Patent Publication Number: US-6213841-B1

Title: Cup structure for a bra

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a cup structure for a bra. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     A bra includes two cups each having a pad sewed therein to provide comfort wearing for the users. Typical bras include fixed silicone rubber type pad and soft pad. A soft pad includes two tough thin films containing liquid therein in a sealed manner. Each cup must be provided with a deep pocket for receiving the soft pad. It is, however, found that the soft pad cannot be properly positioned without deviation or skew. 
     FIG. 1 of the drawings illustrates a bra with a conventional cup  10 . A soft pad is sewn onto an inner surface of a lining fabric of each cup  10 . The soft pad  11  includes two tough thin films containing liquid therein in a sealed manner. The liquid includes water or oil. Nevertheless, sewing the soft pads  11  is time-consuming and labor-intensive. In addition, the soft pads  11  are often stabbed and thus cause leakage. Further, the soft pads are only sewn in the peripheral edges thereof and thus fail to provide reliable positioning. 
     The present invention is intended to provide a cup structure for a bar that mitigates and/or obviates the above problems. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved cup structure for a bra, wherein the cup structure includes a front fabric and a rear fabric. Each fabric includes a layer of woven cloth and a layer of foam material engaged on a surface of the layer of woven cloth. The two layers of foam material face each other such that a soft pad may be adhered to a mediate portion of each of the two layers of foam material. The overall outer surface of the soft pad is directly adhered between the mediate portions of the layers of foam material. A peripheral edge of the layer of foam material of the front fabric is directly bonded with a peripheral edge of the layer of foam material of the rear fabric. Thus, the soft pad is reliably positioned between the front fabric and the rear fabric, and the assembly efficiency is improved. 
     Other objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional bra. 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a cup structure in accordance with the present invention. 
     FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the cup structure in accordance with the present invention. 
     FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a modified embodiment of the cup structure in accordance with the present invention. 
     FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the cup structure in accordance with the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, a cup structure  20  in accordance with the present invention generally includes a front fabric  30 , a rear fabric  40 , and a soft pad  50  between the front fabric  30  and the rear fabric  40 . 
     Each fabric  30 ,  40  includes a layer of woven cloth  31 ,  41  and a layer of foam material  32 ,  42  engaged on a surface of the layer of woven cloth  31 ,  41 . The layers of foam material  32  and  42  face each other. It is appreciated that the width of the layer of foam material of the front fabric  30  is larger than that of the layer of foam material of the rear fabric  40 . 
     The soft pad  50  includes two tough thin films containing liquid therein in a sealed manner. The liquid includes water or oil that has high flowability. The soft pad (now designated by  51 ) in FIG. 4 uses powder of milk-like liquid to thereby provide a light structure. 
     The soft pad  50  is sandwiched between the front fabric  30  and the rear fabric  40 . Adhesive is applied to an overall outer surface of the soft pad  50  so as to be bonded with mediate portions of the layers of foam material  32  and  42 . A peripheral edge of the layer of foam material  32  of the front fabric  30  is directly bonded with a peripheral edge of the layer of foam material  42  of the rear fabric  40 . Thus, a composite cup structure  20  is provided. 
     As illustrated in FIG. 5, the soft pad  50  is adhered between the layer of foam material  32  of the front fabric  30  and the layer of foam material  42  of the rear fabric  40  in a reliable manner without deviation or skew. 
     Although the invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.