Patent Publication Number: US-10765156-B2

Title: Lower back entry body suit

Description:
FIELD 
     There is described a body suit that was originally designed as an immersion suit for water activities. It has become apparent that, if made out of suitable materials, the suit would also be suitable for dry suit undergarments and similar one piece garments such as snowmobile, motorcycle and ski suits. 
     BACKGROUND 
     A common problem encountered with one piece body suits is difficulty donning and doffing the suit as well as the bulk and location of the zipper restricting mobility. 
     SUMMARY 
     There is provided a lower back entry body suit which consists of a one piece body having a front, a back, a torso covering upper portion and a lower portion that extends from waist to ankle dividing to define a first leg and a second leg. An access entry is provided into the body suit extending part way up the first leg, across the back, and part way down the second leg. This is the only access entry location on the body for the user to don or doff the body suit. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       These and other features will become more apparent from the following description in which reference is made to the appended drawings, the drawings are for the purpose of illustration only and are not intended to be in any way limiting, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a rear elevation view of a lower back entry dry suit. 
         FIG. 2  is a front elevation view of the lower back entry dry suit illustrated in  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a side elevation view of the lower back entry dry suit illustrated in  FIG. 1 , with the user&#39;s legs inside the suit. 
         FIG. 4  is a side elevation view of the lower back entry dry suit illustrated in  FIG. 1 , with the user inside the suit, preparing the close the dry zipper. 
         FIG. 5  is a side elevation view of the lower back entry dry suit illustrated in  FIG. 1 , with the user inside the suit and the dry zipper closed. 
         FIG. 6  is a rear elevation view of a variation where the suit is a dry suit undergarment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     A lower back entry body suit will now be described with reference to  FIG. 1 through 5 . 
     Structure and Relationship of Parts: 
     Referring to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , of a one piece body  4  having a front  5 , a back  7 , a torso covering upper portion  9  and a lower portion  11  that extends from waist to ankle dividing to define a first leg  11 A and a second leg  11 B. Referring to  FIG. 1 , an access entry  13  is provided into body suit  4  extending part way up first leg  11 A, across back  7 , and part way down second leg  11 B. Access entry  13  is the only access location on one piece body  4  for the user to don or doff the body suit. There will now be described the lower back entry body suit, where one piece body  4  is in the form of a dry suit. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , a user  2  is shown wearing dry suit  4 . When the body suit is a dry suit, there are provided a neck seal  6 , wrist seals  8  and ankle seals  10 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , for other uses, access entry  13  may not have a closure or may have buttons, snaps or forms of closure that are not water proof. When used as a dry suit  4 , a water proof closure is essential. The closure illustrated is a dry zipper  12  disposed in an inverted U shape over the lower back and upper rear leg region  16  on the dry suit  4  with a dry zipper slider  14  that allows for opening and closing of dry zipper  12 . 
     In order to better explain the preferred positioning of dry zipper  12 , a broken line  32  has been placed at the bottom of a crotch  33  and a broken line  34  has been at knee joint  35  representing. Broken line  34  represents an axis of rotation of the knee. It is preferred that dry zipper  12  does not extend to or below line  34 , the axis of rotation of the knee. If dry zipper  12  were to extend below line  34 , there would potentially be discomfort in knee joint  35 . It is preferred that the section of the dry zipper  36  that is located between line  34  and line  32  is straight. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , the user  2  is depicted as having partially donned dry suit  4  by entering through the opened dry zipper  12 , with his legs inside the dry suit and his feet pushed through the ankle seals  10 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 4 , the user  2  has further donned dry suit  4  with hands pushed through the wrist seals  8  and head pushed through the neck seal  6  and his hand preparing to pull the dry zipper slider  14  to close the dry zipper  12 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 5 , a user  2  has donned a dry suit  4  and closed dry zipper  12 . Broken line  30  represents an out-seam line which is the separation between front  5  and back  7  of dry suit  4 . Dry zipper  12  does not pass over out-seam line  30  onto front  5  of dry suit  12 . 
     Operation: 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , access entry  13  extends part way up first leg  11 A, across back  7 , and part way down second leg  11 B. When used as a dry suit, access entry  13  is closed with a dry zipper  12 . Referring to  FIG. 3 , access entry  13  allows user  2  easy access into dry suit  4  by first placing his legs through the opened inverted U shaped dry zipper  12 , located on the lower back and upper rear leg region  16 . This can be done in a sitting or standing position. Referring to  FIG. 4 , once user  2  has pushed his feet through the ankle seals  10  he then bends forwards and goes hand first through the opened inverted U shaped dry zipper  12 , located on the lower back and upper rear leg region  16 , and pushes his hands through the wrist seals  8  and then pushes his head through the neck seal  6 . As the user  2  sits up or straightens up his body, dry suit  4  slides into position covering the users body. The user  2  can now easily grasp the dry zipper slider  14  and close the dry zipper  12 . 
     As previously described, it is preferred that dry zipper  12  stops above line  34 , which represents the axis of rotation of knee joint  35 . If dry zipper  12  were to extend below line  34 , there would potentially be discomfort in knee joint  35 . As the position of the dry zipper is away from the user&#39;s upper body, arms and knees it does not impede movement or mobility and it allows user  2  to wear accessories, backpacks, air tanks, etc. without interference from the dry zipper  12 . 
     Variations: 
     Referring to  FIG. 6 , a variation is illustrated in which the one piece body is a dry suit undergarment  18  that has a closure in the form of a zipper  20 . Zipper  20  is disposed in an inverted U shape over the lower back and upper rear leg region  16  on dry suit undergarment  18  with a zipper slider  22  that allows for opening and closing zipper  20 . As previously described in relation to dry suit  4 , line  32  is at the bottom of crotch  33  and line  34  is at the axis of rotation of knee joint  35 . It is preferred that zipper  20  does not extend below line  34 , the axis of rotation of the knee. It is preferred that the section of the zipper  38  that is located between line  34  and line  32  is straight. Dry suit undergarment  18  is worn in the same manner as has been described above in relation to dry suit  4 . 
     There has previously been described use as a dry suit  4 . It will be appreciated that any immersion suit for water sports can be made with dry suit seals in the regions of the neck, wrists and ankles, identified in the Figures as neck seal  6 , wrist seals  8  and ankle seals  10 . It will also be appreciated that soft socks can be used in place of ankle seals  10 . 
     In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be one and only one of the elements. 
     The scope of the claims should not be limited by the illustrated embodiments set forth as examples, but should be given the broadest interpretation consistent with a purposive construction of the claims in view of the description as a whole.