HK1153115B - Rear lock of a brassiere - Google Patents

Description

The subject matter of the invention

The invention relates to a bra strap, and in particular to a bra back closure or fastening device.

The purpose of the invention is to

A standard bra comprises a pair of rear open baskets, suitable for resting over the wearer's chest, with internal edges which are connected to each other, and outer edges from which back brace wings extend, passing under the wearer's arms and encircling the wearer's back, where they join to the brace and are soluble with each other by means of a closure. A brace, which normally extends from the top of each basket and passes over the wearer's shoulder, is connected at the back edge of the wearer to the upper edge of the respective back brace, see USC 6.321, 6.419.

The standard clasp consists of a plurality of horizontally spaced vertical rows of eyes, placed at the outer or rear end of one of the wings, and a complementary vertical row of hooks at the front or inner end of the other of the two wings. The hooks are engaged with the eyes of one of the rows to attach the two wings to each other. For comfort, the backrest wings are typically made of an elastic textile material, however, the hooks and the eye-bearing ends are somewhat stiffer.

The metal hooks are hard and can pierce the wearer's back and can also hook up with other parts of the laundry when washing the bra. The closure is also demanding and is therefore visible under a closely attached garment, with an unattractive crease forming in the middle of the wearer's back. Finally, the entire closure can curl if a longitudinal force occurs that pulls the two flowers apart, with both the upper and lower ribs and the outer edge of the back already protruding outwards.

The manufacture of the clasp from the various elements involves a number of steps of positioning and fastening, which contribute to the cost of the familiar clasp.

The following shall be used:

Accordingly, the purpose of the invention is to create an improved bra-back closure.

Furthermore, the aim is to provide an improved bra buckle that avoids the above disadvantages, in particular to provide a buckle that is extremely flat so that it can be worn under a tightly fitting garment without being visible and without bouncing when the backrest wings are under tension.

The purpose is to provide an improved and simplified method of making such a closure, which in particular avoids the need for unsightly seams.

The following is a summary of the invention:

A fastener designed to connect the ends of two backs of a bra comprises, in accordance with the invention, a piece of inelastic textile material having a back surface opposite the back of the bra holder and a front surface opposite it. The piece of fabric is fixed at one end of one of the backs and carries on the rear side a number of rows of first fasteners made of plastic, extending horizontally and longitudinally spaced, each row comprising at least two fasteners, spaced transversely from each other.a second closing element, made of plastic, which is generally complementary to the first closing element and which can be used in conjunction with it, is fixed at the front of the base at its outer end in such a way as to be aligned with and able to be used in conjunction with the first closing elements. A rigid transverse rod, mounted on or formed as part of the base, prevents movement in the relative direction of the second closing element and prevents the second closing element from bending the base in the second closing element.

In practice, such a closure can be extremely thin, measured between the front and the back, with a thickness of only 4 mm, which is considerably less than the 6 mm used for a conventional closure. In addition, the design is such that a tensile stress applied to the back does not cause the closure to crease or twist, but rather makes it flatter, so that an unattractive bulge can never form, even if the bra holder can be worn under a tightly fitting T-shirt, for example.

The first closing elements are female and U-shaped, while the second closing elements are male. They are both made entirely of plastic, so they cannot be hooked when washed, for example. In addition, such a completely non-metallic construction is very simple and cheap and avoids some of the skin sensitivity and allergy problems associated with metal parts.

The fabric is made of the same front and rear textile layers, and the first fasteners consist of a front part sandwiched between these layers, a back part capable of being matched with the second fastener and a pin or connecting element passing through the back position between the respective front and back parts. These pins or connecting parts may be made individually with the respective front and rear parts or may be connected individually with one of the respective front and rear parts and by ultrasonic welding with the other front and rear part.

Each of the layers is rectangular in its basic shape and the closure further comprises ultrasonic welding areas extending along at least three sides of the layers and holding them together immediately within the outer edges thereof. These welds may, according to a particularly advantageous embodiment of the invention, extend along only three sides of the layers and be deposited against a fourth side. The respective back partition on the four sides is included between the respective layers and fixed to these. Of course, one or both layers may also be made as an integral part of the bracket back when the holder is made together with the sub-bracket. These welds can prevent the loss of any material between the first and second layers of the closure.

The flat base may also be made as a single plastic part with the second closing elements and the rigid beams, in which case at least one flexible textile patch is attached to the rigid rod-shaped part and attached to the respective back partition, or two such patches are sandwiched and welded with the rod and sandwiched on the corresponding wing end and connected to it.

The method of the invention consists in the steps of attaching a number of first closing elements made of plastic to a front of an inelastic textile piece having a back facing away from the bra holder and an opposite front, arranging the first closing elements in a number of transverse longitudinal rows spaced at the rear, and creating a flat base with an inner end connected transversely to the other end of the backs and an outer end opposite to the back, and a front end at least parallel to the outer end of the textile piece, which is placed at the outer end of the back, and a second base with two outer elements facing opposite to each other, and a base at the outer end of the base, which is placed at the outer end of the back, and two components that are placed at the first end of the base, and which are at least parallel to the outer end of the back.

As explained above, the fabric consists of two layers of textile material, front and rear, which are of equal coverage, the first of which has a front part enclosed between the layers, the second a rear part which can be coupled to any of the second closing elements and a pen or connecting part which passes through the rear position between the respective front and rear parts. These front and rear parts may be made in one piece with each other, with the pins or connecting part and the stiffener in a single injection injection, or the connection may be made alternately or once with each front and rear section and the other in a separate front and rear section.

The following shall be the minimum requirements for the designation of the vehicle type:

The above objectives, characteristics and benefits are described in more detail below, with reference to the accompanying figure, which shows the Fig. 1 shows a clasp in view;Fig. 1 is a section along the IB-IB line of Fig. 1A;Fig. 1C and 1D are supervisory views of the female and male parts of the clasp;Fig. 1E and 1F are views of the female and male parts of the clasp from the rear;Fig. 2A and 2B are front and back views of the outer female element;Fig. 2C shows the outer female element in a section;Fig. 2D and 2F are front and back views of the inner female element;Fig. 2F shows a section through the inner female element;Fig. 2F shows a section through the outer female element.2G and 2H are the forward and backward views of the plastic part of the male fastener;Fig. 2I is a cut along the line 2I-2I of Fig. 2G;Fig. 2I is a front view of the fabric for the male part of the fastener;Fig. 3A and 3B are the views of the base and free-woven bands for the fabric layers of the female part;Fig. 3C and 3D are the front and backward views of the inner and outer female elements after they have been applied to the base bands;Fig. 3I is a view of the tissue strips after they have been welded together by heat treatment;Fig. 3F is a view of the folded fabric strips;Fig. 4A shows a longitudinal cut-off of the second folded fabric strips;Fig. 4F is a view of the folded fabric strips.4A;Fig. 4C and 4D are supervisory views of the female and male parts of the second closure;Fig. 4E and 4F are views of the backs of the female and male parts of the second closure;Fig. 5A and 5B are views of the base and supporting fabric strips for the positions of the male part of the second closure;Fig. 5C and 5D are front and rear views after the plastic parts are applied to the base strip;Fig. 5 is a view of the textile strips after they have been joined by heat treatment;Fig. 5 is a view of the inter-mixed strips after cutting;Fig. 6A and 6F are views of the back and forth strips of the plastic and textile parts;Fig. 6C shows the front and back layers of the second closure;Fig. 6F shows the back and forth strips of the textile base strip after thermal treatment.This is a view of the strips after they have been joined together by heat treatment;Fig. 6 is a view showing the cutting of the joined textile strips;Fig. 7 shows a section along the line A to A of Fig. 7D;Fig. 7 shows a section along the line B to B of Fig. 7A;Fig. 7 shows a section along the line C to C of Fig. 7D;Fig. 7 shows a simplified representation of the bracket-stop conforming to the invention in the closed state in one of the four-A-shaped views;Fig. 7 shows a linear lock along the bracket-stop conforming to Fig. 7B, Fig. 8 shows a further example of a similar configuration of the bracket-stop conforming to the corresponding size representation in Fig. 2:1, Fig. 1 shows a close-shaped version of the bracket-stop conforming to Fig. 1B.8A in the section along the line B-B of Fig. 8A,Fig.8C, the position of the temporary fixing of magnetic fasteners of the bra clasp according to Fig. 8A, also in the section along the line B-B of Fig. 8A andFig.8D, the closed configuration of the bra clasp according to Fig. 8A, in the section along the line D-D of Fig. 8A,Fig. 8B, 8C and 8D, respectively at a scale of 4:1.

