U.S. patent application number 12/591065 was filed with the patent office on 2011-05-12 for molded bra cup and method of manufacturing the same.
Invention is credited to Antonio De Micco Padula.
Application Number | 20110111674 12/591065 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 43974504 |
Filed Date | 2011-05-12 |
United States Patent
Application |
20110111674 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Padula; Antonio De Micco |
May 12, 2011 |
Molded bra cup and method of manufacturing the same
Abstract
A bra cup is manufactured by an injection molding process. By
injecting a liquid material into a mold and allowing the liquid
material to cure into a desired bra cup shape, a wider variety of
bra cups shapes may be manufactured. Additionally, the bra cup
manufactured according to the injection molding process may not
have the tendency to expand nor shrink, because the liquid material
is cured directly into a solid state having the desired shape. Such
an injection molding process may greatly increase the type of
shapes that can be manufactured.
Inventors: |
Padula; Antonio De Micco;
(Rome, IT) |
Family ID: |
43974504 |
Appl. No.: |
12/591065 |
Filed: |
November 6, 2009 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
450/38 ; 450/57;
450/92 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B29L 2031/4885 20130101;
A41C 5/005 20130101; B29C 45/00 20130101; B29L 2031/4871
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
450/38 ; 450/92;
450/57 |
International
Class: |
A41C 3/00 20060101
A41C003/00 |
Claims
1. A method of manufacturing a bra, the method comprising:
providing a material in a liquid state; injecting the material in
the liquid state into a mold by an injection molding process to
mold the material in the liquid state into a bra cup within the
mold; and curing the material in the mold into a solid state to
form the bra cup.
2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising reacting the
material with a preparing agent prior to the injecting.
3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the material is
polyurethane-based or silicone-based, and the preparing agent is
atmosphere.
4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the material is
latex-based, rubber-based, or silicone-based, and the preparing
agent is nitrogen.
5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising applying
cloth to the mold, prior to the injecting.
6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the cloth is bonded to
the bra cup during the curing.
7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the mold is shaped to
form a bra cup with a first region and a second region having a
thickness greater than the thickness of the first region.
8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the mold is shaped to
form a bra cup with a first region and a second region having a
thickness at least ten times greater than the thickness of the
first region.
9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the molding shapes a
bra cup with a first region and a second region having a thickness
at least fifty times greater than the thickness of the first
region.
10. The method according to claim 7, wherein the first region and
the second region are formed in contact with each other.
11. The method according to claim 8, wherein the first region and
the second region are formed in contact with each other.
12. The method according to claim 9, wherein the first region and
the second region are formed in contact with each other.
13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the curing further
forms the bra cup such that the bra cup has a constant density
throughout.
14. A bra cup formed by liquid-material injection molding, the bra
cup comprising: a first region having a first thickness and a first
density; and a second region having a second thickness greater than
the first thickness and a second density equal to the first
density.
15. A bra cup according to claim 1, wherein the second region is
formed at a bust point area of the bra cup.
16. A bra cup according to claim 1, wherein the second region is
formed in a push-up area of the bra cup.
17. A bra cup according to claim 1, wherein the bra cup further
comprises a single injection-molded piece including first region
and the second region.
18. The method according to claim 14, wherein the second region has
a thickness at least ten times greater than the thickness of the
first region.
19. The method according to claim 14, wherein the second region has
a thickness at least fifty times greater than the thickness of the
first region.
Description
BACKGROUND
[0001] The manufacturing of bras, and specifically bra cups for
bras, incorporates industrial processes in order to achieve a
desired final product having the necessary shape, flexibility, and
durability. Conventionally, bra cups are manufactured and later
incorporated into bras or other articles of clothing. The bra cups
themselves are formed using a compression molding process, in which
a preformed solid foam form is created into a bra cup. A
polyurethane foam is manufactured in the conventional method in a
basic shape such as a cuboid or other hexahedron. The polyurethane
foam is then placed in a mold and compressed into a desired bra cup
shape. This way, the bra cup is formed by pressing the polyurethane
foam. Additionally, the conventional processes include placing
fabric into the mold with the foam, and simultaneously compressing
the foam into the bra cup shape and bonding the foam to the
fabric.
