Cold weather garment with skin foam and method of making same
AssigneeBurlington Industries, Inc.
InventorB. Dean Lassiter
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A cold weather garment is produced from inner and outer fabrics and a layer of open cell skinned foam at least 1/4 inch thick, and preferably about 3/4 inch thick. The skin may be provided on a major flat face of the foam and the other face convoluted, or both faces can be skinned, or the foam layer may include two or more thicknesses of skinned foam. The garments provide better wind resistance than garments with simple open cell foam constructions and allow the selection of a wider variety of outer fabrics while still having the desired MVT, insulation, and wind resistance properties. The skinned foam is also easier to handle, cut, and sew during the construction of cold weather garments.
Claims22
A cold weather garment comprising:
- an interior lining fabric;
- an outer fabric;
- a layer of open cell foam at least about 1/4 inch thick between the interior lining fabric and the outer fabric;
- and the lining, foam layer, and outer fabric connected together by connecting means to form a garment;
- and wherein:
- said foam layer has first and second major faces, said first face being flat, and disposed in abutting relationship with the outer fabric, and at least said first face having a skin so as to enhance ease of construction and wind resistance.
A method of making a cold weather garment using an interior lining fabric, an outer fabric, and an open cell skinned foam layer having a thickness of at least about 1/4 inch, comprising the steps of:
- (a) cutting a sheet of the skinned foam to a configuration desirable for the garment being produced, forming a number of different pieces of foam;
- (b) handling the foam pieces, including by sliding them across work surfaces, to align them in edge-to-edge configurations to form up a foam layer to be sandwiched between the two fabrics;
- (c) affixing the foam pieces in a substantially edge-to-edge configuration;
- (d) providing the attached foam pieces between the two fabrics;
- and
- (e) stitching the fabrics together, with foam layer therebetween, to form the desired garment.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.