Abstract:
Elastic inserts ( 15, 25 ) are incorporated in selected zones such as the legs and arms of an article of garment for motorcyclists, for example a leather suit, said inserts having a shape and manner of application such that the configuration of the garment in the rest condition corresponds to the position of the person wearing the garment when riding a motorcycle, but also allows said person to move freely when not sat in the saddle of the motorcycle.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a continuation of International Application PCT/EP2003/011991 filed on Oct. 29, 2003, now International Publication Number WO 2004/039189 published on May 13, 2004 and claims priority from Italian Patent Application TV2002U000047 filed on Oct. 31, 2002, the contents of which are herein wholly incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to the garment used by motorcyclists, more particularly not only the suits where a pair of trousers is inseparably joined to a body-piece, but also the body-pieces or jackets and the trousers on their own. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     These articles of garment are usually made of leather and are characterized by somewhat ill-matched conditions of use. The first condition of use relates to the motorcycle riding, so that the garment must adhere to the body of the person wearing it, not only to avoid undesirable aerodynamic effects, but also so as not to obstruct movements, especially although not exclusively during sports competitions. The second condition of use relates to the person when not sitting in the saddle of the motorcycle, so that the garment must allow the wearer to walk and more generally to perform free movement of the upper and lower limbs. In most cases the manufacturers tend to make the garment in question in such a way as to favour this second condition of use, to the detriment of the first condition, which is a penalizing factor and a cause of dissatisfaction for many users. 
     A design which to a certain extent attempts to overcome these shortcomings is the leather suit disclosed in European patent application EP-A-0 950 360 which envisages the application of a number of elastic inserts on the visible surface thereof. The only one of these inserts which is described and illustrated in full in the said document is an elastic strip in the form of a “U” consisting of three parts applied respectively on the two sides of the trunk, where the folds present in the insert are substantially vertical in the rest condition (i.e. when the suit is not being worn), and on the bottom of the back, where the corresponding folds are substantially horizontal. In this way the direction of greatest elasticity of the various parts of the U-shaped strip is substantially perpendicular to the line of longitudinal development of the said parts. The effectiveness of this elastic insert is, however, limited to the trunk of the body, so that it may be stated that this suit, although it is more satisfactory than others, nevertheless does not possess optimum features for riding a motorcycle. It must be noted, moreover, that the U-shaped strip is obtained by forming separately its three parts and then sewing them together (end to end), after the strip has been applied to the suit and while maintaining it stretched to its maximum extent. This makes manufacture of the suit somewhat complex and therefore also relatively costly. Other inserts which have a linear shape and limited extension are separately applied in other zones of the suit. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It would desirable and in fact constitutes a main object of the present invention to provide users with a garment which is able to favour the position assumed by the body and the manoeuvres performed when riding motorcycles, also in the case of use for sports competitions, but without limiting the freedom of movement of the lower and/or the upper limbs when walking and, in any case, when the person wearing the garment is not sat in the saddle of a motorcycle. 
     A similar object has been considered in WO-A-01 10254 where it is proposed to use an elasticized insert arranged at the abdomen portion of the suit. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       A motorcyclist&#39;s suit for achieving this object, together with other objects, has the characteristic features claimed here below, as explained in the following description of a non-exclusive embodiment which refers to the accompanying drawing, where: 
         FIG. 1  shows the view, from the outer side, of a motorcyclist&#39;s suit according to the invention, where the trousers are shown in the configuration assumed in the rest condition, namely when the suit is not worn by a person; 
         FIG. 2  shows the view from the front and 
         FIG. 3  shows the view, from the rear, of the suit according  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIGS. 4A and 4B  show a view, from the outer side, of respectively a part of the trousers alone of a suit according to the invention and of an example of a conventional suit so as to allow easy comparison of the configurations assumed by the two suits in the rest condition; 
         FIGS. 5A ,  5 B,  5 C and  5 D show—from the same angle as in the preceding figures—four different configurations assumed by the legs of the trousers of a suit according to the invention in different conditions of use; 
         FIG. 6A  shows the plan view extension of the elastic insert according to the invention which is shown in  FIG. 4A , while  FIG. 6B  shows the plan view extension of the example of the conventional elastic insert shown in  FIG. 4B ; 
         FIG. 7  is similar to  FIG. 4A  and shows a variant of an elastic insert applied to the trousers of a suit according to the invention; 
         FIG. 8  shows a partial view, from the outer side, of the body-piece according to the invention in the configuration assumed when the person wearing the suit has his/her arms raised; 
         FIG. 9  is similar to  FIG. 8 , but shows the body-piece in the configuration assumed when the person wearing the suit is riding a motorcycle; 
         FIG. 10  shows a plan view extension of the elastic insert of the body-piece which is shown in  FIGS. 8 and 9 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     As shown in  FIGS. 1-3 , the suit is a garment where a pair of trousers  10  and a body-piece  20 , which are preferably made of leather, are inseparably joined together, with a conventional elastic insert  13  limited to the bottom of the back. Various zip fasteners are provided, in particular that indicated by  21 , along the vertical middle axis of the body-piece  20 , on the front of the latter, and those (not shown for the sake of simplicity) at the bottom ends of the calves  12  and the sleeves  22 . 
