Panty Hose

Abstract

A panty hose garment constructed of knitted fabric and incorporating stocking tubes, each having a foot, leg and upper portion with the upper portions being joined together along a center seam thus defining the panty portion of the panty hose garment. The crotch area of the panty hose garment is provided with an insert of knitted material having larger interstices defining air passages than in the knitted material forming the remainder of the panty hose garment thereby providing effective ventilation of the portion of the body of the wearer covered by the crotch insert. The knitted fabric of the panty hose garment enables the panty hose garment to stretch to fit different sizes of wearers and to snugly embrace or engage the portion of the body of the wearer covered by the panty hose garment.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to panty hose garments incorporating leg covering portions and a portion which snugly embraces the lower torso of a wearer and generally referred to as panty hose in which the crotch area thereof is provided with a ventilating insert permitting passage of air therethrough.

2. Description of Prior Art

Panty hose garments are quite popular as an article of wearing apparel and such garments usually employ a knitted fabric stocking tube in which the upper portion extends to enclose the lower torso of a wearer with the two portions of the panty hose being center seamed together and provided with an elastic top edge to encircle the waist area of the wearer. Examples of such panty hose garments are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,697,925; 2,826,760; 3,128,475 and 3,566,624. Recently, there has been indications by gynecologists that the wearing of panty hose garments may be conducive to vaginal infection and in some instances, persons with recurrent vaginitis have been advised to stop wearing panty hose. It is thought that the tightness or close fitting of the panty hose and the close mesh knit thereof reduces access of air to the vaginal area thus reducing the capability of air drying and cooling the vaginal area which may result in a higher incidence of irritation, inflammation, vaginitis and the like. This is especially a problem when panty hose are worn in overlying relation to conventional panties which quite frequently is the manner in which panty hose are worn. Also, it is believed that persons taking birth control pills have an additional vaginal discharge which aggravates the moisture problem especially when coupled with a relatively tight fitting panty hose garment that has restricted ventilation or "breathing" due to the close mesh knit fabric employed in conventional panty hose garments.

Some efforts have been made to provide ventilation in undergarments such as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,006,175 which relates to an undergarment and French Pat. No. 1,168,224, issued Aug. 1958.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a panty hose garment constructed of conventional knitted fabric excpt for a crotch insert being constructed of a knitted fabric having a large mesh as compared with the remainder of the panty hose garment thereby providing for increased air passage which results in better ventilation of the vaginal area of the person wearing the garment.

Another object of the invention is to provide a panty hose garment in which the crotch insert is incorporated into the center seam of the panty hose garment so that the crotch insert of wide mesh knit fabric is connected with the two halves of the panty hose with the center seam of the panty hose garment actually extending from one end of the other to the insert around the side peripheries of the insert.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the panty hose of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the crotch area of the panty hose illustrating the association of the insert with the center seam.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view showing a portion of the insert including the wide mesh construction thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The panty hose of the present invention is generally designated by numeral 10 and includes leg encompassing stockings or stocking tubes 12 with upper portions 14 defining a panty garment and lower portions 16 defining foot covering portions. The stocking tubes 12 are constructed in a conventional manner and of conventional knitted elastic fabric material with an elastic waistband 18 being provided on the upper end of the panty hose. The two stocking tubes are connected together in a conventional manner along a center seam 20 which would normally be continuous from the top edge of the panty hose at the front to the top edge of the panty hose at the rear. Such panty hose structures are conventional and are constructed in a conventional manner and are associated with the wearer 22 in a conventional manner.

In order to provide additional ventilation to the vaginal area of the wearer, a crotch insert 24 is incorporated into the garment which crotch insert may be of oval shape or diamond shape with the two ends thereof generally being aligned with the center seam 20 and the peripheral side edges thereof being seamed to the inner edges of the upper portions 14 of the stocking tubes 12 so that in effect, the seams 26 form an extension of the center seam 20. The dimensional characteristics of the insert may vary but generally extend throughout the vaginal area and the perineum and adjacent body surfaces.

The insert 24 is constructed of knitted multiple strand elastic yarn 28 as illustrated in FIG. 3 with the space or interstices formed by the knitted yarn defining enlarged open areas 30 which are completely free of obstructions and, in effect, provide for and enable free passage of air therethrough. The unrestricted passage of air will enable the underlying body surfaces to be maintained at a more comfortable temperature level and in a dryer condition thus reducing the occurrence of vaginitis, irritation, inflammation and the like which results from moisture, heat and natural movement of body areas in relation to each other. The crotch insert 24 is of the same color as the remainder of the panty hose and will not in any way affect the overall appearance of the panty hose nor will it affect the manner of use thereof.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.

Claims

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A panty hose garment comprising a pair of stocking parts, each having a foot portion for covering a foot of a wearer a leg portion for covering a leg of a wearer and an upper portion, said upper portions of the two stocking parts being joined by a center seam thereby defining a panty enclosing the lower torso of a wearer, and a separate crotch insert disposed between the lower edge portions of the upper portions of the stocking parts in overlying relation to the crotch area of the wearer, said insert being generally diamond shaped with pointed ends and side edges diverging toward the center thereof, said side edges being joined to the upper portions of the stocking parts by seams forming a continuation of the center seam thereby providing a panty hose garment of integral construction, sa1d stocking parts being constructed of close mesh knitted elastic fabric material, said crotch insert being constructed of wide mesh knitted elastic fabric material to enable substantially unrestricted passage of air therethrough for maintaining the underlying portions of the wearer in a cool and substantially dry condition, said crotch insert being constructed of a single piece of knitted multiple strand elastic yarn with the interstices defined by the courses and wales being substantially larger than the interstices in the knitted fabric material defining the stocking parts, said crotch insert having narrow end portions merging with the center seam, the seams between the crotch insert and the stocking parts diverging from each end portion of the crotch insert to a central region of the crotch insert thereby also introducing a reduced resistance to stretch and movement of the crotch area of the panty hose.