Brassiere

Claim 2

A brassiere comprising: a pair of complementary breast support bands each for supporting a breast of a wearer, said bands having first corresponding adjacent ends secured together along a seam for positioning between the breasts of the wearer and second outer corresponding opposite ends for positioning at the outside bases of the breasts of the wearer near under-arm locations, said bands being contoured to conform to and provide a desired shape to the breasts of the wearer while supporting and urging upwardly and forwardly said breasts; a pair of complemeNtary breast band support frames for supporting said breast bands, each comprising elastic material having an opening for one of said breast bands for supporting said band in a yieldable relationship whereby said breast support bands are held tightly along the sides and bottom portions of said breasts extending between said breasts to and around the base portion of said breasts to the chest surface of said wearer,while said elastic breast band support frames are held tightly against the chest surface of said wearer in body encircling relationship; each of said breast band support frames being a continuous integral elastic material member including a horizontal panel portion extending along and secured with the bottom edge of the breast support band connected with said frame and said frame including an outer vertical end panel portion secured at the vertical outer, near under-arm end portion of said breast support band connected with said frame; and fastener means secured with the outside near under-arm free end portions of said breast band support means for releasably securing said brassiere around the chest of said wearer, said fastener means connecting at a midback location.

Claim 3

A brassiere defined in claim 1 wherein each of said breast support bands includes an integral stress triangle panel portion formed along corresponding outer end portions of said breast support bands, said outer end portions of each of said breast support bands being secured along a diagonal line with an adjacent vertical panel portion of said elastic breast band support means.

Claim 4

A brassiere in accordance with claim 2 wherein each of said breast support bands comprises an elongate strip having arcuate upper and lower edges.

Claim 5

A brassiere in accordance with claim 3 wherein the warp of the material comprising each of said breast support bands extends lengthwise of said bands along a line of direction defined by a straight line between the upper outer and upper inner corner edges of said bands.

Claim 6

A brassiere in accordance with claim 3 wherein the degree of arc of said upper edge of each of said breast support bands has a shorter radius than the arc of each of said lower edges of said support bands.

Claim 7

A brassiere comprising: a chest encircling band assembly including means for detachably interconnecting the free ends thereof along the back of a wearer; elastic fabric suspension panel means secured in said chest band assembly extendable along the chest of a wearer beneath and to the back side of each breast of said wearer near the under-arm area, said panel means comprising an elongate narrow horizontal strip extending across said wearer to the outside base of each of said breasts, and said panel means having integral vertically extending panel portions connected with each outside end of said horizontal panel portion for disposition along the chest of said wearer at the back side of each breast of said wearer near the under-arm area, said horizontal and vertical elastic panel portions defining an upwardly opening and generally rectangular frame; a pair of breast support bands aligned in end-to-end array connected together at adjacent ends along a substantially vertical seam at a between-breast location forming a breast band assembly for support and shaping of said breasts of said wearer, said breast support band assembly being secured along a bottom edge thereof with the top edge of said horizontal elastic horizontal strip and along outer vertical end edges in overlapping relationship with said vertical elastic panel portions of said suspension panel means, said outer end portions of said breast band support assembly and said vertical panel portions of said suspension panel means being secured together by lines of stitching defining a stress triangle defined generally vertically across each of said outer end portions of said breast support assembly, the hypotenuse of each of said triangles extending generally upwardly and outwardly from an outside base portion of each of said breasts oF said wearer along the side portion of said breast toward the under-arm area of said wearer; and means for supporting said chest encircling band assembly and said breast support band assembly from the shoulders of said wearer and covering said breasts of said wearer and said breast band support assembly including shoulder straps and breast covering cups connected with front portions of said chest encircling band assembly and breast support band assembly and back portions of said chest encircling band assembly.

Claim 8

A brassiere comprising: a chest encircling band assembly including means for detachably interconnecting the free ends thereof along the back of a wearer; elastic fabric suspension panel means secured in said chest band assembly extendable along the chest of a wearer beneath and to the back side of each breast of said wearer near the under-arm area, said panel means comprising an elongate narrow horizontal strip extending across said wearer to the outside base of each of said breasts, and said panel means having integral vertically extending panel portions connected with each outside end of said horizontal panel portion for disposition along the chest of said wearer at the back side of each breast of said wearer near the under-arm area, said horizontal and vertical elastic panel portions defining an upwardly opening and generally rectangular frame; a pair of breast support bands aligned in end-to-end array connected together at adjacent ends along a substantially vertical seam at a between-breast location forming a breast band assembly for support and shaping of said breasts of said wearer, said breast support band assembly being secured along a bottom edge thereof with the top edge of said horizontal elastic horizontal strip and along outer vertical end edges in overlapping relationship with said vertical elastic panel portions of said suspension panel means, said outer end portions of said breast band support assembly and said vertical panel portions of said suspension panel means being secured together by lines of stitching defining a stress triangle defined generally vertically across each of said outer end portions of said breast support assembly, the hypotenuse of each of said triangles extending generally upwardly and outwardly from an outside base portion of each of said breasts oF said wearer along the side portion of said breast toward the under-arm area of said wearer; and means for supporting said chest encircling band assembly and said breast support band assembly from the shoulders of said wearer and covering said breasts of said wearer and said breast band support assembly including shoulder straps and breast covering cups connected with front portions of said chest encircling band assembly and breast support band assembly and back portions of said chest encircling band assembly.

Claim 9

A brassiere in accordance with claim 6 wherein each of said breast support bands has arcuate upper and lower edges whereby each of said bands forms a cup-like breast supporting structure when held against the chest and breast of said wearer, the upper central portions of said support bands fitting in a non-downwardly folding relationship with the breast supported therein.

Claim 10

A brassiere in accordance with claim 7 wherein the arcuate upper edge of each of said breast support bands is formed on a radius shorter than the radius of said lower arcuate edge of said breast support band.

Claim 11

A brassiere in accordance with claim 8 including a breast suspension encircling band connected with said chest band encircling assembly and each of said breast support bands between said breast covering cups and said breast support bands for supporting said chest band encircling assembly and said breast support bands along the front of said wearer from the shoulder of said wearer, said breast encircling bands being connected together along a central line coincident with the line of connection of the adjacent end edges of said breast support bands, and said breast encircling bands being connected at outside end edges with said vertical portions of said elastic suspension panels means and said horizontal strip of said elastic panel suspension means, and said breast encircling bands each being connected at an upper central apex with the forward end of one of said shoulder straps and with an apex portion of the said breast covering cup over said encircling band.