Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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SEAMLESS BRA
The present invention relates to a seamless tubular blank for producing a
garment such as a brassiere and to a method of producing such a blank.
s
In particular, the invention relates to a seamless knitted blank which
integrally incorporates areas of reinforcement.
In the manufacture of brassieres it is known to incorporate elongate breast
to cup or pocket supports extending along the lower contour of the breast
pockets of the brassiere in order to provide the necessary support to the
breasts; this is particularly so for medium to large breasts.
The elongate breast pocket supports are usually in the form of separate
is wires (made of metal, rigid plastics or bone) which are accommodated in a
pocket following the lower contour of the breast pocket.
Incorporation of separate support wires is undesirable as it necessarily
complicates the manufacturing process and can prove uncomfortable for the
2o wearer, particularly should the support wire protrude from the pocket in
which it is accommodated.
In accordance with a general aim of the present invention, an area of
reinforcement is integrally knitted into the blank so as to provide an
2s elongate support providing the support function of a support wire and
thereby obviate the need to incorporate a separate additional support wire.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a knitted
blank in the form of a tubular body for forming a brassiere, the tubular body
3o being formed of a body fabric comprising a plurality of courses of ground
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yarn extending circumferentially about the tubular body and having a pair
of circumferentially spaced regions for defining breast accommodating
pockets, the tubular body including discrete band-like regions of
reinforcement defined by reinforcement yarns which are incorporated into
s the body fabric, each band-like region following the lower contour of an
associated breast accommodating pocket to define an elongate breast pocket
support.
Preferably, each discrete band-like region defining a breast pocket support
to is formed by a miss-knit structure.
Preferably, the miss-knit knitted structure includes the ground yarn being of
a miss-knit stitch structure with the same needles on immediately adjacent
courses knitting, the reinforcement yarn being knit on the same courses as
1s the ground yarn, the reinforcement yarn being of a miss-knit stitch
structure
with different needles on immediately adjacent needles knitting.
Preferably the ground yarn is a plated yarn comprising a non-elastomeric
ground yarn plated with an elastomeric yarn.
Preferably the non-elastomeric ground yarn is a thermosetting ground yarn
such as a polyamide.
Preferably the reinforcement yarn is a thermosetting reinforcement yarn
2s having different thermosetting properties to the thermosetting ground yarn.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a
method of producing a knitted blank in the form of a tubular body having
discrete regions of reinforcement, the method including knitting a plurality
of courses of ground yarn to define a body fabric wherein said courses
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extend circumferentially about the tubular body, and incorporating into the
ground fabric reinforcement yarns to define said regions of reinforcement.
Preferably the reinforcement yarns are formed from a thermosettable
s plastics and the method further includes heat treating the blank to cause
said
reinforcement yarns to shrink and/or stiffen in order to provide said regions
of reinforcement with a desired degree of reinforcement.
Various aspects of the present invention are hereinafter described with
to reference to the accompanying drawings, in which :-
Figure 1 is a schematic side view of a tubular blank according to an
embodiment of the invention suitable for forming a brassiere;
Figure 2 is a schematic illustration of a stitch notion for forming the
blank of Figure 1;
~s Figure 3 is a schematic side view of a brassiere formed from the
blank of Figure 1.
In Figure 1 there is illustrated a seamless tubular blank 10 according to a
preferred embodiment of the present invention which is preferably knit on a
2o circular knitting machine such as a Santoni SM8 (sold by Santoni S.p.A.)
having a 15 inch needle cylinder with 8 yarn feed stations.
The blank 10 is intended to form a brassiere 50 as illustrated in Figure 3 and
preferably includes a first tubular body portion 12, a turned welt portion 14
2s and a second tubular body portion 16.
When constructing the brassiere 50, the first body portion 12 is turned
inwardly to underlie the second body portion 16. Accordingly the first body
portion 12 forms an inner layer of body fabric of the brassiere which in use
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contacts the user's skin whereas the second body portion 16 forms an outer
layer of body fabric.
The turned welt portion 14 is located at the junction between the first and
s second tubular portions and in the brassiere 50 defines a lower, body
encircling band 51.
