Abstract:
An odor reducing article of apparel and the method of making same which includes perspiration shields that are strategically located contiguous to areas of perspiration which not only effectively absorb perspiration, but also significantly reduce perspiration odor. More particularly, the perspiration shields of the invention are constructed from interwoven wicking and silver coated yarn that functions to substantially eliminate odor causing bacteria contained within the perspiration of the wearer. The perspiration shields also include a protective membrane that protects the clothing from perspiration stains.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1., Field of the Invention  
         [0002]      
         [0003]     The present invention relates generally to clothing. More particularly, the invention concerns a novel perspiration absorbing, odor eliminating shield and the method of making same for use in connection with garments, such as undershirts, socks and the like.  
         [0004]     2. Discussion of the Prior Art  
         [0005]     A number of different types of perspiration shields have been suggested in the past to protect garments from becoming soiled due to excessive perspiration. Most common of these prior art perspiration shields are dress shields that are particularly designed for women. Typically, the prior art dress shields are designed to block and absorb underarm perspiration so as to prevent the perspiration from soaking through to the outer garment and becoming visible underneath the sleeve area of the garment.  
         [0006]     In the past, little attention has been given to the design of perspiration shields for use by men. By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,282,720 issued to J. Mayera discloses lightweight tightly fitted garment for women that include potential for perspiration shields in the underarm area. However, as is apparent from the patent drawings, the Mayera design is to be used only by women and is created to be an alternative to the heavier weight, larger design of men&#39;s T-shirts. More particularly, the Mayera T-shirt is basically characterized by a fabric torso enclosure and a pair of fabric sleeves, each having inner and outer end openings. The torso enclosure has a top, a neck opening in the top, a bottom including a waist opening, and a pair of arm openings at upper side locations. Seams connect the inner end openings of the sleeves to the torso enclosure at the arm openings. The seams are positioned to extend over the clavicle/acromin regions of a wearer of the shirt. Each sleeve has a top length measured from the seam to the sleeve outer end opening at the top of the sleeve, and a bottom length, measured from the seam to the sleeve outer end opening at the bottom of the sleeve. The bottom length of the sleeve is longer than the top length of the sleeve. The sleeves provide perspiration absorbing fabric contiguous both armpits of the wearer.  
         [0007]     In addition to giving little concern to perspiration shields suitable for use by men, the prior art has suggested no type of perspiration shield that both absorbs perspiration and at the same time tends to eliminate unpleasant perspiration odors.  
         [0008]     As well as being specifically designed for use by women, the prior art perspiration shields are often difficult to correctly position in the area of perspiration, do not adequately conform to the garment being worn by the user and have a tendency to bunch up and become dislodged during use.  
         [0009]     It is an object of the present invention to overcome the deficiencies of the prior art and, for the first time, to provide a novel perspiration shield that is suitable for use by both men and women. The perspiration shields of the present invention can be conveniently affixed to a garment in an area of perspiration and, as will presently be discussed, uniquely embody a blend of wicking yarn and silver coated, odor eliminating yarn. In this regard, it has long been known that silver has a broad spectrum of antimicrobial properties. Accordingly, silver has been widely used in healthcare products, including bandages, burn care treatments, catheters and any number of products where infection control is critical.  
         [0010]     Advantageously, techniques have been developed for irreversibly binding silver to polymer fibers and yarns that can be used to construct fabrics that can be used for a variety of purposes. When the silver coated fabrics are used in the production of articles of apparel, such as those of the present invention, the antimicrobial properties of the silver function to eliminate odor causing bacteria, thereby substantially reducing perspiration odor. Ammonia and denatured proteins are also contributors to odor in certain types of apparel. Advantageously both ammonia and denatured proteins readily bond to silver resulting in substantial odor reduction in these types of apparel.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0011]     It is an object of the present invention to provide an odor reducing article of apparel and the method of making same which includes perspiration shields that are strategically located contiguous to areas of perspiration which not only effectively block and absorb perspiration, but also significantly reduce perspiration odor.  
         [0012]     More particularly, it is an object of the invention to provide an article of apparel of the aforementioned character in which the perspiration shields function to substantially eliminate odor causing bacteria contained within the perspiration of the wearer.  
         [0013]     Another object of the invention is to provide an article of apparel as defined in the preceding paragraphs, in which the perspiration shield is of a character that becomes more effective in a hot, wetter environment.  
         [0014]     Another object of the invention is to provide an article of apparel of the character described which includes perspiration shields that contain no chemicals or pesticides.  
         [0015]     Another object of the invention is to provide a perspiration shield that can readily be affixed to an article of apparel at a location of heavy perspiration and which uniquely absorbs perspiration and at the same time substantially reduces perspiration odor.  
         [0016]     Another object of the invention is to provide a perspiration shield of the character described in the preceding paragraph that includes a thin barrier membrane that is disposed between the perspiration absorbing component of the shield and the article of apparel to which the shield is affixed, thereby protecting the article of apparel from the perspiration of the user.  
         [0017]     Another object of the invention is to provide a perspiration shield of the class described that is of a simple construction and one that can be inexpensively manufactured in large volume. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0018]      FIG. 1  is a generally perspective, diagrammatic view illustrating one form of the odor reducing article of apparel of the present invention.  
         [0019]      FIG. 2  is a top plan view of one form of the perspiration shield of the present invention.  
         [0020]      FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view taken along lines  3 - 3  of  FIG. 2  showing the components that make up the perspiration shield in exploded form.  
