Patent Publication Number: US-2013232676-A1

Title: Insect Protective Garment

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/803,748 filed Jul. 6, 2010. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention related to an insect protective garment composed of non-woven fabric and constructed to frustrate penetration of the garment by the stinger of a mosquito or other insect. 
     There are many insect protective garments known in the prior art. They are mainly constructed of several layers of fabric that are close to the skin of the wearer. The closest layer to the skin of the wearer is designed to be comfortable to the skin of the wearer and act as an air pervious so that the wearer feels the ventilated air. Then there is another layer that is maintained at some distance from the bottom layer so that insect bites cannot penetrate to the skin of the wearer. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 4,395,781 discloses an insect protection garment that comprises a light weight garment that is sufficiently loose to keep insects away from the skin of a wearer. The coverall garment has portions of the garment removed and then is covered with an insect excluding mesh to provide ventilation and maximum flexibility at the elbows and joints of the garment. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,236 illustrates an insect protecting garment which comprises an upper body portion of light weight semi-rigid excluding mesh, such as fiberglass screening commonly sold for use in campers or tents. The garment is deliberately made loose fitting to enable the user to comfortably wear the garment over regular clothes, and to produce a blousing effect necessary for maximum insect protection properties. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,091,993 discloses an insect proof garment for protection against mosquitoes, black flies and other insects. The garment is made entirely from a light weight mesh and is comprised of a one piece fully enclosable head net attached to an upper body portion, with the upper body portion extending from the neck to approximately the hips of the wearer, and has sleeves connected thereto. The upper portion, the sleeves and the lower portion are formed of a single layer of see-through, semi-rigid insect excluding mesh net. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,019,510 teaches the use of an improved mesh outfit including a complete mesh body suit which minimizes the ability of insects such as mosquitoes, chiggers, no-see-ums, black flies, gnats and deer ticks from penetrating the suit. The mesh material is said to be of such characteristics that the brave insects cannot penetrate through the material. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,263 discloses an insect protective garment covering the head, arms, torso and legs of a wearer. The entire garment is made of a mesh material of sufficiently fine mesh to exclude small insects from penetrating though the material. 
     Shannon, U.S. Pat. No. 4,716,594 discloses a protective garment for protection against mosquitoes and other insects. That garment includes separate and distinct inner and outer fabric layers secured together by stitching that forms seams. The outer fabric layer comprises mosquito netting, which prevents the body of the mosquito from passing therethrough. The separate inner layer includes a coarse woven mesh fabric that is nominally thick enough to prevent the mosquito from spanning the distance to the skin of the wearer. Not only does the double layer construction involve undesirable complexity and expense, this garment is also less than optimally effective in protecting the wearer against mosquito bites. The inner woven fabric is easily compressed. With sufficient compression, the spacing provided by the inner layer may be reduced enough so that a mosquito or other insect will be able to fully penetrate the garment with their stinger. In such cases, the wearer is apt to be bitten or stung. 
     Schilling, U.S. Pat. No 5,119,501 discloses a purportedly insect-proof garment, which again employs a regular woven or knitted mesh fabric comprising a fine mesh referred to a No-See-Um™ mesh. This material is designed to prevent the body of the insect from passing through the garment and allowing the insect to bite the wearer. However, Schilling does not disclose a construction that prevents the stinger of the mosquito or other insect from extending completely through the garment and penetrating the skin of the wearer. Indeed, virtually any purportedly insect proof garment employing a regular (i.e. woven or knitted) mesh fabric is susceptible to this problem. Such fabric inherently employs a series at regular mesh openings or interstices that extend in a straight direction substantially perpendicularly through the fabric. Such conventional openings provide an easily penetrable passageway for the mosquito&#39;s stinger and a direct path to the wearer&#39;s skin. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The inventive concept provides an insect protection upper garment including a hood that is attached to an upper torso encircling garment including sleeves and a lower torso and leg covering garment. The material is made of a non-woven mesh fabric that is loose enough to provide ventilation to the body of the wearer. The non-woven material includes fibers, filaments or strands that are bonded or twisted together in an irregular or random mesh pattern with a plurality of randomly oriented and arranged interstices extending in respective convoluted pathways therethrough. Preferably the non-woven material is made of a synthetic material such as polyethylene, Dacron™ etc. and a non-woven process provides the material with sufficient loft and resiliency to resist compression and maintain the mesh at a certain thickness so that an insect or its biting parts (i.e. proboscis, stinger) cannot penetrate through the material and reach or bite the wearer&#39;s skin. The garment does not have to be extremely loose fitting. It can be worn over regular clothing or it can be worn by itself as a garment. Since it is a very ventilated garment, it can be worn in hot and insect infested areas and climates which will not inhibit the wearers from doing certain chores. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Other objects, features and advantage will occur from the following description of a preferred embodiment and the accompany drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  shows an upper torso covering garment; 
         FIG. 2 . illustrates a cross section through a non-woven mesh used in the garment and featuring an irregular fiber pattern and random interstices formed therethrough; 
         FIG. 2A  is a simplified schematic view of a cross section of the non-woven fabric; and 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a lower body covering garment shown as a pair of pants. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       FIG. 1  shows a garment  1  that covers the upper torso of a wearer in the form of a jacket. The upper torso garment  1  has a hood  2  attached thereto and the hood connects to the jacket  1  at a neck line  3 . The jacket has a front closing portion by way of zipper  4  that may be attached to the jacket  1  by way of fabric strips (now shown), which is a common practice in the construction of jackets. The jacket  1  also has sleeves  5  and  6  attached thereto. 
