US2725574A - Brassiere pad - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 6, 1955 s. J. BLOCK ET AL BRASSIERE PAD Filed Dec. l5. 1954 Dec. 6, 1955 l s. J. BLOCK ETAL 2,725,574

BRASSIERE PAD Filed Dec. l5, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 5. F'G- 6 INVENTORS SYDNEY I. BLOCK LESTER W. BLOCK BY ffeCCJez@ ATTORNEY United States Patent() 2,725,514 VimASSIERE PAD Sydney J. Block and Lester W. Block, Culver City, Calif., assignors to California Forms, Inc., Culver City, Calif., a corporation of California Application December 15, 19574, Serial No. 475,525 4 Claims. (Cl. 2&267)

This application relates to a brassiere pad.

It is an object of our invention to provide a brassiere pad which, when worn, will provide the wearer with the type of bust line and ligure which are currently in fashion. It has recently become the fashion for womens breasts to be higher and rounder than previously and Womens dresses and other articles of wearing apparel are being so designed. Since it is impossible for most women to achieve this high and rounded appearance of the breasts with a conventional brassiere, it is an object of our invention to provide a brassiere pad which will achieve this result.

It is particularly an object of our invention to provide such a brassiere pad which is simultaneously extremely comfortable for the wearer and which is so adaptable that it can be worn by substantially every woman.

Another object of `our invention is to provide in a brassiere a breast pad which is molded of foam rubber or the like and which is provided adjacent the lower portion thereof with a hemispherical mound which is disposed adjacent the body of the wearer in use. When the brassiere is worn, the breast of the wearer lits into hollow portions of the pad which are disposed above and on both sides of the mound, resulting in its causing lthe desired higher and more round appearance which is dictated by fashion.

The upper portion of our breast pads serves to contain the breast and also to form the upper part of the breast cup portion of the brassiere.

Our invention also comprises such other objects, advantages and capabilities as will later more fully appear and which are inherently possessed by our invention.

While we have shown in the accompanying drawings a preferred embodiment of our invention, it should be understood that the same is susceptible of modication and change without departing from the spirit of our invention. l

Referring to the drawings,

Fig. l is a front elevational view of our brassiere, with the elastic portions broken away tov shorten the View and with the structure partly broken away on the left end side of the ligure to expose the interior construction;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the portion of our brassiere adjacent the upper corner of one of the breast cups, taken from inside the brassiere;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a portion of our brassiere taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view of a portion of our brassiere taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of our brassiere taken on line 5--5 of Fig. 1; Y

Fig. 6 is an elevational view of a breast pad, showing the inside of the pad;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view of the breast pad taken on line 7`-7 of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a top plan view of the breast pad;

Fig. 9 is a front elevational view of a pair of covered breast pads, with the left hand portion partly broken away to show the interior structure.

A preferred embodiment which has been selected to illustrate our invention comprises a brassiere 10 having a pair of elongated elastic portions 11 at its opposite ends which are adapted to extend around the sides of the wearer to adjacent the center of the back. The free ends of the elastic portions are provided with end bands 12 carrying suitable fastening means enabling them to be attached to each other to hold the brassiere in place on the body of the wearer, The elastic portions 11 are preferably formed of elastic nylon mesh material.

A bottom elastic tape 13 extends across the entire bottom edge of the brassiere 10 and is adapted to yield to permit the brassiere to adjust itself to the body contours of the wearer. The inner ends of the elastic portions 11 are attached to a pair of bias tapes 15 which extend around a pair of vertical stays 14. The stays 14 are preferably formed of slightly resilient iiat bands of metal. A pair of upper elastic tapes 18 extend across the upper edges of elastic portions 11 from the free ends of elastic portions 11 to a point slightly beyond the stays 14.

The front portion of our brassiere comprises a pair of cloth pieces 16 which are attached at their bottom edges to the bottom elastic tape 13, at their outside edges to the bias tape 15 and at their inside edges to each other adjacent a reinforcing strip 17 of bias tape which bisects the brassiere. The upper edges of the cloth pieces 16 are substantially U-shaped and are stitched around a pair of U-shaped spring steel wires 19. The wires 19 define the bottom and lower side edges of the breast cups of our brassiere.- They are su'ciently yieldable so that their free ends can be stretched apart. while the bottom of the' U remains substantially unchanged.

The breast cup portions of our brassiere include an outer layer 23 and an inner layer 24, both of which are formed of cloth. These layers are stitched along their lower edges to the top edges of the cloth pieces 16, extending around the wires- 19. The stitching which attaches them together thus defines a pair of U-shaped channels in which the wires-19 are held. A pair of U-shaped strips of cotton flannel tufting 20 are also provided on the inside of the brassiere and held by the same stitching in order to prevent the wires 19 from causing any discomfort to the wearer.

A pair of breast pads 25 are mounted between layers 23 and 24 in the breast cup portions of our brassieres. The pads 25 are preferably formed of foam rubber or similar suitable resilient material and are best formed by molding. The pads for both sides of the brassiere areidentically formed. The pads 25 are of unusual shape and contour to serve the purpose of our invention. Each pad is provided adjacent the bottonrthereof with a hernispherical mound 31. It should be noted that the mound 31 rises abruptly from the bottom edge of the pad so that when the padis viewed from the side as shown in Figs. 5 and 8, the mound 31 extends rearwardly from the pad. It should also be noted that the center of the hernispherical mound 31 is disposed along the vertical axis of the pad 25, but well below its horizontal axis. The' sides of the mound 31( slope off into hollow portions 30 within.

above and on both sides of the cent the bottom of pad 25 on one side of mound 31 continuously around mound 31 to adjacent the bottom of the opposite side of the pad.

