Button fastener

[0002] This application is a continuation-in-part of copending application Ser. No. 09/578,060 filed May 24, 2000 (U.S. Pat. No. 6,298,527 of Oct. 9, 2001).

[0003] Our present invention relates to a button fastener, especially for brassieres and, more particularly, to a fastener which can be used to attach a strap or the like to a garment, such as a brassiere, utilizing a press-fit between male and female members.

[0004] While a variety of fasteners have been used heretofore to attach, for example, the strap of a brassiere to the body thereof, there is a continuing desire for improvement in this field. Hook and loop fasteners, for example, have aesthetic disadvantages, while eyelet type fasteners may require stitching of fabric pieces or fastener parts to the garment. Most fasteners provided heretofore have been relatively complex, time-consuming in application to the garment or unsatisfactory from the point of view of laundering and manipulation by the user.

[0005] In some cases problems have been encountered with a particular fabric material to which the fastener is to be attached. For example, for some materials like those of jeans and jackets, the fastener can be applied easily. With, however, certain knitted or woven materials which are softer, more flexible and more delicate, like brassieres, lingerie, swim wear and baby wear fabrics, earlier fastener types cannot be used as effectively.

[0006] It is, therefore, the principal object of the present invention to provide a garment fastener, especially between a strap and the body of a brassiere, which is easily applied to the fabric, can be connected and disconnected easily, is capable of withstanding repeated laundering and poses no danger to other delicate garments in the wash, and is aesthetic in appearance in all stages.

[0007] Another object of the invention is to provide a fastener which can have a part attached to a garment body, for example, that of a strapless brassiere, so that another part, for example, a strap, can be applied as need arises.

[0008] It is also an object of this invention to provide a fastener for the purposes described which can be used as a decorative element on the garment.

[0009] Still another object of the invention is to provide a garment with improved aesthetic and improved reliability and ease of functioning of these garment fasteners.

[0010] Yet a further object is to eliminate drawbacks of earlier garment fasteners, especially for brassieres.

[0011] It is an object of this invention, as well, to provide an improved fastener for a reversible garment, especially an undergarment and most particularly a brassiere, which is compatible with the difference in colors of the sides of that garment.

[0012] A related object is to provide an improved reversible garment which can be fabricated economically and more efficiently than earlier garments, utilizing a button-type fastener.

[0013] These objects and others which will become apparent hereinafter are attained, in accordance with the invention, in a fastener for two parts of a garment, e.g. a strap and a brassiere body, and having respective fastener parts attached to the two parts of the garment to be joined together. According to the invention, one of these parts is a ring which is formed with an opening and is composed of two sections, one on each side of the fabric piece carrying the fastener part and welded together through the fabric so that the fabric is exposed through the opening. The other fastener part forms a press button with the first fastener part and preferably has a formation complementary to the formation on either of the two sections of the ring and can be press-fitted onto it. The formations are respectively a male formation and a female formation. The female formation can be an inwardly-extending overhang surrounding the opening in the respective ring section while the male formation can be a generally cylindrical collar boss or rib having an outward bulge engageable behind the overhang.

[0014] The outer configuration of the male member can correspond to that of the female members so that when the two parts of the fastener are joined together, they appear identical from front and back. The male member can engage in the female fastener part at either one of its sections, i.e. on one side of the fabric or the other and in that case the fastener may be reversible and the garment carrying the fastener can be reversible. The fact that the fabric of the garment is exposed through the openings in both the male and female fastener parts has been found to contribute to the overall aesthetics of the fastener which has a press button configuration and in which the female fastener part can form a decorative element for the body of the garment even if no strap is applied.

[0015] According to a feature of the invention, one of the sections of the female part of the fastener can be provided with a plurality of spaced-apart pins which are pointed and can pierce the fabric when the two parts of the female fastener are pressed together and joined by welding to one another and to the fabric. The other sections of the female fastener parts may have a plurality of recesses or depressions dimensioned to receive the projections.

[0016] The male fastener part can be connected to the strap by a pair of shield-shaped plates which straddle the strap and are welded thereto. It has been found to be advantageous to form the male fastener part with a laterally-projecting lug which is connected to the aforementioned plates. The lug can be provided with pins engageable in holes in the plates or holes can be provided in the lug through which pins of one or both of the plates can extend. For aesthetic reasons, it is desirable to have the pins connecting the plates together and/or to the lug project from a side of one of the plates. In this case, one of the plates can be provided with the pins which pass through holes in the lug and in the other plate.

