PIECE OF CLOTHING

VETEMENT

English Abstract

The invention relates to a piece of clothing, particularly for use in athletic activities such as jogging, skating, skiing, or the like, provided with pads in the regions of the outsides of joints, wherein the pads (1) are formed by ribs (4) located on the side oriented toward the skin (3) adjacent to each other and oriented substantially at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the piece of clothing, and the ribs (4) are decoupled from each other.

French Abstract

L'invention concerne un vêtement, destiné à être utilisé en particulier pour la pratique d'activités sportives telles que le jogging, le patinage, le ski ou similaire, ce vêtement étant pourvu de rembourrages dans la région des faces externes des articulations. Selon l'invention, ces rembourrages (1) se présentent sous la forme de nervures (4) qui sont disposées les unes à côté des autres sur le côté du vêtement faisant face à la peau (3) et qui sont orientées sensiblement perpendiculairement à l'axe longitudinal du vêtement, ces nervures (4) étant indépendantes les unes des autres.

Claims

5
CLAIMS:
1. A clothing item, which is provided with padding in an area of outsides
of
joints, wherein the padding is formed of ribs, which are arranged side-by-side
next to
one another on a side facing skin and which are aligned so they are
essentially at a
right angle to a longitudinal axis of the clothing item, and the ribs are
uncoupled from
one another, wherein the ribs retain a material thickness, wherein a distance
between
an outside of the clothing item and the skin remains unchanged during flexion
of the
joint; wherein the ribs form loops and have walls and a base connecting the
walls;
and wherein chambers are created jointly with an outside material the chambers
being filled with ambient air.
2. The clothing item according to claim 1, wherein the ribs are arranged
without any connection to one another.
3. The clothing item according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the base rests on
the skin.
4. A clothing item for use in athletic activities comprising the clothing
item
according to any one of claims 1 to 3.
5. A clothing item for use in any one of jogging, skating and skiing
comprising the clothing item according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

Description

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PIECE OF CLOTHING
The invention relates to an item of clothing, in particular for use in
athletic activities
such as jogging, skating, skiing or the like, provided with padding in the
area of the
outside of the joints.
Clothing serves to protect a person, in particular to protect against weather.
Under
certain conditions, e.g., in athletic activities, clothing also serves to
protect against
injuries. Furthermore especially at low temperatures, clothing has the task of
preventing cooling of the body. To do so, it should be windproof and water-
repellant.
If the clothing is worn when the body is at rest, its functionality is ensured
at any time.
However, with movement, in particular in athletic activities, the clothing is
stretched
and compressed, which may have a negative effect on the functionality which
exists
in the resting state. Especially in the area of the joints where in the event
of flexion
there is a stretching of the clothing on the outside, which leads to a
reduction in the
thickness of the material that is used, the protective function which is
ensured in a
resting state is no longer provided.
To avoid this disadvantage, it is known that padding may be provided on the
outside
of joints (cf. DE 81 04 653 U1, for example). The padding results in an
increased
material thickness, so that in the case of flexion of the joint, the layer of
material on
the outside of the joint is thicker than would be the case without padding.
This results
in an improvement in the insulation properties, but the padding that is used
is also
stretched with flexion of the joint so that here again this results in a
reduction of the
thickness of the material, which reduces the good insulation properties in the
resting
state.
This is where the present invention seeks to remedy the situation. Some
embodiments of the present invention may provide a clothing item, in
particular for
use in athletic activities, which will have insulation properties in the area
of the
outsides of the joints in the case of flexion of the joint, such that the
insulation
properties then will be just as good as in the case of when the joint is
extended.

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According to some embodiments of the invention, this the padding is formed by
ribs
arranged side by side next to one another on the side facing the skin and are
aligned
essentially at a right angle to the longitudinal axis of the item of clothing,
and the ribs
are separated from one another.
In one embodiment, the present invention creates a clothing item, in
particular for use
in athletic activities, such that it will have insulation properties
comparable to those
even in the area of the outside of the joint in the case of flexion of the
joint. This may
be created in particular by the fact that the ribs are uncoupled from one
another, so
that flexion of the joint results only in stretching of the outer material,
but the ribs
retain their material thickness so the distance between the outside of the
clothing
item and the skin remains unchanged. In this way, in some embodiments the
weathering which acts from the outside on the flexed joint may be kept away
from the
skin so that there is no unpleasant cold feeling on the skin.
In a further embodiment of the invention, the ribs are arranged without any
connection to one another. This creates the possibility that in the case of
flexion of
the joint, the individual ribs can change their positons independently of one
another
so this prevents any mutual influence on the movement of the ribs due to
neighboring
ribs in the case of flexion of the joint. This may result in an extremely
flexible
insulation, which is also of a high quality at the same time.
The ribs are preferably designed with a loop shape. The design of the ribs in
the form
of loops entails the advantage that an air chamber is formed between the
interior of
the loops and the outside of the clothing item. Due to the neighboring
arrangement of
loops and the air cushions therein, a very good insulation effect may be
achieved,
which also persists unchanged even in the event of flexion of the joint.
Some embodiments disclosed herein relate to a clothing item which is provided
with
padding in an area of outsides of joints, wherein the padding is formed of
ribs, which
are arranged side-by-side next to one another on a side facing skin and which
are

