Patent Description:
In controlled environments, such as cleanrooms, most best management practices (protocols) are based on the practices for contamination control recommended by the Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technology (TEST). The focus of any protocol program is to protect the integrity in the cleanroom. Whereas contamination may be due to the product, processes or equipment in the cleanroom, operators working in the cleanroom remain the biggest contamination for the cleanroom environment. Their clothing has an important influence to the contamination dispersed by the people in the cleanroom. To reduce the risk of cleanroom contamination, operators will wear garments for controlled environments according to the preamble, such as coveralls, which will cover the body of the operator.

Such garments for controlled environments comprise an outer surface (hereafter referred to as the exterior) designed to come in contact with the surrounding environment and an inner surface (hereafter referred to as the interior) which is intended to be in contact with a wearer.

Conventionally, a bag is provided in which these garments are folded and packaged to thereby reduce the risk of contamination before use. During this donning procedure, the exposed exterior of the garment may become contaminated as it may get in contact with the hands or body of the operator or the floor or walls of the locker-room in which the garment is typically donned.

When donning the conventional garment, the operator (also referred to as wearer) needs to find an unexposed part of the interior of the garment in the opened bag. The wearer will need to grasp the interior, watching out not to touch (and hereby contaminate) the exterior. Furthermore, the wearer must carefully orient the conventional garment to a position allowing the wearer to insert his legs and arms in the garment.

Altogether, donning of such garments as well as the protocols that need to be followed before an operator is allowed to enter a cleanroom necessitate considerable handling and practice.

In an effort to reduce the above disadvantages, some new developments have been made.

For instance, publication <CIT> discloses a coverall which is provided with at least one grasping means in the interior to facilitate donning as well as an opening on its crotch. In practice, donning this type of garment requires sufficient space between operators in order to prevent the operators, their clothing in particular, from getting in contact with each other during donning, which would greatly increase the risk of contamination. This fact implies that the locker-rooms need to be enlarged, which is expensive. Furthermore, this coverall requires the operator to perform shaking motions while donning in order to lower the garment. However, shaking motions are proscribed in cleanrooms, since shaking motions may result in an increased release of particles.

Publication <CIT> discloses a method for folding a coverall. The disclosed folding method aims to reduce the contamination risk. The coverall is folded to provide the wearer with an obvious grasp for handling the folded garment. Although the method of folding described allows the wearer to grasp a portion of the interior of the coverall when he takes it from the bag, the donning procedure remains the same as usual, which still leads to a considerable risk of contamination.

Publication <CIT> discloses another coverall. In comparison to more traditional garments, the garment disclosed in this document is provided with a storage pouch integral with the coverall in which the garment can be quickly and easily stored. The aim of this protective garment is to protect the wearer against chemical, biological, mechanical or thermal hazards. These protective garments are made of or include a variety of materials which should be shielded from light in order to protect the materials. Such garments should be stored in a protective pouch. This garment also does not allow easy donning. Furthermore, the arrangement of the access opening is disadvantageous for tasks which include the use of dangerous products, as it may be prescribed in such a case to be able to completely withdraw the garment with very little effort.

The document <CIT> discloses a protection garment with a side opening according to the preamble of claim <NUM>.

It is thus an object of the invention to alleviate or even obviate the above-mentioned drawbacks.

It has been discovered that an arrangement according to claim <NUM> of the access opening provides an efficient and easy method for folding and donning of the garment which prevents or at least much reduces the risk of contamination.

On the first leg part, the access opening extends from the free end. Alternatively, but not forming part of the claimed invention, it may also extend only from near (not from) the free end. An elastic fixed near or at the free end of the first leg part may in this alternative case to increase the stability of folding the first leg part.

On the first sleeve, the access opening extends to near but not to the free end of the first sleeve, thereby leaving the free end closed.

The closing means may comprise e.g. slide fastener components, a zipper, snaps, studs, buttons, hook and loop fastening systems, straps, ties or the like and preferably comprise a zipper. This zipper is preferably arranged such that in the closed position, the slider resides near or at the free end of the first leg part, while residing near the free end of the first sleeve in the opened position.

The garment, which is preferably suitable for controlled environments such as cleanrooms and/or may be a coverall, thus substantially corresponds to the discussed prior art garments, whereas the arrangement of the access opening is substantially different.

