US3249110A

US3249110A - Combination supporting garment and hosiery

Info

Publication number: US3249110A
Application number: US345952A
Authority: US
Inventors: Bryan Henry Thomas
Original assignee: BEAUTIFUL BRYANS Inc
Current assignee: BEAUTIFUL BRYANS Inc
Priority date: 1964-02-19
Filing date: 1964-02-19
Publication date: 1966-05-03
Anticipated expiration: 1983-05-03
Also published as: GB1102502A

Description

May 3, 1966 H. T. BRYAN COMBINATION SUPPORTING GARMENT AND HOSIERY Filed Feb. 19, 1964 mvwo HENRY T. BRYAN FIG. 4

1 I aff.

ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,249,110 COMBINATION SUPPORTING GARMENT AND HOSIERY Henry Thomas Bryan, Lookout Mountain, Tenn., assignor to Beautiful Bryans, Inc., Chattanooga, Tenn. Filed Feb. 19, 1964, Ser. No. 345,952 1 Claim. (Cl. 128-519) This invention relates to apparel especially that worn by the distaff side of the family, wholly or partly visible or concealed, and regardless of whether for protection, support or contour modification, as a thermal barrier, for the appearance and comfort of the wearer, or for various other reasons.

The invention relates particularly to a panty girdle or foundation garment and to hosiery of a specific character which overlaps such garment and with the contacting portions of the panty girdle and hosiery of a character that the hosiery will be held in fully extended position by the panty girdle at all times while worn regardless of the sitting, standing, or other posture of the wearer;

Heretofore hosiery has been held up by garters, fasteners of various kinds and other devices which created considerable bulk and were uncomfortable as well as marred the appearance. A solution to the problem of preventing stockings or hosiery from slipping downwardly, from a normal to a lower unsightly and consequently lesscomfortable and serviceable position, has been sought for a long time, especially since hosiery has been manufactured from nylon or other synthetic fibers. One of the reasons it has not been possible to maintain hosiery in fully extended position on the wearer has been due to the fact that it has not had appreciable lengthwise stretch and consequently when the wearer changed posture the gravitation or downward movement of the stockings occurred.

It is an object of the invention to provide a panty girdle and hosiery with contacting portions of appropriate character, materials and construction to obtain a desired coaction or aflinity therebetween whereby the hosiery will be maintained in the desired extended position.

Another object of the invention is to provide hosiery of greater lengthwise stretch and a panty girdle or foundation garment with a multiple track or with multiple rubber or elastic ribs which will engage and maintain the hosiery in proper extended position regardless of the posture of the wearer.

A further object of the invention is to provide a panty girdle or foundation garment and hosiery of a greater lengthwise stretch to underliethe lower edge of the panty girdle and be held in extended position with the overlapping portions of a perfectly rounded smooth fit and contour, devoid of clips, snaps, hooks, garters or other fasteners, supports, or objects of bulk which not only would be uncomfortable to the wearer but would mar the appearance.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective illustrating the invention in use;

FIG. 2, a similar view of an article of hosiery of the character utilized;

FIG. 3, a view illustrating the stretchability of the article of hosiery of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4, a perspective of a panty girdle incorporating multiple-track holding structure of the character for holding the hosiery of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5, an enlarged fragmentary perspective illustrating the configuration of the interior of the multiple-track holding structure; and,

FIG. 6, a view illustrating the stretchability of the tripletrack elastic holding structure.

thetic substances and of an elastic character and with rela tively long depending leg portions. Around the interior of each of such leg portions are located multiple ribs or bands or a multiple track of rubber or elastic material designed for direct contact and constricting engagement with hose of stretch yarn, of natural or synthetic character sometimes referred to in the trade as Agilon or the like. The engagement of the multiple ribs or track with the hosiery of greater longitudinal elasticity allows for continuous engagement between the panty girdle and the hosiery due to the fact that the hosiery can stretch adequately upon the bending of the legs and the body.

