GB2316294A - Wire support for an underwired brassiere - Google Patents

Abstract

A brassiere wire support 10 comprising a curved piece of wire 12 is ink-jet printed with style and size information. The support may additionally have colour coded tips 14. Also disclosed is a method of manufacturing the support (Fig. 3) comprising uncoiling from feedstock 38, printing identification 50 and cutting and bending of the supports.

Description

TITLE Wire Supports for Underwired Brassieres DESCRIPTION This invention relates to underwired brassieres, to wire supports therefor, and to methods and apparatus for the production thereof.

In this specification, the term "brassiere" means a woman's undergarment for supporting the breasts, whether or not it also performs the function of a bodice or corset.

A first aspect of the invention relates in particular to a wire support for an underwired brassiere, comprising a curved piece of wire and an identification affixed to the piece of wire by which the shape and/or size of the wire support can be identified.

It will be appreciated that many sizes and shapes or styles of wire support (perhaps many hundreds) are required to cope with different sizes and styles of brassire and different effects which are sought from them. Typically, the wire supports are supplied by a manufacturer of foundation garment accessories to a brassire manufacturer in boxes, with a particular box containing supports of the same size and shape, and with that size and shape being identified on the box. However, once the boxes are opened, supports of different sizes and/or shapes may become mixed up, and the brassire manufacturer may then inadvertently attempt to fit the wrong size and/or shape of wire support to a particular size and style of brassire, resulting in wasted time and/or materials.

In order that the ends of the wire support do not chafe the material of the brassire, the pieces of wire conventionally have their ends blunted by dipping them in a liquid or paste material which, when hardened, produces the shape of a match-head at the end of the piece of wire. To deal with the problem mentioned above, it is known to use coloured material for the tips to colour-code the wire support so that a particular size and shape of support wire is identifiable by the colour(s) of its tips.

The first aspect of the present invention is characterised in that the size and/or shape identification of the wire support is printed (for example by an ink-jet printer) on the piece of wire in the form of one or more readable symbols (such as letter(s) and/or numeral(s)).

Whereas, with the known colour-coded tips, the number of permutations of mutually distinguishable colours is limited, the number of combinations of symbols which can be printed on the piece of wire is almost limitless, and therefore it is possible to employ the technique of the invention for a larger range of shapes and/or sizes of wire support.

Furthermore, with the known colour-coded tips, the support manufacturer needs to keep in stock many different colours of the material used for the tips, and there is wastage when changing from one colour to another. By contrast, with the technique of the present invention, the use of more than one colour of tip material is unnecessary, at least for identification purposes. Moreover, when support wires with colour-coded tips are used in brassieres of a very lightweight, light-coloured or uncoloured material, the colour(s) of the tips may show through the material of the brassire, and this may be considered to be unsightly. By contrast, with the present invention, the wire support may be inserted into the brassire so that the side of the piece of wire on which the printing is applied is hidden when the brassire is being wom.

Accordingly, in accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an underwired brassire having at least one wire support according to the first aspect of the invention, the printing on the wire support preferably being arranged to face towards the wearer's body when the brassire is being worn.

A known method of manufacturing wire supports of the type to which this invention relates comprises the steps of: uncoiling wire from the end of a coil of wire stock and feeding the uncoiled wire stock; and, at a bending and cutting station, bending the wire stock to a required shape and cutting a piece of the wire from the stock of a required length to form the wire support.

Preferably, in accordance with a third aspect of the present invention, such a method is characterised by the step of, at a printing station upstream of the bending and cutting station, printing one or more readable symbols on the uncoiled wire stock to provide an identification of the size and/or shape of the supports being manufactured; the piece of wire cut by the bending and cutting station being complete with the printed identification.

Preferably, the identifications are repeatedly printed on the wire stock, and the wire stock is repeatedly so bent and cut. In this case, such an identification is preferably printed at the printing station before the portion of the wire stock bearing at least the immediately previously printed identification has been cut off at the bending and cutting station. Also, in the case where the bending and cutting station performs the feeding of the wire stock and produces a timing signal, the printing station is preferably responsive to the timing signal to control the timing of the printing steps.

