Strap adjustable brassiere

Abstract

A strap adjustable brassiere has straps that are slidably engaged with a band rail extending along the wing band and/or a cup rail extending along the cup. The wing band rail extends in an incline from a side position toward the center back position and this enables the straps to be slid from one position to another along the band rail without changing the length of the straps. Likewise, the cup rail extends at an incline from a side location toward the center front location to allow the strap to slide along the cup rail without changing the length of the strap. The rail may be a bulbous extension from the wing band and the strap slider may have a cavity that extends around the rail to provide a slidable engagement.

Claims

1. An adjustable strap brassiere comprising: a) a front portion with a left cup and a right cup b) a wing band extending from the front portion horizontally and configured to extend around a torso of a user to a back of said user; said wing band comprising: i) a band rail extending along a top edge of the wing band; wherein the band rail extends at a decline from a center back location of the wing band towards a left side location and a right side location of the wing band; wherein the center back location of the wing band is configured to be centrally located along the back of said user when the adjustable strap brassiere is worn by said user; c) a left strap extending from the left cup and configured to extend over a left shoulder of a user to a coupling end having a left band slider that is slidably engaged with the band rail of the wing band; wherein the left band slider is slidable along the band rail to change a position of the coupling end of the left strap with respect to the wing band without changing a length of the left strap; d) a right strap extending from the right cup and configured to extend over a right shoulder of a user to a coupling end having a right band slider that is slidably engaged with the band rail of the wing band; and wherein the right band slider can be slid along the band rail to change a position of the coupling end of the right strap with respect to the wing band without changing a length of the right strap.

2. The adjustable strap brassiere of claim 1, wherein the band rail extends in an arc from the center back location of the wing band down toward the left side location and from said center back location of the wing band down toward the right side location.

3. The adjustable strap brassiere of claim 1, wherein band rail extends along the top edge of the wing band from a center back location of the wing band to a left side location and from a center back location to a right side location along the wing band; and wherein each of the left and right band sliders comprise a slider cavity that extends around the band rail to slidably engage the left and right band slider with the band rail.

4. The adjustable strap brassiere of claim 3, wherein the band rail has a round cross-section and wherein the slider cavity of the left and right strap slider is cylindrical shaped to extend around the band rail.

5. The adjustable strap brassiere of claim 1, wherein the band rail extends along the top edge of the wing band from a center back location of the wing band to a left side location and from a center back location to a right side location along the wing band; and wherein the band rail comprises a rail cavity; and wherein each of the left and right strap sliders comprise a slider insert that extends within the rail cavity to slidably engage the left and right strap slider with the band rail.

6. The adjustable strap brassiere of claim 5, wherein the rail cavity has a round cross-section and wherein the slider insert is cylindrical in shape to fit within the cross-section of the slider cavity.

7. The adjustable strap brassiere of claim 6, wherein the rail slot expands to detachably attach the left and right strap sliders from the slider cavity.

8. The adjustable strap brassiere of claim 1, wherein the left and right strap sliders are detachably attachable to the band rail.

9. The adjustable strap brassiere of claim 1, wherein the wing band is a continuous wing band.

10. The adjustable strap brassiere of claim 9, wherein the left and right straps are continuous straps.

11. The adjustable strap brassiere of claim 1, wherein the wing band comprises: a) a left wing band is configured to extend from the left cup horizontally around a torso of a user to a left extended end; b) a right wing band is configured to extend from the right cup horizontally around a torso of a user to a right extended end; c) a clasp on one of the left or right extended ends to detachably attach the left and right wing bands together.

12. The adjustable strap brassiere of claim 1, wherein each of the left strap and the right strap comprise a buckle to change the respective length of the strap.

13. The adjustable strap brassiere of claim 1, further comprising a cup rail on each of the left and right cups; and wherein the cup rail extends at an incline toward a center of the front portion; and wherein the left and right straps each comprise a cup slider that is slidably engaged with the cup rail; and wherein a position of the left and right straps with respect to the left and right cups is adjustable by sliding the cup slider along the cup rail, without changing the length of the strap.

14. A method of changing a position of a brassiere strap without changing a length of the brassiere strap comprising the steps of: a) providing an adjustable strap brassiere comprising: i) a front portion with a left cup and a right cup; ii) a wing band is configured to extend from the front portion horizontally around a torso of a user to a back of said user; said wing band comprising: a band rail extending along a top edge of the wing band; wherein the band rail extends at a decline from a center back location towards a left side location and a right side location; iii) a left strap extending from the left cup and configured to extend over a left shoulder of a user to a coupling end having a left strap slider that is slidably engaged with the band rail of the wing band; wherein the left band slider can be slid along the band rail to change a position of the coupling end of the left strap with respect to the wing band without changing a length of the left strap; iv) a right strap extending from the right cup and configured to extend over a right shoulder of a user to a coupling end having a right strap slider that is slidably engaged with the band rail of the wing band; wherein the right band slider can be slid along the band rail to change a position of the coupling end of the right strap with respect to the wing band without changing a length of the right strap; and b) donning the adjustable strap brassiere on a person; c) sliding the left strap slider along the band rail to change a position of the coupling end of the left strap with respect to the wing band without changing the length of the left strap; and d) sliding the right strap slider along the band rail to change a position of the coupling end of the right strap with respect to the wing band without changing the length of the left strap.

