the tube with a wavy axis so that when the ends of the tube are brought together to form a ring, the latter has the crenelated eifect so much desired in garments which are to be swirled.

Since the insertion of the tube into the channel therefor is a tedious and difficult operation requiring special tools,

it is an object of the invention to provide a garment and tube which can be laundered without removing the tube. It is, therefore, necessary to provide a tube which is readily inflatable even after being subjected to laundering. .In collapsible plastic tubes, there is a tendency for the walls to adhere when the tube is collapsed, thus, making such tubes impossible or at least difiicult to inflate. One feature of this invention is based on the discovery that the adherence of the walls of the tubing which hinders inflation thereof can be eliminated by providing the interior or" the tube with a plurality of lineations. Such lineations may be readily formed in the tube during extrusion. Lineations of extremely minute height or depth are effective (on the order of .0001, for example). The lineations may be spaced on the order of about to inch apartr Among other objects of the invention is to provide a tube and lace of fabric channel combination which can be pre-assembled and then attached to the garment.

The tube of the invention is especially useful in undergarments comprising woven or knitted cotton fabrics,

nylon fabrics, Dacron fabrics, polyacrylate fabrics or fabrics made with mixtures of cotton, nylon, Dacron or polyacrylate fibers, etc.

It is known that an inflated tube has been proposed to hold the lower edge of a raincoat slightly expanded to guide water from the coat away from the feet (US. Patent No. 2,118,196) but the purpose of this invention is to expand the undergarment and all of the garments over it to a diameter at least three times the diameter of the waist.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view of a slip made according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a detail view of an inflatable ring such as is inserted in the slip of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a detail View of one form of valve means which may be employed to unite the two ends of a tubular body to form a closed ring.

FIG. 4 is a detail view showing a modified method and means for attaching the tube to the garment.

FIG. 5 is a detail view of a modified form of tube with means for attaching it to the garment.

FIG. 6 is a detail cross sectional view of another modified form of tube.

FIG. 7 is a cross sectional view of the structure shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 1 of another form of the invention.

FIG. 9 is a cross sectional View of still another form of the invention.

FIG. 10 is a side cross sectional view of a valve particularly suited for the tube of the invention, the valve being shown in open position.

FIG. 11 is a cross sectional view of the valve taken on line 11-11 of FIG. 10 but showing the valve in closed posltion.

FIG. 12. is an end perspective view of a striated tube in which the striations are exaggerated as it would appear when the tube is expanded (or blown-up).

FIG. 13 is a view of a tube and fabric channel combination suitable for attaching to a garment.

The garment 10 of FIG. 1 may be a slip, an underskirt or similar undergarment and comprises a skirt portion 11, which is voluminous enough to extend outwardly a fashionable amount and which may be flexible enough to drape downwardly and loosely about the figure. The

lower portion of the skirt 11 contains one or more an-- The essential feature of the tube 20 or 20" is that it be light, flexible and closed at the ends so as to be airtight except for a valve or similar means to admit air or similar gas to and from the tube.

In a very simple form of tube of FIG. 2, the first end 21 is closed by a flat seal 22 and the second end 23 is sealed to the larger end 24 of a shouldered tube with the small end 25 extending therefrom. The small end 25 may be folded and closed by a rubber band 26.

A completely closed ring 20 may be obtained by sealing the two ends to opposite sides 31 and 32 of the cross of a T-shaped tubular structure as shown in FIG. 1 and in detail in FIG. 3. The leg 33 of the structure then may include the valve structure. A simple valve structure is shown in FIG. 3 and comprises a flap 34 sealed at one side 35 of the opening in leg 33. The flap 35 is held against opening 33 by the back pressure of the gas in the tube 20. Air can be released from tube 20 by pressing the cross 32 from the outside to move flap away from the opening of leg 33.

