SPORT WOVEN GARMENT WITH ELECTRODES DESCRIPTION Technical Field

This invention relates to an item of knitwear equipped with electrodes and, in particular, a knitted garment for sports use equipped with sensors for measuring the wearer's heart rate.

Prior Art

The use of heart rate monitors by sports people, especially cyclists and runners, is well known. One of the most widely used types of heart rate monitor consists of a strap worn round the user's chest. The side of the strap that is in contact with the wearer's skin is equipped with electrodes that measure the heart signals. A transmitter' mounted on the strap transmits the signals to a separate display unit.

Straps of this kind are, however, uncomfortable and the need is therefore felt for a garment that allows the wearer's heart rate to be measured and displayed without interfering with the sports exercise.

Disclosure of the Invention

This invention therefore has for an aim to provide an item of knitwear, especially sportswear, equipped with sensors for measuring the wearer's heart rate and with connections for a transmitter for transmitting the data to a display and control unit. It is in particular an aim of the invention to provide an item of knitwear that is simple and inexpensive to make and equipped with electrodes and connections that can be connected to systems currently available for measuring and monitoring heart rate. The above aim is achieved by a knitted garment according to the appended claims. The advantages and technical characteristics of the invention are more apparent from the detailed description, set out below, of a preferred non-limiting embodiment of it.

Brief Description of the Drawings In the drawings:

- Figure 1 is a front view illustrating the outside of a garment according to the invention;

- Figure 2 illustrates the garment of Figure 1 in a side view; - Figure 3 illustrates the inside of the garment of Figure 1;

- Figure 4 schematically illustrates the stitch used in the garment.

Preferred Embodiment of the Invention

With reference to the accompanying drawings, an item of knitwear according to the invention comprises a garment 1 made from two-thread plated jersey knit fabric with a tubular, i.e. seamless, structure, (see Figure 2). Advantageously, the garment is made using a seamless, single needle bed circular knitting machine.

As is known, in plated knit fabrics, the two threads form superposed loops (giving a plated effect) in such a way that one of the threads is on the outside of the fabric and the other on the inside (see Figure 4). In the knit fabric used for the garment 1, except for two portions of it 12, 14, the inside in contact with the skin is made from a first, hypoallergenic thread 16, preferably an interlaced polypropylene yarn comprising 90% polypropylene and 10% elastane, and the outside of the fabric is made from a second thread 18, preferably a 100% polypropylene yarn. Neither of the threads 16, 18 is an electrical conductor. On the chest, at the height of the heart, there are two rectangular portions 12, 14, knitted with the rest of the garment, aligned and spaced at 1-5 cm from each other, where the outside thread is an highly electrically conductive thread 20, f.i. a 3-filament thread made of silver, copper and the like interlaced with one nylon filament. The inside thread 16 used for the portions 12, 14, on the other hand, is the same as that used for the rest of the garment.

In practice, at heart height, the knitting machine - using a Jacquard system - interrupts use of the 100% polypropylene thread and starts working with the high conductivity thread to make the two rectangular portions 12, 14. Advantageously, each rectangular portion is 1-3 cm in height and 5-15 cm in length. As stated, the plating process means that the inside of the entire garment, in contact with the wearer's skin, is made from the same hypoallergenic thread 16, whilst on the outside, the portions 12, 14 of the garment are made with the highly conductive thread 20 (see Figure 4). Near the edge of it closest to the adjacent portion, each rectangular portion 12, 14, is provided with a snap fastener socket 22, 24 designed to permit connection to a

transmitter (not illustrated) equipped with snap fastener studs.

Advantageously, the snap fastener sockets are applied to the portions 12, 14 in such a way that the transmitter, when connected, is positioned between the garment and the wearer's body. The rectangular portions 12, 14 of the fabric, electrically conductive on the outside, thus act as electrodes that measure the heart signal.

Indeed, it has surprisingly been found that it is not necessary for the electrodes to be in direct contact with the wearer's skin, since the moisture caused by sweating makes the part of the fabric that is in direct contact with the wearer's body also conductive. That means the knitting method described above can be used and permits considerable savings.

Advantageously, to keep the part of the fabric in contact with the wearer's body moist, a high conductivity thread 20 impervious to moisture can be used.

The invention described above may be modified and adapted in several ways without thereby departing from the scope of the inventive concept. Moreover, all the details of the invention may comprise technically equivalent elements.