UNDERGARMENT WITH DISCREET ACCESS OPENING

SOUS-VETEMENT A OUVERTURE D'ACCES DISCRETE

English Abstract

An undergarment includes a body having a genital covering front panel, an anus covering back panel and a crotch connective portion connecting the front panel and the back panel. An access opening extends across the front panel, the crotch connective portion and the back panel. The access opening extends up the front panel to provide access to a wearer's genital region. The access opening extends up the back panel to provide access to a wearer's anus region. A pair of sliding closure members are provided. The closure members define a closed position when placed in abutting relation. The closure members define an open position when placed in a spaced part position. The size and positioning of the open position being adjustable by selective positioning of the sliding closure members.

French Abstract

Sous-vêtement comprenant une partie centrale dotée dun panneau avant recouvrant les parties génitales, dun panneau arrière recouvrant lanus et dune partie conjonctive pour la fourche qui relie le panneau avant et le panneau arrière. Une ouverture daccès traverse le panneau avant, la partie conjonctive pour la fourche et le panneau arrière. Louverture daccès sétend vers le haut du panneau arrière pour donner accès aux parties génitales de lutilisateur. Louverture daccès sétend vers le haut du panneau arrière pour donner accès à la région de lanus de lutilisateur. Une paire déléments de fermeture coulissants est prévue. Les éléments de fermeture définissent une position fermée lorsquils sont adjacents lun à lautre. Les éléments de fermeture définissent une position ouverte lorsquils sont espacés lun de lautre. La taille et le positionnement de la position ouverte peuvent être rajustés par le positionnement sélectif des éléments de fermeture coulissants.

Claims

5
What is Claimed is:
1. An undergarment, comprising:
a body having a genital covering front panel, an anus covering back panel and
a crotch
connective portion connecting the front panel and the back panel;
an access opening extending across the front panel, the crotch connective
portion and the
back panel, the access opening extending up the front panel to provide access
to a wearer's
genital region and the access opening extending up the back panel to provide
access to a wearer's
anus region, the access opening having opposed edges;
a pair of sliding closure members travelling along the opposed edges of the
access
opening, the sliding closure members defining a closed position when placed in
abutting relation
and defining an open position when placed in a spaced part position, the size
and positioning of
the open position being adjustable by selective positioning of the sliding
closure members; and
a biasing force generating element to bias the opposed edges of the access
opening away
from each other to hold the access opening open when the closure members are
in the open
position.
2. The undergarment of Claim 1, wherein the body comprises panties.
3. The undergarment of Claim 1, wherein the body is made from stretch fabric
that serves as the
biasing force generating element and provide a biasing force to bias the
opposed edges of the
access opening away from each other.
4. The undergarment of Claim 1, wherein flex spring members are positioned
along the opposed
edges of the access opening to serve as the biasing force generating element
and provide a
biasing force to bias the opposed edges of the access opening away from each
other.

Description

CA 02838431 2014-10-24
TITLE
[0001] Undergarment With Discreet Access Opening
FIELD
[0002] There is described an undergarment that was developed for use when
conducting internal
examinations of women, but which potentially has other uses.
BACKGROUND
[0003] When examining a female patient, it is sometime necessary for an
attending Physician to
access the female patient's vulva or anus. Physicians need to conduct internal
examinations of
female patients for a number of reasons, such as yearly physical examinations,
cancer screening
and fibroid detection. Garments have been proposed to facilitate such access,
while meeting the
privacy, dignity, modesty and comfort needs of the female patient. An example
is U.S. Patent
4,145,763 (Abrams et al) entitled "Separable Medical Garment". There are other
patents that
have openings in the crotch area, such as U.S. Patent 4,597,110 (Smith Sr. et
al) and U.S. Patent
7,100,214 (Murray). There will hereinafter be described an undergarment that
was developed for
facilitating internal examinations of women.
SUMMARY
[0004] There is provided an undergarment which includes a body having a
genital covering front
panel, an anus covering back panel and a crotch connective portion connecting
the front panel
and the back panel. An access opening extends across the front panel, the
crotch connective
portion and the back panel. The access opening extends up the front panel to
provide access to a
wearer's genital region. The access opening extends up the back panel to
provide access to a
wearer's anus region. A pair of sliding closure members are provided. The
closure members
define a closed position when placed in abutting relation. The closure members
define an open
position when placed in a spaced part position. The size and positioning of
the open position
being adjustable by selective positioning of the sliding closure members.
[0005] The undergarment described above allows the patient a degree of privacy
and modesty.
At the same time, the attending Physician is able to gain access, as may be

