Abstract:
Breakaway sports pants having a slider that when lifted beyond the mating teeth at the top of opposing zipper tracks enables the user to disengage the zipper by pulling the tracks apart rather than sliding the zipper the length of the pants legs.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATE APPLICATIONS 
     Related Applications 
     This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/650,365, filed 8 Jan. 2007 now U.S. Pat. No. 8,127,370. 
     Please incorporate by reference all information in said patent application into this continuation-in-part application. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to garments and, more specifically, to sports pants having a breakaway zipper. Athletes frequently wear warm-up pants when they are not in play. Players they frequently need to remove them rapidly when entering a game and breakaway pants have become common to enable the user to quickly remove the pants without the need of removing their athletic shoes. They usually fasten at the sides using snaps or Velcro strips as the fastening elements. However, the drawback to those fastening elements is that gaps are located therebetween and Velcro is cumbersome. The present invention overcomes these shortcomings by providing sport pants with breakaway zippers extending the entire length of the sides of the pant legs to provide continuous closure and easy removal thereof. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     There are other breakaway sports pants designed for a similar purpose. While these sport pants may be suitable for the purposes for which they were designed, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention, as hereinafter described. 
     SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION 
     A primary object of the present invention is to provide breakaway sport pants that facilitate rapid removal thereof. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide breakaway sport pants utilizing breakaway zippers disposed on the sides of the pant legs. 
     Yet another object of the present invention is to provide breakaway sport pants wherein the breakaway zipper eliminates the box that holds one pair of mating ends of the zipper. 
     Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide breakaway sports pants wherein the zipper slider is disposed at the top ends of mating zipper tracks when in the closed position to maintain the engagement thereof. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide breakaway sports pants having a closure flap permanently secured on one side of the zipper and removably securable to the other side with fastening elements. 
     Yet another object of the present invention is to provide breakaway sports pants wherein said fastening elements are mating hook and loop fasteners. 
     Still another object of the present invention is to provide breakaway sports pants that are removed from the wearer by opening the closure flap to expose the zipper pull and lifting it and the associated slider thus enabling the user to pull the zipper apart and disengaging the interlocking teeth on the opposing zipper tracks. 
     Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide breakaway sports pants wherein said zipper pull further includes frictional coating with a lip that will be compressed with the tab. 
     Additional objects of the present invention will appear as the description proceeds. 
     The present invention overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art by providing breakaway sports pants having a slider that when lifted beyond the mating teeth at the top of opposing zipper tracks enables the user to disengage the zipper by pulling the tracks apart rather than sliding the zipper the length of the pants legs. 
     The foregoing and other objects and advantages will appear from the description to follow. In the description reference is made to the accompanying drawing, which forms a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments will be described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. In the accompanying drawing, like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the several views. 
     The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is best defined by the appended claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES 
       In order that the invention may be more fully understood, it will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a right side view of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a left side view of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a detail view of the closure flap of the present invention in the closed position. 
         FIG. 4  is a detail view of the closure flap in the open position. 
         FIG. 5  is a detail view of the closure flap of the present invention in the closed position. 
         FIG. 6  is a detail view of the closure flap in the open position. 
         FIG. 7  is a side view of the present invention with the front portion separated from the back portion. 
         FIG. 8  is a detail view of the closure mechanism of the closure flap in the open position with the zipper pull on the slide in the raised position. 
         FIG. 9  is a side view of the present invention with the zipper tracks disengaged. 
         FIG. 10  is a side view of the present invention with a lip projecting therefrom. 
         FIG. 11  is a front view of the present invention having zipper pull with a lip. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE REFERENCED NUMERALS 
     Turning now descriptively to the drawings, in which similar reference characters denote similar elements throughout the several views, the figures illustrate the Sports Pants with Breakaway Zipper of the present invention. With regard to the reference numerals used, the following numbering is used throughout the various drawing figures.
           10  Sports Pants with Breakaway Zipper of the present invention     12  sports pants     14  breakaway zipper     16  front portion of  12       18  back portion of  12       20  left side of  12       22  right side of  12       24  zipper pull     26  slide     28  zipper pull closure flap     30  fastening element     32  hook and loop fastener     34  zipper track     35  first zipper track     36  second zipper track     37  zipper teeth     38  terminus top end of  35       40  terminus top end of  36       42  slide stop     44  seat of  12       46  crotch of  12       48  lipped zipper pull     50  frictional coating     52  lip of  48       54  tab of  26       56  zipper cloth leader       

     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     The following discussion describes in detail one embodiment of the invention (and several variations of that embodiment). This discussion should not be construed, however, as limiting the invention to those particular embodiments, practitioners skilled in the art will recognize numerous other embodiments as well. For definition of the complete scope of the invention, the reader is directed to appended claims. 
