US20130067642A1

US20130067642A1 - Maternity belt structure

Info

Publication number: US20130067642A1
Application number: US13/239,179
Authority: US
Inventors: William Chen
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2011-09-21
Filing date: 2011-09-21
Publication date: 2013-03-21

Abstract

A maternity belt structure includes at least one protection strap for supporting/holding lower belly of a pregnant woman, a waist protection board and at least one sling. The waist protection board is attached to the back of the pregnant woman for supporting the back. The protection straps extend from two sides of the waist protection board and are wound over the waist of the pregnant woman to the lower belly to connect with each other for providing a first support force. For a humpback pregnant woman, the sling is conducted through the armpit and wound over the shoulder to connect with the protection straps and the waist protection board for providing a second support force. Therefore, the lower belly supporting/holding force of the protection strap is enhanced and the pregnant woman can more comfortably wear the maternity belt to relieve the waist and back soreness and minimize the risk of humpback.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an improved maternity belt, and more particularly to a maternity belt, which can provide double support effect to relieve lower back discomfort, bearing down sensation, and protect a pregnant woman's waist. Also, the maternity belt can minimize the risk of humpback of the pregnant woman.
2. Description of the Related Art
During pregnancy, a pregnant woman often suffers waist soreness and backache. It is caused by the change of the body attitude of the pregnant woman. In order to relieve the symptom of waist soreness and avoid low-lying fetal position and uterine prolapse, a pregnant woman often wears a maternity belt according to personal requirements.
FIGS. 1 and 2 shows a conventional maternity belt structure, which includes a loop belt 1 and a sling 10. The loop belt 1 and the sling 10 can be integrally made from one piece of cloth by tailoring. The loop belt 1 has a narrower section 11. The sling 10 integrally upward extends from the middle of the narrower section 11. Alternatively, front ends of the sling 10 can be connected to the loop belt 1 by means of hook and loop fasteners or buttons (as shown in FIG. 2). The sling 10 is connected with the loop belt 1 to provide an upward pull force, whereby the shoulders can uniformly share the weight of the lower belly.
However, the conventional maternity belt can simply provide belly holding/supporting effect for a pregnant woman without any waist support design. Therefore, a pregnant woman still needs to use her waist and lumbar to apply a support force to hold and support her belly. As a result, the load on the waist and back of the pregnant woman can hardly be decreased. Moreover, the loop belt of the conventional maternity belt has a fixed length and cannot be adjusted according to the requirements of a user. This leads to inconvenience in use of the maternity belt.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved maternity belt structure including two protection straps and two slings. The protection straps serve to provide a first support force for supporting/holding the belly of a pregnant woman. For a later-stage pregnant woman, the slings are connected with the protection straps and a waist protection board for providing a second support force. Therefore, the lower belly supporting/holding force of the protection straps is enhanced and the pregnant woman can more comfortably wear the maternity belt to protect the waist and back, and can also minimize the risk of humpback.
To achieve the above and other objects, the maternity belt structure of the present invention includes at least one protection strap, a waist protection board and at least one sling. The protection straps are connected with the waist protection board and extend from two sides of the waist protection board respectively. Fastener members are disposed on inner faces of free ends of the protection straps. Fluffy tapes are disposed on outer faces of the free ends of the protection straps for the slings to stick thereon. The protection straps are wound over the waist of the pregnant woman from two sides of the waist protection board to the lower belly of the pregnant woman to connect with each other for providing a first support force.
The waist protection board is attached to the back of the pregnant woman for supporting the back. The waist protection board includes a substrate enclosed in a fabric layer, several support members disposed on the substrate and several connection tapes disposed on the outer face of the substrate. The support members serve to support and shape the waist support board for supporting the lumbar. One end of the sling is fixedly connected with the connection tape and the other end of the sling is connected with the protection strap. For a later-stage pregnant woman, the sling is conducted through the armpit and wound over the shoulder to connect with the waist protection board on the opposite side for providing a second supportive force. The protection straps and the waist protection board are respectively positioned on the belly and the back of a pregnant woman to enhance the lower belly supporting/holding force and relieve the waist and back soreness. In addition, the slings are adjustable to adjust the position and tightness of the protection straps to a best state.
The present invention can be best understood through the following description and accompanying drawings, wherein:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional maternity belt;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of another conventional maternity belt;

FIG. 3 is a perspective exploded view of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a front view showing that a pregnant woman wears the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a back view showing that a pregnant woman wears the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a side view showing that a pregnant woman wears the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a side view according to FIG. 6, showing the supporting/holding effect of the present invention;