It is highly preferred to arrange the access opening on the side of the garment opposite to the side to which the wearer wearing the garment is handed, e.g. on the left side for a righthanded wearer, and vice versa.

In a first embodiment of the garment according to the invention, the garment further comprises a pouch sized for accommodating the garment, directly or indirectly fixed to the interior of the torso portion.

Although the garment may be provided with a separate bag, it is preferred to provide the garment with a pouch, i.e. a bag fixed to the garment (e.g. by stitching to the interior of the torso portion). The pouch is accessible from the exterior and sized for (snugly) fitting the garment. This allows the side of the pouch which is, while wearing the garment, considered the interior or the pouch, to be pulled over the garment (when folded), forming an external cover around the garment.

Arrangement of the pouch with its aperture near and preferably even parallel to the head aperture (or the hood, where applicable) makes it easier to pull the pouch over the folded garment and thereby store the garment in the pouch.

In a second embodiment of the garment according to the invention, the torso portion comprises a front and a rear side, wherein the pouch is fixed to the rear side.

Arrangement of the pouch to the rear side, which is normally facing the back of the wearer of the garment, preferably in the interior of the torso portion, increases comfort of use, since the pouch is less likely to be in the way when performing tasks.

In a third embodiment of the garment according to the invention, the garment comprises a machine-readable data representation, such as a bar code or a chip, arranged in the interior of the pouch.

It is common to provide garments with machine-readable data representations, such as bar codes or a chip, in order to be able to identify and trace the garments, e. g during cleaning steps or sterilization cycles. The presence of such a machine-readable data representation, which is provided in an in-sight position on the exterior of the garment in prior art coveralls, may provide the wearer wearing this garment with an unappreciated feeling, especially when the machine-readable data representation comprises a bar code, since the wearer may feel that he or she is only identified by the machine-readable data representation.

In this embodiment however, the machine-readable data representation is arranged and fixed to the interior of the pouch. This makes the machine-readable data representation hidden while the wearer is wearing the garment, whereas the machine-readable data representation remains easily accessible when the garment is folded in the pouch. Since the pouch is integral with the garment, the identification of the garment by means of the machine-readable data representation becomes possible.

In a fourth embodiment of the garment according to the invention, the garment comprises handling means, such as loops, preferably comprising:.

It increases the ease of donning if the wearer is provided with instructions. Such instructions preferably comprise handling means, preferably arranged in the interior of the garment. Such handling means preferably comprise a number of loops, which allow the wearer to grasp the garment by the loops.

The loops may be consecutively identifiable, e.g. numbered with numbers such as <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> or A, B, C, to increase the ease of use. The arrangement of the first, second and third loop provides for ease of use when donning the garment, as will be further explained with regard to the method for donning according to the invention.

Although the loops allow the wearer to hold the garment easily, the absence of these loops typically does not affect the safety in terms of contamination.

In a fifth embodiment of the garment according to invention, the garment further comprises a hood, fixed to the torso portion around the head aperture.

The provision of a hood further protects the environment from particles carried by or produced by the wearer, e.g. from the hair. Such a hood will typically also include a cover for covering the mouth and possibly also the nose of the wearer.

In a sixth embodiment of the garment according to the invention, the garment comprises interlocking means, such as a snap fastener, arranged on the exterior of at least one of the first and second leg part, which interlocking means comprise a first part, arranged near the free end of this leg part, and a second part, arranged on this part, cooperating with the first part, arranged between the first part and the connected end of this leg part.

The free ends of the leg parts may be fold back towards the connected end in order to avoid the leg parts from touching other parts, e.g. a floor, while donning. In order to fix the leg parts in such a position, interlocking means may be provided on the leg parts. The first and second part may typically comprise a pair of a male and female connector, but other suitable types of interlocking means are also known by a person skilled in the art.

In addition to the interlocking means described, the leg parts of the garment will, just as garments according to the prior art, typically also be provided with further interlocking means arranged at other positions, e.g. for fixing boots to the leg parts (e.g. near and below knee level of the leg part) or for narrowing the size of the opening at the free end of the leg part (near the free end of the leg part). The interlocking means according to this embodiment are added in addition to these further interlocking means, when present.

The invention further relates to a method for folding a garment, according to claim <NUM>.