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by simply shifting the positioning of the sliding closure members. It is
envisaged that the
sliding closure members will be a form of flexible plastic two way zipper,
although the sliding
closure members will differ from a normal two way zipper in that the closed
position will be
when the closure members are abutting. It is envisaged that the body will be
in the form of
panties. It will be appreciated that the style of panty and leg length can
vary. In fact, the
body could take the form of a full pair of pants or coveralls, if desired.
[0006] There are various ways that the access opening could be biased to
remain open as
wide as possible, during the Physician's examination. One approach is to make
the body
from stretch fabric. The stretch fabric will provide a biasing force to bias
opposed edges of
the access opening away from each other to hold the access opening open when
the closure
members are in the open position. Another approach is to position flex spring
members along
opposed edges of the access opening. The flex spring member will provide a
basing force to
bias the opposed edges of the access opening away from each other to hold the
access
opening open when the closure members are in the open position. The preferred
approach is
to use both stretch fabric and flex spring members.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] These and other features will become more apparent from the
following
description in which reference is made to the appended drawings, the drawings
are for the
purpose of illustration only and are not intended to be in any way limiting,
wherein:
[0008] FIG. 1 is top plan view of an undergarment positioned on a pattern
plane.
[0009] FIG. 2 is a front elevation view of the undergarment of FIG. 1 on
a patient.
[0010] FIG. 3 is a rear elevation view of the undergarment of FIG. 1 on a
patient.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0011] An undergarment generally identified by reference numeral 10, will
now be
described with reference to FIG. 1 through FIG. 3.
Structure and Relationship of Parts:
[0012] Referring to FIG. 1, undergarment 10 has a body 12. Body 12 has
been

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illustrated as taking the form of panties, although it will be appreciated
that body 12 can take
other forms. Body 12 has a genital covering front panel 14, an anus covering
back panel 16
and a crotch connective portion 18 connecting front panel 14 and back panel
16. An access
opening 20 extends across front panel 14, crotch connective portion 18 and
back panel 16.
Access opening 20 need not extend all the way up to front of waistband 22, but
must extend
sufficiently far up front panel 14 to provide access to a wearer's genital
region. Similarly,
access opening need not extend all the way up to back of waistband 22, but
must extend
sufficiently far up back panel 16 to provide access to a wearer's anus region.
A pair of' sliding
closure members 24 and 26 are provided. Closure members 24 and 26 define a
closed
position when placed in abutting relation. Closure members 24 and 26 define an
open
position when placed in a spaced part position. It is to be noted that the
size and positioning
of the open position is adjustable by selective positioning of closure members
24 and 26.
[0013] It is
preferred that opposed edges 28 and 30 of access opening 20 be held apart
during the physician's examination. This is addressed in at least one of two
ways. A first
way is to have body 12 is made from stretch fabric. Stretch fabric will
provide a biasing force
to bias opposed edges 28 and 30 of access opening 20 away from each other to
hold access
opening 20 open when closure members 24 and 26 are in the open position. A
second way is
to position flex spring members 32 and 34 along opposed edges 28 and 30 of
access opening
20. In this way flex spring members 32 and 34 will also provide a basing force
to bias the
opposed edges 28 and 30 of access opening 20 away from each other to hold the
access
opening 20 open when closure members 24 and 26 are in the open position.
[0014] As FIG.
1 is a laid out view, side seams 36 and leg openings 38 are not completed.
Referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, a completed garment is shown and it can be
seen how
undergarment 10 provides the patient with a cover to protect privacy and
modesty. The
undergarment may be reusable, in which case a suitable material is a 4-way
stretch
spandex/cotton blend, or single-use/disposable, in which case the material is
preferably
ecologically friendly, for example a recyclable fabric such as a
spandex/cotton/bamboo blend.
The closure members are envisaged to be plastic "invisible" zippers. The flex
spring
members are envisaged to be plastic coated metal spring wire.

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[0015] Although developed for the purpose of medical examinations, it is
now appreciated
that undergarment 10 may have other uses. One use proposed is with respect to
cavity
searches at airports, police stations, prisons, and border crossings. Another
proposed use is
for the purpose of sexual access. There undoubtedly will be other potential
uses that will be
determined as undergarment 10 comes to be used by the public.
[0016] In this patent document, the word "comprising" is used in its non-
limiting sense to
mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically
mentioned are not
excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article "a" does not
exclude the
possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context
clearly requires that
there be one and only one of the elements.
[0017] The scope of the claims should not be limited by the illustrated
embodiments set
forth as examples, but should be given the broadest interpretation consistent
with a purposive
construction of the claims in view of the description as a whole.

Representative Drawing