Disposable Panty

Abstract

A disposable panty is made of a single sheet of nonwoven fabric material. The fabric, comprising carded staple fibers and an adherent scrim, is cut on a bias so as to afford a dimensionally yieldable panty.

Parent Case Text

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Charlotte I. Rickard Ser. No. 790,397 filed Jan. 10, 1969; Joseph Benevento Ser. No. 826,347 filed May 21, 1969.

Description

BACKGROUNDS AND OBJECTS

This invention relates to disposable panties, and more particularly, to disposable panties made of nonwoven fabric material.

Disposable panties are now becoming unusually popular. Their convenience, economy, low cost, and ready availability have drawn the attention of the consuming public.

An unfortunate connotation of the term "disposable" implies that the desirable attributes of nondisposable fabric products in general have in some measure been sacrificed for economy. This is not entirely baseless. An object of the invention is to provide a disposable panty which retains, to an unusually high degree, the characteristic advantages of nondisposable, or woven cloth, panties.

Associated with the foregoing object, it has heretofore been the practice to manufacture disposable garments in general, and disposable panties in particular, in as economical a manner as possible. Thus, the garment pattern is so arranged on the fabric web so as to utilize the smallest area of fabric for each garment. In keeping with the invention, it has now been discovered that by utilizing the web only slightly less efficiently, surprising improvements in the serviceability, durability, and acceptance of disposable panties are attained. Accordingly, a further object of the invention is to improve these characteristics of disposable panties at only a small increase in manufacturing cost.

Also, it is the desire of the panty manufacturer that a single panty size accommodate wearers of varied sizes and proportions. To this end, it is conventional to manufacture disposable panties in only a comparatively few sizes, and to provide elastic bands at the waist and leg apertures. Thus, a single panty size can be worn by women of different sizes and proportions. As a result of this, however, a relatively smaller woman will experience uncomfortable and unattractive bunching of the oversize panty, while a relatively larger woman will find that disposable panties, as conventionally made, will not yield or stretch sufficiently. A further object is to provide a disposable panty construction, and method of making the same, which avoids the unattractiveness associated with oversize panties and the discomfort experienced with undersize ones.

Other and further objects, aims, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the nonwoven fabric blank as it is cut from the web, and before it is fabricated into the panty of the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of a disposable panty embodying the present invention.

While the invention is susceptible of various modifications and alternative forms, certain specific embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings which will be described in detail herein. It should be understood, however, that it is not intended to limit the invention to the particular forms disclosed but, on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Turning now to the drawings, there is shown a disposable panty formed of a unitary sheet of nonwoven fabric. The panty, as depicted in FIG. 2, comprises a front body portion 10, a rear body portion 11, and an interconnecting crotch portion 12, the several portions being contiguous by reason of their being formed from the unitary sheet of material. To permit a single panty size to fit a number of different sized users, an elastic band 14 is sewed around all or part of the waist of the panty, and a pair of elastic bands 15 and 16 are sewed around the two leg openings 17 and 18 defined by the panty body portions 10 and 11 and crotch portion 12.

The panty of FIG. 2 is made of a disposable fabric material. As is known, disposable fabric sheet material comprises a layer of carded staple fibers of natural or synthetic polymeric material such as cotton, polyethylene terephthalate or the like, and a scrim. The scrim is composed of warp threads parallel to the staple fibers and spaced apart from each other; the scrim fill threads are substantially perpendicular to the warp threads and hence to the fibers. The warp threads on the one hand and the fill threads on the other are spaced apart by distances determined according to the expected service of the fabric, and illustratively are spaced from one-half inch to about one-twelfth inch from each other.

Thus, the two sets of scrim threads are disposed in face-to-face relation to each other, and are adhesively bonded together where the threads of one set cross the threads of the other set. In turn, the sets or parts of the sets are adhesively bonded to the staple fibers. The threads likewise are of a natural or synthetic polymeric material, and may be the same or different material as the fibers. Advantageously, an applique of fine cotton or other fibers is adhesively bonded to either or both sides of the staple-scrim sheet, preferably formed by depositing fine fibers on the crossed thread fabric in a random manner such as by air forming or the like. The thickness of the applique may be varied to provide the composite material with the desired softness, bulk, feel, and other characteristics.

