US3457926A

US3457926A - Abdomen-compressor for trousers

Info

Publication number: US3457926A
Application number: US632661A
Authority: US
Inventors: Louis Bacon; Robert J Turner
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1967-04-21
Filing date: 1967-04-21
Publication date: 1969-07-29
Anticipated expiration: 1986-07-29

Description

July 29, 1969 L. BACON ETAL 3,457,926

ARDOMEN- COMPRES SOR FOR TROUSERS Filed April 21. 1967 INVENTORS LOUIS BACON ROBERT J. TURNER ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,457,926 ABDOMEN-COMPRESSOR FOR TROUSERS Louis Bacon, 7 W. 81st St., New York, N.Y. 10024, and

Robert J. Turner, 8 Henhawk Road, Kings Point, N.Y. 11024 Filed Apr. 21, 1967, Ser. No. 632,661 Int. Cl. A41c 1/00 US. Cl. 128519 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An abdomen-compressor forming part of trousers having an exterior front fastener and an exterior waist portion extending laterally from the front fastener around the sides of the trousers to the rear thereof. Inwardly of the exterior waist portion the trousers have an outer waist band and an inner waist band surrounded by and extending along the outer waist band with the latter situated between the inner waist band and the exterior waist portion. The abdomen-compressor is fixed to the inner waist band at the region of the sides of the trousers and extends forwardly from the sides to a region situated rearwardly of the front fastener.

Background of the invention The present invention relates to trousers.

In particular, the present invention relates to trousers provided with a structure capable of compressing the abdomen of the wearer of the trousers to support the Wall of the abdomen and to reduce the size of the waist of the wearer of the trousers as well as to improve the posture and general appearance of the wearer of the trousers.

While there are known structures of this generaal type, the known structures suffer from several drawbacks. Thus, the known structures provide undesirable wrinkling of the trousers at the exterior thereof. In addition, these known structures unavoidably provide the trousers with interior wrinkles at the waist portion which render the trousers uncomfortable to wear. Furthermore, the abdomen-compressing structure is required to slip with respect to the surrounding waist structure of the trousers in order to achieve the desired effect, and because of the friction between the abdomen-compressing structure and the rest of the waist structure of the trousers the required slippage does not always take place in the required manner, with the result that the structure does not operate properly. Furthermore, with the known structures the desired effects are not always achieved for other reasons. For example, some known structures hug the wearer at the sides of the waist over the hips and do not produce the required inward force at the front abdominal wall. Also, the known structures, particularly after they are worn for a while, become stretched out and are no longer capable of achieving the desired effect.

tion to provide trousers having an abdomen-compressing structure which will avoid all of the above drawbacks.

ice

In particular, it is an object of the invention to provide trousers with a built-in abdomen-compressing structure forming a permanent part of the trousers but at the same time avoiding any possibility of exterior wrinkling of the trousers.

In addition, it is an object of the invention to provide trousers of the above type which will avoid the presence of interior wrinkled surfaces which might be uncomfortable to the wearer.

Furthermore, it is an object of the invention to provide a structure of the above type which will reliably retain its capability of sliding with respect to the remainder of the trousers so that the desired effect will be reliably achieved.

Also, it is an object of the invention to provide a structure which will not become undesirably stretched to such an extent that a permanent increase in length occurs and the desired effect can no longer be achieved.

Furthermore, it is an object of the invention to provide a structure which will be felt by the wearer in such a way that the wearer will be encouraged to retract the abdominal wall.

Also, it is an object of the invention to provide a structure which will not produce any bulges or the like at the exterior of the trousers so that the exterior appearance of the trousers will not be undesirably influenced by the structure of the invention.

In accordance with the invention, the trousers have a front fastener at the exterior thereof and an exterior waist portion extending laterally from the front fastener around the sides to the rear of the trousers. An outer waist band is surrounded by the exterior waist portion of the trousers while an inner waist band is surrounded by the outer waste band with the latter situated between the inner waist band and the exterior waist portion of the trousers. An abdomen-compressing means of the invention is fixed to the inner waist band and extends from the region of opposed side portions thereof to the front of the trousers. This abdomen-compressing means includes a pair of elongated webs having rear end portions rfixed to the inner waist band and extending freely from their rear end portions to the front of the trousers where an inner fastener of the abdomen-compressing means is capable of fastening the webs thereof to each other at a region behind the front exterior fastener of the trousers. Each of these webs has an elongated, elastic, stretchable portion situated forwardly of the location where the web is fastened to the inner waist band so as to be freely stretchable and thus achieve the desired compression of the abdomen. The inner waist band is formed between the opposed sides of the trousers and the front thereof with a pair of interruptions through which the webs of the abdomen-compressing means extend, these webs being fixed at their rear portions to the inner waist band while also being situated between the inner waist band and the outer waist band, so that in this way the pair of waist bands forms tunnels for receiving the rear portions of the webs, these webs extending through the interruptions in the inner waist band to be exposed at the interior portion of the trousers at the rear of the front exterior portion thereof. An inner lining covers the inner waist band and is itself formed with interruptions respectively aligned with the interruptions of the inner waist band, so that the webs of the abdomen-compressing means extends through the interruptions of the inner waist band and the inner lining to be exposed at the interior front portion of the trousers. Each web preferably has its elongated stretchable portion situated within the tunnel formed between the inner and outer waist bands and has a substantially non-stretchable fabric portion extending forwardly from the elastic portion through the interruptions in the inner waist band and inner lining to be exposed at the interior front portion of the trousers, so that in this way these substantially non-stretchable fabric portions are capable of sliding easily through the interruptions in the inner waist band and inner lining while maintaining the elastic portions within the tunnel in which they are free to expand and contract.