In accordance with a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a machine for performing the method of the third aspect of the invention, comprising: means for supporting the coil of wire stock so that the wire stock can be uncoiled therefrom; such a printing station (preferably of the type including an ink-jet printing head); such a bending and cutting station; and means for feeding the wire stock from the coil and through the printing station and the bending and cutting station.

Preferably, the printing station includes means for adjusting the position of the printing head in the feed direction of the wire stock past the printing head so that the ultimate position of the identification along each wire support can be adjusted.

The printing station preferably includes a plurality of grooved pulleys which engage the wire stock in their grooves to position the wire stock relative to the printing head other than in the feed direction of the wire stock. The relative positions of the pulleys may be adjustable to accommodate different cross-sections of the wire stock.

Preferably, the printing station is operable to print the or each identification on the wire stock while the wire stock is moving through the printing station in the feed direction.

A specific embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows the outline of an embodiment wire support according to the invention; Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of the wire support of Figure 1, taken along the section line II-II in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a schematic view of an embodiment of machine according to the invention; and Figure 4 is a schematic sectional view through the machine in the region of a printing station thereof.

Referring first to Figures 1 and 2, as is conventional, the wire support 10 comprises a piece of wire 12, which is curved in the plane of the paper of Figure 1. The piece of wire 12 has tips 14 formed at its ends, and the tips may or may not be colour-coded.

Suitable materials for the piece of wire 12 are plastics-coated steel and galvanised steel.

As shown in Figure 2, the cross-section of the piece of wire 12 may be generally rectangular, with rounded corners. Alternatively, it may be oval or elliptical, and the major faces 16 may be slightly indented to as to provide a strength/weight advantage.

The major axis 18 of the cross-section of the piece of wire 12 lies in the plane of the bend of the piece of wire 12.

The embodiment of the invention provides for a marking 20 to be ink-jet printed on one of the major faces 16a of the piece of wire 12 at a desired position along the piece of wire 12. In the example shown in Figure 1, the marking 20 includes the name ("Samfit") of the manufacturer, the manufacturer's style code ("5500") which indicates the style or shape of the wire support 10, and the bust size ("40D") which indicates the size of the wire support 10.

If desired, the wire supports 10 may be paired, with one of each pair having its marking 20 on its major face 16a, and the other of each pair having its marking 20 on the opposite major face 16b. When sewn into a brassire, the markings 20 on the wire supports 10 can then be arranged so that they both face towards the wearer's body when the brassire is being worn.

Referring now to Figure 3, as is conventional, the machine 30 for manufacturing the wire supports 10 comprises a stand 32 for a reel 34 of wire stock 36 of the required material and cross-section. The wire stock 36 is coiled so that its major axis 18 is parallel to the axis of the reel 34. The end 38 of the wire stock 36 is led from the reel 34 to a bending and cutting station 40, which in a known fashion, (a) feeds the end 38 of the wire stock 36 from the reel 34, (b) straightens the end 38 of the wire stock 36 about its major axis 18, (c) applies a required bend to the end 38 of the wire stock 36 about its minor axis 22, and (d) cuts the wire stock 38 at a desired distance from its end so as to form one of the wire supports 10 (with the tips 14 yet to be applied) which is deposited into a receptacle 42. The machine 30 operates repeatedly and may either operate continuously (i.e. the wire stock 36 is fed at a constant speed), or in a stepwise fashion with the steps of: feed, straighten and bend, cut; feed, straighten and bend, cut; and so on.

Referring now to Figures 3 and 4, the embodiment of the invention provides for a printing station to be added to the machine, as follows. The printing station comprises an ink-jet head 50, a wire guide device 52 for guiding the end 38 of the wire stock 36 in front of the ink-jet head 50, and a controller 54 for the ink-jet head 50.

In the wire guide device 52, the end 38 of the wire stock 36 runs between, on the one hand, a pair of lower pulleys 56 and, on the other hand, an upper pulley 58, with the major axis 18 of the wire stock 36 being perpendicular to the axes of the pulleys 56, 58. The pulleys have V-shaped grooves, and the vertical position of the upper pulley 58 is adjustable, so that the wire guide device can accommodate wires of different cross-sectional sizes. Some degree of vertical spring-loading may also be applied to the upper pulley 58 so that slight variations in the cross-section of wire from a single reel 34 can be accommodated.