The following is a description of the examples of exercises:

As can be seen from Figures 1A to 1F, a clasp of the invention generally comprises a female part 10 which is normally attached to one dashed rear wing W and a male part 20 which is attached to the other rear wing.

The female part 10 is formed by a front layer of material 11a and a rear layer of material 11b, of which at least one, in the example shown both, consists of a non-stretchable textile fabric, usually a microfibre strip in the form of linen. These layers 11a and 11b are connected along their longitudinal edges and an outer edge by a U-shaped weld 11c. In addition, transverse welds 11d are provided, which are arranged in a longitudinal direction at a distance from each other over the layers 11a and 11b joined by ultrasonic welds within the surfaces, which are arranged in a direction from each other by the outer layer 11c, which are arranged in a direction from each other by the outer layer 11c, which is furthermore arranged in a direction from each other by a more stable arrangement of the two sides. This is achieved by avoiding a more stable separation of the inner and the outer layers 11a and 11c.

These rows 12 of two female butterfly-shaped closing elements are arranged in transverse rows, spaced longitudinally, on the back of the rear position 11b. In principle, more than two such elements 12 could be arranged in each row in the case of brackets with larger baskets, but as will be explained below, it is often only necessary to increase the cross-sectional distance of the two elements 12, not their number, in order to achieve an adaptation to a wider wing W by increasing the transverse dimension of the closure.

Each female individual element 12 comprises, as is more clearly apparent from Fig. 2A-2C, a butterfly-shaped back part 12a, which is located on the outer surface of rear position 11b, and a rectangular-ringed inner part 12b (Fig. 2D-2F), sandwiched between the front of rear position 11 and the rear side of the front material position 11a. The rear part 12a is butterfly-shaped with a pair of wings having divergent outer section 12c, parallel inner sections 12d having overhanging outer sections 12 and a 12th bulge which forms the base of the inner sections 12 interconnecting.

Err1:Expecting ',' delimiter: line 1 column 749 (char 748)

It would also be possible to create a system in which the two sheets 20a and 20b are one piece and one piece is so large that it covers the entire back and outside of the plastic part 20d, so that only textile material is visible from the back.

Err1:Expecting ',' delimiter: line 1 column 463 (char 462)

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In a first step, shown in Figures 3C and 3D, parts 12a and 12b are joined together in three rows of two each (to which the invention is not in any way limited), the pointed protrusions 12g and 12i being pushed through the gap strips 11b' and ensuring the precise positioning of parts 12a and 12b to each other.

Then, as shown in Fig. 3E, the two blank strips 11a' and 11b' are fixed in an equal position to each other and welds 12c and 12d are created, which can be done by ultrasound, thus giving the overall arrangement a slight stiffening and completely encompassing the 12b parts.

In a final step, a cutting edge 11e is cut from the blank strip 11a' and 11b' to transfer it to layers 11a and 11b. This cutting operation is done cold, immediately adjacent to or slightly outside the ultrasonic welding 12c, so that if the fabric of layers 11a and 11b frets slightly from use and washing, a smooth edge is left.