Preferably the first tubular body portion 12 is knit from a body ground yarn
30 (Figure 2) which produces a body ground fabric 20 having the desired
1o characteristics such as suppleness and softness and providing a desired fit
to
the body of the wearer.
Suitably the fabric of the first body portion 12 is knit from a textured non-
elastomeric yarn, such as a textured polyamide yang which is preferably knit
~s as a plain jersey knit construction. A suitable yarn is a 2/22 dtex 7
filament
polyamide 6.6 yarn which is fed in at each of the ~ feed stations.
The turned welt portion 14 is preferably knit to define an elasticated fabric
which in the finished brassiere 50 provides the band 51 with a desired
2o degree of elastication.
For example, it is preferred to knit the turned welt portion 14 so as to have
a
ground fabric 45 composed of knitted stitches of a non-elastomeric welt
ground yarn 31 plated with an elastomeric yarn 32 and to incorporate into
2s the welt ground .fabric a powerful elastomeric yarn 34. Preferably the
powerful elastomeric yarn 34 is incorporated into the welt ground fabric 45
by being laid into the courses of stitches of the plated yarns 31,32.
The non-elastomeric yarn 31 is preferably a 90 dtex 102 filament polyamide
30 6.6 and the elastomeric yarn 32 is preferably a covered elastomeric yarn
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such as 17 dtex LYCRA (RTM) covered with a non-elastomeric yarn such
as a 22 dtex 14 filament polyamide.
Preferably the powerful elastomeric yarn 34 is a covered elastomeric yarn
s such as a 265 dtex GLOBE (TM) double covered with a 22 dtex 7 filament
polyamide 6.6 yarn.
The second body portion 16 is knit to produce a body ground fabric 60
which integrally incorporates regions of reinforcement 70.
Preferably the body ground fabric 60 is a plain jersey knit construction
wherein a body ground yarn 65 is knit on every needle. Preferably the body
ground yarn 65 is a non-elastomeric yarn 66 plated with an elastomeric yarn
67 and is knit so as to provide the body ground fabric 60 with desired
is characteristics such as suppleness and fit to the wearer.
The non-elastomeric yarn 66 is preferably a 90 dtex 102 filament polyamide
6.6 and the elastomeric yarn 67 is preferably a covered elastomeric yarn
such as 17 dtex LYCRA (RTM) covered with a non-elastomeric yarn such
2o as a 22 dtex 14 filament polyamide.
By suitably operating the knitting machine to produce larger sized stitches
in predefined zones, the body ground fabric 60 is knit to produce breast
accommodating pockets 68.
2s
Regions of reinforcement 70 are integrally provided within the body ground
fabric 60 by the introduction of a reinforcement yarn 71. The reinforcement
yarn 71 is preferably a thermosetting yarn which when exposed to an
elevated temperature shrinks and/or rigidifies whilst still retaining a degree
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of flexibility. At the time of knitting of the body portion 16 the yarn 71 is
relatively soft/flexible and so can be knitted relatively easily.
The reinforcement yarn may be formed from a yarn which is relatively
s soft/pliable for ease of knitting and which after a heat treatment shrinks
and/or rigidifies in order to provide a desired degree of reinforcement (i.e.
resistance to flexure and/or stretch).
A suitable heat treatable yarn is formed from a polyvinylchloride plastics as
1o this material exhibits the desired characteristics of being relatively
soft/flexible for knitting and yet sufficiently rigid to provide the desired
degree of reinforcement when heat treated. Preferably the reinforcement
yarn is a flat yarn.
1s An alternative heat treatable reinforcement yarn may be for example, a
grillon covered mono filament nylon yarn. Alternatively inherently rigid
yarn such as Kevlar (RTM) or a composite yarn composed of a fine steel
wire buried in a nylon outer shell may be used as the reinforcement yarn 71.
2o Preferably the polyvinylchloride or Kevlar (RTM) reinforcement yarn is a
multifilament yarn. This enables a relatively high weight of yarn to be used
whilst retaining a sufficient degree of flexibility for ease of knitting.
Similarly the fine wire yarn may be composed of multiple filaments of fine
wire collectively buried in a nylon outer shell.
Typically, it is envisaged that the number of filaments may vary within the
range of 10 to 30 filaments.
