US3747606A - Stay for brassiere cups - Google Patents

Abstract

The stay for brassiere cups is made of two flat ring bows of plastic material for surrounding the rear portion of each cup of the brassiere, each ring bow comprising one half-circular element extended by straight arms.

Description

United States Patent 11 1 Tareau 1| 3,747,606 1 July 24,1973

[ STAY FOR BRASSIERE CUPS 22 Filed: July 27,1971

21 App1.No.: 166,489

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data June 8, 1971 France 71/20680 [52] US. Cl.... 128/472, 2/257, 2/258 [51] Int. Cl A41c 3/00, A41c 1/20 [58] Field of Search 128/465, 469, 470, 128/471, 472, 473, 475, 476, 477, 480, 485, 2l255-258 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,035,584 5/1962 Menkel 128/476 3,562,802 2/1971 Avis 128/469 X 3,605,753 9/1971 Schwartz 128/476 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,085,245 1/1955 France 128/469 1,194,481 11/1959 France 128/472 216,441 7/1961 Australia 128/477 Primary Examiner-Werner H. Schroeder Att0rney-R0bert C. Hauke, Harry R. Dumont et al.

[57] ABSTRACT The stay for brassiere cups is made of two flat ring bows of plastic material for surrounding the rear portion of each cup of the brassiere, each ring bow comprising one half-circu1ar element extended by straight arms.

3 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures Patented July 24, 1973 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Patented July 24, 1973 3,747,606

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 STAY FOR BRASSIERE CUPS Up to now the complete stays for brassieres, that is the stays surrounding more than half of the rear portion of the brassiere cups or the half circles surrounding the lower rear portion of a brassiere cup are made of hard and rigid materials, generally metal, which gave a stiffness to the brassiere and constrained the breast of the user to lodge into the half-circles, often causing an important and troublesome and even a painful constraint.

Also an attempt has been made to manufacture complete stays of half-stays from elements made of various materials but none of th obtained products has given satisfaction because either the stay is too soft and cannot be used efficiently or, most of the time, is too rigid and thus gives an impression of restraint to the user, especially when she has to make violent movements, for example when doing gymanastics, when working, or when driving a car.

The present invention copes with said disadvantages by creating either half-circles with are fixed to the rear portion of brassiere cups, or half-stays placed inside the cup, and even complete stays made of plastic material providing sufficiently stiff but flexible elements, thus sufficiently deformable to avoid any constraint. Besides said elements are very light and very thin preventinjlthe stay from being seen even when the brassiere is made of a transparent material, said characteristics preventingthe fabric from being torn; the stay is perfectly adapted to the brassierewhile maintaining the brest of the user without said user taking notice of the presence of said stay.

According to the invention, the stay is constituted by at least one arcuate support element or ring bow surrounding the rear portion of each cup of a brassiere, each ring bow comprising one half-circular element extended by straight end elements or arms, and having a very thin section, and being made of a flexible deformable and not whirling plastic material.

According to another characteristics of the invention the ends of the straight arms of the stay are reinforced.

Other characteristics of the invention are shown in the following detailed description.

Embodiments of the invention are shown by way of the examples in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front view of a ring bow designed to be placed on a brassiere cup.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of an end of the ring bow shown on FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is various enlarged cross-section views of the ring bow.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the ring bow.

'FIG. Sis a partial perspective view of an embodiment of the ring bow.

FIG. 6 shows various enlarged cross-sections ofa ring bow containing a core increasingthe strength of the stay.

FIGS. 7 and 8 are respectively a front view and a perspective view of a ring bow with a cup, designed to be placed into a brassiere cup.

FIG. 9 is a front view of a complete stay comprixing two ring bows and a rigid connecting component, for placing the stay into a brassiere.