The breast pads 25 are held in place by stitching in the following manner. A pair of arcuate bias tapes 27 extend across the top edges of the breast cups. Each of the bias tapes 27 is attached to the layers 23 and 24 by a pair of arcuate stitches 29. The bottom stitch extends through a thin edge 26 which is provided around the top and upper side edges of the breast pad 25. Such stitching extends from the point designated Xi in Fig. 1 of the drawings to X2 and from X3 to X4.

The innermost of the pair of stitches defining the channels around wires 19 also extends through the thin upper side edge of the pads 25 from the points marked X to the points marked Y in Fig. 1. The remainder of the breast pad 25 between the points Y extending around the bottom of the pad is left entirely free and unattached.

The upper portion of the pad 25 thus supports the upper portion of the breast cup so that the breast cup stays up without requiring the use of straps. The mound 31 bulges toward the body of the wearer to make contact with the body before the wire 19 so that the wire cannot exert any unpleasant pressure against the body. Since the bottom of the pad 25 is unattached to the brassiere, the mound 31 is free to be slightly shifted about between the layers 23 and 24 in order to be adjusted to the most comfortable position for the wearer.

In use, the elastic portions 11 are preferably slightly stretched by the body of the wearer. In turn, they exert pressure on the upper free ends of the wires 19 to stretch them slightly farther apart at the top. The side edges of the breasts are held by the wires 19 and pads 25, while the lower portions of the breasts are disposed above the mounds 31.

In use, the breasts of the wearer are held within the hollow portions 30 of the pad 25. Their sideward movement is limited by the wires 19, while their downward movement is prevented by the bottom of the mound 31, which ts snugly against the body of the wearer beneath the breast. It is thus impossible for the breast to assume any position other than the higher and more rounded contour which is currently dictated by fashion. The outside of the lower portions of the breast pad 25 is convex vertically and horizontally as shown in Fig. 8 in order to continue the line and contour of the elevated and rounded breast.

In commercial manufacture, a decorative layer of material 35 may be provided on the outside of the breast cups, being superimposed over the outer layer 23 to enhance the appearance of the brassiere. Suitable lace trim may also be provided along the top edges of the breast cups and the decorative appearance of the brassiere may be altered as desired without affecting the operation of our invention.

We may also provide a pair of covered breast pads which are adapted to be mounted in a conventional brassiere in order to achieve many of the advantages of our invention. Such pair of breast cups is shown in Fig. 9 of the drawings, with the pads being identical with those previously described.

We claim: 1. A breast pad for brassieres, said pad being formed of yieldable material and adapted to receive and elevate a human breast, said pad having an upper portion and a lower portion, said pad having a substantially hemispherical mound disposed in the lower portion thereof, said mound adapted to t beneath the breast with the lower portion of said mound adapted to bear against the body beneath the breast of the wearer, said pad having a hollow recess extending continuously from adjacent the bottom of said pad on one side of said mound to adjacent the bottom of said pad on the opposite side of said mound, said hollow recess substantially encircling the apex of said mound to provide an area within said pad adapted to receive the breast, the upper portion of said pad having a substantially convex top edge, said top edge being suiciently thin across its entire length to permit stitching to extend therethrough to mount said pad in the breast cup of a brassiere.

2. A breast pad for brassieres, said pad being formed of yieldable material and adapted to receive and elevate a human breast, said pad having an upper portion and a lower portion, said pad having a substantially hemispherical mound disposed in the lower portion thereof, the apex of said mound being disposed substantially along the vertical axis of said pad and beneath the horizontal axis thereof, said mound being adapted to tit beneath the breast with the lower portion of said mound adapted to bear against the body beneath the breast of the wearer, said pad having a hollow recess extending continuously from adjacent the bottom of said pad on one side of said mound to adjacent the bottom of said pad on the opposite side of said mound, said hollow recess substantially encircling the apex of said mound to provide an area adapted to receive the breast, the outside of the lower portion of said pad being vertically and horizontally convex to continue the contour of the elevated breast, said upper portion having a substantially convex top edge, said top edge being sufficiently thin across its entire length to permit stitching to extend therethrough to mount said pad in the breast cup of a brassiere.

3. A breast pad for brassieres, said pad being formed of yieldable material and adapted to receive and elevate a human breast, said pad having an upper portion and a lower portion, said pad having a substantially hemispherical mound disposed in the lower portion thereof, the apex of said mound being disposed substantially along the vertical axis of said pad and beneath the horizontal axis thereof, said mound being adapted to fit beneath the breast with the lower portion of said mound adapted to bear against the body beneath the breast of the wearer, said pad having a hollow recess extending continuously from adjacent the bottom of said pad on one side of said mound to adjacent the bottom of said pad on the opposite side of said mound, Vsaid hollow recess substantially encircling the apex of said mound to provide an area adapted to receive the breast, the outside of the lower portion of said pad being vertically and horizontally convex to continue the contour of the elevated breast.

4. A breast pad for brassieres, said pad being formed of yieldable material and adapted to receive and elevate a human breast, said pad having a convex mound disposed in the lower portion thereof, said mound having sloping walls forming a breast receiving portion, said mound adapted to t beneath the breast with the lower portion of said mound adapted to bear against the body beneath the breast, said pad having a hollow recess extending continuously from adjacent the bottom of said pad on one side of said mound to adjacent the bottom of said pad on the opposite side of said mound, said hollow recess substantially encircling the apex of said mound to provide an area within said pad adapted to receive the breast, the outside of the lower portion of said pad being vertically and horizontally convex to continue the contour of the elevated breast, said pad substantially encompassing said breast.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,515,601 Hughes July 18, 1950 2,563,241 Herbener Aug. 7, 1951 2,622,245 Lances Dec. 23. 1952

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