Patent Publication Number: US-2009235424-A1

Title: Bathing Suit Top Accessory

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of related U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/037,641, filed Mar. 18, 2008, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     The present invention relates to swimwear. More specifically, to an accessory that can be used with an existing top of a bathing suit. The accessory reduces the tension caused by the strings of the bathing suit on the neck of the wearer. 
     The inventor of the present invention was in the bathing suit modeling industry. The Inventor herself was a swimsuit model prior to injuring her neck in a water skiing accident. Since the accident, the inventor has suffered great pain when wearing bathing suit tops for a prolonged period of time. 
     She feels pain in the area surrounding her neck, more specifically, where the bathing suit top&#39;s strings drape around her neck and surrounding areas. 
     The inventor realized that she had to invent an accessory that would somehow move the resting place of the strings of the bathing suit. The strings would have to be moved a certain distance from where they rested around her neck and outwards toward her shoulders. By doing this she theorized that she would reduce the tension that was being placed around her neck and the surrounding areas. 
     She first designed an accessory that would move the connection points of the strings at least one inch from the central point of her spinal cord, thereby moving the strings a certain distance outward from her neck. She then noted that the strings were still not draping correctly, for they were coming straight down from her neck and the tension on her neck was not being reduced. She then realized that she needed the strings to run from the top of her shoulders to the accessory in a diagonal angle and that this might reduce the tension she felt around her neck. This realization caused her to design the accessory with appendages that flowed outward from the ends of the accessory in approximately a forty-five degree angle. By designing the accessory with the appendages, she ensured that the strings flowed from a position adjacent to her shoulders to a central position on her back, and that this in turn reduced the tension she felt around her neck and surrounding areas. 
     An object of the present invention is to provide a fashionable bathing suit top accessory that will reduce the tension placed on the neck of a wearer by the strings of the bathing suit top. 
     A further object of the present invention is to provide a universal accessory that can be used with a variety of bathing suit tops. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide an accessory that can be used with bathing Suit tops to temporarily allow users to obtain stylized tan lines. 
     SUMMARY 
     The present invention is directed to an accessory that is used with an existing top of a bathing suit to reduce the tension felt by a user around the neck of the user. Moving the strings of the bathing suit to positions on the shoulders of the user that are not adjacent to the neck reduces the tension felt by the user. 
     The accessory is comprised of a four-cornered body. The body has an upper, lower, left, right, bottom and top side. The upper and lower sides of the body are substantially parallel and are from about two inches to about five and a half inches apart. The left and right sides of the body are from about one inch to about two and a half inches apart. The accessory is further comprised of four appendages. Each appendage has a first and a second end. The first end of each appendage attaches to each corner of the body and the appendages flow outward from the body at an angle that might range from about thirty-five degree to about fifty-five degree from either the upper or lower side of the body. Each appendage defines an eyelet adjacent to the second end of each appendage. 
     The accessory is made of a waterproof or water resistant flexible material. Preferably the material will be either a rubber, a plastic, a polymer having properties that are similar to either rubber or plastic, or a combination of various rubbers or plastics. 
     In an embodiment of the present invention, the body of the accessory shall define at least one fanciful aperture within the body. The fanciful aperture shall allow the user to obtain stylized tan lines. 
    
    
     
       DRAWINGS 
       The above-described and other features and advantages of the present invention will be appreciated and understood by those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, drawings, and appended claims: 
         FIG. 1  shows a side view of a bathing suit top accessory and how the accessory attaches to the strings of a bathing suit top; and 
         FIG. 2  shows how the bathing suit top accessory is seen on the back of a user. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION 
     As seen in  FIGS. 1-2 , an accessory for a bathing suit top that minimizes the tension felt on the neck of the wearer by changing the angle in which the strings of the bathing suit drape around the shoulders of a user, the accessory comprises a four cornered body  10  and four appendages  11 . The four-cornered body  10  has an upper  10   a,  lower  10   b,  left  10   c,  right  10   d,  bottom and top side, the upper  10   a  and lower  10   b  sides of the body  10  are substantially parallel and are from about two inches to about five and a half inches apart, the left  10   c  and right  10   d  sides of the body  10  are from about one inch to about two and a half inches apart. Each appendage  11  has a first  11   a  and a second  11   b  end, the first end  11   a  of each appendage  11  attaches to each corner of the body  10 , the appendages  11  flow outward from the body  10  at an angle that ranges from about thirty-five degree to about fifty-five degree from either the upper  10   a  or the lower  10   b  side of the body  10 . Each appendage  11  defines an eyelet  12  adjacent to the second end  11   b  of each appendage  11 . 
     The body  10  and the appendages  11  might be made of waterproof and flexible materials. In preferred embodiments, the material might be a rubber, a plastic, a polymer having properties that are similar to either rubber or plastic, or a combination of various rubbers or plastics. 
     The accessory is used by first providing a wearer, the accessory, and the bathing suit top, the bathing suit top has strings. Then, threading each string of the bathing suit top through a corresponding eyelet  12  of the accessory. Next, tying the strings that were threaded through the eyelets  12  so that the strings threaded through the appendages  11  attached to the upper side  10   a  are tied together and the strings threaded through to the appendages  11  attached to the lower side  10   b  are tied together. Then, placing the bathing suit top on the wearer. And lastly, adjusting the strings of the bathing suit. 
     In a preferred embodiment, the body  10  and the appendages  11  of the accessory are made of a hard flexible plastic or rubber material and of a soft rubber material, the materials are fixedly attached, the soft rubber material would rest on the body of the wearer. 
     In an embodiment of the present invention, the body  10  might define at least one fanciful aperture  14  within the body  10 . 
     An advantage of the present invention is that it provides a fashionable bathing suit top accessory that reduces the tension placed on the neck of a wearer by the strings of the bathing suit top. 
     A further advantage of the present invention is that it provides a universal accessory that can be used with a variety of bathing suit tops, the accessory is removable. 
     Another advantage of the present invention is that it provides an accessory that can be used with bathing suit tops to temporarily allow users to obtain stylized tan lines. 
     While we have shown and described embodiments in accordance with the present invention, it should be clear to those skilled in the art that further embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.