TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to a method for the production of bras provided with pre-shaped cups, as well as to a method for the production of such cups.

PRIOR ART

Bras can be provided with pre-shaped or rigid cups to provide a better fit of a bra as well as to camouflage any differences in breast shape. The production of such cups is labor-intensive: in a first step, the fabric is cut into pieces with the desired dimensions. The cup is then formed from a specific textile by means of a heat treatment. An example of such a molding process is described in US 7 458 877. After the shaping process, the cup is cut out by means of a very specific cutting device. The design of this cutting device is inextricably linked to the bra style and bra size of the cup. A specific cutting device must therefore be provided for each style and cup size. Creating this cutting device is a labor-intensive process that is also subject to large margins of error. Usually, cutting parts are used that have to be produced in an epoxy mold and then sanded to size. This is labor-intensive and due to the high degree of manual finishing, also prone to a high margin of error. This is ultimately reflected in the final product and its fit. There is a need for a less labor-intensive, scalable, uniform and more objective way of making these cups and bras.

The present invention aims to find a solution for at least some of the above problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a method for the production of a bra according to claim 1 and a method for the production of a pre-shaped cup according to claim 10. Both methods aim at an improved way of making bras with pre-shaped cups, allowing for better and more dimensionally consistent work, where the labor-intensive character of the methodology is improved and where the method has a high degree of automation. In addition, the method is also cost-efficient.

In a final aspect, the invention also relates to a digital database comprising a plurality of digital 3D patterns for a female and male part of a cutting device for the production of pre-shaped cups for a bra according to claim 11. With this database, the speed in production can be scaled up due to the high degree of automation, and it is also possible to work in a more dimensionally consistent manner.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Figures 1A and IB show a 3D digital pattern of a male and female part of a cutting device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 and Figure 3 respectively show a photogrammetric scan of a cup part and the 3D model derived therefrom that finally results in the pattern parts as shown in Figures 1A and IB.

Figure 4 shows a schematic representation of a workflow according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The invention relates to a method for manufacturing a bra with pre-shaped cups. The method has optimized an otherwise very labor-intensive process, with a minimum of manual labor. The method also allows for very dimensionally consistent work as well as cost-efficiency. In addition, the method also allows for the automatic generation of new models, based on available digital information. This also benefits efficiency.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms used in the description of the invention, including technical and scientific terms, have the meaning as commonly understood by a person skilled in the art to which the invention pertains. For a better understanding of the description of the invention, the following terms are explained explicitly.

In this document, "a" and "the" refer to both the singular and the plural, unless the context presupposes otherwise. For example, "a segment" means one or more segments.

When the term "around" or "about" is used in this document with a measurable quantity, a parameter, a duration or moment, and the like, then variations are meant of approx. 20% or less, preferably approx. 10% or less, more preferably approx. 5% or less, even more preferably approx. 1% or less, and even more preferably approx. 0.1% or less than and of the quoted value, insofar as such variations are applicable in the described invention. However, it must be understood that the value of a quantity used where the term 'about' or 'around' is used, is itself specifically disclosed.

The terms "comprise," "comprising," "consist of," "consisting of," "provided with," "have," "having," "include," "including," "contain," "containing" are synonyms and are inclusive or open terms that indicate the presence of what follows, and which do not exclude or prevent the presence of other components, characteristics, elements, members, steps, as known from or disclosed in the prior art.

In a first aspect, the present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a bra with pre-shaped cups, the method comprising a production step of the pre-shaped cups, the cup production step comprising a step in which a textile suitable for this purpose is preshaped into a cup in a mold, after which the resulting cup is cut out of the textile by means of a cutting device.

The pre-shaped cups are preferably made from one type of textile and do not comprise any parts stitched together. In another preferred embodiment, the cups are made from a (laminated) foam material. In yet another preferred embodiment, a so-called "spacer" material can be used. This is substantially a 3D knitted fabric consisting of two layers connected by an intermediate layer.

