US3317922A - Infant's garment with diaperattaching tabs - Google Patents

Description

9, 1967 I w. w. ARTZT 3,317,922

INFANT'S GARMENT WITH DIAPER-ATTACHING TABS Filed June 22, 1964 I NVEN TOR.

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United States Patent 3,317,922 INFANTS GARMENT WITH DLAPER- ATTACHING TABS William Walter Artzt, New York, N.Y., assignor to Kapart, Inc., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed June 22, 1964, Ser. No. 376,802 4 Claims. (Cl. 2-111) This invention relates generally to infants garments, such as, undershirts, having tapes or tabs secured within the body portion of the garment for pinning or other attachment of diapers thereto.

In existing infants garments provided with diaper-attaching tabs, the latter are formed of woven textile tape which is wettable or acts as a wick so that, when a diaper is pinned to the tabs, urine from the diaper can pass through the tabs to the body portion of the garment. Thus, even though an infant wears waterproof pants over the diaper, such pants do not prevent the wetting of the undershirt and other garments, particularly in the areas where the diaper-attaching tabs are secured to the shirt.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an infants garment, such as, an undershirt or the like, with diaper-attaching tabs of a hydrophobic, non-wicking or liquid impervious material so that, when a diaper is pinned to such tabs, urine from the diaper cannot pass through the tabs to the undershirt or garment.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, each diaperattaching tab has a plurality of folded plies of a material that consists of a non-wicking woven or knitted textile fabric with a liquid-impervious coating at one side thereof, and such plies are arranged so that the liquid-impervious coating preferably is at the inside and the textile fabric is exposed, thereby to afford a desirable fabric-like feel to the diaper-attaching tabs.

In existing infants garments provided with diaper-attaching tabs, the latter are secured, by various patterns of stitching, to the front portion of the body of the garment at locations adjacent the sides of the latter. Since the garment is usually formed of a knit fabric, the regions Where the tabs are sewed to the body, being relatively highly stressed and also weakened by the stitching passing therethrough, tend to tear at a time when the remainder of the garment exhibits little or no evidence of wear.

Accordingly, it is another object of this invention to provide an infants garment with diaper-attaching tabs of any non-Wicking or liquid-impervious material secured to the body of the garment in a manner to avoid tearing of the latter under normal conditions of use.

In accordance with an aspect of this invention, an infants garment having a body with front and back portions joined together along side seams is provided with diaperattaching tabs each having an elongated main part and an upper part with one lateral edge offset relative to the main part, the offset lateral edge of the upper part of each tab being sewed into the adjacent side seam of the garment body. With a tab having the foregoing configuration, the main part of each tab is spaced from the adjacent side seam of the garment body, and thus disposed for convenient pinning of a diaper thereto and for avoiding excessive bulk at the side seam, whereas the load applied to the tab is transmitted to the garment body at the side seam of the latter which is Well able to accept such load without tearing of the knit fabric.

In accordance with still another aspect of this invention, each of the diaper-attaching tabs is formed by cutting a substantially T-shaped blank from a preferably nonwicking or liquid impervious, flexible material, folding the blank along its line of symmetry to provide the elongated main part and the upper part having one side edge laterally offset relative to the main part, and then diagonally folding over the upper part toward the offset side 3,317,922 Patented May 9, 1967 edge so that the upper part of the tab becomes substantially triangular and projects laterally beyond the elongated main part for sewing into a side seam of the garment body.