On FIG. 1 is shown a ring bow or arcuate support element reinforce the rear section of a brassiere cup, said ring bow comprising a lower half-circle la extended by two straight arms or end elements 1b, 1c. Said straight arms can include a central reinforcement 2 made of steel or similar rigid material, or two very thin wires 3,4 made of metal or another material to make them rigid. Besides, arm 1b has a thinner portion 5 (see FIG. 2) in which can be bored an aperture or hole 6 making easier the fixing of the stay on the upper fore portion of the cup or on the brassiere. Also, in the central rounded portion 1a are designed apertures 7, 8, 9, of various shapes, for sewing the stay on the edge of the cup or on the fabric maintaining the cup to form the brassiere. Also the half-circle stay 1 can be placed inside an outer metallic circular reinforcement 10 which can be very thin, thus flexible. The circular reinforcement can be made of a very thin metallic braid. Also the arm 10 can comprise an extension 11 terminated by a joint 12 for connecting said ring bow l to a next ring bow corresponding to the second cup of the brassiere.

In cross-section, the ring bow 1 can be shaped as represented in FIG. 3 under reference numeral 20 (bulged with a central retraction), 21 (bulged with a central swelling portion),22 (bulged outside and inside), 23 (circular), 24 (with a circular central portion and lateral extensions triangular-shaped), 25 (flat and topped by a round portion), 26 (with a circular center and flat wings), 27 (outside bulged, inside incurved), 28 (bulged inside and outside, but having round ends), 29 (flat central portion topped by two round portions), 30 (lozenge-shaped), 31 (like an I), 32 (as a reversed truncated triangle), 33 (flat-shaped with triangular section, said shape being the most usual), 34 (like a flat blade) or shaped like two small round wires 35.

In FIG. 4 the ring bow comprises a strong sheathed wire 36, integral with small notches 36a of rectangular shaped section, while in FIG. 5 the stay comrpises a tube 37 having a flexible and thin wall.

In some cases, as shown in FIG. 6, the different sections of the ring how 1 may have the rectangular shape 40 comprising, in the center thereof, a thin blade which is more rigid and made of a different material, for example a metallic core 41. In a similar manner, the stay 42 comprises two cylindrical and more rigid cores 43 the stay 44 comprises two joinedl round portions also includes in the center thereof rigid cores 43 the stay 45, with round section, comprises a central and round core 46 while the stay 47 comprises a central core having a rectangular section 48. Finally the stay 49, with round section, comprises a V-shaped core 50.

In FIGS. 7 and 8, the ring bow 60 which is similar to the ring bow shown on FIG. 1, comprises on the-front portion thereof, a small cup 61 moulded with said ring bow and designed to stiffen the lower portion of the brassiere cup, said special stay could be very useful for prosthesis.

Generally, the stays of FIGS. 1, 7 and 8 are made of a genuine or synthetic plastic material, flexible and sufficiently oily, in order not to give a. disagreable impress on the skin. It may be usedfor example a material known under the trade-mark Makrolon (BAYER CHEMIE). I

Also other materials can be used according to the desired softness espcially the polyamids, copolymers, polyacetates, polyesters, the injection and extrusion com-- pounds or blowing compounds-mixed with hardening adjuvents, such as fiber glass, etc.

In FIG. 9 the complete stay represented and designated under reference numeral 62 has no difference with the ring bow represented on FIG. 1 only the central portion 63 is made of one piece. Thus, it is possible not only to make rigid the lower inner edge of the two cups of the brassiere, but also the central portion of the brassiere between the two cups.

The brassieres utilizing such stays are very comfortable because the cups do not suffer from any strain such as warping when the stay is under operation to follow the breast movements. Besides the disgraceful distortion of a brassiere is avoided because the stay remains close to the users body. The mobility of said brassiere avoids any skin irritation since it does not rub the breast but is suitably adapted to the same, thus allowing the utilization of brassieres with such stays be very young girls. The lightness of the stay is very important and due to this, even when the brassiere is worn by a young girl, the breast of said girl can change since the stay does not press on the brassiere cups. Besides, said stay is light since it has a weight of only few grams against about grams which is the usual weight of the conventional stays.

It is also to be noticed that said stay can support shocks even due to a very serious accident. Besides said stay can absorb the shock while maintaining the breast, thus being especially recommended for sportwomen and female personnel in Armyl The climate conditions have no effect on said stay and even upon long time storage or soaking, the stay cannot be damaged.