15. The method of changing a position of a brassiere strap without changing a length of the brassiere strap of claim 14, wherein the band rail extends in an arc from the center back location of the wing band down toward the left side location and from the center back location down toward the right side location.

16. The method of changing a position of a brassiere strap without changing a length of the brassiere strap of claim 14, wherein the band rail extends along the top edge of the wing band from a center back location to a left side location and from a center back location of the wino band to a right side location along the wing band; and wherein each of the left and right strap sliders comprise a slider cavity that extends around the band rail to slidably engage the left and right band rail with the band rail.

17. The method of changing a position of a brassiere strap without changing a length of the brassiere strap of claim 16, wherein the band rail has a round cross-section and wherein the slider cavity of the left and right strap sliders has a cylindrical shaped cavity that extends around the band rail.

18. The method of changing a position of a brassier strap without changing a length of the brassiere strap of claim 14, wherein the wing band is a continuous wing band and wherein the left and right straps are continuous straps.

19. The method of changing a position of a brassiere strap without changing a length of the brassiere strap of claim 14, wherein the adjustable strap brassiere further comprises a cup slider on each of the left and right cups; and wherein the cup sliders extend at an incline toward a center of the front portion; and wherein the left and right straps each comprise a cup slider that is slidably engaged with the cup slider; and wherein the method further comprises: changing a position of the left and right cup slider with respect to the cup sliders without changing a length of the strap.

20. The method of changing a position of a brassiere strap without changing a length of the brassier strap of claim 19, wherein each of the left and right cup sliders comprise a cup-slider cavity that extends around the cup rail to slidably engage the left and right cup slider with the cup rail; and wherein the cup rail has a round cross-section and wherein the cup-slider cavity of the left and right cup slider is cylindrical shaped to extend around the cup rail.

21. The method of changing a position of a brassiere strap without changing a length of the brassiere strap of claim 19, wherein the left and right cup sliders are detachably attachable to the cup rail.

22. The method of changing a position of a brassiere strap without changing a length of the brassiere strap of claim 21, wherein the left and right strap sliders are detachably attachable to the band rail.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention.

(2) FIG. 1 shows a front view of an exemplary strap adjustable brassiere of the present invention.

(3) FIG. 2 shows a front view of a women wearing a wide shoulder shirt over an exemplary strap adjustable brassiere with the straps being concealed under the shirt.

(4) FIG. 3 shows a front view of a woman wearing a narrow shoulder shirt over an exemplary strap adjustable brassiere with the straps exposed.

(5) FIG. 4 shows a front view of a women wearing a narrow shoulder shirt over an exemplary strap adjustable brassiere with the straps moved from the position shown in FIG. 3 to conceal the straps under the shirt.

(6) FIGS. 5 and 6 show a back view of a conventional brassiere with clips that couple the straps to the wing band and wherein the length of the strap has to be changed to allow changing the location of the strap connection with the wing band.

(7) FIGS. 7 and 8 show a back view of an exemplary strap adjustable brassiere with sliders slidably engaged with the band rail of the wing band to allow changing the location of the extended end of the strap, or slider without changing the length of the strap, wherein the band rail of the wing band extend upward toward a center location.

(8) FIG. 9 shows a back view of an exemplary strap adjustable brassiere with left band slider engaged with the right wing band and the right band slider engaged with the left wing band.

(9) FIG. 10 shows a wing band of an exemplary strap adjustable brassiere having a band rail or top edge that extends in an arc over a portion of the length of the band rail.

(10) FIG. 11 shows a slider having a slider cavity engaged around a rail of an exemplary strap adjustable brassiere.

(11) FIG. 12 shows a slider having a slider insert engaged with a rail cavity of an exemplary strap adjustable brassiere.

(12) FIGS. 13 and 14 show a front view of an exemplary strap adjustable brassiere having the cup sliders engaged with cup rail extending along a top edge of the cup portion of the brassiere.

(13) FIG. 15 shows a front view of an exemplary strap adjustable brassiere having the left and right straps crossed to engage the right cup slider on the left cup rail and the left cup slider with the right cup rail.

