US2489388A - Foundation garment - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 29, 1949 J. w. RUBIN FOUNDATION GARMENT Filed March 19, 1947 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Nov. 29, 1949 T O FF l CE FOUNDATION GARMENT Julius W. Rubin, Bronx; N; Application March 19, 1947 Serial No 735,729.

5 Claims. 1

This invention relates to foundation garments such as girdles, corsets and the like andf'more particularly to. improvements in the construction of such garments whereby both vertical and transverse support or bracing is provided in that portion of the garment covering the abdomen of the wearer.

My invention not only provides an improved garment but it also simplifies the manufacturing operations to a considerable extent.

It has been the practice heretofore to provide number of vertical stays affording the desired bracing or supporting effect in the garment and in some instances it has been proposed to provide within the garment a lattice work of stays crossing each other at numerous points, the arrangement of the stays being such as to stifien or reiniorce the garment over a considerable area of the surface thereof. The cost of manufacturing foundation garments having such vertical stays or such a lattice work of stays crossing; each other is considerable because of the necessity for attaching the stays to the garment by stripping which involves the use ofv expensive attachments ona two-needle machine. Where the stays are arranged to cross each other, the points at which the stays intersect provide bulky sections in the garment due to the combined thickness of the overlying stays and the material surrounding them.

In general, the objects of my invention are attained by providing a unitary bracing member preferably comprising a single piece of resilient stay material formed so as to provide. what may be characterized as a plurality of vertical stay elements permanently interconnected by a plurality of transverse stay elements, some of which are located at points intermediate thev ends of the vertical stay elements. Thus a typical embodiment of my invention comprises a founda tion garment having secured to. that. portion thereof which covers the abdomen of thewearer a unitary stay structure having. a pair of vertical stays permanently interconnected at their lower extremities by a'transverse stay which is preferably integral with the vertical stay elements. An additional vertical stay element may be provided between this pair" of. vertical stay elements, this additional vertical, stay. element being permanently secured to or integral with at least one of the transverse stay elements. Thus by providing what is, in effect, a one-piece bracing member comprising permanently interconnected vertical and transverse stay elements, all overlapping or crossing of the conventional stays with their strippim; andinterlining is eliminated This eliminates bulkiness and provides a smooth construction.

Another feature of my invention is the, con-:- struction and arrangement. of thestay elements off. the, bracing, member so. as tov eliminate sharp stay end to; a considerable extent.

Another feature of my invention is the provision' of improved means for securing my im-. proyedbracing member to the garment, the construction of this securing means being preferably su h, that, the bracing member as a complete unit may be readily removed from the garment to. facilitate laundering and also to facilitate the attachment to the garment of bracin members. ofj'varyin length or width asdesired. Thus my improved bracing member may be secured in a poclyet defined by two layers of the material of which the garment is composed, or preferably aseparate' pocket, of a size to accommodate the bracing member is attached to the garment by t t h n r o h r i e and h s po et m y a a detachable closure member so that the, bracihg member can. be removed whenever desired, or replaced by another bracing member of a different size.

In a preferred embodiment of my invention, one or more of" the transverse stay elements are substantially V-shaped, thus providing somewhat greater flexibility of the bracing member in the transverse direction. Regardless of whether the transverse stay elements are V-shaped or straight; my improved bracing member provides a smoother contour than the conventional stays heretofore employed in foundation garments.

The various objects and advantages of my invention will be more apparent upon considering the following detailed description of typical embodiments thereof illustrated in the accompanying drawings in, which Fig, i represents a foundation garment employing my improved bracing member;

Fig. 2 is a transverse section view of a portion of the garment, taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig 3 is a plan view of a. retaining pocket for ecuring he bra g mb r o he arment;

Fig 4 is a fragmentary plan view of the pocket etainin memb r of. F 3 l u ratin d tails ithe detac ab e closure;

Fig 5 is. a perspective view of the bracing member forming, a part of the garment of Fig. 1;

and.

Big. 6 aperspective view of a modified form f brac ng memb r-.

In the accompanying drawing, Fig. 1 illus= trates, a girdle type of foundation garment havn the s al b k secti n L, side sections 2 a 3 and a, front section 4. adapted to, coverthe ab-. domenof'th wearer. Secured to the front .sec-

.tion 4 of the garment illustrated in Fig. 1 is a bracing member iCQIlSiStillg of a pair of vertical stay elements; a and 1,; an intermediate ver-. cal stay e m n 8, a d. t e transverse y ments. 9 HI d e bo to ay e eme 9 is substantially reshaped and permanently.

interconnects the lower extremities of the marginal vertical stay elements 6 and 1. The additional transverse stay elements I and H also permanently interconnect the marginal stay elements 6 and i and the intermediate vertical stay element 8 is permanently connected to the transverse stay element 1 I.