All of the above mentioned stays have very thin cross-section, enabling the same to be provided with the above mentioned advantages and even for the stays with a rigid core as described on FIG. 6.

Besides said stays can be made by moulding, ensuring a perfect dispersion of the material inside the mould, thus obtaining extremely thin, flexible and light stays.

Before moulding, the material is dried while the mould is preheated. Thus, the obtained stays, though being thin do not make spirals.

The invention is not restricted to the embodiments shown and described in detail for various modifications thereof can moreover be applied to it without departing from the scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A support for brassiere cups comprising an arcuate support element and straight end elements on the opposite ends of said arcuate support element, said arcuate support element and said straight end elements being formed of plastic, one of said end elements being provided with an aperture for permitting said support to be fastened to the brassiere cup, the opposite end element being provided with an outward extension having ajoint for fastening said support element to a similar joint of another arcuate support element.

2. A support as defined in claim 1 and including apertures formed in said arcuate support element to permit said support element to be sewn in place to the brassiere cup through said apertures.

3. The support as defined in claim 1 and including a cup-like portion integrally formed with said arcuate support element and extending outwardly therefrom to support the lower portion of the brassiere cup.

UNITED STATES PATENT oTTTtT QERTEHQATE W5 QQRREUHGN Patent No. 3 a 506 Dated ly 4-, 1973 9 In ent I-( Georges Tareau It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Col, 1, line 6, delete "are" and insert -wereline 9, delete "to lodge into and insert -within--; line 9, delete "an im line 10, delete "portant and" and insert -a-; line 36, after "comprising" insert -a line 12, delete "of" (first occurrence) and insert or; line 13, delete "th" and insert the--; line 21, delete "with" and insert -which; line 26, delete "preventinjl" and insert preventingline 39, delete "and not whirling" line 62, delete "comprixing" and insert -comprising; line 64, delete "On FIG. 1 is shown" and insert FIG. 1 shows--;

line 65, after "ment", insert 1 designed to;

C01. 2, line 4, delete "Besides, arm" and insert Arm,-

line 5, after "making" insert it--;

line 6 delete "the fixing of" and insert -'to fix--;

line 57, delete "give a disagreable impress" and insert ---irritate;

line 58, delete "It may be used for example a" and insert -A-; line 60, after "CI-IEMIE) insert --for example may be used-; 2 line 62, delete "espcially" and insert --especially--; line 67, delete "has no difference" and insert --is similar to-;

ORM PO-105O (10-69) USCOMM-DC 60376-P69 urs, GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: I969 0-356-334 X\ U.S., Patent No.: 3,747,606 2 Col 2, line line Col. 3,

line

Signed and sealed (SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. Attesting Officer delete "with'fl;

delete "under operation to fol-" and insert -being worn and is following'; delete "low 7 same line, delete "Besides" and insert --Also--7 delete "be and insert --by--; delete "Besides, said" and insert ---=Also the-; after "stay" insert ---of the present invention--; delete "due to" and. insert -those caused by-; delete "Besides said and insert Also the; delete Armyl" and insert -Army7 after "long" insert -periods of-;

delete "described on" and insert -illustrated in--; delete "Besides" and insert ---Also--; delete "moulding" and insert ---molding-7 delete "mould" and insert -mold--;

delete "moulding" and insert -molding--; delete "mould" and insert --mold--; delete "make" and insert form-- this 19th day of March 1974.

C MARSHALL DANN Commissioner of Patents

Claims (3)

1. A support for brassiere cups comprising an arcuate support element and straight end elements on the opposite ends of said arcuate support element, said arcuate support element and said straight end elements being formed of plastic, one of said end elements being provided with an aperture for permitting said support to be fastened to the brassiere cup, the opposite end element being provided with an outward extension having a joint for fastening said support element to a similar joint of another arcuate support element.

2. A support as defined in claim 1 and including apertures formed in said arcuate support element to permit said support element to be sewn in place to the brassiere cup through said apertures.

3. The support as defined in claim 1 and including a cup-like portion integrally formed with said arcuate support element and extending outwardly therefrom to support the lower portion of the brassiere cup.

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