[0002] However, bra cups manufactured using the compression molding
process suffer from a number of undesirable characteristics, and
the types of bra cup shapes that can be manufactured using the
compression molding process are limited. Because the bra cup is
formed by pressing a foam into a shape that is different from its
original state, the foam, now having varying densities according to
varying thicknesses created during compression, has a tendency to
expand or shrink back toward its original shape once formed into
the bra cup shape, thus deforming the bra cup over time. Further,
because the foam itself begins as a solid block with uniform
thickness and is pressed into a desired shape, the foam must have a
thickness greater than or equal to the maximum desired thickness of
the thickest portion of the desired bra cup.
[0003] In the conventional compression molding manufacturing
method, a foam block is provided to be formed into the bra cup, the
foam is placed into the mold having a cross-sectional thickness
equal to or greater than the maximum thickness of the bra cup to be
manufactured. Thus, the minimum possible thickness of the resulting
bra cup is dependent upon the compressibility of the foam and the
thickness of the thickest portion of the desired bra cup shape. The
possible shapes of a bra cup are further limited by the inability
of the polyurethane foam form to be pressed into shapes with a
large variation in thickness over a smaller area. The conventional
compression molding process of manufacturing bra cups is therefore
limited in the possible shapes and types of bra cups which can be
manufactured.
SUMMARY
[0004] A method of manufacturing a bra cup using an injection
molding process is therefore discussed below. Such an injection
molding process may greatly increase the type of shapes that can be
manufactured than can be possible using the conventional
compression molding process described above. By injecting a liquid
material into a mold and allowing the liquid material to cure into
a desired bra cup shape, a wider variety of bra cups shapes may be
manufactured. Because the bra cup is formed from a liquid material
and not a preformed solid foam block, no limitation on the
variation in thickness of a bra cup shape exists, and a bra cup
with greater variation in the thickest portions and the thinnest
portions is possible. Additionally, the bra cup manufactured
according to the injection molding process may not have the
tendency to expand nor shrink, because the liquid material is cured
directly into a solid state having the desired shape.
[0005] This way, a number of bra cup shapes, discussed in exemplary
embodiments below, having, for example, thin profile along an edge
for greater invisibility against the bust of a wearer while
providing push-up or a thicker apex for nipple coverage, may be
possible. Such configurations may be considered to have an
invisible pad when worn.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0006] FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate a first exemplary embodiment of a
bra cup formed by the injection molding process;
[0007] FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate a second exemplary embodiment of
a bra cup formed by the injection molding process; and
[0008] FIG. 3 is an exemplary method for manufacturing a bra using
the injection molding process.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0009] FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate a first exemplary embodiment of a
bra cup formed by the injection molding process. As shown in FIG.
1A, a bra cup may be formed with a thick portion of at an apex of
the bra cup, and thinner portions along the edges of the bra cup.
Such a variation in thicknesses would allow for sufficient coverage
of a nipple area while still providing a thin portion which may
provide greater invisibility against the bust of a wearer. As shown
in FIG. 1B, the bra cup of FIG. 1A may have thicker portions at the
Apex B, and thinner portions around the Edges B of the bra cup. In
exemplary embodiments, the Apex B may have a thickness of
approximately 4 mm, and the Edges B may have a thickness B of 0.3
mm. Each individual edge may not be required to be of the same
thickness.
[0010] FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate a second exemplary embodiment of
a bra cup formed by the injection molding process. As shown in FIG.