In accordance with one important aspect of the invention, the contiguous front body portion 10, rear body portion 11, and crotch portion 12 are cut as a blank 20 from a unitary sheet of nonwoven fabric material (FIG. 1). The blank 20, in addition to the previously mentioned portions, may include one or more auxiliary crotch portions 21, 22, which are cut along the solid lines and folded along the dotted lines before final assembly of the panty of FIG. 2.

As indicated in FIG. 1 by the legends appearing thereon, line 23 indicates the machine direction of the carded staple fibers and of the scrim warp threads. This direction, otherwise stated, is parallel to the length of the web of nonwoven fabric, as indicated by phantom lines 25 and 26 representing the web edge. The scrim fill threads are substantially perpendicular to the machine direction and the scrim warp threads.

Reverting to FIG. 2, line 28 illustrates the girth direction, an imaginary line corresponding approximately to the hip measurement line of a panty wearer. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the girth direction is parallel to the waistline of the front and rear body portions.

In accordance with the invention, the blank 20 is cut on a bias with respect to the girth direction 28 and, of course, with respect to the machine direction 23. Otherwise stated, in contrast to the conventional technique of aligning the blank with the scrim so as to effect maximum utilization of the nonwoven fabric web, in keeping with the present invention the blank 20 is at an angle theta between the girth direction 28 and the direction of one set of scrim threads, advantageously the scrim warp threads. Angle theta is advantageously within the range of about 45.degree. to about 85.degree., preferably between about 60.degree. and about 80.degree., e.g. about 70.degree..

As a consequence of aligning the blank 20 (FIG. 1) at the indicated angle with respect to the girth direction 28, the finished panty (FIG. 2) has its warp and fill threads at an angle with respect to the girth direction line 28 of FIG. 2. Two important advantages are immediately apparent over panties wherein the scrim is aligned with the girth direction 28. First, the panty can be stretched both parallel to and perpendicular to the girth direction 28 so that it can be worn comfortably even by relatively large wearers. Second, since the panty fabric is extensible in any direction other than that parallel to the scrim threads (warp or fill), the panty can be worn by relatively smaller women without unattractive bunching of the fabric material. In other words, by cutting the blank 20 (FIG. 1) on a bias, the resulting panty closely simulates panties made of stretch or stretchable woven fabric, yet at the same time has substantially all the cost advantages associated with conventional disposable garments.

In addition to the exemplary embodiments of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, it is apparent that a variety of panty designs may be fabricated utilizing the principles of the exemplified panty. As indicated, the panty is of the popular bikini type, where the front body portion 10 and the rear body portion 11 are of substantially the same initial span. For the standard panty design, the rear body portion 11 has a wider span so that the side seams (30 and 31 on FIG. 2) are moved toward the front of the garment.

Thus it is apparent that there has been provided, in accordance with the invention, an attractive, functional, disposable panty garment that fully satisfies the aims, objects, and advantages recited earlier.

Claims

I claim as my invention:

1. A disposable panty comprising a contiguous front body portion, rear body portion, and crotch portion joined to define a panty, said portions being formed from a unitary sheet of nonwoven fabric material including carded staple fibers, a set of scrim warp threads parallel to said staple fibers, and a set of scrim fill threads perpendicular to said warp threads, the improvement wherein one of said sets of scrim threads forms an angle of between 45.degree. and about 85.degree. with the girth direction of said panty.

2. Panty of claim 1 wherein said angle is between about 60.degree. and about 80.degree..

3. Panty of claim 2 wherein said angle is about 70.degree..

4. Panty of claim 1 wherein said angle-forming scrim threads are said warp threads.

5. Panty of claim 2 wherein said angle-forming scrim threads are said warp threads.

6. Panty of claim 1 wherein said angle-forming threads are said warp threads.