(14) Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the figures. The figures represent an illustration of some of the embodiments of the present invention and are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any manner. Further, the figures are not necessarily to scale, some features may be exaggerated to show details of particular components. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

(15) As used herein, the terms comprises, comprising, includes, including, has, having or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Also, use of a or an are employed to describe elements and components described herein. This is done merely for convenience and to give a general sense of the scope of the invention. This description should be read to include one or at least one and the singular also includes the plural unless it is obvious that it is meant otherwise.

(16) Certain exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described herein and are illustrated in the accompanying figures. The embodiments described are only for purposes of illustrating the present invention and should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the invention. Other embodiments of the invention, and certain modifications, combinations and improvements of the described embodiments, will occur to those skilled in the art and all such alternate embodiments, combinations, modifications, improvements are within the scope of the present invention.

Definitions

(17) A round cross-section, as used herein includes circular and oval and it is to be understood that the rail and slider are coupled to the brassiere wing band, cup or strap, respectively, and therefore the cross-sectional shape is not continuous in the area of connection.

(18) As shown in FIG. 1, an exemplary strap adjustable brassiere 10 has a front portion 20 comprising a pair of cups 22, 22 to support a woman's breasts. A left strap 30 extends from the left cup 22 over the woman's left shoulder and a right strap 50 extends from the right cup 22 over the woman's right shoulder. Note that the straps extend relatively wide over the woman's shoulders.

(19) As shown in FIG. 2, a woman is wearing a wide shoulder shirt 14, a shirt that extends over a portion of the shoulder distal from woman's neck. The wide shoulder shirt extends over an exemplary strap adjustable brassiere 10 with the straps being concealed under the shirt.

(20) As shown in FIG. 3, the woman is now wearing a narrow shoulder shirt 15, a shirt that covers only the portion of the shoulder proximal to woman's' neck. The narrow shoulder shirt does not cover the straps 30, 50 of the exemplary strap adjustable brassiere. A portion of the left and right straps are exposed. As described herein, the woman can easily adjust the position of the straps without changing the length of the straps to conceal the straps under the narrow shoulder shirt.

(21) As shown in FIG. 4, the position of the straps has been changed from the position shown in FIG. 3. The position of the straps may be changed along the band rail and/or along the cup rail to conceal the straps 30, 50, under the shirt.

(22) As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a conventional brassiere with clips that couple the straps to the wing band may be used to adjust the position the straps with respect to the wing band, to conceal the narrow shoulder shirt, for example. As shown in FIG. 6, the left strap 130 has been unclipped from the wing band 170 but will be too short to extend to a more central location on the wing band. The left strap will be too short to extend to a central back location. An extension distance 135 will be required to extend the strap to the desired location. The left strap buckle 132 will have to be used to extend the length of the strap to enable movement to the central location. This may require taking the brassiere off to adjust the length of the straps.

(23) As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, an exemplary strap adjustable brassiere 10 has band sliders 60, 60 that are slidably engaged with the band rail 66, 66, respectively. The band sliders are configured along top edge 78 of the wing band 70 to allow changing the location of the coupling ends or extended ends 34, 54, of the straps 30, 50 respectively, without changing the length of the strap. The band slider and the top edge 78 of the wing band extend upward toward a center location or put another way, extend downward from the central back location 73. As the band slider is slid from a side location 75, 77, a position distal from the center back location or proximal to a side of a person wearing the strap adjustable brassiere 10, toward the center back location 73, the band rail inclines upward, such as along an arc, to allow the strap to slide without a substantial change in strap length. The wing band comprises a left wing band 70 and right wing band 71 that extend to extended ends, 72, 74, respectively. The left wing band and right wing band are detachably attached together by a clasp 76 or clasps. The bottom edge 79 of the wing band may extend horizontally, or substantially parallel with a horizontal axis 16, when the brassiere is worn by a woman standing vertically.

(24) FIG. 9 shows a back view of an exemplary strap adjustable brassiere with the left band slider 60 coupled to the right wing band 71 and the right band slider 60 engaged with the left wing band 70. The band sliders 60 may be detachably attachable to the band rail 66, such as by sliding them off of the band rail extended end 67 proximal to the center 73 of the back portion, or an extended end 67 proximal to side of the back portion or extended from the center of the back portion. Note that both the left and right wing band may have an extended end of the band rail. The straps 30 and 50 may be detachably attachable to the band sliders and the band sliders may be affixed to their respective cup rails and not be detachable. This would enable the straps to be crossed without removal of the band sliders, which may facilitate switching between configurations. A detachably attachable strap may enable a more secure attachment of the band slider to the band rail, to prevent undesirable detachment. The band slider may be a rigid material that is not readily detached from the band rail by pulling. This configuration may be better suited for athletic brassieres wherein a lot of force may be applied to the straps when running or jumping. A strap may comprise a loop that extends over a post attached to the band sliders to detachably attach the strap to the band slider. Any suitable attachment feature may be configured between the strap and the band slider including, but not limited to, a clip, buckle, hook and loop fastener, snap and the like.

