Lingerie abstract
A garment fastener, especially for lingerie and swimsuits has elongated
loops on each fastener half from the outer bar of which an attachment
flange extends. The attachment flange is a sewing flange and/or
welding flange and the fabric strip passing through the slot of
the loop is stitched and/or welded to the attachment flange.
Lingerie claims
We claim:
1. A garment comprising: a first and a second garment parts, and
a garment fastener detachably securing said parts together, said
garment fastener comprising a first fastener half secured to said
first garment part and a second garment fastener identical to said
first fastener half and secured to said second garment part, each
of said fastener halves comprising: a fastener body adapted to be
affixed to the respective garment part and provided with formations
detachably engageable with the body of the other fastener half,
a respective loop formed on each body and provided with an elongated
slot through which a portion of the respective garment part passes,
and a respective attachment flange coplanar with each of said loops
and of a thickness smaller than that of the respective body and
loop and projecting from the respective loop away from the respective
body and overlain by a portion of the respective garment part adjacent
the portion passed through the respective loop, said attachment
flange being secured to the respective portion overlying same.
2. The garment defined in claim 1 wherein at least one of said
attachment flanges is secured to the respective portion in a manner
enabling detachment by a wearer of the garment to enable reattachment
in a different relative position of the respective portion and attachment
flange.
3. The garment defined in claim 2 wherein said one of said attachment
flanges is secured to the respective portion by stitching.
4. A garment fastener comprising: a fastener body adapted to be
affixed to first part of a garment; a loop formed on said body and
provided with an elongated slot through which a portion of a second
part of said garment can be passed; and an attachment flange coplanar
with said loop and of a thickness smaller than that of said body
and said loop projecting from said loop away from said body and
overlain by a portion of said second part of said garment adjacent
the portion passed through said loop, said attachment flange being
secured to said second part of the garment by stitching along said
portion of said second part overlying the attachment flange, said
attachment flange tapering in thickness away from said loop.
5. The garment fastener defined in claim 4 wherein said attachment
flange is secured to said portion of said second part overlying
the attachment flange at least in part by stitching through said
attachment flange.
6. The garment fastener defined in claim 5 wherein said attachment
flange is secured to said portion of said second part overlying
the attachment flange at least in part by welding.
7. The garment fastener defined in claim 4 wherein said attachment
flange is secured to said portion of said second part overlying
the attachment flange at least in part by welding.
8. The garment fastener defined in claim 4 wherein said loop has
a bar defining one side of said slot and formed with an inwardly
projecting bulge with a thickness less than that of said loop and
extending substantially the full length of the slot.
9. A garment fastener comprising: a fastener body adapted to be
affixed to first part of a garment; a loop formed on said body and
provided with an elongated slot through which a portion of a second
part of said garment can be passed; and an attachment flange coplanar
with said loop and of a thickness smaller than that of said body
and said loop projecting from said loop away from said body and
overlain by a portion of said second part of said garment adjacent
the portion passed through said loop, said attachment flange being
secured to said second part of the garment along said portion of
said second part overlying the attachment flange, said attachment
flange tapering thickness away from said loop and being formed on
at least one side with an array of mutually orthogonal tapered cross
section ribs including ribs parallel to longitudinal sides of said
slot and ribs transverse to said longitudinal sides of the slot.
10. The garment fastener defined in claim 9 wherein said attachment
flange is formed on opposite sides with respective arrays of mutually
orthogonal ribs.
11. A garment fastener comprising: a fastener body adapted to be
affixed to first part of a garment; a loop formed on said body and
provided with an elongated slot through which a portion of a second
part of said garment can be passed; and an attachment flange coplanar
with said loop and of a thickness smaller than that of said body
and said loop projecting from said loop away from said body and
overlain by a portion of said second part of said garment adjacent
the portion passed through said loop, said attachment flange being
secured to said second part of the garment along said portion of
said second part overlying the attachment flange, said body, said
loop and said attachment flange forming a first fastener half, said
garment fastener further comprising a second fastener half with
a fastener body mating with the fastener body of said first fastener
half, a respective loop formed on said body if said second fastener
half and provided with a respective elongated slot through which
a portion of said first part of said garment can be passed, and
a respective attachment flange coplanar with said loop of said second
fastener half and of a thickness smaller than that of said body
and said loop of said second fastener half projecting from said
loop of said second fastener half away from said body of said second
fastener half and overlain by a portion of said first part of said
garment adjacent the portion passed through said loop of said second
fastener half, said attachment flange of said second fastener half
being secured to said first part of the garment along said portion
of said first part overlying the attachment flange of said second
fastener half.