The above, and other objects, features and advantages of this invention, will be apparent in the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment thereof which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawing forming a part hereof, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view, partly broken away, of an infants garment provided with diaper-attaching tabs in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan View of a blank from which a diaper-attaching tab is formed in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 3 is a view of the blank after initial folding thereof;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view of the upper part of the blank following further folding thereof; and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged detail view illustrating the securgilgGof each diaper-attaching tab to the garment, as in Referring to the drawing in detail, and initially to FIG. 1 thereof, it will be seen that diaper-attaching tabs 10 embodying this invention are there shown in an infants garment 12 which may be of a knit fabric and includes a body having a back portion 14 and a front portion 16 joined together by sewed or stitched seams 18 extending along opposite sides of the body. The garment 12 may be of the sleeveless type or, as shown, it may be provided with sleeves 20 which, as disclosed in my United States Letters Patent No. 3,078,467, issued Feb. 26, 1963, are formed integrally with the body and shoulders of the garment. Although the garment provided with diaper-attaching tabs 10 in accordance with this invention is preferably made from a one-piece blank in the manner disclosed in detail in the above identified Letters Patent, it is to be understood that the diaper-attaching tabs 10 can be provided in any other form of infants garment having a body that includes front and back portions joined together along side seams.

Referring in detail to FIG. 5, it will be seen that, in accordance with this invention, each diaper-attaching tab 10 includes an elongated main part 22 and an upper part 24 having a side edge portion 26 which is laterally offset relative to the main part 22. The laterally offset side edge portion 26 of the the upper part 24 of each tab 10 is sewed into the adjacent seam '18 joining the back and front portions 14 and 16 of the garment body whereby the main part 22 of each tab 10 is offset or spaced from the seam 18. Thus, the main part 22 of each tab 10 can lie forwardly with respect to the adjacent side seam 18 for convenient pinning or other attachment of a diaper to such main part 22 and further to avoid the presence of excessive and uncomfortable bulk at the region of the side seam 18. Even though the main part 22 of each tab 10' v is located forwardly with respect to the adjacent side seam 18, the load applied to the tab by pinning of a diaper to its main part 22 is transmitted through the offset edge portion 26 of the upper part 24 of the tab to the body of the garment at the adjacent side seam 18 Where the garment is adequately reinforced by the presence of at least two thicknesses of the knit fabric so as to be capable of accepting the load without the danger of tearing of the fabric.

Further, in accordance with this invention, each diaperattaching tab 10 is formed of a non-wicking material that is, a material which is liquid impervious or immune to the capillary travel of liquid therethrough. The material for the tabs 10 may be simply a flexible plastic sheet material, but preferably is a composite material constituted by a woven or knit textile fabric having a coating of flexible plastic resin applied thereto, for example, as disclosed in detail in my United States Letters Patent No. 2,739,919,

issued Mar. 27, 1956. In such a composite material, the textile fabric may be knitted from nylon yarns, while the plastic coating is of vinyl resin or its polymers and copolymers.

By reason of the non-wicking characteristics of the material from which the tabs are formed in accordance with this invention, a diaper may be pinned or otherwise attached to such tabs without the possibility of the transmission of urine from the diaper through the tabs to the body garment.

Referring to FIG. 2 in detail, it will be seen that each of the diaper attaching tabs 10 is preferably formed from a generally T-shaped blank 10a cut from the non-wicking material. The blank 10a is shown to include a stern 22a and a cap 24a at the upper end thereof. The blank 10a is initially folded about its line of symmetry 28 so that onehalf of the T-shaped blank is superposed on the other half to provide two plies in the initially folded blank 10b shown on FIG. 3. Where the blank 10a is cut from a composite material made up of a textile fabric with a plastic coating on one surface thereof, the folding of the blank about the line 28 is effected so that the plastic coating will be at the interior of the folded blank 1% and the textile fabric will form the outer surfaces thereof to give a textile-like feel to the tab. It will be seen that the initially folded blank 10b includes an elongated main part 2212 and an upper part 2411 having one of its side edge portions 26b olfset laterally relative to the main part 22]). Following the initial folding of the blank about the line of symmetry 28, the two plies of the initially folded blank 10b are preferably secured together, for example, by sealing together the plastic coating at the confronting or inner surfaces of the textile fabric along the free edges of the two piles, as indicated by the broken lines 30 on FIG. 3. Such sealing of the plastic can be effected by the suitable application of pressure and heat, either electronically or by the introduction of vibratory energy. The main part 22b of the initially folded blank 10b is also preferably formed with a series of spaced apart slits 32 through which diaper pins can be conveniently inserted, and, during the sealing of the free edges along the lines 30, as described above, the two plies of the initially folded blanks are also preferably sealed together around the slits 32, as indicated by the broken lines 34.