An extensive casing 12 as shown in FIG. 1 is not necessary and instead the tube 20 may be attached to the desired fabric portion 15 of a garment by a series of loops 40. The loops are attached at the end 41 to the fabric 15 and contain one part 42 of a two part fastener at the opposite end. The matching part (not shown) of the two part fastener is attached to fabric 15. Thus, the loop 20 may be easily removed when the garment is to be washed or cleaned and readily reinserted when needed.

Another method of attaching the tubular loops 120 is shown in FIG. 5. The tube 120 of this modification contains an integral tape 27 formed when the tube is formed. A very convenient method of making the tube 20, 20', 120, etc. is by extrusion and when made in this way the die can be constructed to produce the cross sectional shape required. Tube 120 is attached to fabric 15 by sewing 28 or by any other suitable means.

Instead of a single attached tape 27 the tube may have two or more such attaching means as shown in FIG. 6. The tube 220 of FIG. 6 has two longitudinal tapes or fins 51, 52 integral therewith and may be attached at opposite sides by threads 53, 54 to fabric 15.

An inflatable tube 320 may also be incorporated into the waist band 321 of the skirt 100 as shown in FIG. 8. In this particular modification the tube 101 is employed for inflating either or both tubes 320 and/or 420. The tube 101 has a mouthpiece 102 and at the points where the ends 103 and 104 of tube 101 are connected to tubes 320 and 420, respectively, a valve, which may be similar to that shown in FIG. 3, is located. With this arrangement tube 320 may be inflated without inflating tube 420 by pinching tube 101 below mouthpiece 102 and blowing in said mouthpiece; of course, tube 220 can be inflated in a similar way. The tube 101 is long enough to reach the mouth of the wearer after the skirt is donned and yet this tube 101 does not dangle.

FIG. 9 shows another form of tube. Since the ring formed by the tube of the invention must have a rather large circumference if the skirt is to be expandable to over twice the diameter of the waist, the best way found to accommodate the ring 520 to the skirt 110 is to form the tube with undulations so that when the ends are brought into proximity to form a ring a crenelated ring results as shown in FIG. 9. In this figure the ring has eight crests 521 and eight valleys 522 but it will be understood that ring 520 may be formed with any desired number of crests and valleys 521 and 522 depending on the size of the skirt and the diameter of the tubing 520. In the figure shown the tube 520 is held at the crests and at some of the valleys by the loops 40 (see FIG. 4). However, casings such as shown in FIG. 1 or attaching means such as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 may be employed in FIG. 9 in place of the loops 40. When this skirt is swirled by the wearer the edge thereof as seen from the side will have a very attractive wavy configuration.

FIG. 2 at 26 and FIG. 3 at 35 show very simple types of closure means or valve structures. A surer or longer lasting seal is obtained by a valve such as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11. The valve of FIGS. 10 and 11 (like that of FIG. 3) is made of somewhat flexible plastic material so that it can be heat sealed to the tube 20. The valve comprises an outer casing 61 and an inner slidable plug 62. The outer casing 61 has the ring flange 63 by which the valve is heat sealed to the tube 20. The casing 61 also contains a relatively large opening 64 at the inside end and a smaller opening 65 at the outside end. Opening 65 is generally circular but includes side channels to orient the plug member 65 when the latter is fitted therein. Between the openings 64 and 65, there is an enlarged chamber 66 which is generally cylindrical in shape but which includes two indented channels 67 and 68, which extend only a part of the distance from the lower end of the chamber 66 of the casing toward the upper end.