FIG. 8 shows the adjustment of the present invention; and

FIG. 9 shows another way to connect and wear the slings of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Please refer to FIG. 3. The maternity belt structure of the present invention includes at least one protection strap 2 (two elongated protection straps 20, 21 in the drawings), at least one sling 3 (two in the drawings) and a waist protection board 4. The protection straps 20, 21 are connected with the waist protection board 4 and forward extend from two sides of the waist protection board 4 respectively. Fastener members are disposed on free ends of the protection straps 20, 21. The fastener members can be hook and loop fasteners, snap fasteners or buttons. In this embodiment, the fastener members are hook tapes 22. Fluffy tapes 201 are disposed on outer faces of the free ends of the protection straps 20, 21 for the slings 3 to stick thereon. The slings 3 are elongated strap bodies. Fastener members are disposed at two ends of each sling 3. The fastener members can be hook and loop fasteners, snap fasteners or buttons. In this embodiment, the fastener members are hook tapes 300, 301 for sticking on the protection straps 20, 21 and the waist protection board 4. Each sling 3 has an adjustment ring 30 for adjusting the length and tightness of the sling 3.
The waist protection board 4 includes a substrate 40 enclosed in a fabric layer, several receiving pockets 400 fixedly disposed on outer face of the substrate 40 for receiving support members 41 therein, and at least one connection tape 43, 44 fixedly disposed on the outer face of the substrate 40. The connection tapes 43, 44 have fastener members, which can be hook and loop fasteners, snap fasteners or buttons. In this embodiment, the fastener members are loop tapes 42. The connection tapes 43, 44 cover the support members 41. The above components can be assembled in different states according to the conditions of a pregnant woman for the pregnant woman to wear.
Please refer to FIGS. 4 to 6. When wearing the maternity belt of the present invention, the waist protection board 4 is attached to the lower back of a pregnant woman 5. The elongated protection straps 20, 21 are wound over the waist of the pregnant woman 5 from the waist protection board 4 to make the hook tapes 22 of the protection straps 20, 21 stick on the fluffy tape 201 so as to connect the protection straps 20, 21 with each other for holding and supporting the lower belly 50 of the pregnant woman 5. The protection straps 20, 21 and the waist protection board 4 are respectively positioned on the lower belly and lower back of the pregnant woman 5 to provide a first support force for a pregnant woman to wear. The sticking position of the protection straps 20, 21 can be adjusted according to the belly size of the pregnant woman 5 so as to achieve the best support and comfort. Accordingly, when wearing the maternity belt of the present invention, the uncomfortable feeling of the pregnant woman 5 is minimized.
At the later stage of pregnancy, the hook tape 301 at one end of the sling 3 is directly stuck onto the fluffy tape 201 of the outer face of the protection straps 20, 21 on the lower belly of the pregnant woman 5. The other end of the sling 3 is conducted through the waist of the pregnant woman 5 on the same side to the back then upward wound over the opposite shoulder of the pregnant woman 5, rotates under the armpit. then further attached to the waist protection board 4. The hook tape 300 of the other end of the sling 3 is then stuck on the loop tape 42 of the connection tape 43 of the waist protection board 4 (as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6). Accordingly, the sling 3 is connected with the protection strap 20, 21 and the waist protection board 4 for pregnant woman 5 to wear. The other sling 3 is conducted and wound in the same manner to connect with the protection strap 20, 21 and the waist protection board 4. Accordingly, the slings 3 are worn on pregnant woman 5 in a double-S form (as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5). In this case, the slings 3 worn in the double-S form can provide a second support force to naturally erect the back and protect the waist of the pregnant woman 5. By means of the lifting force of the slings 3 and the supporting/locating force of the waist protection board 4, the belly holding/lifting effect of the protection straps 2 and the waist support force of the waist protection board 4 are enhanced to minimize the load on the spine and waist of the pregnant woman 5 (as shown in FIG. 7).
Please refer to FIG. 8. By means of adjusting the positions where the protection straps 20, 21 are stuck on each other and adjusting the length of the slings 3 by means of the adjustment rings 30, a best upward supporting/holding effect of the maternity belt for the pregnant woman 5 can be achieved. Moreover, the positions where the ends of the slings 3 stick on the connection tapes 43, 44 of the waist protection board 4 can be micro-adjusted. Therefore, the fastening force of the protection straps 20, 21 for upward supporting/holding the belly of the pregnant woman 5 can be adjusted according to the requirements of the pregnant woman 5. Accordingly, the later-stage pregnant woman 5 can comfortably wear the present invention with a best belly support effect.
FIG. 9 shows another way to connect and wear the slings of the present invention. The ends of the slings 3 are directly fixedly stuck on the fluffy tapes 201 of the protection straps 20, 21 and the other ends of the slings 3 are respectively wound over the waist of the pregnant woman 5, across the back over the waist protection board 4 and then further wound over the waist of the opposite side to the upper belly of the pregnant woman 5. Then the other ends of the slings 3 are connected with each other on the upper belly, to support the belly of the pregnant woman 5.
The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the present invention, not intended to limit the scope thereof. Many modifications of the above embodiments can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

Claims

What is claimed:

1. A maternity belt structure comprising:

a waist protection board including a substrate enclosed in a fabric layer, several receiving pockets disposed on outer face of the substrate for receiving multiple support members therein, and at least one connection tape with a fastener member;

at least one protection strap for supporting/holding lower belly of a pregnant woman, which includes two elongated protection straps connected with the waist protection board and extending from two sides of the waist protection board respectively, fastener members being disposed on free ends of the protection straps, the protection straps being wound over the waist of the pregnant woman to connect with each other; and

at least one sling conducted through the armpit and wound over the shoulder of the pregnant woman, fastener members being disposed at two ends of the sling for connecting with the protection straps and the waist protection board.

2. The maternity belt structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein magnets are connected on the waist protection board.

3. The maternity belt structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the fastener members of the protection straps are hook and loop fasteners.

4. The maternity belt structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the substrate of the waist protection board is a soft pad or a far infrared fabric board.

5. The maternity belt structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the fastener members of the ends of the sling are hook and loop fasteners.

6. The maternity belt structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the receiving pockets of the waist protection board serve to receive liquid-filled envelopes.

7. The maternity belt structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the connection tape and the sling are integrally connected with each other.

8. The maternity belt structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the support members are elastic strip structures.