     The most important aspect of the invention is the fabric material forming the garment, which is illustrated in  FIGS. 2 and 2A .  FIG. 2  is taken along the arrows  2 - 2  on the sleeve of  FIG. 1 . The fabric  10 , shown in  FIG. 2 , consists of a non-woven material that exhibits enough of a thickness  9  to prevent any insect stinger bite from fully penetrating and impaling into the skin of the wearer. Such thickness should be a, at a minimum, 3 mm thick an preferably at least ¼ inch thick. 
     As further shown in  FIG. 2A , fabric  10  includes irregularly oriented and arranged filaments, strands at fibers  20  that schematically represent the numerous fibers comprising a piece of material formed by a non-woven manufacturing process. As used herein, “non-woven manufacturing process” includes any and all known processes for producing a fabric wherein the individual filaments, strands or fibers are bonded or fused together in an irregular or random pattern, as opposed to the regular mesh pattern exhibited by a woven or knitted fabric. The bonding of the individual fibers may be achieved by various physical and/or chemical means such as entanglement, thermal fusion, adhesives, etc. The particular non-woven process for bonding or fusing the fibers is not a limitation of this invention. This process yields a mesh garment  10  featuring numerous convoluted interstices or pathways  22  that extend transversely through fabric  10 . Interstices  22  provide for satisfactory air flow and ventilation through the mesh garment  10  and, at the same time, define convoluted labyrinthine, twisting or otherwise indirect openings or passageways extending transversely through fabric  10 . 
     The random fabric construction described above achieves a number of significant advantages over the prior art. In particular, the irregular mesh pattern and convoluted interstices significantly increase the effective span or distance that a mosquito must extend its proboscis or stinger through the garment in order to reach the wearer&#39;s skin. The stinger is unable to penetrate directly or straight-through the garment due to the lack of essentially straight and unobstructed regular passageways or openings through the fabric. In conventional woven fabrics such straight openings are commonplace, as shown in  FIG. 4  of Shannon. In the present invention the irregularly arranged fibers  20  and convoluted interstices  22  provides a twisting pathway that effectively blocks passage of the insect&#39;s stinger through the full width of fabric  10 . In addition, the fused, non-woven construction of the present invention provides the garment with a natural expansiveness or springiness that effectively resists compression and reduction in thickness of the garment fabric. The individual strands or fibers are bonded or fused and thereby provide the fabric with enough loft so that it will not compress under its own weight or during normal usage. The loft or resilience featured by the irregular non-woven fabric effectively maintains a thickness that frustrates an insect&#39;s stinger from penetrating through and beyond the garment and reaching the underlying skin of the wearer. Conventional woven fabrics are far more susceptible to such compression under their own weight and are therefore not nearly as effective in frustrating insect bites through the garment 
     The non-woven fabric used in garment of this invention also exhibits improved ventilation, even at thicknesses of ¼ or greater. It is counter intuitive for conventional insect-proof garments composed of a woven fabric to be made thickness specified herein because this would tend to make the garment unacceptably hot and uncomfortable to wear particularly when the wearer is engaged in strenuous physical activity or during warmer weather wherein mosquitoes and other stinging insects flourish. Use of a non-woven fabric as described herein produces the unexpected result of significantly improved insect protection due to the thickness and randomly arranged fibers and interstices, while at the same time providing acceptable ventilation and comfort due to the effective passage of air through the non-woven material. 
     Fabric  10  may comprise various types of non-woven materials and may feature natural and/or synthetic fibers. Non-woven materials of the type used in air conditioning and furnace filters is particularly effective as it provides both superior protection against insect bites and satisfactory ventilation for the wearer. Spun cotton or synthetic fibers and various types of non-enclosed batting may be employed. It is critical to the present invention that the garment not be composed of a woven fabric or other material featuring a regular fabric pattern. 
     The present invention also presents a significant advantage because a much more efficient and less costly single later of material is used. The garment does not require the use of multiple layers as featured in the prior art. 
     The non-woven fabric may be constructed to include various material such as Dacron™, which is a condensation polymer obtained from ethylene glycol, and terephthalic acid, which is commonly known as PET or PETE. The fabric may include synthetic fibers composed of polyamides, polyethylenes, and/for polytetrafluoroethyenes. The fibers may be a combination of several fibers such as plastics and cotton. The cotton may be included to improve the feel of the material against the skin of the user as long as the fabric remains at the predetermined thickness, that is, it does not collapse and allow the stinger of an insect to reach the skin of the wearer. In certain climates it may also be advisable to add an insect repellent fluid to the basic material to avoid any insects from even reaching the outer surface of the material. 
       FIG. 3  is a simple representation of a lower garment made of the non-woven material enumerated above. The lower garment is manufactured as a pair of trousers  7  having a waistband  8 . The trousers cover the lower torso and legs of the wearer and achieve the protection against insect stinger penetration described above. 
     Accordingly the present invention provides for an insect repellent garment that uniquely employs a relatively thick, yet porous non-woven fabric to achieve improved protection against penetration by an insect&#39;s stinger and, at the same time, satisfactory ventilation for the wearer in hot, humid weather conditions wherein insect attacks are likely. 
     While this detailed description has set forth particularly preferred embodiments of the apparatus of this invention, numerous modifications and variations of the structure of this invention, all within the scope of the invention, will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, it is understood that this description is illustrative only of the principles of the invention and is not limitative thereof. 
     Although specific features of the invention are shown in some of the drawings and not others, this is for convenience only, as each feature may be combined with any and all of the other features in accordance with this invention. 
     Other embodiments will occur to those skilled in the art and are within the following claims.