The arrangement of the access opening according to the invention allows the torso portion to be turned inside out through the access opening with the closing means open. The garment is typically turned inside out by grasping the interior of the torso portion at a location near the second side and/or the upper edge, followed by pulling the grasped location through the access opening. The second leg part and the first and second sleeve are being enclosed by the exterior of torso part and the first leg part which are facing inwardly, substantially hiding the exterior of the garment, which makes the garment less prone to contamination. In this configuration, the exterior of the front and rear side of the torso portion abut against each other.

If necessary, the garment may then be folded along lines parallel to the longitudinal axis to reduce the width of the garment to the width of the aperture of the pouch, after which the garment is fold from the free end of the leg part towards the head aperture to form a substantial cuboid-shaped form, i.e. rectangular-shaped in a top view form with a thickness which form is then put in the pouch.

If the garment also comprises a hood, the hood is arranged between the exterior of the torso portion before the torso portion is folded to let the exterior of the front and rear side of the torso portion touch each other.

In a first embodiment of the method for folding according to the invention, the provided garment is a garment according to at least the first embodiment of the garment according to the invention, wherein step g) comprises the step of pulling the pouch of the garment around the cuboid-shaped form.

Although the provision of a separate bag is possible, the provision of a pouch provides advantages which have been described. In this case, the side of the pouch which is the interior when wearing the garment is pulled over the folded garment for putting the folded garment in the pouch, thereby turning the pouch inside out.

In a second embodiment of the method for folding according to the invention, the method further comprises the step of folding a free end of at least one of the first and second leg part from its free end towards around a part between its free end and its connected end.

To further prevent the leg parts from touching the floor during donning, at least one of the first and second leg part are folded, preferably after step c). The garment preferably comprises interlocking means for fixing the respective leg parts in this step before step e), as is previously described.

The invention further relates to a folded garment, obtainable by a method for folding according to claims <NUM>-<NUM>.

The invention further relates to a method for donning a folded garment according to claim <NUM>.

The method for donning according to the invention provides a very efficient method for donning the garment according to the invention which can be carried out by the wearer of the garment all by himself, without risks of contamination compared to the prior art.

The provision of the first, second and third loop as previously discussed thereby provides an efficient and easy way for a wearer to determine the position near between the connected ends of the first and second leg part (first loop), between the second leg part and the second sleeve (second loop) and a position comfortably holding the garment while putting a first of the two arms of the wearer, proximate to the first leg, through the second sleeve of the garment (third loop).

Of course, if the garment is used with a separate bag instead, the method for donning can be performed in a merely equivalent way by replacing the second step of the method by an equivalent step of removing the garment from a separate bag instead of an integral pouch.

The garment may be provided with a manual comprising a description with the steps of the method for donning according to the invention.

These and other details of the invention will be further elucidated along with the following drawings.

<FIG> shows a frontal view of a garment <NUM> with a torso portion <NUM> with a longitudinal axis <NUM>, a first side <NUM>, a second side <NUM>, a lower edge <NUM>, an upper edge <NUM>, a first arm aperture <NUM>, a second arm aperture <NUM>, a first leg aperture <NUM>, a second leg aperture <NUM> and a head aperture <NUM>. A first sleeve <NUM> extends between a connected end <NUM> and a free end <NUM>. A second sleeve <NUM> also extends between a connected end <NUM> and a free end <NUM>. A first leg part <NUM> extends between a connected end <NUM> and a free end <NUM>. A second leg part <NUM> also extends between a connected end <NUM> and a free end <NUM>. The garment <NUM> is further provided with a hood <NUM> fixed to the torso portion <NUM> around the head aperture <NUM>, which hood <NUM> is provided with a frontal aperture <NUM>, partly covered by a cover <NUM> for covering the mouth and nose of a wearer <NUM> (see <FIG>). In the interior of the garment, to the rear side of the torso portion <NUM>, a pouch <NUM> sized for accommodating the garment <NUM> is fixed which has one opening <NUM> arranged adjacent to the head aperture <NUM>, accessible from the exterior of the garment <NUM>. The garment <NUM> is provided with an access opening <NUM> which extends from free end <NUM> along an edge <NUM> in line with first side <NUM>, towards the connected end <NUM> of the first leg part <NUM>, via the first side <NUM> to the connected end <NUM> (the armpit) of the first sleeve <NUM> towards near the free end <NUM> of the first sleeve <NUM>, along an edge <NUM> proximate to the first leg part <NUM>. The access opening <NUM> is provided with a zipper, of which the slider <NUM> is shown in the fully opened position. The garment <NUM> further comprises an elastic band <NUM> configured for fitting around the hips of the wearer. The leg parts <NUM>, <NUM> are provided with multiple sets of interlocking means, i.e. first interlocking means <NUM> for connecting a boot to the garment, second interlocking means <NUM> for narrowing the size of the opening at the free ends <NUM>, <NUM> of the leg parts <NUM>, <NUM> (comprising male parts 36A and a cooperating female part 36B or vice versa) and third interlocking means <NUM> on the back side of the leg parts <NUM>, <NUM> (see <FIG>) which allow the leg parts <NUM>, <NUM> to be fixed in a folded configuration (see <FIG>), comprising a male part 37A and a cooperating female part 36B or vice versa).