With continued reference to the drawing, a panty girdle or foundation garment is provided having a body portion 10 and a pair of relatively long legs 11 all of conventional construction. Preferably, the foundation garment is manufactured of natural and synthetic materials such as .nylon, rayon, Lycra-Spandex or the like having elastic characteristics which can be stretched in multiple directions as illustrated in FIG. 4, although cotton or other material may be used.

The lower extremities of the legs are sewn or otherwise connected to bands 14 (FIGS. 1 and 4) of a knitted or woven construction of a one-way stretch type so that they may expand or contract transversely for the usual purpose of adjusting to the size of the legs of the wearer with substantially no stretchability lengthwise.

As illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6 each of the bands 14 has a plurality of inwardly extending spaced ribs or tracks 12 of elastic thread or yarn which projects inwardly of the bands regardless of the stretch condition thereof. The inwardly projecting ribs or tracks are adapted to frictionally engage the upper portions of a pair of hosiery 13.

The hosiery 13 includes a foot portion, leg portion and thigh portion of a continuous stitch and without a welt portion as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Such hosiery preferably is constructed of highly stretchable nylon-like yarn known as Agilon or Fiber H having an aflinity to the elastic material of the track 12. The Agilon yarn which has the basic characteristics of nylon is drawn over a sharp blade while still warm to cause the yarn to curl and thereby difierentiate from conventional nylon which looks like a continuous single thread. These curls provide a gentle but permanent stretch which permits the hosiery to be stretched lengthwise as well as transversely. Due to the stretchability of the hosiery,'the ribs or tracks 12 will grip the hosiery with sufiicient force that the hosiery will be held in place since any stretching caused by the flexing of the knees or other joints of the wearer will be absorbed by the lengthwise stretchability of the hosiery. Since no garters or other sharp edges engage the hosiery a welt portion at the top of the hosiery is not necessary and therefore the hosiery is of continuous material and design from the foot portion to'the top of the hosiery.

A wearer first will put on the hose and then the panty girdle whereupon the ribs 12 in the lower extremities of the leg portions thereof will engage the upper portions of the hosiery with suflicient pressure to maintain the hosiery extended at all times regardless of the posture of the wearer including movement from one posture to another involving the bending of the knees and the hips as well as the twisting of the body of the wearer.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that the present invention provides a panty girdle or foundation garment with hosiery holding multiple longitudinally stretchable ribs or tracks in the lower extremities for gripping hosiery, and hosiery of sufiicient lengthwise stretchability to allow Patented May 3, 1965 Q bending of the leg joints of the wearer, the foundation garment affording slimming supporting action to the body of the wearer resulting in a perfect fit with round, smooth, firm contour and maximum comfort, and without annoying appearance-marrin g bulkiness which would result from the use of snaps, hooks, clips, garters or other fasteners .or supports for maintaining the hosiery in position at all times. 1

It will be obvious to one skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof and therefore the invention is not limited by that which is illustrated in the drawing and described in the specification, but only as indicated in the accompanying claim.

What is claimed is:

In a foundation garment having a body portion and a pair of leg portions, and constructed of material having elastic characteristics which can be stretched in multiple directions, and of the type adapted to support hosiery, the

improvement comprising a band connected to the lower extremities of each of said leg portions, said bands being stretchable only in a transverse direction, a plurality of inwardly extending elastic threads carried by each band, each of said bands adapted to overlie a portion of said hosiery, and said elastic threads frictionally engage said hosiery and provide the sole support thereof.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,300,153 10/ 1942 Herbener 128-530 2,343,823 3/1944 Vogt et a1 128-530 2,826,760 3/ 1958- Rice 2-224 2,977,782 4/1961 Sheek 66-178 3,122,906 3/1964 Crawford 66-122 3,154,835 11/1964 Calma et a1 57-157 ADELE M. EAGER, Primary Examiner.