2A, a bra cup may be formed with a thicker push-up portion disposed
at a bottom and an inside of a bra cup. As shown in FIG. 2B, the
bra cup of 2A may have a thicker portion in a functional region
such as a push-up area D, and become thinner in nonfunctional areas
C, to provide greater invisibility against the bust of a wearer,
similarly to the first exemplary embodiment. Here, a much greater
variation between the thickness of the push-up area and the
nonfunctional areas C is possible using the injection molding
process described herein. For example, a bra cup having a push-up
portion D of a thickness of approximately 21 mm and a nonfunctional
areas C of a thickness of approximately 0.3 mm is possible. Though
an exemplary bra cup of a push-up type is illustrated in FIGS. 2A
and 2B, other bra types with thicker functional areas and thinner
nonfunctional areas are possible with the injection molding process
described herein. Examples of such additional functional types of
bra cups include, but are not limited to, creating balconette-type
shapes or providing extra support and shaping along the
underarm.
[0011] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary method S300 of manufacturing
a bra cup using the injection molding process.
[0012] At step S310, the method S300 begins.
[0013] At step S320, a liquid material is injected into a mold
having the desired shape of the bra cup. Because the liquid
material is injected into the mold in a liquid state, the bra cup
resulting from the injection is not under the constraint discussed
above with respect to the compression molding of foam blocks in the
conventional art. Specifically, the resulting bra cup may not have
a tendency to deform, and may have a constant density throughout.
Because of this, the mold may be formed with greater variance
between the thickest and thinnest portions of the desired bra cup
shape because the liquid material may directly cure into a solid
with the desired shape.
[0014] At step S330, curing of the liquid material into a solid
having the shape of the bra cup defined by the mold occurs. Because
the material used to form the bra cup is cured into a solid from a
liquid state, the curing process may occur either in a closed mold
or an open mold. Further, the curing process may occur at varying
temperatures and durations of time to create a solid bra cup having
a desired hardness, flexibility, or other material characteristics
drawn to specific application requirements.
[0015] At step S350, which may occur optionally at any time before
step S320, a reaction of a liquid material occurs. Generally, the
reaction at step S350 may include any or all preparation steps of
the liquid material necessary to place the material in a suitable
state for being formed into the bra cup. The reaction itself may
include a number of reactions with various types of gases as may be
known in the art to place the liquid into a state in which it can
be successfully molded into a desired shape. A polyurethane- or
silicone-based material may, for example, be reacted with
atmosphere or another gaseous mixture approximating or matching the
composition of atmosphere. Similarly, a latex- or rubber-based
material may be reacted with nitrogen or a nitrogen-based gas as
appropriate. Other combinations of materials and gaseous reactants
suitable to use in method S300 specifically, or the method
according to this application more generally, may be substituted as
is known or may become known.
[0016] At step S360, which may occur optionally at any time before
step S320, a cloth is applied to a mold. Such cloth may be applied
in order to bond the cloth to the molded bra cup during the curing
process, occurring at step S330, in which the bra cup is formed. If
the cloth is not applied to the mold prior to the curing at step
S330, the cloth may be applied, attached, bonded, or otherwise
joined at any point after the curing in accordance with the
assembly of a garment incorporating the bra cup.
[0017] At step S370, which may occur optionally at any time after
step S330, post-processing of the solid bra cup occurs. Here,
additional processing including, but not limited to, applying a
coating to the bra cup to prevent discoloration or other
deterioration of the bra cup, removal of flash or other
post-manufacturing cleanup, or application of cloth or installation
into a garment or product, may be performed.
[0018] At step S340, the method S300 ends.
[0019] Though certain specific embodiments and examples are given
above with respect to both the injection molding process and the
bra cup configurations resulting therefrom, the above descriptions
are not to be taken to limit this disclosure to those descriptions.
The bra cup and method of manufacturing the same may incorporate
additional physical components or processes relating to bras, bra
cups, or the manufacture of bras or bra cups, that may be known or
may become known, without departing from the spirit and scope of
the above disclosure.
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