       FIG. 1  is a right side view of the present invention  10 . The present invention  10  is a pair of sports pants  12  having a front portion  16  and a back portion  18  releasably joined by a breakaway zipper  14  extending the length of each pant leg. The breakaway zipper  14  enables the user to quickly and easily remove the pants when needed. 
       FIG. 2  is a left side view of the present invention  10 . The present invention  10  is a pair of sports pants  12  having a front portion  16  and a back portion  18  releasably joined by a breakaway zipper  14  extending the length of each pant leg. The breakaway zipper  14  enables the user to quickly and easily remove the pants when needed. 
     As clearly illustrated in both  FIGS. 1 and 2 , as well as  FIG. 7 , the bottoms of the pants legs are ungathered. 
       FIG. 3  is a detail view of the closure flap  28  of the present invention  10  in the closed position. The closure flap  28  is fixedly attached to either side and serves to prevent the casual displacement of the slide when the teeth  37  of the mating zipper tracks  34  of the breakaway zipper  14  are interlockingly engaged with each other. 
       FIG. 4  is a detail view of the closure flap  28  of the present invention  10  in the open position. Opening the closure flap  28  shown in  FIG. 3  exposes the zipper pull  24  and slide  26 . It is held in the closed position by a fastening element  30 , shown here as hook and loop fasteners  32 , that can quickly and easily be opened. A catch mechanism may be employed to retain the slide  26  on a track when disengaged without deviating from the concept and objectives of the present invention  10 . The variation depicted demonstrates a first zipper track  35  having a top terminus point  38  that extends beyond the top terminus point  40  of the second zipper track  36 . The slide  26  is retained on the longer zipper track by stops  42  located the top and bottom points thereof to prevent it from inadvertently falling off the track when disengaged. 
       FIG. 5  is a detail view of the closure flap  28  of the present invention  10  in the closed position. The closure flap  28  is fixedly attached to either side and serves to prevent the casual displacement of the slide when the teeth  37  of the mating zipper tracks  34  of the breakaway zipper  14  are interlockingly engaged with each other. 
       FIG. 6  is a detail view of the closure flap  28  of the present invention  10  in the open position. Opening the closure flap  28  shown in  FIG. 5  exposes the zipper pull  24  and slide  26 . It is held in the closed position by a fastening element  30 , shown here as hook and loop fasteners  32  that can quickly and easily be opened. A catch mechanism may be employed to retain the slide  26  on a track when disengaged without deviating from the concept and objectives of the present invention  10 . The variation depicted demonstrates a first zipper track  35  having a top terminus point  38  that extends beyond the top terminus point  40  of the second zipper track  36 . The slide  26  is retained on the longer zipper track by stops  42  located the top and bottom points thereof to prevent it from inadvertently falling off the track when disengaged. 
       FIG. 7  is a side view of the present invention  10  with the front portion  16  separated from the back portion  18  and only connected by the seat  44  and the crotch  46 . 
       FIG. 8  is a detail view of the closure flap  28  of the present invention  10  in the open position with the zipper pull  24  and the slide  26  in the upright raised position with the first track  35  and the second track  36  prepared to be pulled apart. 
       FIG. 9  is a side view of the present invention  10  with the closure flap  28  closed to secure the lowered slide and zipper pull  24  in the lowered position to engage both zipper tracks  34  and prohibit the separation thereof. An additional element of the present invention  10  has the zipper slide  26  including a frictional  50  coating to restrict the inadvertent movement thereof once in place. 
       FIG. 10  is a side view of a lipped zipper pull  48  of the present invention  10  with a lip  54  projecting therefrom. The lip  54  and slide  26  have a frictional coating  50  and the lip  52  is compressed by the tab  54  restrict movement thereof when the teeth  37  of the breakaway zipper  14  are engaged. 
       FIG. 11  is a front view of the lipped zipper pull  48  of the present invention  10  in the lowered, secured position. The slide  26  is engaging teeth  37  of both zipper tracks  34  to prevent them from separating. To disengage the user raises the slide  26  onto the zipper cloth leaders  56  thereby releasing the tracks  34  to enable the user to pull them apart. 
     It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together may also find a useful application in other types of methods differing from the type described above. 
     While certain novel features of this invention have been shown and described and are pointed out in the annexed claims, it is not intended to be limited to the details above, since it will be understood that various omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be made by those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention. 
     Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention.