GB2110068A - Quilted and waterproof garment - Google Patents

Abstract

A quilted but waterproof garment comprises outer (11) and inner (14) waterproof fabrics and a backing fabric (12) therebetween which is secured to the outer fabric (11) by lines of stitches (17) to form the quilted construction, the stitches (17) not passing through the inner fabric (14). The inner fabric (14) may be stitched to the outer fabric (11) solely at the garment seams (19) which then have a waterproof tape bonded at the inside thereof. An interlining (15) and a lining fabric (16), also secured to each other by quilting stitches (18) may be secured to the inside of the inner fabric (14) by stitching solely at the garment seams (19). Since for neither rows of stitches (17,18) pass through inner fabric (14) water ingress is prevented. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Garment This invention relates to garments and in particular to garments which in use are required to keep the wearer warm and dry in conditions in which he would otherwise be cold and/or wet. The type of garment to which the present invention relates in particular is one such as may be worn by a motor cyclist, thereby being subjected to exposure to high relative wind speeds and heavy rain for long periods. Such garments, whilst allowing the wearer a reasonable degree of freedom of movement, must be able to retain the wearer's body heat against the cooling effect of the fast moving airstream and also resist penetration by rainwater. It is often desired, in order to meet with the former requirement, and to provide a pleasing appearance, to have a quilted construction for the garment.However the lines of stitching of a quilted construction generally provide an access for rainwater, thus preventing the garment from meeting the latter requirement.

Various constructions of garment seams are known which have been devised to deny access of rainwater. For example tapes of a suitable waterproofing material may be bonded to the rear of the seam by means of an adhesive or by heat welding. However such methods have been found adequate for use with the relatively few seams of a garment but are impracticable for use with the many lines of stitches required in a quilted garment construction.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a garment of quilted construction whereby the aforementioned disadvantages are overcome.

The invention provides a garment having at least a part thereof of quilted construction, said part comprising an outer and an inner waterproof or subtantially waterproof fabric, a backing fabric disposed between said outer and inner fabrics and secured thereto, said backing fabric being secured to said outer fabric by means of first lines of stitches providing said quilted construction which lines of stitches pass through said backing fabric and said outer fabric but not said inner fabric.

Said inner fabric may be secured to said backing fabric and said outer fabric solely at a garment seam.

The part may also comprise the lining fabric which may be secured to said inner fabric solely at a garment seam and which is disposed at that side of said inner waterproof fabric remote from said outer and backing fabrics. The part may further comprise an interlining fabric disposed between said inner waterproof fabric and said lining fabric, which interlining may be secured to said inner waterproof fabric solely at a garment seam and to said lining fabric by second lines of stitches providing a further quilted constructions.

Said backing fabric may comprise a foamed material and may have secured thereto by said first lines of stitches a sheet of tear resistant material at that side thereof remote from said outer fabric.

The invention will now be further described with reference to the accompanying drawing, the single figure of which illustrates a quilted part 10 of a garment.

The part 10 of the garment comprises in sequence from the outside of the garment, an outer waterproof or substantially waterproof fabric 11, a backing fabric 12, a tear resistant sheet 13, an inner waterproof or subtantially waterproof fabric 14, an interlining 1 5 and a lining fabric 1 6.

The outer fabric 11, the backing fabric 1 2 and the tear resistant sheet 1 3 are secured to each other by lines of stitching 1 7 to provide the quilted construction, the stitches passing through the three fabrics. The outer fabric 11 and the sheet 1 3 are of tear resistant material in order that the stitches are not pulled through the quilted construction, whilst the backing fabric 1 2 may be a foamed material, such as for example polyester foam. The tear resistant sheet 1 3 may be for example paper.

The interlining 1 5 and the lining fabric 1 6 are secured to each other by lines of stitching 1 8 to provide a further quilting effect. These lines of stitches 1 8 also serve to prevent the interlining 1 5 from migrating to the lowermost regions of the garment in use.

Generally over the quilted part 10 of the garment there is no connection between the outer and inner quilted constructions described above and the inner waterproof fabric 14, since neither of the lines of stitches 17, 1 8 penetrate inner fabric 1 4. Consequently any rainwater which does penetrate outer fabric 11 or the lines of stitches 1 7 is prevented from penetrating further into the garment by the imperforate inner waterproof fabric 14, or at least such penetration is strongly resisted.

