Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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SUSPENDER KIT AND METHOD FOR SUPPORTING A PAIR OF
TROUSERS OR PANTS
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a suspender kit for
supporting a pair of trousers or pants on a wearer's
body. It also relates to a method of supporting a
wearer's trousers or pants.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Suspenders are used as an alternative to
wearing a belt and in some respects are becoming more
popular or fashionable. One problem with wearing
suspenders is that they do not tighten the trousers
around the waist. Another problem is that the
suspenders can feel uncomfortable or constraining since
in some respects they do not conform to body movement
and they are required to support the full weight of the
trousers.
It is accordingly an object of the present
invention to alleviate the above-mentioned difficulties.
SUI~iARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the invention there is provided a
method of supporting a pair of trousers on a wearer's
body, the trousers having connectors at four
circumferentially spaced locations around the upper part
of the trousers, two of the connectors being located at
the front and two of the connectors being located at the
rear of the trousers, comprising the steps of attaching
a continuous belt to said connectors, characterized in
that the belt extends from the one of said connectors in
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the front of the trousers upwards along the wearer's
chest and over the wearer's shoulder down the wearer's
back and connected to the one of said connectors at the
rear of the trousers and extending along the wearer's
lower back towards and connected to the second one of
said connectors at the rear of the trousers and
extending upwardly along the wearer's back and over the
wearer's other shoulder down the wearer's chest towards
and connected to the other one of said connectors at the
front of the trousers.
The connectors may comprise belt loops which
are attached to the trousers or holes which are provided
in the trousers.
Also according to the invention there is
provided a method of supporting a pair of trousers on a
wearer's body, comprising the steps of attaching
connectors to the upper part of the trousers at four
circumferentially spaced locations, two of the
connectors being located at the front and two at the
rear of the trousers and attaching a belt to said
connectors, characterized in that the belt extends from
the one of said connectors in the front of the trousers
upwards along the wearer's chest and over the wearer's
shoulder down the wearer's back and connected to the one
of said connectors at the rear of the trousers and
extending along the wearer's lower back towards and
connected to the second one of said connectors at the
rear of the trousers and extending upwardly along the
wearer's back and over the wearer's other shoulder down
the wearer's chest towards and connected to the other
one of said connectors at the front of the trousers.
At least one but preferably all the
connectors, may comprise a wheel which is rotatably
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attached to the trousers, the belt being supported on
the circumference of the wheels.
Also according to the invention there is
provided a kit for supporting a pair of trousers on a
wearer's body, comprising a plurality of connectors for
connection to the upper part of the trousers at two
pairs of spaced locations at the front and rear of the
trousers and a belt for attachment to the connectors
such that the belt extends from the one of said
connectors in the front of the trousers upwards along
the wearer's chest and over the wearer's shoulder down
the wearer's back and connected to the one of said
connectors at the rear of the trousers and extending
along the wearer's lower back towards and connected to
the second one of said connectors at the rear of the
trousers and extending upwardly along the wearer's back
and over the wearer's other shoulder down the wearer's
chest towards and connected to the other one of said
connectors at the front of the trousers.
The belt may be of an elastic material such as
a flexible tube or band, or it may be of a material,
which although flexible, is not stretchable or
deformable in a longitudinal direction, such as a rope.
Each or all of the connectors may have a belt
attachment end, a trousers attachment end and a
longitudinal axis extending from the belt attachment end
to the trousers attachment end, wherein the said ends
are rotatable relative to each other about said axis.
Further objects and advantages of the
invention will become apparent from the description of
preferred embodiments of the invention below.
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will now be described, by way of
examples, with reference to the accompanying drawings,
in which:
Figure 1 is a schematical illustration of a
suspender kit which comprises a set of connectors
incorporating rotatable wheels supporting a suspender
belt, shown as worn by a male wearer;
Figures 2 and 3, respectively, are front and
rear views of a female wearing a suspender kit
comprising a set of connectors incorporating rotatable
wheels supporting a suspender belt;
Figure 4 is a rear view of a female wearing a
suspender kit according to another embodiment of the
invention;
Figure 5 is a front view of a connector of a
suspender kit;
Figure 6 is a front view of a different
connector;
Figure 7 is a side view of the connector of
Figure 5;
Figure 8 is a three-dimensional view of the
upper part of a pair of trousers provided with a series
of circumferentially spaced holes for use with the
suspender kits of Figures 1 to 4;
Figure 9 is a schematical illustration of a
suspender kit which comprises a set of connectors
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incorporating rings to which an elastic suspender belt
is attached;
Figure 10 is a three-dimensional rear view of
a suspender kit according to another embodiment of the
invention;
Figure 11 is a side view of a connector of the
suspender kit of Figure 10;
Figure 12 is a partial view of the suspender
belt of the suspender kit of Figure 10, showing an
adjustment buckle on the suspender belt; and
Figure 13 is a schematical diagram
illustrating the operation of the suspender kit
according to the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
In Figure 1, reference numeral 10 generally
indicates a suspender kit which comprises a suspender
belt 12 and a set of five connectors 14.