The pre-shaped cups are preferably suitable for receiving a breast and therefore have a conical shape.

In particular, the cutting device will comprise a band saw and a male and female part between which the formed cup is clamped, the female and male part of the cutting device being variable and depending on the cup size and the nature of the bra (bra range) that will be created.

More particularly, in the present method the female and male part will be produced by means of a milling step or a 3D printing step on the basis of a 3D digital pattern of the male and female part of the cutting device. By providing a 3D digital pattern of the male and female part as the basis for the production of the cutting device parts, more dimensionally consistent and automated production can be achieved.

In a preferred embodiment, the digital 3D pattern is designed on the basis of 3D scans of one or more pre-made cup sections, the 3D scans being further digitally processed into 3D models. When designing a new bra, reference cup sections are usually created in a plastic material by the pattern maker. In the present method, the one or more reference cup sections are digitally scanned, preferably by means of a 3D scanner such as a photogrammetric scan. These scanned images can then be converted into a parametric surface and a 3D CAD model using suitable 3D modeling software such as CAD software. Finally, these models can be used for the digital modeling of the female and male blade part.

The three-dimensional CAD model can be a pre-existing model retrieved from a memory device or a model that has been newly designed. The model may be an incomplete model and may only model part of a cup part. In other cases, the model may be a complete and/or refined CAD model that fully corresponds to the cup part.

A model corresponding to the scanned cup part can be divided into multiple interconnected sub-volumes, cells, voxels, or a three-dimensional grid. The configuration used to partition the model may depend on the numerical method used to determine a potential filling pattern for the model cavity. For example, a model can be divided into several interconnected sub-volumes. In addition, the part geometry can be subdivided into a fine grid. The model can also be divided into several cells with a small volume. Finally, the model can also be divided into a number of small, simple tetrahedral elements, or "voxels" or form a voxel mesh. A voxel ("volume pixel" or "volumetric picture element") is a type of volume cell. Voxels can be quickly generated from any 3D solid model, including CAD models.

The male blade part is preferably provided with a conical or round surface, while the female part includes a concave portion or cavity which corresponds to the conical or round surface of the male blade part and when placed on the male part fits together with the conical part. The term "fit" means that blade parts are designed in such a way that they fit together when placed on top of each other. Nevertheless, sufficient space is provided so that a textile can be clamped between the two parts at the edge, without running the risk that the textile is pulled open or deformed in an undesirable manner.

The digital pattern obtained by the described method will then serve as the basis for the production of the effective blade parts. This can be done by means of a milling step or by 3D printing the parts. Preferably, hard plastics or resins are used to prevent the blade parts from being damaged during the cutting process with the band saw. A possible hard plastic is polyacetal, which can mainly be used if a milling step is chosen as a production step. Polyacetal, also known as polyoxymethylene (POM), has a high degree of hardness. However, it will be apparent that other materials can also be used, both when using 3D printing and when milling.

Instructions for milling or digital printing are read from the digital information contained in computer files generated from the 3D digital patterns. In an embodiment, the pattern data is converted to a STEP format.

When milling is chosen, a five-axis milling machine is preferably used (although in theory any milling device can serve this purpose, such as a three-axis milling machine). The use of such a five-axis machine allows a high degree of precision and accuracy and avoids the need for further processing afterwards.

In a preferred embodiment, the pre-shaped cups are made from a deformable textile, preferably a thermally deformable textile. Such textiles are known from the prior art and allow a 3D shape to be produced from the textile. An example of such a textile is a laminated nylon such as Simplex™. A foam material, preferably a laminated foam material, is also possible. In yet another preferred embodiment, a so-called "spacer" material can be used. This is substantially a 3D knitted fabric consisting of two layers connected by an intermediate layer.

As described, the textile will be subjected to a thermal step during pre-shaping. In a more preferred embodiment, the temperature during deformation will be between 170°C and 240°C, more preferably between 180°C and 220°C, such as 200°C. In an embodiment, rectangular pieces of textile are clamped in a heated aluminum mold, provided with a male and female part. In this way a pre-shaped, a stand-alone conical bra cup is obtained (even for larger cups) and does not need to be supported by extra layers of other textiles. In a preferred embodiment, two pre-shaped cups will be made per textile piece.

The excess textile is then cut away by means of the cutting device described above. This is done by clamping the pre-shaped cup between the male and female cutting part of the cutting device, and the remaining textile layers at the edges are cut away with the band saw provided for this purpose. Finally, only the pre-shaped cup remains.

The cup thus obtained can finally be incorporated into one or more textile layers to form a bra. It will be apparent that the necessary other components such as ribbon material, underwires, straps, etc. are also provided. In a second aspect, the present invention also logically relates to a method for producing a male and female part of a blade device for making pre-shaped cups for a bra. As described above, the method comprises milling out the male and female part by means of a milling device, the milling being done on the basis of a 3D digital pattern of the male and female part of the cutting device, the digital 3D pattern being designed on the basis of 3D scans of one or more pre-made cup parts of the bra to be made in the end, wherein the 3D scans were further digitally processed. This method offers a less labor- intensive and more efficient way of producing pre-shaped cups, while also guaranteeing dimensional consistency.

In a final aspect, the present invention also relates to a digital database comprising a plurality of digital 3D patterns for a female and male part of a cutting device for the production of pre-shaped cups for a bra, each digital 3D pattern being linked to a size of a particular bra range. The term "bra range" is intended to mean a specific design of a bra, which is to be produced in a number of different bra sizes and which features a cup as described herein. Each design can be specifically defined by the design of the bra and cups.

In a further embodiment, the database will comprise at least 10 to 30 different 3D patterns per bra range, where each pattern is linked to a size for said range. One bra range can easily consist of 24 to 28 different sizes. By creating a database in which all digital data is also available per range for the production of the blade parts, a fast and flexible production can be guaranteed.

It will be apparent that the present invention also relates to operating systems provided with memory systems for storing the database and the data linked thereto.

In what follows, the invention is described by way of non-limiting figures illustrating the invention, and which are not intended to and should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Figures 1A and IB show a 3D digital pattern of a male (1) and female (5) part of a cutting device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The parts are specific to a bra range and associated bra size. Figure 1A shows the male conical part (1) of the cutting device. Figure IB shows the male part of the cutting device having thereon the female part (5). The female part (5) comprises a cavity corresponding to the conical part of the male part. Together these parts will correspond to a pre-shaped cup for a specific bra range and bra size.

The male part preferably comprises a foot part (2), on which a conical or spherical head part (3) rests. The head part can be provided with specific incisions or motifs (4) on the periphery, which again correspond to the nature of the final product, in this case the pre-shaped cup and the bra. The information shown in Figures 1A and IB is stored in a digital database designed for this purpose and is associated with a specific bra range and bra size. In this way, the data is continuously available if new blades need to be created.

Figure 2 and Figure 3 respectively show a photogrammetric scan of a cup part (6) and the 3D model derived therefrom (7) that finally results in the pattern parts (1, 5) as shown in Figures 1A and IB. These models are created using 3D modeling software. Based on these models, a digital pattern of a male and female part of a cutting device is then designed. The male and female part will then be milled based on this pattern. Finally, these parts will be used when cutting out the pre-shaped cups.

Figure 4 shows a schematic representation of a workflow according to the present invention. When designing a new bra, plastic cup parts are created from which a digital model is then made using a 3D scan and suitable software. Based on this, a modeled cup is further finished and cut out from the textile layer by means of a cutting device equipped with a female and male blade part. The latter were produced from digital data.

The present invention should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments described above and certain modifications or changes may be added to the examples described without having to re-evaluate the appended claims.