<FIG> discloses the same garment <NUM>, but from the rear side in an inside-out configuration. From this view, it becomes clear that the interior is provided with a first <NUM>, second <NUM> and third loop <NUM>, provided with consecutive numbering.

The garment <NUM> is preferably folded in a method illustrated in <FIG>. From the configuration in <FIG>, the garment <NUM> is grasped by the free end <NUM> (<FIG>) and the zipper is brought in the opened position using slider <NUM>. Then, the interior <NUM> of the garment <NUM> is grasped near the upper edge and near the second side (<FIG>), which is pulled outward (arrow <NUM>) through access opening <NUM> to obtain the garment <NUM> in an inside-out configuration (<FIG>), in which the edges of the head aperture <NUM> are held by hands <NUM>, <NUM>. The leg parts <NUM>, <NUM> are shortened by folding the free end <NUM> around the exterior of the leg part <NUM> (<FIG>) and by then folding the free end <NUM> around the exterior of leg part <NUM> (<FIG>). The sleeves, of which sleeve <NUM> is shown, is folded between the interior hidden side of the garment <NUM> (<FIG>). Then, the garment <NUM> is folded along lines <NUM>, <NUM> (<FIG>) parallel to the longitudinal axis to shape the garment <NUM> such that when folded up (arrow <NUM>), a substantially cuboid-shape form <NUM> is obtained (<FIG>), which can then be pulled into the pouch <NUM>, to obtain a folded garment <NUM> shown in <FIG> with a bar code <NUM> in the interior of pouch <NUM> now facing outward.

<FIG> disclose a slightly different method for folding the garment <NUM>. In this method, the zipper is first brought to an open position, but already before pulling the garment <NUM> inside out, the free ends <NUM>, <NUM> are first folded towards the connected end <NUM>, <NUM>, as shown in <FIG>. Then, the garment is turned inside out, and fold to a configuration as shown in <FIG>, with the second leg part <NUM> lying inside the first leg part <NUM>. Hood <NUM> and sleeves <NUM>, <NUM> are also folded between the exterior of the garment <NUM>. After this step, the sleeve <NUM> is also folded between the exterior of the garment <NUM> to obtain a configuration according to <FIG>. The garment <NUM> is then folded in the longitudinal direction towards the pouch <NUM> and stored in the pouch <NUM> by pulling (i.e. turning the pouch inside out) over the folded garment <NUM>.

Claim 1:
Garment for a controlled environment, comprising:
- a torso portion with a longitudinal axis and a first and second side, at a distance from and substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis, a lower and an upper edge substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, extending between the first and second side, which torso portion is provided with a first and second arm aperture, arranged near the upper edge along the first and second side respectively, a first and second leg aperture, extending between the longitudinal axis and the first and second side respectively and a head aperture, provided along the upper edge;
- a first and a second sleeve, both extending from a connected end, connected to the first and second arm aperture of the torso portion respectively, to a free end;
- a first and a second leg part, both extending from a connected end, connected to the first and second leg apertures of the torso portion respectively, to a free end;
- an access opening, for providing a wearer access to the interior of the garment, extending from a free end of the first leg part, preferably along an edge in line with the first side towards the connected end of the first leg part, via the first side to the connected end of the first sleeve towards near a free end of the first sleeve, preferably along an edge proximate to the first leg part; and
- closing means, such as a zipper, for closing the access opening,
characterized in that the access opening extends to near but not to the free end of the first sleeve.