12. The garment fastener defined in claim 11 wherein said first
and second fastener halves are identical to one another.
13. The garment fastener defined in claim 12 wherein said attachment
flanges taper in thickness away from the respective loops.
14. The garment fastener defined in claim 13 wherein at least one
of said attachment flanges is secured to the respective portion
overlying the respective attachment flange at least in part by stitching
through the respective attachment flange.
15. The garment fastener defined in claim 14 wherein the stitched
through attachment flange is further secured to the overlying portion
by welding.
16. The garment fastener defined in claim 13 wherein at least one
of said attachment flanges is secured to the portion overlying same
by welding.
17. The garment fastener defined in claim 13 wherein each of said
attachment flanges is formed on at least one side with an array
of mutually orthogonal ribs.
18. The garment fastener defined in claim 17 wherein each of said
attachment flanges is formed on opposite sides with respective arrays
of mutually orthogonal ribs.
19. The garment fastener defined in claim 18 wherein each of said
loops has a bar defining one side of the respective slot and formed
with an inwardly projecting bulge with a thickness less than that
of the respective loop and extending substantially the full length
of the respective slot.
Lingerie description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
Our present invention relates to a garment fastener, especially
for swim wear and lingerie, and which, in particular, can be fabricated
from a polycarbonate synthetic resin or other transparent synthetic
resin material.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The provision of garment fasteners for securing two parts of a
garment together in a releasable manner, e.g. a strap and a body
of a garment or two strap segments of a garment has a number of
important requirements especially when the garment is a swimsuit
or an item of lingerie, such as a brassiere. Usually the garment
fastener must be relatively small so as not to contribute an unaesthetic
feature to the garment. Nevertheless it must be easily manipulated,
of sufficient strength to withstand tensile stresses to which it
may be subjected, and it must be securely held by the garment part
to which it is affixed. While garment fasteners with loops through
which straps or strap-like strips of the garment can be passed,
have been provided in the past, a variety of problems are associated
with them. Firstly, it cannot always be guaranteed that the strap
or fabric strip passing through an elongated loop will remain distributed
uniformly over the length of the slot. Furthermore, the attachment
of the fastener part to the fabric is often unreliable. The problem
is most pronounced where the fasteners must be openable and closeable
and must be relatively small.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore the principal object of the present invention to
provide a garment fastener for swimsuits, brassieres and lingerie
whereby the drawbacks of the earlier systems are avoided.
Another object of this invention is to provide a garment fastener
for the purposes described which affords a more reliable attachment
of the fastener part to the garment part in a garment fastener of
the type in which an elongated loop receives a strap or strip of
the fastener.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
These objects and others which will become more readily apparent
hereinafter are attained, in accordance with the invention in a
garment fastener of the type having an elongated loop defining a
slot through which a strap or strip of the fabric is to be passed
and in which the bar at the outside of that loop has formed unitarily
therewith an attachment flange which is secured to the fabric by
stitching and/or welding. This generally flat, thin attachment flange
can be pierced through by the stitching needle by which the strap
or fabric strap is secured and the stitching has the advantage that,
if the stitching is removed, the strap or strip can be drawn through
the slot to adjust the relative position of the fabric and the attachment
flange and thereby allow restricting to expand the garment or allow
it to be contracted.
Advantageously, that bar can have on its inner side, of convex
formation, i.e. a curved bump, assisting in distributing the fabric
in the slot uniformly.
The flange may be secured to the fabric also by welding or exclusively
by welding as may be desired.
