Combined clothing article

A combined article of clothing as disclosed, having an upper torso portion suitable for outerwear along with a lower portion adapted to serve as underwear for the midsection of the body. The garment is particularly adaptable for men and boys, and serves to maintain shirt tails and the like neatly tucked into the overlaying trousers, while providing all of the comfort of conventional underwear briefs.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Field 
1. The field of the invention is clothing, more particularly clothing 
articles which combine upper body outerwear and midsection underwear. 
2. State of the Art 
Conventional apparel includes traditional trunk covering shirts for men and 
boys and blouses for women and girls, along with separate underwear 
articles such as briefs and boxer shorts for men and midsection lingerie 
for women and girls. These upper body items are worn with lower body 
outerwear such as trousers or slacks for both men and women and skirts for 
the latter. Shirts and blouses are normally worn neatly tucked into the 
waist of the lower outside garment. The maintenance of this neat tuck, 
especially with smaller children, has been an unsolved problem for as long 
as shirts have been worn, especially for men and boys. A garment, 
sometimes called a body shirt, has been employed which has a crotch strap 
extension of the rear tail of a shirt attached releasably by snaps or the 
like to the front tails of the shirt. U.S. Pat. No. 3,840,900 discloses 
such a body shirt for men. The fabric of the rear tail of the shirt is 
shaped to form a seat portion, with a crotch strap sewn at one end to its 
lowermost extension. The strap is attached at its other end by snaps to 
the front shirt tails. The fabrics of which shirts are normally 
constructed are not highly adapted for comfort in the midsection region of 
the body. Any body movements tending to pull the shirt tails upwardly from 
the waistline is directly resisted by the tail connecting strap, with 
attendant uncomfortable stress and chafing in the sensitive crotch region, 
although soft lining may be applied to alleviate this problem to some 
extent. Underwear briefs, for example, worn under the strap provide 
welcome softness, but add unwanted binding and bunching bulk. 
The need therefore remains for a comfortable, easily effected, solution to 
the shirt waist untucking problem. 
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
With the foregoing in mind, the present invention eliminates or 
substantially alleviates the shortcomings and disadvantages in prior art 
devices and garments for retaining shirt tails and the like neatly tucked 
into outerwear at the waist. A unitary garment is provided, combining 
clothing for both the upper trunk and the midsection of the body. The 
trunk portion may be constructed of conventional shirt or blouse material, 
for example, while the midsection is preferably constructed of the soft, 
comfortably yielding cloth conventionally used for underwear briefs worn 
in that region of the body. The brief portion is shaped, sized and so 
attached to the trunk portion as to fit the body very similarly to the fit 
of conventional briefs. Seat and abdominal portions extend upwardly to 
join with rear and front waist band sections, which together substantially 
gird the body at the hips near the waist. Front and rear waist sections of 
the combined garment are designed to stretch about the body, the cloth of 
both being accordioned by incorporated elastic material. Most 
advantageously, the elastic may be sewn, while stretched, to brief and 
shirt rear waist, which have been previously stitched together. However, 
the elastic may be first incorporated into the brief rear waist only, 
which may then be attached to the shirt rear waist permanently or 
detachably at the option of the designer. 
The front shirt tails and the upper front portion of the briefs carry 
releasable attachment devices, such as hook and loop material or male and 
female snaps. The fasteners are spaced apart so that the front shirt tails 
are also accordioned or pleated between the attaching points by the 
elastic waist of the briefs, as necessary to fit the body. Thus the briefs 
and shirt portions of the garment share an elastic waist substantially 
entirely girding the waist of the body. As with conventional briefs, the 
legs of the wearer may be embraced by elastic edges incorporated into the 
briefs portion joining the front and rear waist portions. The brief 
portions are preferably constructed entirely of soft stretchable material, 
such as the interlock woven cotton commonly used for such garments. 
It is therefore the principal object of the invention to provide an 
entirely comfortable combined upper outergarment and a midsection 
undergarment, wherein the lower portion of the upper garment is maintained 
permanently in neat, comfortable tucked position within the trousers, 
skirt or the like of the wearer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS 
A combination shirt and briefs 10 in accordance with the invention is 
illustrated being worn by a man or boy in FIGS. 1, 2 and 5. The shirt 11 
clothes the upper trunk and shoulders conventionally, comprising sleeves 
12, collar 13 and a split front 14 secured together by buttons 15 and 
terminating in front "tails" 16. (FIG. 3) The back 17 of shirt 11, 
however, does not have a conventional tail, but terminates where joined 
with the back waist portion 18 of the briefs 19. Briefs 19 are of 
generally conventional construction, having a buttock covering rear seat 
20 and a front abdomen portion 21 connected by a crotch member 22, all 
made of comfortably soft material such as cotton in a comfortable 
stretchable weave such as interlock. Abdomen 21 is, for men and boys, 
constructed with overlaps 23, which can be separated to form an opening. 
(FIG. 4) Preferably, seat, crotch and abdomen portions are edged by 
elastic bands 24 comfortably gripping the body. Briefs 19 also have an 
uppermost elastic waist 25, similar to the waists of conventional briefs, 
but provided in rear and front sections 18 and 26 respectively. Both waist 
sections are secured to the shirt 11. Front waist 26 is detachably 
connected to shirt 11, while rear waist 18 is permanently connected in the 
embodiment of FIGS. 1-6. 
Rear brief waist 18 is stitched to the lower edge 27 of shirt back 17, 
along with an elastic band (not shown) in stretched condition. Shirt 
bottom 27 forms into pleats 29 as the elastic contracts upon release. 
Brief waist 18 and shirt bottom 27 act elastically as a unit. 
Front brief waist 26 is connected at each of its ends 30 to one of the 
front shirt tails 16, as by elongate hook and loop swatches 31 and 32 
carried respectively by front brief waist 26 and tails 16. Front waist 26 
and rear waist 18 are generally at approximately the same level, although 
the former may be adjusted to somewhat lower or higher positions to 
accommodate differing torso lengths. Swatches 31 and 32 could be replaced 
by male/female snap assemblies 33, for example. (FIG. 6) The loop swatches 
32 on tails 16 are placed well to the sides 34 of shirt 11, so that front 
and rear brief waists 26 and 18 together elastically gird the body 
substantially all around, interrupted only by short sections 35 at each 
side of shirt 11. Shirt tails 16 are formed into pleats 36 between 
swatches 32, as necessary to fit the body. 
The brief back waist portion 18 need not necessarily be permanently secured 
along the lower edge 27 of the shirt back 17, although this is highly 
convenient. For example, elastic may first be incorporated into brief rear 
waist 18 separately of shirt bottom 27. Then, as with front waist 26, hook 
and loop swatches 37 could be provided. (FIG. 7) The combination garment 
10 would in either event be donned with the rear waist 18 secured, 
followed by attachment of the front waist 28. 
Briefs 19 act in all respects as comfortable conventional briefs while 
retaining the shirt neatly tucked into the wearer's trousers, pleated 
uniformly and attractively both front and rear. 
The combination shirt and briefs 10 is illustrated as adapted for the use 
of men or boys. However, it could, even as illustrated, be utilized by 
women and girls. Further, shirt 11 could be replaced with a female blouse, 
and briefs 19 by an appropriate item of female lingerie suitably adapted. 
The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing 
from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present 
embodiments are therefore to be considered as illustrative and not 
restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended 
claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes that come 
within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore 
intended to be embraced therein.