     According to the invention, elastic inserts are incorporated in the suit and joined by means of perimetral stitches (for the sake of simplicity not shown) to the adjacent parts of the suit. The ring-shaped inserts  15  form part of the legs of the pair of trousers  10 , while the inserts  25  in the form of an overturned “L” form part of the body-piece  20 . All the said inserts are made using a technique which is well-known to specialists in the sector, namely by joining a layer of very thin elastic fabric to a layer of leather—and if necessary also to an intermediate layer of reinforced fabric: a series of closely arranged transverse stitches S are performed when the layer of very thin elastic fabric is fully tensioned with the result that a plurality of folds F are created when the suit is in rest condition. 
     The ring-shaped inserts  15  which form part of the pairs of trousers  10  extend in fact continuously on either side of the knees  16 , namely the articulation between the thighs  18  and the calves  12 . Each of these inserts comprises in fact—as can be seen from their plan view extension shown in  FIG. 6A : a central strip  152  designed to be arranged at the bottom of the thighs  18  above the knee  16 ; two connecting parts  154  which are designed to extend along the sides of the calf  12 ; two tapered wings  156  which extend further downwards and backwards along the calf until the respective end edges are located closely to one another. In this way the configuration assumed by a suit according to the invention in the rest conditions (which are those shown in  FIGS. 1 to 4A ) is such that the angle formed by the axis of each calf  12  with the axis of the respective thigh  18  is between 80 and 100 degrees and preferably about 90 degrees—see  FIG. 5B . If it is considered that the angle formed by the axis of each calf  12  with the axis of the respective thigh  18  in the most common riding condition, namely non-competitive riding, of a motorcycle is precisely between 80 and 100 degrees, and preferably about 90 degrees, the present invention offers ergonomic characteristics such as to fully satisfy the requirements of the wearer during the first of the abovementioned conditions of use. In this configuration the inserts  15  have a plurality of folds F which are spaced by grooves and are more or less equidistant, as can be seen particularly well in  FIGS. 4A and 5B . 
     Moreover, this does not adversely affect in any way other conditions of use of the suit, as shown:
         in  FIG. 5A , relating to the walking—or in any case erect—position of the person wearing the suit, where the abovementioned angle is close to 180 degrees, for example 165 degrees;   in  FIG. 5C , relating to a first condition of competitive riding of the motorcycle, where the abovementioned angle is about 60 degrees; and   in  FIG. 5D , relating to a second condition of competitive riding of the motorcycle, where the abovementioned angle is even less than 45 degrees, for example 36 degrees.       

     As is clear when comparing  FIG. 5B  with  FIG. 5A , the folds F of the insert  15  are more compact above the knee  16  and more spaced out along the calf  12 , while in  FIGS. 5C and 5D  the folds F of the insert are more spaced out above the knee  16  and more or less compact along the calf  12 . 
       FIG. 7  is a variant of the invention where the tapered wings  156   b  of the insert  15  extend as far as the bottom end of the trousers  10  of the suit, practically as far as the zone in the immediate vicinity of the heel. 
     Other variations envisage the incorporation of ring-shaped elastic inserts in the sleeves  22  of the body-piece  20  of the suit and on either side of the elbows, namely the articulation between the arms and forearms, so that the configuration of the body-piece in the rest condition of the suit is more or less the same as that already described for the trousers and also corresponds to the most frequent riding condition of the motorcycle. 
     In the suits of conventional design, the inserts applied above the knees (as for example indicated by the reference number  17  in  FIG. 4B ) generally have a limited extension and in any case do not extend on either side of the knees, but only above them. As shown in  FIG. 4B , the angle formed by the axis of each calf  12  with the axis of the respective thigh  18  is about 130 degrees, namely quite different from the angle assumed in any other position when riding a motorcycle, thereby demonstrating the less ergonomic design of conventional suits which do not satisfy fully the first of the abovementioned conditions of use. 
     As shown in  FIGS. 8-10 , the elastic inserts  25  incorporated in the body-piece  20  of a suit according to the invention have a first side  252  which extends along the sides of the trunk underneath the armpits, and a second side  254  inclined upwards, namely towards the shoulders  24 A. Over the whole of the extension of the inserts  25  the folds F assume, a position which is inclined at an angle .alpha. of about 45 degrees with respect to the longitudinal axis T of the body-piece  20  and, in particular; favours raising of the arms  22 A—see FIG.  8 —and arching of the back  26 A—see FIG.  9 —during riding of the motorcycle. This is due to the fact that the inserts  25  are able to withstand vertical and horizontal tensile stresses represented by the double pointed arrows in the drawing. As shown in  FIGS. 8-10 , each insert comprises a plurality of longitudinal folds F that are substantially parallel to each other and uniformly spaced to each other Each of the folds is inclined at an angle of substantially 45 degrees with respect to an axis of the body-piece and extending downwardly from the back toward the front on both the first and second sides; the plurality of folds favors the raising of arms and arching of a back in the common riding position wherein the folds are in such uniformly spaced position, but able to withstand both vertical and horizontal stresses. 
     Other variations and embodiments may be developed within the scope of protection defined by the appended claims. In particular, it must be pointed out that the object of the invention also includes the trousers on their own and body-piece on its own and not only a suit.