The garment fastener according to the invention can comprise: a
fastener body adapted to be affixed to first part of a garment;
a loop formed on the body and provided with an elongated slot through
which a portion of a second part of the garment can be passed; and
an attachment flange coplanar with the loop and of a thickness smaller
than that of the body and the loop projecting from the loop away
from the body and overlain by a portion of the second part of the
garment adjacent the portion passed through the loop, the attachment
flange being secured to the second part of the garment along the
portion of the second part overlying the attachment flange.
According to a feature of the invention, the attachment flange
can taper in thickness away from the loop or bar and can be provided
on at least one side and preferably both sides with arrays of mutually
orthogonal ribs or can be constituted by the mutually orthogonal
ribs.
The two halves of the garment fastener, which can releasably interengage,
can be identical to one another.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
The above and other objects, features, and advantages will become
more readily apparent from the following description, reference
being made to the accompanying drawing in which:
FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a garment fastener according
to the invention;
FIG. 2 is a front view of one fastener half, the other fastener
half being identical thereto but inverted relative to the first
fastener half;
FIG. 3 is a rear view of the fastener half shown in FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is an end view thereof from the side of the attachment flange;
FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view taken along the line V--V in FIG.
3;
FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view taken along the line VI--VI of
FIG. 3;
FIG. 7 is a detail view of the rib structure of the attachment
flange;
FIG. 8 is a front elevational view of a fastener half for use in
the fastener of FIG. 1; and
FIG. 9 is a fragmentary elevational view of a garment provided
with the fastener of FIG. 1.
SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION
As can be seen in FIG. 1 a garment fastener according to the invention
can comprise two fastener halves 10 and 11 which can be identical
but are inverted with respect to one another so that the two fastener
halves releasably interfit.
As can be seen from FIGS. 2 and 3 which show a fastener half of
slightly different construction from that of FIG. 1 each fastener
half comprises a body 12 having a rounded surface 13 and on side
a flat surface 14 on the opposite side and generally is stepped
as shown at 15 over half the length of that body.
The body is unitary with an elongated loop 16 having a slot 17
which is defined by a bar 18 on the side of the slot opposite the
body. From that bar, an attachment flange 19 projects. The attachment
flange is an openwork structure of ribs 20 parallel to the bar 18
and ribs 21 perpendicular to the bar 18. As can be seen from FIGS.
5 and 6 the attachment flange tapers in thickness away from the
body and has a thickness which can be less than half the thickness
of the loop 16 and less than a quarter of the thickness of the body
12.
The bar structure has been shown in detail in FIG. 7 and the openings
22 between the bars are visible here as well.
The bar 18 can be formed as shown in FIGS. 1 and 8 with an inwardly
extending bulge 23 over the entire length of the slot 17. As can
be seen from FIG. 8 the bulge 23 can be of a thickness which is
of the order of that of the attachment flange 19. The latter need
not be an openwork structure and can have webs which are thinner
than the bars 20 and 21 bridging between them as is apparent at
24 in FIG. 8.
FIG. 9 shows two fastener halves 10' and 11' with fabric strips
or straps extending through the slots 17 and folded over. The strips
are represented at 25 and 26 and the folded-over ribs at 25 and
26 and the folded-over portions are shown at 27 and 28 respectively.
At the right-hand side of FIG. 9 the folded-over portion 28 is
stitched to the fabric strip 26 with rows of stitching 29 piercing
through attachment flange 19 of the fastener half 10'. The rows
of stitching may be released by the user, if the garment is to be
expanded slightly, and restitched after some of the strip 26 has
been pulled out of the slot 17 of the fastener half 10'. The bulges
23 serve to uniformly spread the fabric over the length of the slot
and prevent bunching of the fabric at one end of the slot. The fastener
half 11' is affixed to the strip 25 and its overlying portion 27
at least in part by weld seams along the dot-dash lines 30.
In use, two identical fastener halves are joined together by inverting
one relative to the other and slipping the bodies alongside one
another as has been shown in FIGS. 1 and 9.
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