The plug member 62 comprises a tubular upper portion 69, which ends in a transverse channel which opens only at the sides of the plug 62. The lower end of the plug member comprises the stop 71 which is adapted to snap into place in the opening 64 of the casing 61. The stop 71 is attached to the main body of the plug member 62 by an integral rod 72. The tubular portion 69 of the plug member includes longitudinal side flanges to slide in the side channels of the opening 69 and prevent the plug member 62 from rotating with respect to the casing 61. When the valve is open as shown in FIG. 10, air blown into tube 69 passes to transverse channel 70, thence to side channels 67 and 68 of the casing 61 and out opening 64 which is located inside the tubing 200. When the valve is in closed position shown in FIG. 11, both the openings of transverse channel 70 are closed by casing 61 and the opening 64 of the casing itself is closed by plug stop 71. A valve of this type is advantageous because of the double seal and because the movement of the plug member 62 can be controlled by the teeth of the one blowing up the tube 200. The plug parts 61 and 62 are made of flexible plastic material such as polyethylene so that the parts can be molded, removed from the mandrels employed in molding and forced together due to the flexibility of the parts. The valve is held in place on the fabric 202 by a tight fitting nylon washer 75.

The permanently enclosed tubing required for the device of the invention must be prevented from adhering in the collapsed state even after Washing and drying of the garment containing the same. Thus, it is essential that the tubing contain longitudinal or spiral striations. As shown in FIG. 12, the tube 200 comprises a multiplicity of internal striations 201 which prevent any substantial portions of the internal walls from adhering together When the tube is collapsed.

Threading the tube into the channel provided for it is one of the most onerous tasks connected with the manu facture of the garment of the invention. The combination tube and channel shown in FIG. 13 has, therefore, been developed. This combination comprises a net fabric strip backing 202 which is substantially equal in length to the length of the tubing desired, a lace or net top fabric strip 203 which is puckered at the edges with respect to strip 202, and the tubing 200. Puckering the fabric strip 203 with respect to strip 202 improves the appearance and performance of the combination. The tubing 200 is permanently closed and sealed at the ends, one sealed end being shown at 204 in FIG. 13. Adjacent sealed end 64, a valve similar to that shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 is sealed. The combination fabric channel and sealed in tube 200 is made in the following steps. The required length of striated tubing 200 is cut from a continuous roll of the same, a round hole is cut on one side and near one end thereof of a size to accommodate the lower cylindrical portion 61 of the valve casing. The valve is heat sealed to the area surrounding the hole. The ends of the tube are heat sealed and the tube is tested for leaks. The net 202 and puckered fabric strip 203 are then sewed together, along two lines 207 and 208 simultaneously in a double needle sewing machine, with the tube 200 therebetween. The fabric 208 is punctured above the tube 69 of valve 60 and the washer 75 is forced over the tube or valve stem 69 to fix the valve stem '69 outside of the channel formed by fabrics 202 and 203. The resultant combina tion channel and inflatable tube 200 is then ready to be attached to a garment.

In operation the tube 20, 20, 120, 200, etc. is fixed in place on the garment, preferably on the inside of the garment as shown in FIGS. 1, 8 and 9, although this is not essential, and thereafter whenever it is desired to obtain a flounced effect the valve or tube 25 is opened and the tube is expanded and stiffened by introducing air therein under pressure. The tube can be inflated or deflated as desired after the garment is donned. The extent to which the garment is flounced will depend on the pressure at which the tube is inflated.

The features and principles underlying the invention described above in connection with specific exemplifications will suggest to those skilled in the art many other modifications thereof. It is accordingly desired that the appended claims shall not be limited to any specific feature or details thereof.

I claim:

1. A garment of the type which includes a skirt portion comprising at least one annularly arranged fabric casing for bolding a tube affixed to said skirt portion in combination with an air-tight, light, flexible tube of substantially uniform cross-sectional size and shape held within said casing,

valve means for said tube comprising a valve casing a portion of which extends from a region on the periphery of said tube,

said tube being closed at the ends and along the length thereof except for said valve means, said fabric casing comprising an opening on the inner side thereof with respect to said skirt through which a portion of said valve casing extends,

means on said valve casing attaching the fabric casing thereto to fix the position of said tube within said fabric casing,

said tube being sufficiently light and flexible as to exert no distending influence on said fabric casing and garment when collapsed and comprising internal surface irregularities adapted to prevent adherence of the walls of the tube when collapsed whereby the garment may be laundered without removing the tube.