The connectors 14 each comprise a wheel 16
which is rotatably mounted on a coupling member 18 which
is attached to the top part of a pair of trousers or
pants 11 in any convenient fashion, eg. by means of a
clip (not shown) which clips onto the upper rim of the
trousers 11, such as used with a pair of conventional
suspenders, or as in the illustrated example, having a
hook 20 (such as a spring loaded bullet catch hook as
shown in Figure 5 or a key ring 21, as shown in Figure
6) which engages with a belt loop 22 provided on the
trousers 11. Alternatively, the hook 20 may be engaged
with a hole 19 provided for this purpose in the trousers
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11. Several of the holes 19 may be provided spaced
around the upper circumference of the trousers, as shown
in Figure 8. This also provides for flexibility as to
the locations on the trousers 11 where the connectors 14
can be attached.
As shown, two of the connectors 14 are
attached to the front of the trousers 11 and three are
attached to the rear of the trousers 11. If desired,
the central connector 14 at the rear of the trousers may
be omitted so that there is a pair of the connectors 14
at the front and a pair of the connectors 14 at the rear
of the trousers 11.
In Figure l, the outline of the wearer is
shown in broken lines.
The belt 12 extends around the one connector
14 in the front of the trousers, upwards along the
wearer's chest and over the shoulder down the wearer's
back, around the connectors 14 at the back of the
trousers and upwards along the wearer's back and over
the other shoulder down along the wearer's chest and
around the other connector 14 at the front of the
trousers 11. The wheels 16 are like pulleys (as shown
in Figure 7) and have a circumferential recess for
receiving the belt 12 which has a circular cross section
for this purpose.
The belt 12 may be arranged so that it runs
from the front connector 14 to the corresponding
connector 14 on the same side of the wearer, as shown in
solid lines in Figure 1 or the belt 12 may be crossed
over at the back of the wearer, as shown in broken
lines.
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The free ends of the belt 12 are tied together
at the front of the trousers 11, as shown.
Alternatively, they may be connected together by any
other suitable means, such as a buckle.
In Figures 2 and 3 the suspender kit 10 is
shown worn by a female wearer. In this example, the
belt 12 is crossed over at the front and the back of the
wearer.
The belt 12 which extends like a pair of
suspenders over the wearer's shoulders, supports the
trousers or pants 11. In addition, the belt 12 which
also extends partially around the wearer's body in the
front and back of the wearer has the effect of
tightening the trousers around the wearer's waist. This
aspect is illustrated in Figure 13. As indicated by the
arrows 9 the belt 12 exerts diagonally directed forces
on the pants 11. The exact direction of the force
vectors 9 will of course depend on whether the belt 12
is crossed over or not, as well as the locations of
attachment to the pants 11. Each diagonal force vector
9 has a vertical component and a horizontal component
(shown in broken lines). If the diagonal force vectors
9 extend at an angle of 45° then the vertical and
horizontal vectors will, for example, each comprise 50~
of the total force. However, this ratio can be varied
as desired.
The horizontal force components serve to pull
the opposite sides 11.1 and 11.2 of the pants 11 towards
each other, thereby acting as a belt to relieve some of
the weight of the pants 11, while the vertical
components act to lift the pants 11 to support some of
the weight. Therefore, the vertical and horizontal
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forces act in conjunction to provide the benefits of
both a belt and suspenders.
As indicated by the arrow 23 in Figure 5, the
hook 20 is rotatably connected to the coupling member
18, ie. it can swivel about the longitudinal axis of the
hook 20. This is an axis which is perpendicular to the
axis of rotation of the wheel 16.
An alternative embodiment is shown in Figure
4, in which there is a single connection at the back of
a wearer. As shown, a single connector 14 is provided
with the belt 12 extending around the wheel 16 of the
connector 14. (In Figure 4, the connector 14 is
obscured by a star-shaped decorative disc 24, as will be
described below). The connector 14 is attached to the
pants 11 by means of a single connection strip 13 or a
pair of connection strips 13 (shown in broken lines).