Following the sealing of the two plies of the initially folded blank, the upper part 24b of the latter is diagonally folded about the line 36 on FIG. 3 in the direction toward the laterally offset side edge 26b so that the upper part 24 of the completed diaper-attaching tab 10 is substantially triangular, as shown on FIG. 4. Following the diagonal folding of the upper part 24, the laterally offset edge of the latter is sewed into the side seam 18 of the garment, as shown on FIG. 5, thereby to secure the upper part in its triangular form. It Will be apparent that, while the main part 22 of the tab has two plies of the non-wicking material therein, the diagonally folded, triangular upper part 24 of the tab has twice as many plies, that is, four thicknesses of the non-wicking material,

to ensure secure attachment of the tab to the garment at the side seam of the latter.

It has further been found that the diagonal folding of the upper part 24 of the tab prior to its being sewed into the adjacent side seam of the garment body serves to avoid twisting of the tab When the load of the diaper attached thereto is applied along a line, that is, at the line of the slits 32, which is offset with respect to the location of the attachment of the tab in the side seam of the garment body.

Although an illustrative embodiment of this invention has been described in detail herein with reference to the accompanying drawing, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to that precise embodiment, and that various changes and modifications may be made therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention, except as defined in the appended claims.

Whatis claimed is:

1. An infants garment comprising a body having front and back portions, sewed seams joining together said front and back portions along the opposite sides of said body, and a pair of diaper-attaching tabs of non-Wicking material located within said body adjacent the opposite sides thereof, each of said tabs having an elongated main part and an upper part with one lateral edge offset relative to said main part, said upper part being diagonally folded over toward said offset lateral edge to double the thicknesses of said material in said upper part, and said offset lateral edge of the folded-over upper part of each tab being secured in the adjacent sewed seam so that the main part of the tab is spaced from said seam.

2. An infants garment as in claim 1; wherein each tab has two plies of said material in said main part and four plies in said folded-over upper part.

3. An infants garment as in claim 2; wherein said material is a textile fabric having a liquid impervious coating thereon, and said two plies of said material in said main part of each tab have said liquid impervious coatings thereof facing each other.

4. An infants garment as in claim 1; wherein said material is a flexible plastic resin.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,106,687 8/1914 Thorpe 2111 1,288,673 12/1918 Potterf 2-70 1,317,508 9/1919 Kops 128535 1,414,202 4/1922 Redmond 2-112 1,696,559 12/1928 Ward 2-111 2,136,250 11/1938 Peck 2-314 X 2,446,394 8/1948 Sunseri 2-111 2,739,919 3/1956 Artzt 156232 3,078,467 2/1963 Artzt 2111 X 3,166,763 1/1965 Wells 21l2 JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

A. R. GUEST, Assistant Examiner,

Claims (1)

1. AN INFANT''S GARMENT COMPRISING A BODY HAVING FRONT AND BACK PORTIONS, SEWED SEAMS JOINING TOGETHER SAID FRONT AND BACK PORTIONS ALONG THE OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID BODY, AND A PAIR OF DIAPER-ATTACHING TABS OF NON-WICKING MATERIAL LOCATED WITHIN SAID BODY ADJACENT THE OPPOSITE SIDES THEREOF, EACH OF SAID TABS HAVING AN ELONGATED MAIN PART AND AN UPPER PART WITH ONE LATERAL EDGE OFFSET RELATIVE TO SAID MAIN PART, SAID UPPER PART BEING DIAGONALLY FOLDED OVER TOWARD SAID OFFSET LATERAL EDGE TO DOUBLE THE THICKNESSES OF SAID MATERIAL IN SAID UPPER PART, AND SAID OFFSET LATERAL EDGE OF THE FOLDED-OVER UPPER PART OF EACH TAB BEING SECURED IN THE ADJACENT SEWED SEAM SO THAT THE MAIN PART OF THE TAB IS SPACED FROM SAID SEAM.

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