The model shown in Figures 4A to 6F is functionally similar to the first model described above and has all its advantages, but differs from it in the manner of manufacture and construction of the male part 30.

In particular, the male part 30 is not made up of two pieces, namely the textile element shown in Fig. 2J and the plastic part shown in Fig. 2G and 2H. Instead, as shown in Fig. 5A and 5B, it is formed by two blank strips 30a' and 30b' starting from the first, which is a simple non-perforated piece of material, and the second is fitted with a number of 30c passing holes, both pieces of material being enlarged by a dimension D.

The vacuum strip 30b' is then fixed between two injection or blow moulded halves as shown in Figures 5C and 5D and a synthetic resin is injected to form two small circular pressure button bases 30d and a transverse rod 30e on the front of the vacuum strip 30b' and two flat pressure buttons 30f on the back, with heads 30g protruding from each other, identical to the heads 20i and 30g ribs, which are identical to the rib 20j.

Accordingly, all plastic parts are produced in a single shot and therefore interconnected.

Then, as shown in Figure 5E, the two blank strips 30a' and 30b' are placed side by side so that the front blank strip 30a' covers the buttons 30d and the reinforcement bar 30e, and the two blank strips 30a' and 30b' are joined by ultrasonic welding in a U-shaped weld 30j extending around the buttons 30d and 30f and a longitudinal straight ultrasonic weld 30k on the bar 30e to firmly connect the two strips and the plastic parts 30d, 30f, 30e and 30i.

Finally, a cold cut is made around weld 30j, which runs slightly outside the weld to cut a 30 m edge to create front and rear layers 30a and 30b with a smooth edge and a pair of lips between which the respective wing W can be anchored.

The female part of the second example is also formed, as shown in Figures 6A to 6F, from single-piece plastic parts produced by injection moulding.

In particular, as shown in Figures 6A and 6B, the manufacture of vacuum strips 40a' and 40b' can be assumed, the former being identical with vacuum strip 11a' and the latter differing from vacuum strip 11b' only in that it has six U-shaped rows of continuous holes.

The blank strip 40b' is then tightened, as is the blank strip 30b', between the mould halves into which the plastic material is injected to form moulds 50a and 50b, which are necessarily identical to parts 12a and 12b except that they are made individually and connected by thin pins extending through the holes 40c, as shown in Figures 6C and 6D.

The steps shown in Figures 6E and 6F are identical to those shown in Figures 3E and 3F, with the resulting welds 12c and 12d then cut off at edge 40c to create a front position 40a and a rear position 40b, which have a smooth edge and two flaps which can be connected by a rear wing.

For the purpose of a more detailed explanation of the bra-lock according to the invention, reference is made to Figures 7A to 7E below, which show, on an enlarged scale, the female elements 10 and male elements 20 of bra-locks according to the invention, as explained in Figures 2A to 2J and 4A and 4B, on the basis of Figures 2a to 2j and 4a and 4b. Accordingly, Figures 7A are an enlarged representation of part of the element in Figures 4B. Accordingly, reference is made to the corresponding description of Figures 4B and the example shown here.

In cases where the reference marks given in Figures 7A to 7E are not mentioned in the corresponding parts of the following description, reference shall be made to those parts of the previous description in which the reference marks have been introduced.

A very important characteristic of the bra-lock according to the invention is that a small minimum force must be applied to connect the backs of the bra, i.e. a certain resistance must be overcome. However, after this resistance threshold is exceeded, the connection is extremely strong, i.e. the greater the tensile force acting in the direction of the movement of the backs of the bra away from each other, the more the holding force of the bra-lock increases and the fixing of the backs of the bra-lock stabilizes.

To this end, in general terms, the female fastener 10 and the male fastener 20 are designed in such a way that in general terms, closing the bra clasp also results in a stabilization of the fastening configuration of its individual parts, i.e. tensile stresses occurring in the fastener area, directed parallel to the body surface of the bra wearer, support a push of the interconnected side and back parts of the bra against the wearer and thereby stabilize the connection of the back parts.

To the extent possible, the bra-closure of the invention fulfils the following requirements: The butterfly-shaped female fasteners 12 of the bra-stopper according to the invention, as can be directly seen in particular from the detailed illustrations of Figures 7B and 7C, are symmetrically formed with respect to a longitudinal median plane 51w, the trace of which runs parallel in the drawing plane to the opposite narrow flat leading surfaces 51f (Fig. 7C) of the female fastener 12.

The male locking elements 20 are also symmetrically formed with respect to a central plane 51 m, which in the closed state of these elements 10 and 12 coincides with the central plane 51 w of the respective female locking element 12.

Err1:Expecting ',' delimiter: line 1 column 86 (char 85)

The male locking elements are also fitted with 53m spring-loaded anchorages, which are functionally connected to the anchorage spring 52r of the female locking elements 12 and are placed on opposite sides of a guide strip 54 (20j) of the respective male locking element 20.

At one end of the guide strip 54 is an anchorage head 20i which, together with the rib of the male part 20, forms an anchorage hook 20h which can be engaged with the female part 12 in Figure 7C, where two pairs of 12 or 20 such fasteners are joined together into a single plastic part 54 (Figure 7C), the geometrical design of which is easily derived from the enlarged scale representations of Figure 7C and Figure 2H.

The anchorage head 20h, measured perpendicular to the plane of symmetry 51 m or 51w of the female fastener 12, has a diameter Dm significantly greater than the distance between the leading surfaces 51f and the parallel sections 12d of the female fasteners 10.

The guide surfaces 51f parallel to the centre plane of the parallel sections 12d of the female locking elements 10 are set against other guide surfaces 54r approximately parallel to the centre plane 51w, with a distance of at least the diameter Dm of the anchorage head, preferably slightly greater than this, by means of flat coplanar step surfaces (Fig. 7c), in order to ensure a slight displacement of the male locking elements relative to the female locking elements.

The bra clasp of the invention is closed by pushing the male clasp 20 into the female clasp 12 in the direction of the arrow 56 of Figure 7B, and by guiding it with its rib 20j (Figure 7E) between the parallel guide faces 51 F (Figure 7C) until the anchorage head 20h reaches the inside of the brackets 12e in support, with the male and female clasp being pulled or pushed together.

The geometrical dimensions of the restraint elements described and the elastic properties of the material of the closing elements are coordinated in such a way as to ensure that these elements can be easily brought into the closing position and that the bracket closure can be easily opened.

The bracket closure shown in Figures 8A to 8D, the details of which are expressly referred to, and numbering 80 in total, is essentially analogous in structure and function to the bracket closures described in Figures 1A to 7E (in particular the closures shown in Figures 1A to 3F and 7A to 7E) and identical in many respects to these closures, so that, in order to avoid repetition, reference may be made to the textile parts of the description. This is true both as regards the design of the metallic or tragic female closures 12a and as regards the most analogous parts of the closures to be incorporated, and also as regards the arrangement of the elements used in the closures and the identification of the parts and parts of the closure.

In a substantial difference from the variants of bracket closures illustrated in Figures 1 to 7E, the example shown in Figures 8A to 8D provides, in addition to fasteners providing a force-locked fixing of the bracket wings, magnetic closing elements 80/w and 80/m (Figures 8B and 8C) to facilitate the bracket holder's search for the overall position of the bracket closure and its closing operation.

The purpose of this is to achieve, by means of the magnetic closing elements 80/w and 80/m, in themselves, a kind of provisional coupling of the bra wings in such a way that, by virtue of the magnetic attraction of the magnets alone, a closed configuration of the bra is obtained, from which the final closing configuration, corresponding to the formally closed action of the female and male closing parts described in the rest, can be conveniently reached even without the view of the closing 80.

For this purpose, the arrangement of the 12 rows, in which two butterfly-shaped female 12a fasteners of the female 10 fastener are arranged, as shown in Figure 8A, incorporates a 80/w magnetic element of the female 10 fastener and a 80/m permanent magnet of the male 20 fastener. These 80/w magnets of the female 10 fastener and the 80/m permanent magnet of the male 20 fastener are placed in the arrangement of Figures 8B and 8C between the textile layers 11a and 11b of the female 10 fastener and in the 20a fastener, which is connected to the 20a fastener on one side and welded to the 20a fastener on the other side.

The 80/w and 80/m magnets are in the basic form of circular discs, with a diameter of 4 mm and a thickness of 1 mm in a typical dimension, and are made of neodymium permanent magnets or other rare earth magnets available commercially in suitable specifications.

In principle, it is sufficient to provide a permanent magnetic locking element for one of the closing parts 10 or 20 only and to take a sheet of soft magnetic material for each of the other parts, but for reasons of sufficient attraction it is appropriate to use permanent magnets 10 and 20 on both closing parts, which can develop comparatively greater attractive forces when polished appropriately, which also benefits a space-saving, low-cost design of the closing 80.

In the example chosen for illustration, the permanent magnets 80/w of the female part 10 are arranged between the female elements 12a of the respective series 12 of closing elements, and the same applies to the male part 20 which is composed of a plastic part, the permanent magnet 80/m being fixed between the male parts 80/r of the plastic part 20 in a way visible from Figures 8B and 8C, as shown only in the diagram.

Err1:Expecting ',' delimiter: line 1 column 1090 (char 1089)

Claims (26)