[0017] The invention also encompasses the garment provided with such a fastener, especially a brassiere. In that case, a body of the brassiere is provided with the female fastener and the male fastener can engage in this female fastener from either side and can be carried by the strap.

[0018] The fastener of the invention has been found to be particularly effective with reversible garments, especially reversible undergarments such as brassieres. A brassiere, according to the invention, can be fabricated from molded cups entirely by a welding process, i.e. without stitched seams, and such that the fabrics on the opposite sides of the brassiere have different colors so that either of these colors or fabrics may be the outer fabric and the other the inner fabric of the brassiere, depending upon how the garment is reversed. According to the present invention, one of the annuluses of the female fastener may be of one color while the other annulus is of another color to match the fabric or side of the brassiere to which the respective annulus is welded.

[0019] Since the male fastener part is attached to the strap by welding and the female fastener part has its annuluses or rings also attached by welding, not only is the garment itself fabricated by a welding process free from stitching but the reversible fastener can be applied also entirely by welding operations. Naturally, the opposite sides of the male fastener part may be of different colors corresponding to the colors of the annuluses or rings of the female fastener part so that the male fastener part, upon reversible of the garment, need only be turned over to provide a match between the visible portions of the two fastener parts.

[0020] According to another aspect of the invention, a garment fastener can comprise a first fastener part secured to the fabric of a garment and comprising a pair of thermoplastic synthetic resin fastener sections on opposite sides of the fabric and a second fastener part having a pair of fastener sections on opposite sides of another portion of fabric or a member which is attached to the fabric, and complementary male and female formations on one of the fastener sections of the first fastener part and one of the fastener sections of the second fastener part respectively for releasable engagement by press-button action to engage the second fastener part with the first fastener part.

[0021] In this aspect of the invention, the two fastener sections on opposite sides of the fabric can be ultrasonically welded through the respective layer of the fabric and at least one of those fastener sections can be provided with a multiplicity of prongs extending toward the other fastener section of the respective fastener part. The prongs of the one fastener section can be ultrasonically welded to the other section. Preferably, especially for soft material like baby wear and delicate lingerie fabrics, both sections of each fastener part have multiplicities of prongs reaching toward a welded part of the other section. While, in the past, prongs which are intended to penetrate a fabric have been practically conical from their base at the section from which they protrude, according to the present invention, the prongs are columnar and have a shank portion which is cylindrical or only slightly conical or tapered but have pointed tips.

[0022] In a typical configuration, six prongs can be provided on each of the sections and these prongs can be angularly equispaced and arrayed along a circle.

[0023] According to a feature of the invention, one of the sections of each part is basically flat and that section can be provided with the male formation or the female formation. The other section of the respective part may be slightly convex and rounded along its surface turned away from the other part. With this configuration, especially thin fasteners can be provided.

[0024] One or the other or both of the convex surfaces can be embossed with a decorative pattern and it is possible to provide noncircular shapes for the fasteners. For example, they may be of triangular, square or even flower shape.

[0025] According to another feature of the invention, one of the sections can be a prong section which is applied directly to a strap by an ultrasonic welding operation without a second section joined thereto.

[0026] The above and other objects, features, and advantages will become more readily apparent from the following description, reference being made to the accompanying drawing in which:

[0027] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a brassiere provided with a fastener according to the invention;

[0028] FIG. 2 is an elevational view showing one side of the female part of this fastener applied to a fabric;

[0029] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of one section of the female fastener part;

[0030] FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the other section;

[0031] FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the two sections joined together, albeit without the fabric between them;

[0032] FIG. 6 is a perspective view broken away showing the two sections joined and without the fabric between them;

[0033] FIG. 7 is a perspective view partially broken away showing the fastener with the male and female parts joined but again without the fabric between the two sections of the female parts;

[0034] FIG. 8 is an enlarged elevational view of the male portion of the fastener seen from one side;

[0035] FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 8 showing the male fastener part as seen from the opposite side;

[0036] FIG. 10 is a side elevational view of the plates affixing the male fastener part to the strap;

[0037] FIG. 11 is a side elevational view of the two plates connected together but without the strap or the lug of the male fastener part.

