Kieu Thi-Bich Phan of Austin received U.S. Patent 8,109,417 for “Garment Washing Device With Removable Form.”

Texas Business Patent Of The Day: A Travis County resident developed a way to wash brassieres.

Kieu Thi-Bich Phan of Austin received U.S. Patent 8,109,417 for “Garment Washing Device With Removable Form.” 

Phan filed for the patent more than four years ago on September 20, 2007.

Phan’s invention generally relates to devices for washing clothes. In particular, Phan devised a washing device for brassieres and bikini tops, according to the patent documents.

Brassieres are commonly made with two cups, two shoulder straps, two back straps, a latching mechanism (hooks and eyelets), optional padding (soft foam, air, water, gel, or silicone), and, optionally, two underwires. \

Padding can come as removable inserts or as an integral part of the bra. Some bras comprise extremely delicate fabric, such as lace, satin, silk, mesh, high-tech microfiber, stretch, and sheer fabric.

The underwires, when used in the cups, often become misshapen during washing and drying. Over time, the underwires frequently tear through the bra's fabric. This can result in injury to the breast or bra, and can also damage other clothing and the washing machine drum.

The latching mechanism, located either on the two back straps or on the front in between the cups at the intercup bridge, typically has several hooks and eyelets or a plastic snap closure. In the washing machine and/or dryer the hooks frequently snag onto the bra itself, zippers, buttonholes, sweaters, and delicate fabrics, as well as becoming misshapen.

A bra can also easily become tangled with other clothing and in crevices within the washer and dryer, causing further deformities to the cups, padding, underwires, fabric, and straps. Repeated machine washing and drying can substantially diminish the elasticity of bras. The padding, especially if made of thick and soft foam, often becomes indented and bunched. If made of air, water, gel, or silicone, it can becomes punctured and leak. Such deformities are visible, even through a T-shirt, and are especially noticeable when tight fitting garments are worn. These problems are well understood by women who wear padded or non-padded bras.

Consequently, in an attempt to protect the bra's original shape, some users have tried to wash bras in a dishwasher.

To do so, the bra must be fastened to the dishwasher to prevent it from shifting and becoming damaged by the dishwasher's pointed rack rods and rotating spray arm. Another way to wash bras is to place it within a mesh washing bag, which is then placed in a washing machine or dishwasher. However, because of its soft material construction, the bag still does not adequately prevent the bra from being damaged--such as losing its original shape, collapsing inward and against the cups' curved shape, and becoming tangled with other bras within the same bag. In addition, padded bras (especially those using air, water, gel, or silicone) can be easily punctured, thus causing leakage to the bra cups. The bra's hooks can also come loose and snag on other bras placed within the same bag. The time and money needed to replace a damaged bra can also be substantial.

Given all these inconveniences, many women have chosen to wash their bras by hand. However, hand washing is very time-consuming and impractical. It can also cause back, hand, and wrist pain. Most bras that are hand washed have to be air-dried, which causes huge water deposits where they are hung and thus slippery surfaces and more unnecessary cleanup.

Some devices are known for washing bras in washing machines. The density of the plastics used for many known devices is less than that of water. Because such devices tend to readily float, a substantial portion of such devices--as well as the garment in the device--may be above the surface of the wash water during washing.

Phan disclosed several devices for washing bras. In one design, a bra-washing device includes a shell and a divider that can be inserted into the shell. The divider keeps one cup of the bra in one location of the shell and the other cup of the bra in another location of the shell. The divider may be kept in a substantially fixed relationship with respect to the shell.

In another design, a system for washing garments includes a shell and two or more inserts that can each be interchangeably coupled to the shell. Each insert includes a three-dimensional form that is different from the three-dimensional form(s) of the other inserts.

In yet another design, the bra-washing device includes a shell and a form that couples to the shell. The shell and the form each have a plurality of openings. The openings in the shell are sized to inhibit a bra strap from extending through the shell through the openings. At least some of the openings in the form are larger than the openings in the shell.

Phan also designed a device for washing a garment in a washing machine includes a shell and a form that can be coupled to the shell. The form holds at least a portion of the garment in a location in the shell. The device has buoyancy such that substantially the entire garment is maintained below the surface of water in a washing machine when the device and the garment are placed in the washing machine.