WO1999059437A1

WO1999059437A1 - High-buoyancy swimming costume

Info

Publication number: WO1999059437A1
Application number: PCT/EP1999/003186
Authority: WO
Inventors: Elio Cattan
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1998-05-15
Filing date: 1999-05-10
Publication date: 1999-11-25
Anticipated expiration: 2000-11-15
Also published as: IT243998Y1; ITMI980343U1; AU4140799A

Abstract

A high-buoyancy swimming costume (1) comprising a containment lining (3) which is meant to be connected internally to the fabric the swimming costume is made of, a plurality of sheets (4) of polyethylene being inserted in the lining (3) in order to give high buoyancy to the costume.

Description

HIGH-BUOYANCY SWIMMING COSTUME Technical Field

The present invention relates to a high-buoyancy swimming costume. Background art It is known that means suitable to improve the buoyancy of people who are learning to swim or have encountered difficulty in acquiring basic swimming skills are usually used at the seaside and in swimming pools.

Said buoyancy aids are generally constituted either by armbands or ring- shaped life preservers or jackets which must be put on by the user before entering the water. It is evident that these means are very awkward to use and are not aesthetically appealing.

Moreover, wearing such buoyancy means entails limited mobility of the user, who finds it difficult to perform normal movements once in the water.

Swimming costumes are also known which have particular pockets in which polyurethane elements are inserted to confer buoyancy to the swimming costume and therefore improve the natural buoyancy of the wearer.

Although this last solution suffers smaller drawbacks than the previously described one because the user is not particularly hindered in his movements, it is not appreciated aesthetically.

The polyurethane elements inserted in the specifically provided pockets of the costume in fact give the costume a particularly bulging appearance which, when worn by the person, does not adapt perfectly to the body.

The above-described costume provided with polyurethane elements in fact gives the wearer an unpleasant appearance and accordingly is not particularly accepted by users. Disclosure of the Invention

The aim of the present invention is to provide a high-buoyancy swimming costume which allows to avoid substantially altering the outward appearance of its wearer. Within the scope of this aim, an object of the present invention is to provide a high-buoyancy swimming costume which has substantially the same appearance as a conventional swimming costume.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a high-buoyancy swimming costume which does not hinder the movements of the wearer.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a high-buoyancy swimming costume which can be made by using both elastic material and fabric.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a high-buoyancy swimming costume which is highly reliable, relatively easy to manufacture and at competitive costs.

This aim, these objects and others which will become apparent hereinafter are achieved by a high-buoyancy swimming costume, characterized in that it comprises a containment lining which is meant to be connected internally to the fabric the swimming costume is made of, a plurality of sheets of polyethylene being inserted in said lining in order to give high buoyancy to said costume. Brief description of the drawings

Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of an embodiment according to the invention, illustrated only by way of non-limitative example in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a cut out perspective view of a swimming costume according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a perspective view of the swimming costume according to the present invention, worn by a user;

Figure 3 is a partial sectional view of the swimming costume according to the present invention; and

Figure 4 is a partial sectional view of the swimming costume according to the present invention in a different embodiment. Ways of carrying out the Invention

With reference to the above figures, the swimming costume according to the present invention, generally designated by the reference numeral 1, has a conventional external layer of fabric, designated by the reference numeral 2, which constitutes the actual costume and is formed by two layers; a containment lining 3 is inserted between the two layers of outer fabric 2 and is meant to contain a plurality of elements adapted to increase buoyancy.

Such elements are conveniently constituted by a plurality of sheets 4 made of polyethylene, which are mutually stacked and mutually stitched or glued.

The polyethylene sheets 4 are then inserted in the containment lining 3, which is also in turn connected, for example stitched or glued, to the outer layer of fabric 2 of the costume.

In particular, if the outer layer 2 of the costume is made of elastic material, the containment lining 3 has an elastically extendable portion 5 which is connected between the edge of the containment lining 3 and the portion of external fabric 2 to which the lining is to be connected.

In this way, the extendability of the external fabric 2 is not limited by the presence of the containment lining 3, since the elastically extendable portion 5 allows the user who wears the costume to perform any movement without the risk of tearing the containment lining from the seam provided at the lateral seams of the costume.

If instead the external fabric is made of nonextendable material, the elastically extendable portion 5 can be omitted and therefore the containment lining 3 is stitched directly at the lateral seams of the external fabric 2 of the costume.

The stitched or glued polyethylene sheets 4, inserted in the containment lining 3, give high buoyancy to the costume, allowing the wearer to remain afloat without difficulty. The containment lining has a plurality of mutually separate and side-by- side pockets which are adapted to be individually filled with the plurality of polyethylene sheets 4.

The number of sheets of polyethylene 4 inserted in the containment lining 3 depends on the weight of the person wearing the costume. The material employed for the sheets 4 has high buoyancy and accordingly ensures, with a very small number of polyethylene sheets 4, buoyancy even for rather high body weights.

In view of the high buoyancy of the material employed, the above described costume is aesthetically appealing, since a relatively small number of polyethylene sheets is sufficient and accordingly no particular bulges or excessive paddings, which would spoil the aesthetic appearance of the wearer, are visible.

Advantageously, the containment lining 3 has a plurality of mutually adjacent pockets which however are mutually separate in order to allow a uniform distribution of the polyethylene sheets 4 and prevent their movement when the user wears the costume.

The containment lining 3 is preferably provided both in the front part and in the rear part of the costume in order to give a symmetrical appearance to said costume and therefore be aesthetically more pleasant. In practice it has been observed that the swimming costume according to the present invention fully achieves the intended aim, since it allows to give high buoyancy to the wearer without being a hindrance for the wearer and being aesthetically unattractive.

In practice, the materials employed, so long as they are compatible with the specific use, as well as the dimensions, may be any according to requirements and to the state of the art.

The disclosures in Italian Utility Model No. MI98U000343 from which this application claims priority are incorporated herein by reference.

Claims

1. A high-buoyancy swimming costume (1), characterized in that it comprises a containment lining (3) which is meant to be connected internally to the fabric the swimming costume is made of, a plurality of sheets (4) of polyethylene being inserted in said lining in order to give high buoyancy to said costume.

2. The swimming costume according to claim 1, characterized in that said plurality of polyethylene sheets (4) are mutually stitched.

3. The swimming costume according to claim 1, characterized in that said plurality of polyethylene sheets (4) are mutually glued.

4. The swimming costume according to claim 1, characterized in that said containment lining (3) is stitched at lateral seams of said costume.

5. The swimming costume according to claim 1, characterized in that said containment lining (3) has, at a portion thereof for connection to said costume, an elastically extendable portion (5) which is meant to be stitched to lateral seams of said costume.

6. The swimming costume according to claim 1, characterized in that said containment lining (3) is provided both at the front part and at the rear part of said swimming costume.

7. The swimming costume according to claim 3, characterized in that said containment lining (3) has multiple mutually separate and side-by-side pockets which are adapted to be individually filled with said plurality of polyethylene sheets (4).