The connection strip 13 can be connected to the pants 11
in any convenient fashion, such as a clip, hook or
button.
In Figures 6 and 7 an alternative type of
connector 15 is shown. The connector 15 also comprises
a wheel or pulley 16 for supporting the belt 12. The
pulley 16 is rotatably mounted in a cage 17. In place
of the hook 20, the connector 15 comprises a key ring 21
for connection to the belt loop 22 on the trousers or
connected to a hole 19 provided in the top of the
trousers 11.
The key ring 21 is attached to a key ring
holder 29 which is attached to the cage 17 for rotation
about an axle 31, as indicated by the arrows 33 in
Figure 6. In this way, the key ring holder 29 is
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capable of swivelling movement about an axis which is
perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the pulley 16.
Since the wheels 16 are free to rotate, they
allow for longitudinal movement of the belt 12 so that
it can react or adjust to body movement, such as during
walking. This is further enhanced by the capability of
swivelling movement about the axes which are
perpendicular to the rotation axes of the wheels 16.
This effect may be particularly desirable for a female
wearer, as portrayed by Figures 2 and 3. In this way,
when she is walking, the suspenders will move with her
and the pulleys 16 swivel to accentuate her body
movement.
For the purposes of fashion or to set a trend,
the connector 14,15 may be provided With decoration.
For example, as shown in Figures 2 to 5 and 7, the
connector 14,15 is provided with a disc 24 which covers
the wheel 16. A design, pattern or other decoration can
be provided on the disc 24, such as a star, as shown in
Figure 2 or a cube as shown in Figure 3. The disc 24
may itself have an ornamental shape, e.g., it may be
star-shaped in outline, as shown in Figure 4.
The disc 24 may conveniently be attached to
the connector 14,15 by means of a magnet 35, as shown in
Figure 7. For further effect, the disc 24 is rotatable
about an axle 37 on the magnet 35.
In Figure 9, reference numeral 30 generally
indicates another embodiment of a suspender kit.
The kit 30 comprises an elastic belt 28 and a
set of four connectors 32, each comprising a ring 34
which is attached to the top of the trousers 11 by means
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of clips 36, similar to the type of clip used with
conventional suspenders, or any other suitable means,
such as hook 20 or keyring 21, shown in Figures 5 and 6,
respectively.
The belt 28 is attached to the rings 34 and
extends over the shoulders and along the front and rear,
as in the case of the belt 12 in Figure 1. If desired,
it may be crossed over in the front or back, as is the
case with Figures 1 to 3. In this case, the belt 28 may
simply be threaded through the rings 34 (as shown in the
present example) so that it is capable of longitudinal
movement relative to the rings 34 or it may be tied to
the rings 34 so that it is not capable of movement
relative to the rings 34, except for stretching action
due to its elasticity.
Referring now to Figure 10, reference numeral
40 generally indicates a suspender kit according to
another embodiment of the invention. The kit 40
comprises an elastic belt 42 in the form of a flat band
of about one inch width in the present example, and a
set of four connectors 44 for attaching the belt 42 to a
pair of trousers 11.
Each connector 44 (see Figure 11) comprises a
hook 46, similar to the spring loaded bullet catch hook
20 of Figure 5, except that it is provided With a
pointed end 48 for easy attachment to the trousers 11,
without the need of a hole 19 or belt loops 22. The
connector 44 is also provided with a coupling member 50
which is wide enough to receive the belt 42. The
coupling member 50 is provided With a roller 52 for
supporting the belt 42 and to facilitate easy movement
of the belt 42 relative to the member 50. However, the
member 50 may be used without the roller 52 so that the
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belt will simply slide over the cross bar 54. As
indicated by the arrows 56, the hook 46 is capable of
rotational movement relative to the member 50 about an
axis which is perpendicular to the rotation axis of the
roller 52.
As shown, the belt 42 is crossed over at the
back. In the front the belt 42 is provided with an
adjustment buckle 58, which has two toothed side bars
58.1 and a central bar 58.2. The one end of the belt 42
is attached to the central bar 58.2, while the other end
extends between the toothed side bars 58.1 and the
central bar 58.2. This end of the belt 42 has a free
end 42.1 which extends beyond the buckle 58. If desired
one or more of the buckles 58 may be provided on any
other part of the belt 42, eg. on the front parts
running down a wearer's chest, for easy height
adjustment, as in the case of a conventional pair of
suspenders.
While only preferred embodiments of the
invention have been described herein in detail, the
invention is not limited thereby and modifications can
be made within the scope of the attached claims.