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aligned so they are essentially at a right angle to a longitudinal axis of the
clothing
item, and the ribs are uncoupled from one another, wherein the ribs retain a
material
thickness, wherein a distance between an outside of the clothing item and the
skin
remains unchanged during flexion of the joint; wherein the ribs form loops and
have
walls and a base connecting the walls; and wherein chambers are created
jointly with
an outside material the chambers being filled with ambient air.
An exemplary embodiment of the invention is depicted in the drawing and is
described in detail below. In the drawings:

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Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a section of padding in the area of the
knee
joint in the unflexed state, and
Fig. 2 shows the padding illustrated in Fig. 1 in the flexed state of the knee
joint.
The inventive clothing item is explained, for example, on the basis of the
area of the
knee. A padding 1 is provided in the area of the knee joint 2. The padding 1
is arranged
on the outside 21 of the joint of the knee joint 2, i.e., in front of the
patella or kneecap
and consequently on the back of the knee 22. With other joints such as the
elbow, the
inventive padding is arranged on the side facing away from the bend in the
arm.
Likewise, in the area of the shoulders the padding would be on the side facing
away
from the underarm or in the case of the finger joints the padding would be on
the side
facing away from the hand/finger surfaces of the hand. These sides are the
outsides of
the joint in the sense of the present invention.
The padding 1 lies on the skin 3 of the person wearing the clothing. It covers
the area of
the knee 2 generously. The padding 1 I formed by ribs 4 which are sown or
knitted
onto the outer material 5 which forms tie remaining clothing item, which is
usually a
textile material. The ribs 4 are also made of a textile material. The ribs 4
are arranged
on the outer material 5 on the side facing the skin 3. A number of ribs 4 are
provided
next to one another, aligned essentially at a right angle to the longitudinal
axis of the
clothing item, i.e., in the exemplary embodiment, aligned essentially at a
right angle to
the longitudinal axis of the leg and thus essentially horizontally. The ribs 4
each have
two walls 41 and a base 42 joining the walls 41, so that the ribs 4 rest on
the skin 3.
Consequently, the ribs 4 touch the skin 3 with only a narrow strip so that
wearing
comfort is increased. The ribs 4 are designed in a loop shape so that chambers
6, which
are filled with ambient air, are created between the walls 41, the base 42 and
the outer
material 5. This creates air cushioning.
The ribs 4 are uncoupled from one another. The uncoupling of the ribs 4 means
that the
ribs 4 are adjacent to one another and arranged so they come in contact in the
extended state of the joint (Fig. 1), but they are arranged without any
connection to one

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another so that flexion of the joint and thus stretching of the outer material
5 do not
result in stretching of the ribs 4 as shown in Fig. 2. Instead, stretching of
the outer
material 5 causes a shifting of the ribs 4, so that a column 7 always remains
between
the neighboring ribs 4. The comparison between Figs. 1 and 2 shows clearly
that the
distance between the outer material 5 and the skin 3 remains the same even in
the
flexed state of the joint. Thus the air cushion created by the chambers 6 is
still
present even in the flexed state of the joint. The formation of the column 7
between
the neighboring ribs 4 prevents the outer material from resting on the skin 3
in the
flexed state. This also creates a type of air cushion between the ribs 4,
preventing
direct action of the ambient air on the skin and thus preventing cooling of
the joint.
The inventive padding is suitable in particular for clothing items for
athletic activities,
but its use is by no means limited to these activities. The use of the
inventive padding
is especially advantageous for types of sports that are performed in a cold
environment or in a strong wind. These types of sports include in particular
skiing,
snowboarding or ice skating, but also include cycling, which is performed even
at low
temperatures and in which the wind also acts on the joint. Then the inventive
padding
may lead to much less cooling of the joints.

Representative Drawing