Brief description of the drawings The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings which form part of this application, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of trousers provided with the structure of the invention, the trousers being shown in FIG. 1 as they appear when looking toward the inner front portion of the trousers from the rear thereof and through the waist portion of the trousers.

FIG. 2 is a sectional plan view taken along line 22 of FIG. 1 in the direction of the arrows and showing the structure of FIG. 1 on a scale which is greatly enlarged as compared to FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a sectional elevation taken along line 33 of FIG. 2, in the direction of the arrows.

Description of a preferred embodiment Referring now to the drawings, the trousers 10 illustrated therein have an exterior front fastener 12 and an exterior waist portion 14 extending laterally from the front fastener 12 around the sides of the trousers to the rear thereof. This front fastener 12 may take the form of a conventional slide fastener covered by a fly-front of the trousers.

The trousers 10 include an outer waist band 16 located next to and surrounded by the exterior waist portion 14. Also, the trousers 10 include an inner waist band 18 which is surrounded by the outer waist band 16. An inner lining 20 covers the inner waist band 18.

The trousers 10 of the invention are provided with an abdomen-compressing means 22 composed of a pair of elongated webs 24a and 24b. The webs 24a and 24b respectively have rear elongated, stretchable elastic portions 26a and 26b and front elongated substantially nonstretchable fabric portions 28a and 28b. At the left side region of the trousers, as viewed in FIG. 2, the elastic portion 26a of the web 24a is fastened to the inner web 18 by a pair of lines of stitches 30a and 32a, while at the right side portion of the trousers, the rear elastic portion 26b of the web 2412 is fastened to the inner web 18 by a pair of lines of stitches 30b and 32!). It will be noted that these elastic portions 26a and 26b extend forwardly through a considerable distance beyond the forward lines of stitches 32a and 321) so that they have a substantial elongated length capable of being stretched, and at their front ends these freely stretchable portions are joined by stitches 34a and 34b to the substantially non-stretchable web portions 28a and 28b, respectively.

It will be noted, furthermore, that the rear elastic portions 26a and 26b of the webs 24a and 24b are fastened t the inner waist band 18 at a location situated between the inner waist band 18 and the outer waist band 16. The inner waist band 18 is formed with a left interruption 36a through which the fabric portion 28a of the web 24a extends to be exposed at the interior front portion of the trousers, while the inner waist band 18 is formed at the right side of the trousers with an interruption 36b through which the fabric web portion 28b extends to be exposed at the interior front portion of the trousers. In addition, the inner lining 20 is formed with an interrup- 4 tion 38a aligned with the interruption 36a and through which the web portion 28a extends, while the lining 20 is also formed, at the right side of the trousers, with an interruption 38b aligned with the interruption 36b and through which the web portion 28b extends.

Thus, it will be seen that with this construction a pair of tunnels 40a and 40b are formed between the inner and outer waist bands .and in which the elongated elastic portions 26a and 2617 are respectively housed. The fabric portions 28a and 28b extend from the interior to the exterior of the tunnels through the interruptions in the inner waist band and inner lining, so that in this way the elongated stretchable portions 26a and 26b of the .abdomen-compressing means 22 remain at all times within the tunnels in which they can readily stretch while the fabric substantially non-stretchable web portions 28a and 28b are capable of sliding easily with respect to the lining 20 and inner waist band 18 through the interruptions thereof.

The abdomen-compressing means 22 further includes an inner fastener 42 situated in the region behind the front exterior fastener 12. The web portions 28a and 28b overlap each other at their inner free ends where they are joined together by the inner fastener 42. This inner fastener 42 in the illustrated example takes the form of a plurality of buttons 44 attached to the web portion 28a and extending through buttonholes 46, respectively, which are formed the web portion 28b. When these web portions are fastened to each other the buttons 44 are located at the inner surface of the web portion 28b and are directed toward the abdomen of the wearer while at the outer surface of the web portion 28a there are no bulges which might be visible at the exterior of the trousers. In addition, this construction tends to make the wearer of the trousers 10 aware of the presence of the buttons 44 which are directed toward the abdominal wall so as to encourage the wearer to retract his adbomen inwardly away from the buttons 44.