         [0021]      FIG. 4  is a greatly enlarged view of the area designated as  4 - 4  in  FIG. 2 . 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0022]     Referring to the drawings and particularly to  FIG. 1 , one form of the odor reducing article of apparel of the present invention is there shown, and generally designated by the  14 . This article of apparel is here shown as a man&#39;s T-shirt having underarm covering portions  16  to which the uniquely formed perspiration shields  18  of the invention are affixed.  
         [0023]     As best seen by also referring to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , each of the perspiration shields  18  of the article of apparel comprises a perspiration absorbing, odor reducing component  20  and a cooperating garment shield  22 . As indicated in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the perspiration shields  18  are strategically configured to substantially cover the underarm portions of the T-shirt.  
         [0024]     In the present form of the invention, the perspiration absorbing, odor reducing components  20  each comprise a fabric swatch constructed from a polyester wicking yarn  24  that is interwoven in a conventional manner with a silver coated polymer yarn  26  ( FIG. 4 ). As best seen in  FIG. 3 , the garment shield components  22  here comprise a thin, yieldable deformable, polyurethane membrane  28  having first and second surfaces  28 a and  28 b.  
         [0025]     In a manner presently to be described, the garment shield components  22  are securely interconnected with perspiration absorbing, odor, reducing components  20  to form a precursor subassembly. As indicated in  FIG. 3 , each of the garment shield components  22 , further comprise a multiplicity of heat activated adhesive particles. More particularly, as depicted in  FIG. 3 , the first surface  28 a of the membrane  28  is covered with a multiplicity of heat activated adhesive particles  30 , while second surface  28 b of the membrane is coated with a multiplicity of heat activated adhesive particles  32 . As will be described in connection with the discussion of the methods of the present invention which follows, particles  30  function to bond membrane  28  to component  20 , while particles  32  function to bond the precursor subassemblies, or perspiration shields  18 , to the under arm covering portions of the T-shirt in the manner shown in  FIG. 1 .  
         [0026]     When the perspiration shields are interconnected with the article of clothing  14  in the manner shown in  FIG. 1 , the perspiration absorbing, odor reducing components  20  are positioned in engagement with the underarms of the garment wearer and the membranes  28  are positioned in engagement with the underarm portions of the garment. With this construction, the antimicrobial properties of the pure silver which coats the polymer yarn  26  function to eliminate odor causing bacteria, thereby substantially reducing perspiration odor. At the same time, the thin polyurethane membrane  28  function to protect the article of clothing from the perspiration thereby substantially eliminating perspiration stain on the underarm portions of the article of clothing. It is to be understood that the perspiration shields of the invention can be affixed to selected body covering areas of various types of clothing which cover areas of heavy perspiration such as sweat socks and the like to absorb perspiration and reduce perspiration odors.  
         [0027]     Considering next the methods of the present invention, in one form of the invention, the method of making the perspiration shields  18  comprises the steps of first constructing the perspiration absorbing, odor reducing component  20  by interweaving in a conventional manner the polyester wicking yarn  24  with the silver coated yarn  26  in the general configuration depicted in  FIG. 4 . This done, the garment shield component  22  is constructed by distributing the heat activated adhesive  30  on the first surface  28   a  of membrane  28  to form an adhesive coated membrane. Next, the adhesive coated membrane thus formed is placed over the perspiration absorbing, odor reducing component  20  to form a precursor subassembly. With the adhesive coated membrane thus positioned over the component  20 , the assembly thus formed is simultaneously heated and compressed in a manner to activate the adhesive  30  and effectively bond together the adhesive coated membrane and the perspiration absorbing, odor eliminating component  20 . This heating and compression step can be accomplished in various ways as, for example, in a heated platen press, or in a roller laminating system both of which are of a character well understood by those skilled in the art. A suitable platen press for accomplishing this latter step is available from Danalco, Inc., of Duarte, Calif.  
         [0028]     In accordance with the method of the invention for constructing an odor reducing article of apparel from a selected garment, the perspiration shields  18  formed in accordance with the method described in the preceding paragraph, are affixed to the selected garment in the area exposed to heavy perspiration by any suitable manner, such as sewing or adhesive bonding.  
         [0029]     When the perspiration shields are to be affixed to the garment by adhesive bonding, the heat activated adhesive  32  is randomly deposited on surface  28   b  of the membrane  28  by any suitable means and the assemblage thus formed of is heated in a manner to effectively fuse the heat activated adhesive  32  to the surface  28   b.  This heating step can be accomplished in various ways, including passing an infrared heater above the surface of the membrane at a suitable, elevated temperature sufficient to melt the adhesive without damaging the membrane film.  
         [0030]     Bonding of the adhesive coated perspiration shield to the garment is accomplished by first placing the adhesive coated perspiration shield over the perspiration area, such as the underarm covering portion of the T-shirt shown in  FIG. 1  so that said second surface of said membrane is in engagement with the underarm covering portion of the garment. This done, the adhesive coated perspiration shield and the underarm covering portion of the garment are simultaneously heated and compressed to effectively bond the adhesive coated perspiration shield to the garment. As before, this heating and compression step can be accomplished in various ways, either in a heated platen press, or in a roller laminating system of a character well understood by those skilled in the art. A suitable platen press for accomplishing this latter step is also available from Danalco, Inc., of Duarte, Calif.  
         [0031]     Having now described the invention in detail in accordance with the requirements of the patent statutes, those skilled in this art will have no difficulty in making changes and modifications in the individual parts or their relative assembly in order to meet specific requirements or conditions. Such changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention, as set forth in the following claims.