(25) As shown in FIG. 10, a wing band 70 of an exemplary strap adjustable brassiere 10 has a band rail 66 that extends in an arc 85, having a radius 82, over a portion of the length of the wing band or top edge of the wing band. The band rail may extend a length from a center back location to a side location, or a location proximal to a user's side when the brassiere is worn. The center of the arc, or pivot point, may correspond with a point along the shoulder of a wearer of an exemplary strap adjustable brassiere.

(26) As shown in FIG. 11, a band slider 60, is engaged with a band rail 66. The band slider slot 64 has a slider cavity 62 that extends around the band rail 66. The slider slot and cavity may be slid over an extended end 67 of the band rail, or expanded outward to fit around the band rail, wherein the band slider snaps back to fit around the band rail to secure the band slider to the band rail. As described herein the band rail may be slightly larger than the slider cavity to provide an interference fit to secure the slider and strap in a desired location along the band rail. The exemplary band rail is round in cross-section, having a substantially circular shape except where the band rail is coupled with the wing band, and the band rail has a curved outside surface 84. The band slider has a circular slider cavity 62, that is cylindrical in shape, having an opening that enables the band slider to extend around the band rail to allow slidable engagement with the band rail. The band rail is configured along the top edge 78 of the wing band 70. The position of the strap 50 may be changed with respect to the wing band by sliding the band slider along the band rail. Note that this configuration may be configured on cup rail, wherein the cup slider has a slider cavity that extends around the cup rail.

(27) As shown in FIG. 12, a band slider 60 comprises a slider insert 63 that is engaged with a rail cavity 68 of a band rail 66. The exemplary rail cavity is circular in cross-section and has curved inside surface 83. The slider insert 63 has a cylindrical shape, to allow it to slide within the rail cavity. The rail cavity has a rail slot 81 to allow the strap 50 to be coupled with the slider insert to enable the position of the strap to be changed with respect to the wing band 70 by sliding the slider insert within the rail cavity. The rail slot may also allow the slider insert to be detachably attached to the rail cavity by expanding open to allow the insertion of the slider insert. Alternatively, the slider insert may be slid into the band rail opening at the extended end 67. The band rail may open to expand the slider slot to allow insertion and removal of the slider insert. Note that this configuration may be configured on cup rail, wherein the cup rail has a rail cavity and the cup slider has a slider insert.

(28) As shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, an exemplary strap adjustable brassiere 10 comprises a cup rails 26, 26 that extends at a cup angle 25 that is inclined from a horizontal axis 16 towards the center 88 of the front portion 20 of the brassiere, or toward the vertical centerline 89. The cup angle may be substantially the same as the incline of the shoulder, or shoulder angle 29, that is also inclined from a side or shoulder location toward the neck of the woman, as measured from a horizontal axis 16. The cup rails are engaged with the cup sliders 65, 65 to allow the position of the strap to be changed with respect to the cup without changing the length of the strap. As shown in FIG. 13, the strap is in an outside or wide position with respect to the woman's shoulder. As shown in FIG. 14, the straps have been slid toward the center of the front portion 20 of the brassiere without changing the length of the straps. The shoulder angle and cup angles are substantially parallel or within about 20 degrees of parallel each other.

(29) As shown in FIG. 15, an exemplary strap adjustable brassiere 10 has the left strap 30 and right strap 50 crossed to engage the right cup slider 65 on the left cup rail 26 and the left cup slider 65 with the right cup rail 26. The cup sliders may be detachable from the cup rail, such as by sliding off an extended end 27 of the cup rail such as the extended end 27 proximal the center of the front portion or the extended end proximal the side 27. This configuration may enable the brassiere to accommodate halter tops, wherein the straps will not show when wearing a halter top. The straps 30 and 50 may be detachably attachable to the cup sliders and the cup sliders may be affixed to their respective cup rails and not be detachable. This would enable the straps to be crossed without removal of the band sliders, which may facilitate switching between configurations. A detachably attachable strap may enable a more secure attachment of the cup slider to the cup rail, to prevent undesirable detachment. The cup slider may be a rigid material that is not readily detached from the cup rail by pulling. This configuration may be better suited for athletic brassieres wherein a lot of force may be applied to the straps when running. A strap may comprise a loop that extends over a post attached to the cup sliders to detachably attach the strap to the cup slider. Any suitable attachment feature may be configured between the strap and the cup slider including, but not limited to, a clip, buckle, hook and loop fastener, snap and the like.

(30) It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications, combinations and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope of the invention. Specific embodiments, features and elements described herein may be modified, and/or combined in any suitable manner. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications, combinations and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.