It will thus be seen that with the structure of the invention, when the trousers are worn and the inner fastener 42 connects the webs 24a and 24b of the abdomencompressing means of the invention together, the inner waist band 18 at the part thereof which extends rearwardly from the stitches 30a and 30b around the rear of the waist portion of the trousers is pulled by the stretched elastic portions 26a and 26b and by the non-stretchable web portions 28a and 28b so that the abdomen-compressing means of the invention together with the part of the inner waist band 18 situated to the rear of the stitches 30a and 30b hug and compress the wearer around his waist, compressing the abdomen inwardly and causing the wearer to draw his abdomen in away from the inner fastener 42, thus providing in this way support for the abdomen as well as improving the posture and general appearance of the wearer.

In addition, it will be noted that there can be no wrinkling at the exterior of the trousers 10. The reason for this is that the exterior waist portion 14 and the outer waist band 16 remain completely uninfiuenced by the structure of the invention. If anything, the structure of the invention serves to fit the waist of the wearer to the waist portions 14 and 16 which remain completely unwrinkled by the structure of the invention. Moreover, the structure of the invention is exceedingly comfortable to wear and does not provide any undesirable interior appearance because of the covering achieved by way of the inner lining 20. The tension which is provided with the structure of the invention is uninterrupted all the way around the waist of the wearer. Furthermore, the tunnels 40a and 40b enclose the elastic portions 26a and 26b to protect the latter and to maintain the ready slidability thereof while the fabric portions 28a and 28b of the webs 24a and 24b are the only parts thereof which are exposed, are capable of sliding easily into and out of the tunnels, and are exceedingly comfortable to the wearer.

What is claimed is:

1. For use with trousers having an exterior front fastener and an exterior waist portion extending laterally from said fastener along the front and sides of the trou sers to the rear thereof, an outer waist band situated adjacent and surrounded by said exterior waist portion, an inner waist band extending along and surrounded by said outer waist band with the latter situated between said inner waist band and said exterior waist portion, and abdomen-compressing means fixed to said inner waist band and including a pair of substantially identical elongated webs respectively fixed to said inner waist band at the region of the sides of the trousers and extending frwardly to a location behind said exterior fastener, said abdomen-compressing means including an interior fastener for fastening said webs to each other substantially in the region behind said exterior fastener and each web having between the location where it is fixed to said inner waist band and said inner fastener an elongated, longitudinally stretchable, elastic portion so that when said webs are fastened to each other by said inner fastener said stretchable portions thereof will be stretched to provide compression of the abdomen.

2. The combination of claim 1 and wherein each of said webs has a rear elongated stretchable portion connected to said inner waist band and extending freely forwardly therefrom to be stretchable forwardly of the fastening of the web to the inner waist band and a front nonstretchable fabric portion fixed to and extending forwardly from the rear stretchable portion to the inner fastener.

3. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said webs of said abdomen-compressing means are fixed to said inner waist band at locations situated between said inner and outer waist bands.

4. The combination of claim 3 and wherein said inner waist band is formed at opposite sides of said front exterior fastener and between the latter and the sides of the trousers with a pair of interruptions through which said webs extend to be exposed at the interior of the trousers inwardly of the inner waist band, whereby through said interruptions in said inner waist band said webs extend into the space between the inner waist band and the outer waist band to provide from said inner and outer waist bands tunnels into which rear portions of said webs extend.

5. The combination of claim 4 and wherein an inner lining covers said inner waist band.

6. The combination of claim 5 and wherein said inner lining is formed with interruptions which are respectively aligned with said interruptions of said inner waist band, and said webs of said abdomen-compressing means extending through the interruptions of said inner waist band and said inner lining to be exposed at the interior of the trousers behind the front waist portion thereof.

7. The combination of claim 6 and wherein each web includes a rear elastic portion fastened at a pair of spaced locations to said inner waist band at the region of the side of the trousers and an elongated elastic portion extending freely from said pair of spaced locations forwardly toward the interruptions in the waist band but terminating behind said interruptions between the latter and the side of the trousers, and elongated substantially non-stretchable web portions having rear ends fixed to said stretchable elastic portions and extending therefrom through said interruptions in the inner waist band and inner lining so that the stretchable portion of each web is situated within the tunnel while the non-stretchable portion thereof extends from the interior of the tunnel through the interruptions to the exterior thereof to be exposed at the interior of the trousers.

8. The combination of claim 7 and wherein said inner fastener includes fastening elements for fastening together front overlapping portions of said webs of said abdomencompressing means, and said fastening elements being exposed .at the interior of said abdomen-compressing means and directed toward the abdomen of the wearer.

9. The combination of claim 8 and wherein one of said overlapping front portions is formed with openings while the other of said overlapping front portions carries said fastening elements which extend through said openings to be exposed at the interior surface of said abdomen-compressing means, whereby the exterior surface of said abdomen-compressing means which is directed toward said front exterior fastener of the trousers is smooth while the fastener elements themselves are felt by the abdomen to promote retraction of the latter.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 26,360 3/1968 Pagano 128--5l9 2,481,396 9/1949 Cohen 128-519 3,185,158 5/1965 Gattuso 128519 ADELE M. EAGER, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.