The -ink-jet head 50 can selectively print dots in a vertical line at one time, so that as the wire is moved past the head 50 and further dots are printed, symbols such as letters and numerals can be formed on the wire. In the example shown in Figure 4, the head 50 can print up to seven dots at a time (as indicated by dotted lines), and the pitch of the dots may be about 0.3 mm. The horizontal position of the head 50 relative to the wire guide device 52 may be adjustable in the left-right direction as viewed in Figure 4.

The head controller 54 is programmable and controls the head 50 via a signal line 62 so that the required inks dots are discharged at the appropriate time. The controller 54 may include a manual input device, such as a keyboard or keypad, by which the marking to be applied to the wire can be entered. Also, the controller 54 receives a timing signal from the bending and cutting station 40 via a signal line 64. The timing signal may be generated in the bending and cutting station 40 by a microswitch actuated by the cutting mechanism. In response to the timing signal, the head controller causes the head 50 to begin ejecting lines of ink dots, with the dots being selected in each line, and the interval between the lines being determined to cause the required marking to be printed on the wire as the wire is being fed past the head 50. When the next timing signal is received, the process is repeated. It will therefore be appreciated that the markings will be applied to the wire at a particular position relative to the position where the wire will subsequently be cut by the bending and cutting station 40. The position of the head 50 and wire guide device 52 between the reel stand 32 and the bending and cutting station 40 may be adjusted using an adjusting device 66 so as to vary the position of the markings along the ultimately formed wire supports 10.

The above description of a specific embodiment of the invention has been given by way of example, and it will be appreciated that many modifications and developments may be made within the scope of the invention.

Claims (17)

1. A wire support for an underwired brassire, comprising a curved piece of wire and an identification affixed to the piece of wire by which the shape and/or size of the piece of wire can be identified, characterised in that the size and/or shape identification of the wire support is printed on the piece of wire in the form of one or more readable symbols.

2. A support as claimed in claim 1, wherein the symbol(s) are ink-jet printed on the piece of wire.

3. A wire support for an underwired brassire, substantially as described with reference to the drawings.

4. An underwired brassire having at least one wire support according to any preceding claim.

5. A brassire as claimed in claim 4, wherein the printing on the or each wire support is arranged to face towards the wearer's body when the brassire is being worn.

6. An underwired brassie, substantially as described with reference to the drawings.

7. A method of manufacture of a support as claimed in any of claims 1 to 3, comprising the steps of: uncoiling wire from the end of a coil of wire stock and feeding the uncoiled wire stock; at a printing station, printing one or more readable symbols on the uncoiled wire stock to provide an identification of the size and/or shape of the supports being manufactured; at a bending and cutting station downstream of the printing station, bending the wire stock to a required shape and cutting a piece of the wire from the stock of a required length and complete with the printed identification to form the wire support.

8. A method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the identifications are repeatedly printed on the wire stock, and the wire stock is repeatedly so bent and cut.

9. A method as claimed in claim 8, wherein such an identification is printed at the printing station before the portion of the wire stock bearing at least the immediately previously printed identification has been cut off at the bending and cutting station.

10. A method as claimed in claim 8 or 9, wherein the bending and cutting station performs the feeding of the wire stock and produces a timing signal, and the printing station is responsive to the timing signal to control the timing of the printing Steps.

11. A method of manufacture of a wire support for an underwired brassire, substantially as described with reference to the drawings.

12. A machine for performing the method as claimed in any of claims 7 to 11, comprising: means for supporting the coil of wire stock so that the wire stock can be uncoiled therefrom; such a printing station; such a bending and cutting station; and means for feeding the wire stock from the coil and through the printing station and the bending and cutting station.

13. A machine as claimed in claim 12, wherein the printing station includes an inkjet printing head.

14. A machine as claimed in claim 13, wherein the printing station includes means for adjusting the position of the printing head in the feed direction of the wire stock past the printing head.

15. A machine as claimed in claim 13 or 14, wherein the printing station includes a plurality of grooved pulleys which engage the wire stock in their grooves to position the wire stock relative to the printing head other than in the feed direction of the wire stock.

16. A machine as claimed in any of claims 12 to 15, wherein the printing station is operable to print the or each identification on the wire stock while the wire stock is moving through the printing station in the feed direction.

17. A machine for manufacturing wire supports for an underwired brassieres, substantially as described with reference to the drawings.