All of the aforementioned fabrics 11 to 1 6 are secured in their correct relative disposition solely at a garment seam 19, which seam may be waterproofed by any of the known means, such as a tape bonded thereto on the inside or the outside of the garment as desired. By means of the construction of the invention only at the garment seams do lines of stitches penetrate the inner waterproof fabric 14, thus enabling the garment to be readily secured against water ingress, whilst the garment is quilted so as to provide protection against heat loss from the wearer and also a pleasing appearance.

The outer and inner fabrics 11, 14 may be for example wax proofed cotton or polyurethane coated nylon. In the former case the lining fabric 1 6 may be any suitable textile material such as cotton whilst in the latter case fabric 1 6 could by nylon taffeta material.

In either case the interlining may be, for example, polyester wadding.

Alternative materials will be readily apparent to persons skilled in the art, and may be desired having regard to the cost and quality levels of the garment to be achieved. Furthermore alternative constructions may be envisaged within the scope of the present invention, such as for example the interlining and lining being bonded together instead of being stitched as described above. Additionally the inner waterproof fabric may be bonded to the backing material or tear resistant sheet and/or the lining or interlining as the case may be by an adhesive but not by means of stitches. As a further alternative such bonding may be combined with the stitching of the described embodiment.

By means of the invention additional protection may be given to the wearer of the garment at the most vulnerable points, i.e. in regions prone to greatest cooling effect and greatest liability to water ingress. The double quilting effect of the embodiment described provides excellent protection against cooling of the wearer and the construction ensures that rainwater is unable to penetrate the garment or is resisted to a considerable extent.

Claims (21)

1. A garment having at least a part thereof of quilted construction, said part comprising outer and inner waterproof or substantially waterproof fabrics, a backing fabric disposed between said inner and outer fabrics and secured thereto, said backing fabric being secured to said outer fabric by means of first lines of stitches providing said quilted construction and passing through said outer and said backing fabrics but not said inner fabric.

2. A garment according to claim 1 wherein said inner fabric is secured to said outer and said backing fabrics solely at a garment seam.

3. A garment according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said part comprises a lining fabric disposed at that side of said inner fabric remote from said outer and said backing fabrics.

4. A garment according to claim 3 wherein said lining fabric is secured to said inner fabric solely at a garment seam.

5. A garment according to claim 4 wherein said part comprises an interlining fabric disposed between said inner fabric and said lining fabric.

6. A garment according to claim 5 wherein said interlining is secured to said inner fabric solely at a garment seam.

7. A garment according to claim 5 or claim 6 wherein said interlining is secured to said lining fabric by being adhesively bonded thereto.

8. A garment according to claim 5 or claim 6 wherein said interlining is secured to said lining fabric by second lines of stitches providing an inner quilted construction.

9. A garment according to any one of claims 1 to 8 wherein a sheet of tear resistant material is secured to said backing material at that side thereof remote from said outer fabric by said first lines of stitches.

1 0. A garment according to claim 9 wherein said backing fabric is a foamed material.

11. A garment according to claim 10 wherein said backing fabric is a foamed polyester material.

1 2. A garment according to any one of claims 9 to 11 wherein said tear resistant material is paper.

1 3. A garment according to any one of claims 1 to 1 2 wherein a tape of waterproof material is bonded to the inside of the or each garment seam.

1 4. A garment according to any one of claims 1 to 1 3 wherein said outer fabric is a wax proofed cotton material.

1 5. A garment according to any one of claims 1 to 1 3 wherein said inner fabric is a wax proofed cotton material.

1 6. A garment according to any one of claims 1 to 1 3 wherein said outer fabric is a polyurethane coated nylon material.

1 7. A garment according to any one of claims 1 to 1 3 wherein said inner fabric is a polyurethane coated nylon material.

18. A garment according to claim 14 or claim 1 5 when dependent on claim 3 wherein said lining fabric is a cotton material.

19. A garment according to claim 16 or claim 1 7 when dependent on claim 3 wherein said lining fabric is a nylon taffeta.

20. A garment according to claim 5 or any claim dependent thereon wherein said interlining comprises a polyester wadding.

21. A garment substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.