The weight of the reinforcement yarn is chosen bearing in mind the degree
of reinforcement required. Typically it is envisaged that the weight of the
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polyvinylchloride or Kevlar (RTM) reinforcement yarn may vary within the
range of 120-140 dtex.
A suitable reinforcement yarn is a 132 dtex 22 filament polyvinylchloride
s yarn.
Typically, when using a grillon covered mono filament nylon, the combined
weight of the reinforcement yarn is preferably in the range of 65 to 115
dtex, more preferably about 90 dtex. A suitable reinforcement yarn is a 57
dtex mono filament nylon covered with 23/4 dtex grillon.
The shape of the regions of reinforcement 70 is predefined in order to
provide desired reinforcement in the finished garment at predetermined
locations. As shown in Figure 1, three regions 70 are provided. Of these,
is two regions 70 define band-like forms 74 each of which is shaped to follow
the lower contour of a breast accommodating pocket 6S. In this way, in the
finished garment, the band-like forms 74 define, in shape, a location of
reinforcement similar to that of a conventional brassiere support wire and
the incorporated reinforcement yarn 71 and the knitted structure of band-
20 like forms 74 function to provide the band-like forms 74 with a
reinforcement function similar to that of a conventional support wire.
The third region 70 is preferably of trapezoidal form 75 and is located
inbetween the breast pockets 6S. In the finished garment 50 the trapezoidal
2s form defines a reinforced zone which acts as a separator to improve the
separation between the breasts during wear and also improve the fit of the
garment.
Shaping of the regions of reinforcement 70 is achieved during knitting by
30 suitable control of the pattern selection means of the knitting machine. In
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this way the reinforcement yarn 71 may be knitted on selected needles on
selected courses in order to produce a region of any desired shape.
Preferably the reinforcement yarn 71 is incorporated into the body ground
fabric by being formed into knitted stitches on selected needles which are
also knitting the plated body ground yarn.
Preferably as seen in Figure 2, in each region 70 the body ground yarn is
knit in a miss-knit stitch structure with the same needles knitting on
to successive courses.
Preferably the reinforcement yarn is knit as a miss-knit stitch structure with
the same needle knitting on alternate courses.
is As illustrated in Figure 2, the body ground yarn is knit with a 'knit one;
miss one' notation. It is envisaged that other miss-knit notations may be
adopted in order to alter the performance of the reinforcement. For example
a 'knit one; miss two' or a 'knit one; miss three' notation may be adopted.
2o Preferably the reinforcement yarn is cut after knitting each course of
reinforcement and so define a series of partial courses only.
Knitting of bands 74 as a miss-knit structure is preferred as such a structure
causes wale-wise contraction of the fabric of the bands 74 compared to the
25 surrounding body fabric and so creates a stiffer fabric.
Preferably cutting lines 80 are knitted in a conventional manner into the
second body portion 16 by suitable selection of knitted stitches on selected
courses and wales.
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Normally the blank 10 will be knitted in one piece on the knitting machine
by knitting in succession the first portion 12, the turned welt portion 14 and
finally the second portion 16. It will be appreciated that this sequence may
be reversed.
s
It is also envisaged that both the first portion 12 and turned welt portion 14
are optional.
It is also envisaged that the blanks 10 may be knitted independently as
1o single pieces or may be knitted in succession as a string of blanks which
are
subsequently separated after removal from the knitting machine.
After a blank 10 has been knitted, it is necessary to activate the
reinforcement yarn 71 in order to render it more rigid and so create the
1s desired degree of reinforcement. This is preferably done by exposing the
blank or garment to a heat treatment in order to cause the reinforcement
yarn 71 to shrink and/or rigidify.
Preferably the thermosetting properties of the reinforcement yarn 71 is
2o preferably chosen to be different to that of the body ground yarn 65 so as
to
bring about a differential shrinkage and/or rigidification when exposed to
the heat treatment.
Advantageously, the choice of yarns is such that the necessary heat
2s treatment of the reinforcement yarns 71 may be achieved during the dyeing
process wherein the blank is elevated to a temperature of about 98°C
for
about 0.5 to 1 hour.
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