2. A garment as claimed in claim 1 in which the fabric casing is afiixed to the inside of the skirt adjacent the hem thereof.

3. The garment combination as claimed in claim 1, in which said tube has a natural undulating axis so that when the ends of the tube are brought into proximity to form a ring a crenulated ring is produced to simulate a desirable draped effect and to produce an undulated edge when the skirt is swirled.

4. The garment as claimed in claim 1 wherein said tube consists essentially of a readily collapsible, extruded tube of thermoplastic material and is heat sealed to the valve means.

5. A garment of the type which includes a skirt portion comprising at least one annularly arranged fabric casing for holding a tube aflixed to said skirt portion in combination with an air-tight, light, flexible tube of substantially uniform cross-sectional size and shape held within said casing,

valve means for said tube comprising a valve casing a portion of which extends from a region on the periphery of said tube,

said tube being closed at the ends and along the length thereof except for said valve means, said fabric casing comprising an opening on the inner side thereof with respect to said skirt through which a portion of said valve casing extends,

means on said valve casing attaching the fabric casing thereto to fix the position of said tube Within said fabric casing,

said tube being sufficiently light and flexible as to exert no distending influence on said fabric casing and garment when collapsed,

said tube consisting essentially of a readily collapsible,

extruded tube of polyvinyl resin containing minute internal striations to prevent adherence of the inner walls when the tube is collapsed.

6. A garment of the type which includes a skirt portion comprising at least one annularly arranged fabric casing for holding a tube, in combination with an air-tight, light, flexible tube of substantially uniform cross-sectional size and shape held within said casing, said tube being closed at the ends and along the length thereof except for one normally closed valve means bet-ween the closed ends which may be opened to inflate the tube, said tube being sufliciently light and flexible as to exert no distending influence on said casing and garment when collapsed,

said tubing having an interior surface comprising minute projections adapted to prevent adherence of large surface regions of the collapsed tubing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,041,737 Beal May 26, 1936 2,759,186 Dye Aug. 21, 1956 2,903,706 Alberts et al Sept. 15, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 20,779 Great Britain Apr. 17, 1897 395,239 Great Britain July 13, 1933 484,924 Italy Sept. 26, 1953

Claims (1)

1. A GARMENT OF THE TYPE WHICH INCLUDES A SKIRT PORTION COMPRISING AT LEAST ONE ANNULARLY ARRANGED FABRIC CASING FOR HOLDING A TUBE AFFIXED TO SAID SKIRT PORTION IN COMBINATION WITH AN AIR-TIGHT, LIGHT, FLEXIBLE TUBE OF SUBSTANTIALLY UNIFORM CROSS-SECTIONAL SIZE AND SHAPE HELD WITHIN SAID CASING, VALVE MEANS FOR SAID TUBE COMPRISING A VALVE CASING A PORTION OF WHICH EXTENDS FROM A REGION ON THE PERIPHERY OF SAID TUBE, SAID TUBE BEING CLOSED AT THE ENDS AND ALONG THE LENGTH THEREOF EXCEPT FOR SAID VALVE MEANS, SAID FABRIC CASING COMPRISING AN OPENING ON THE INNER SIDE THEREOF WITH RESPECT TO SAID SKIRT THROUGH WHICH A PORTION OF SAID VALVE CASING EXTENDS, MEANS ON SAID VALVE CASING ATTACHING THE FABRIC CASING THERETO TO FIX THE POSITION OF SAID TUBE WITHIN SAID FABRIC CASING, SAID TUBE BEING SUFFICIENTLY LIGHT AND FLEXIBLE AS TO EXERT NO DISTENDING INFLUENCE ON SAID FABRIC CASING AND GARMENT WHEN COLLAPSED AND COMPRISING INTERNAL SURFACE IRREGULARITIES ADAPTED TO PREVENT ADHERENCE OF THE WALLS OF THE TUBE WHEN COLLAPSED WHEREBY THE GARMENT MAY BE LAUNDERED WITHOUT REMOVING THE TUBE.

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