1. A closure for connection between ends of two back wings of a brassiere, the closure comprising: an inelastic textile patch having a back face turned away from a wearer of the brassiere and an opposite front face, the patch being attached to the end of one of the wings; a plurality of transversely extending and longitudinally spaced rows each having at least two transversely spaced first closure elements (12) made of plastic fixed to the back face; a flat body having an inner end attached to the end of the of the other wings, an opposite outer end, a front face at least partially overlapping at the outer end the back face of the patch, and a back face opposite the body front face; respective plastic second closure elements (30g) generally complementary to and matable with the first closure elements and fixed to the body front face at the outer end so as to align with and interfit with the first closure elements; wherein a transversely rigid bar (30e) on or forming part of the body and preventing transverse relative movement of the second closure elements and bending of the body at the second closure elements.
2. The closure defined in claim 1 wherein the first closure elements are female and U-shaped and the second closure elements are male.
3. The closure defined in claim 1 wherein the patch is formed by congruous front and back textile layers and the first closure elements each include a front part sandwiched between the layers, a back part matable with a respective one of the second closure elements, and a peg or web extending through the back layer between the respective front and back parts.
4. The closure defined in claim 3 wherein the pegs or webs are formed integrally with the respective front and back parts.
5. The closure defined in claim 3 wherein the pegs or webs are formed integrally with one of the respective front and back parts and are welded to the other of the respective front and back parts.
6. The closure defined in claim 3 wherein each of the layers is generally rectangular, the closure further comprising: welds extending around at least three sides of the layers and bonding same together immediately inward of outer edges thereof.
7. The closure defined in claim 6 wherein the welds only extend around the three sides and the layers are separate at a fourth side, the respective wing end being received between and fastened to the layers at the fourth side.
8. The closure defined in claim 6, further comprising: transverse bar welds between the rows of first closure elements.
9. The closure defined in claim 1 wherein the flat body is unitarily formed of plastic with the second closure elements and rigid bar.
10. The closure defined in claim 9, further comprising at least one flexible textile flap secured to the rigid bar and attached to the respective wing end.
11. The closure defined in claim 10 wherein there are two such textile flaps sandwiching and ultrasonically welded to the bar also sandwiching and attached to the respective wing end.
12. The closure as claimed in one of claims 2 to 11, wherein the female closure elements are provided with protruding anchoring elements and the male closure elements are likewise equipped with protruding anchoring elements, the mutual engagement of which leads to form-fitting securing of the anchoring elements in the closed configuration, wherein the brassiere closure is closed and opened counter to moderate return forces which occur on account of the elastic deformation of the protruding parts of the closure elements when the closure is actuated.
13. The closure as claimed in claim 12, wherein the protruding parts of the female closure elements are arranged in the vicinity of transition regions, within which deviating guiding faces of the female elements are followed by parallel guiding faces, by means of which the closure elements are guided into the anchoring position.
14. The closure as claimed in claim 12 or claim 13, characterized in that the closure position of the closure elements is marked by a stop effect.
15. The closure as claimed in either claim 1 or claim 14, characterized in that arranged on at least one of the closure parts (10, 20), in addition to the closure elements (12a, 20, 20h, 20i) that act in a force-fitting and form-fitting manner, is at least one permanently magnetic closure element (80/w and/or 80/m) which, in interaction with a likewise permanently magnetic or magnetizable closure element, which is arranged on the other closure part (20 or 10), can be brought into a (pre)securing configuration from which the brassiere closure (80) can be closed.
16. The closure as claimed in claim 15, characterized in that permanently magnetizable closure elements (80/w and 80/m) are provided both on the female closure part (10) and on the male closure part (20).
17. The closure as claimed in claim 15 or claim 16, characterized in that the attraction that can be displayed by the permanently magnetic closure elements, in that configuration in which the closure elements having a form-fitting effect are hooked together, is significantly lower than the holding forces of the form-fitting elements that are anchored together in a form-fitting manner.
18. A method of making a closure for connection between ends of two back wings of a brassiere, the method comprising the steps of: fixing a plurality of first closure elements (12) made of plastic to a back face of an inelastic textile patch having a back face turned away from a wearer of the brassiere and an opposite front face with the first closure elements being arrayed in a plurality of transversely extending and longitudinally spaced rows on the back face; providing a flat body having an inner end attached to the end of the other of the wings, an opposite outer end, a front face at least partially overlapping the back face of the patch at the outer end, and a back face opposite the body front face; fixing respective plastic second closure elements (30g) generally complementary to the first closure elements to the body front face at the outer end so as to align with and interfit with the first closure elements; wherein a transversely rigid bar (30e) is formed on or as part of the body so as to prevent transverse relative movement of the second closure elements and bending of the body at the second closure elements.
19. The method defined in claim 18 wherein the patch is formed by congruous front and back textile layers and the first closure elements each include a front part sandwiched the layers, a back part matable with a respective one of the second closure elements, and a peg or web extending through the back layer between the respective front and back parts.
20. The method defined in claim 19 wherein the front and back parts are unitarily formed with each other, with the pegs or web, and with the bar in a single shot by injection molding.
21. The method defined in claim 19 wherein the pegs or webs are formed integrally with one of the respective front and back parts and are welded to the other of the respective front and back parts.
22. The method defined in claim 19 wherein each of the layers is generally rectangular, the method further comprising the step of: forming welds extending around at least three sides of the layers and bonding same together immediately inward of outer edges thereof.
23. The method defined in claim 22 wherein the welds only extend around the three sides and the layers are separate at a fourth side, the method further comprising the step of: securing the respective wing end between the layers at the fourth side.
24. The method defined in claim 22, further comprising the step of: forming transverse bar welds between the rows of first closure elements.
25. The method defined in claim 19 wherein the flat body is unitarily formed of plastic with the second closure elements and rigid bar.
26. The method defined in claim 25, further comprising the steps of: providing at least one flexible textile flap secured to the rigid bar, and attaching the flaps to the respective wing end.