US3187754A - Brassiere and fabric therefor - Google Patents

Description

June 8, 1965 G. M. KING 3,187,754

BRASSIERE AND FABRIC THEREFOR Filed Feb. 26. 1962 IN VENTOR.

GILBERT M. KING BY ATTORNEYS United States Patent This invention relates primarily to a brassiere and a fabric from which the brassiere is made.

In the formation of brassieres a lace fabric is usually incorporated in the brassiere, and advantageously the fabric is formed from synthetic fiber such as nylon which may be molded into a form to provide the cups of the brassiere. This molding permanently elongates parts of the fabric so that the cups of the brassiere maintain their shape after the molding operation. In order to make a lace fabric sufiiciently heavy for brassiere purposes, I have provided a construction of lace fabric which takes the place of plural plies of fabrics heretofore used in brass-ieres, and such a fabric is disclosed in my co-pending application, Serial No. 170,159, now Patent No. 3,088,362, in which I have utilized plural warp threads which are bound to the bobbins as they extend laterally of the general lengthwise extent of the bobbins. At the same time a pattern utilizing gimp or filling threads and outline threads may be provided on such a base fabric.

One of the Objects of this invention is to form a lace fabric on a machine such as a Leavers lace machine in which the pattern formed by gimp or filling threads may be superimposed upon a base fabric and which fabric will be in a form which will enable the heavier pattern a to be utilized as the under or lower portion of the cups of a brassiere so that when the'molding of the nylon fabric takes place, the reinforced or heavier portion of the fabric may be located along the lower portion of the brassiere cups and thus provide support where it is desired while leaving a plainer, unsupported and lighterweight fabric above where the support is not necessary.

A further object of the invention is to provide a brassiere from a relatively heavy lace fabric which will have a support along the lower portion .of the cups while leaving the upper part of the cups unsupported and of a plain pattern.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction as will be more fully described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a brassiere incorporating this invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmental portion of a piece of lace fabric showing my reinforced part and nonreinforced part in their general relationship in the fabric;

FIG 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but showing a slightly different reinforcing pattern;

FIG. 4 is a section showing the reinforcing area and the nonreinforcing area;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 but showing the fabric after it has been molded to provide a cup.

With reference to the drawings, in FIG. 2 designates generally a flat piece of lace fabric with the lengthwise direction thereof extending horizontally of the paper. The fabric comprises a base portion 11 which may be constructed as shown in greater detail in the co-pending application which I have referred to above. This base material 11 extends lengthwise of the fabric and Widthwise of the fabric its entire width, while superimposed upon this base material there is a reinforcing area designated generally 12 and comprising in this instance lengthwise stripes l3 and lateral stripes 14 formed by outline threads 15 and gimp threads 16 between the outline threads, all superimposed upon the base fabric and intermeshed or locked to the base fabric by the gimp or filling threads extending under and over the bobbin threads and lying between the back or middle warps and front warps while the outline threads tie in under the bobbins or over the warps.

However, the particular form of tying the pattern into the base is not new and does not play a particular part of this invention.

The striped reinforcing pattern above referred to extends only. a part of the width of the fabric leaving plane portions such as 11 and 11' and so forth in repeats intermediate these striped portions. The striped portion, however, will be of a sufficient width so that it will be a little greater than one half of the vertical dimension of the cup of the brassiere which is to be formed. In some cases instead of the stripe 13 being straight, the stripe may be wavy as at 17 in a plurality of lengthwise extending formations connected by lateral stripes 14 as shown in FIG. 2. The particular pattern which is provided in this reinforcing area may be widely varied and may take many different forms, the general thought being that some reinforcing portion will be placed on the base 11 so that it may be strengthened in an area sufficient to provide a reinforcing portion for the lower part of the cup of the brassiere.

The brassiere which is the subject of this invention is esignated generally 20 as seen in FIG. 1 and comprises two cups 211, each of which is formed by molding so as to stretch the nylon threads of the fabric at the portions of the cups into substantially the form as shown in cross section in FIG. 5. The line of demarcation between the base fabric such as 11 or 11' and the reinforcing pattern 12 will have its upper edge 22 disposed at substantially the midpoint of the cup projection (see FIG. 5 leaving the reinforcing portion 12 along the lower portion of the cup and one plain area 11 above this line which area in its molded form is designated 23 as the unreinforced or undecorated plain portion of the brassiere cup. The area 11' as shown in FIG. 2 is also of plane or undecorated part,

and the next reinforced area will be a repeat for another brassiere.

In the formation of the brassiere the cups will be formed in the fabric at substantially the desired distance apart and then the fabric will be drawn in and sewn along the lines 25, 25 so as to shape the brassiere as desired, while reinforcing pieces 27 will be sewed on as at 28 to further reinforce and shape the brassiere as desired. Other pieces 29 may be positioned for extending about the body while shoulder straps 30 may be provided with adjusting buckles 31 for extending over the shoulders.

I claim:

1. A brassiere comprising a piece of fabric having a cup molded therein, said fabric being a single unitary piece of base material formed from intermeshed threads with a reinforcing portion superimposed thereon along only the lower portion of the cup provided by a concentration of said intermeshed threads.

2. A brassiere as in claim 1 wherein said reinforcing portion is in the form of an ornamental design.

3. A brassiere as in claim 1 wherein said fabric is of lace construction.

4. A fabric for use in brassieres comprising a body portion of substanital length and width of threads intermeshed in lace construction and reinforcing stripes superimposed thereon and formed of threads intermeshed with the threads of the body, extending lengthwise of the fabric and at spaced intervals laterally thereof.

5. A fabric as in claim 4 wherein the reinforcing portion is formed by a greater concentration of threads intermeshed with the body portion and superimposed thereon.

6. A fabric as in claim 4 wherein the reinforcing portion is formed by a greater concentration of threads intermeshed with the body portion and superimposed thereon in an ornamental pattern efiect.

, 4- References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,413,970 1/47 Hawley 161--70 2,981,139 4/61 Sutter 87-4 3,021,844 2/62 Flagg et a1. 128-463 3,064,329 11/62 Westberg et a1. 28-74 ADELE M. EAGER, Primary Examiner.

10 LOUIS R. PRINCE, Examiner.

Claims (1)

1. A BRASSIERE COMPRISING A PIECE OF FABRIC HAVING A CUP MOLDED THEREIN, SAID FABRIC BEING A SINGLE UNITARY PIECE OF BASE MATERIAL FORMED FROM INTERMESHED THREADS WITH A REINFORCING PORTION SUPERIMPOSED THEREON ALONG ONLY THE

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