[0038] FIG. 12 is a cross sectional view through a fastener according to another aspect of the invention;

[0039] FIG. 13 is a detail view of one section;

[0040] FIG. 14 is an end view of that section;

[0041] FIG. 15 is a perspective view of the end section of FIG. 13;

[0042] FIG. 16 is a cross sectional view through another section;

[0043] FIG. 17 is an end view of the section of FIG. 16;

[0044] FIG. 18 is a perspective view of the latter section;

[0045] FIG. 19 is a cross sectional view of an outer section;

[0046] FIG. 20 is an end view thereof;

[0047] FIG. 21 is a perspective view of that section;

[0048] FIG. 22 is a cross sectional view of the other section of the other part;

[0049] FIG. 23 is an end view thereof;

[0050] FIG. 24 is a perspective view of the latter section;

[0051] FIG. 25 is a perspective view of a fastener in which a section is directly attached to a strap;

[0052] FIG. 26 is a cross sectional view thereof;

[0053] FIG. 27-29 are elevational views showing other configurations of the fastener according to the invention;

[0054] FIG. 30 is a cross sectional view similar to FIG. 12 showing another type of fastener which can operate either as a push button fastener as has been described or as a hook and eye type fastener;

[0055] FIG. 31 is an elevational view of the eye portion of this fastener; and

[0056] FIG. 32 is an elevational view of the portion of the fastener acting as a hook.

[0057] The principles of the invention will be apparent from FIG. 1 which shows half of a brassiere 10 having a cup 11 and a back strap 12. A shoulder strap 13 can be connected to the brassiere by a pair of press-button fasteners represented at 14 and 15, respectively.

[0058] The fastener 15 comprises male and female members 16 and 17 attached to the strap 13 and to the brassiere body 10, respectively, and interconnected at a button 18 of circular shape. The cylindrical boss 19 of the male member 16 can be seen within the hole formed by the ring 20 of the female member. The male and female members are both carried via lugs 21 and 22 by pairs of shield-shaped plates 23 and 24, welded to the strap 13 and to the cup fabric, respectively. A press-button fastener of this type is described in the copending application Ser. No. 29/120,109 filed Mar. 14, 2000 (see U.S. Pat. No. D-433,965).

[0059] The press-button fastener of the present invention differs from that shown at 15 in that the female member is formed from two ring-shaped sections, one of which is visible at 25 in FIG. 1. A similarly-shaped circular ring fastener part is provided on the opposite side of the strap 12 of the body of the brassiere and is not visible in FIG. 1. The male member 26, however, is engageable in the opening on either of these two annuluses and thus can be affixed to the female fastener part on either side of the strap 12. In either case, a fabric portion 27 is visible through the opening of the female member and will be visible through the opening 28 of the male member when the latter is pressed onto the female member.

[0060] The female member of the fastener is identified at 30 in FIG. 5 and is formed as two halves or sections 31 and 32 straddling the fabric 33 of the garment. The external appearances of the two halves are identical and thus each has an opening 34 surrounded by a thin ridge 35 separated by a groove 36 from a thicker bead 37. The ring half 31 has been shown in FIG. 3 and the complementary half 32 has been illustrated in FIG. 4. From FIGS. 3 and 4 it will be apparent that each of the female fastener sections has a flat surface 38 or 39 adapted to lie against the fabric 33 while the section 31 has angularly-equispaced pointed pins 40 adapted to pierce the fabric and engage in corresponding recesses 42 formed in the member 32. The two sections are joined together as shown in FIG. 6 with the projections 40 in the recesses 42 and the sections thermally or ultrasonically welded together and to the fabric 33 sandwiched between them but not visible in FIGS. 5, 6 or 7.

[0061] As is also apparent from FIG. 6, the narrow ribs 35 of the two sections form overhanging edges 43 and 44 which engage behind a bulge 45 in the cylindrical rib 46 projecting from the flat surface 47 of the male member of the fastener. The side of the male member 50 of the fastener from which the cylindrical projection 46 juts is visible in FIG. 9. The opposite side is seen in FIG. 8 and has a narrow rib 51 separated by a groove 52 from a wider bead 53 similar to that of the sections 31 and 32 shown in FIGS. 3-7 so that the appearance remains generally the same whether the male and female members are connected or the female member is seen alone. In any case, the fabric piece 27 can be viewed through the openings in the male and female members. The male member is in addition formed with a lateral lug 54 which can have holes receiving pins 57 of a plate 58 projecting through these holes and through holes in another shield-shaped plate 59.

[0062] The pins 57 are visible in FIGS. 10 and 11 as well and the plates 58 and 59 can be seen to have projections 60 which grip the strap 13 when the latter is sandwiched between the plates and is welded thereto. Of course the plates 58 and 59 are not only welded to the strap 13 but to one another and to the lug 54 via the pins 57.

[0063] The welding here as well can be ultrasonic or thermal or a combination of the two.