While my invention is not limited to vertical and transverse stay elements formed of a single piece of flexible material such as corset stay steel, yet I prefer to make the bracing member out of a single piece of material, thus providing an integral structure having no overlapping portions. Regardless of whether the bracing member consisting of the several transverse and vertical stay elements is made of a single piece of material, I prefer to form this element in such a manner that it is of uniform thickness throughout.

In Fig. 1, the bracing member 5 is shown secured to that portion of the garment which covers the abdomen of the wearer and while this bracing member may be secured to the garment in various way as by inserting it between two layers of the fabric forming the front portion of the garment, I prefer to secure the bracing member to the garment by utilizing a pocket made of fabric material or the like and of sufficient dimensions to accommodate the bracing member. This pocket, best illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, may be stitched orotherwise permanently fixed to the front portion of the garment 4 and this pocket is preferably provided with a detachable closure so that the bracing member can be readily removed to facilitate laundering of the garment or for replacing the bracing member with another bracing member of different construction or dimensions as may be desired.

The pocket securing member l2 can be made of cloth or other flexible material and any desired detachable closure may be provided for this pocket; for example, as best illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, this detachable closure may consist of snap fastener tape strips 13 and Id having several snap fasteners is associated therewith so that this closure may be snapped shut or pulled open as desired to facilitate insertion and removal of the stay I2 has outer and inner sections 16 and H and the marginal portions of this pocket may be stitched or otherwise permanently fixed to the front portion of the garment l as shown at 18 and I9.

A modified form of bracing member is illustrated in Fig. 6 wherein the marginal vertical stay elements 6 and l are permanently interconnected by a pair of V-shaped transverse stay elements 9 and 20, an intermediate vertical stay element 2| being permanently fixed to the transverse stay element 20. The bracing member illus-. trated in Fig. 6 is somewhat more flexible in the transverse direction than that illustrated in Fig. 5 and the V-shaped transverse stay elements 9 and 2! contribute to this flexibility. In the bracing member of Fig. 5, the transverse members It and ii are straight and therefore provide greater stiffness in the transverse direction than is the case with the construction employed in Fig. 6.

It will be understood that in the typical examples of my invention illustrated in the accompanying drawing the vertical stay elements of the bracing member provide a support or bracing effect in the vertical direction parallel bracing member 5. The pocket with these elements, while the transverse stay elements provide a similar efiect in the transverse direction. My improved bracing member provides a structure having relatively few sharp ends that might cut the fabric of the garment and in general it will be understood that a bracing member made in accordance with my invention provides an improved flexible support or bracing means having a smooth contour.

It is to be understood that my invention is not limited to the specific embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described in detail above but includes such modifications thereof as fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a garment of the type described having a front portion for covering the abdomen, a unitary bracing member for said portion of the garment, said member comprising a pair of marginal vertical stay elements, an intermediate vertical stay element, and a pair of transverse stay elements vertically spaced from each other and permanently interconnecting the marginal stay elements at points between the extremities thereof.

2. A garment stay bracing member comprising a pair of marginal vertical stay elements, an intermediate vertical stay element, and a pair of transverse stay elements vertically spaced from each other and permanently interconnecting the several vertical stay elements at points intermediate the ends of the marginal stay elements.

3. A garment stay bracing member comprising vertical stay elements spaced from each other, a transverse stay element permanently interconnecting the lower extremities of at least two of said vertical stay elements and a V- shaped transverse stay element permanently interconnecting the vertical stay elements at a point between the extremities thereof.

4. In a garment of the type described having a front portion for covering the abdomen, a bracing member for said portion of the garment, said member comprising a pair of marginal vertical stay elements, and a pair of V- shaped transverse stay elements vertically spaced from each other and permanently interconnecting said marginal stay elements.

5. A garment stay bracing member comprising a pair of vertical stay elements spaced from each other and a pair of transverse stay elements permanently interconnecting said vertical stay elements, at least one of said transverse stay elements being V-shaped and permanently interconnecting the vertical stay elements at a point between the extremities thereof.

JULIUS W. RUBIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,568,894 Littlejohn et a1. Jan. 5, 1926 1,606,709 Lancaster Nov. 9, 1926 1,647,023 Shepard 1- Oct. 2-5, 1927 1,693,030 Greenberg Nov. 27, 1928 1,893,960 Pease Jan. 10, 1933 2,139,305 Friend Dec. 6, 1938 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 369,204 Great Britain Mar. 11, 1932

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