[0064] The parts of the fastener can be injection molded from synthetic resin material and the plates 58 and 59 can have a different color from that of the male fastener portion and/or the female fastener portion and, while all of the parts can be of a matte finish, various textures or finishes can be provided.

[0065] As will be apparent from FIG. 1, the brassiere body 10 can be fabricated entirely by welding processes, the cups 11 of the brassiere being molded. Advantageously, the opposite sides of the brassiere 10, shown by different shading in FIG. 1, may be of different colors and hence the ring of the female fastener part applied to one side of the garment can be of a different color from the ring applied to the opposite side. The male fastener part may be of different colors on opposite sides as well so that, like the garment, the strap can be reversed to ensure a match between the respective side of the male fastener part and the ring of the female fastener part which it engages. In that case, each of the male and female fastener parts are of two colors to match the two colors of the garment.

[0066] While the principles previously described are applicable to the fasteners of FIGS. 12-29 in that the sections thereof may be annular and reveal the fabric through the respective fabric sections, and the principles of the embodiments of FIGS. 12-29 may be applicable to the fasteners of FIGS. 1-12 in that the prong arrangements shown may be included in the annular sections of those fasteners, FIG. 12 shows a preferred embodiment of a press-button fastener of the type which can be used on delicate fabric.

[0067] This fastener comprises a first fastener part 110 and a second fastener part 120 comprised respectively of sections 111 and 112 and 121 and 122. As can be seen from FIGS. 12 and 13, the section 112 is formed with an array of prongs 130 and with a male member or boss 140 whose outer bulge 141 is engageable behind the ridge 124 surrounding an opening 123 in the section 121 best seen in FIGS. 12 and 16-18. The ridge 124 of the boss 141 forms a press-button fastener as has been described previously. The sections 111 and 112 are both provided with the prongs 130 and the sections 121 and 122 are similarly provided with the prongs 130. Each of the prongs 130 can be formed with a shank 131 which is slightly tapered or cylindrical and is provided as a point 132. As can be seen from FIGS. 20 and 21, the convex surface 125 of section 122 can be embossed with a pattern 126, for example of a comet and stars.

[0068] In practice, the fabric is placed between sections 111 and 112 and between the sections 121 and 122 and the two sections of each fastener part are pressed together and ultrasonically fused to one another and, in the case of an appropriate fabric, to the fabric itself.

[0069] The sections 112 and 121 are generally disk-shaped but, to allow the fastener parts to nest well together, the section 112 can be recessed at 150 to accommodate the convex shape 151 of the section 121.

[0070] The sections 111 and 122 are curved and convex as shown at 126 and 125, respectively. The press-button of FIGS. 12-24 allows the female section to be formed with two identical parts sandwiching the fabric between them.

[0071] In addition, the section 112 can be ultrasonically bonded to a tape 160 as shown in FIGS. 25 and 26, in which case the prongs partly penetrate the tape 160 which can be composed of a thermoplastic synthetic resin.

[0072] As will be apparent from FIGS. 27-29, the external configurations of the fastener can be triangular as shown at 170, square or rectangular as shown at 180 or even of a flower shape as shown at 190.

[0073] FIG. 30 is a view similar to FIG. 23 but showing a fastener which can be used like that of FIGS. 12 through 29 as a pushbutton fastener but, alternatively, can be utilized in a hook and eye mode like the fasteners of our application Ser. No. 09/662,299 filed Sep. 15, 2000 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,347,438 which is hereby incorporated by reference.

[0074] The fastener of FIG. 30 comprises two fastener halves 210 and 220 each of which is comprised of two sections 211 and 212 which can be pressed from opposite sides against the fabric and ultrasonically welded together as has been described in connection with FIG. 12. Both of these sections 211 and 212 are formed with pins 230 as has been described and section 212 is recessed at 250 to fit against the surface 251 of a section 221 of the other fastener half 220. The latter includes a section 222 which can be ultrasonically welded to section 221 through the fabric, these sections 221 and 222 including pins 230 in the manner described.

[0075] In this fastener, the male formation 240 has a split head 241 which can engage beneath the overhanging edge 224 of an opening 225 upon being inserted through an outwardly diverging mouth 226 as has been described in the latter copending application. Thus the male formation 240 can either be inserted into the member 221 in a pushbutton action or slid into the latter through the mouth 226 in a hook eye fashion. To separate the members 210 and 220, they can be pulled apart transversely as a pushbutton fastener is separated or laterally as a hook and eye fastener is separated.