A decade after Buck Weimer was awarded an Ig Nobel Prize in biology for inventing Under-Ease, airtight underwear with a replaceable charcoal filter that removes bad-smelling gases before they escape, another entrepreneur is marketing high-fashion odor-trapping panties for ladies. The Washington Post reports:
D.C. entrepreneur uses hunting technology to create odor-free undies
There are words to describe the underwear that Angela Newnam [pictured here, in a Post photo] is wearing, but she would rather not use them…. “It has a patented liner that makes moisture and odor disappear,” Newnam says… The line is called Knock Out, a coy reference to the caliber of women she hopes to reach and the underwear’s odor-fighting properties…. Newnam came across a forgotten patent developed by former textile giant Dan River Co. A decade ago, the company created a technology that permanently binds the odor-trapping chemicals in air fresheners such as Febreze to fabric. It called the material No Trace and marketed it to outdoorsmen hoping to obscure their scent while tracking game.
The patent is, we are guessing, is:
“PROCESS FOR CHEMICALLY BONDING AN ODOR-ENCAPSULATING AGENT TO TEXTILES AND TEXTILES FORMED BY THE PROCESS,” US patent #6861520, issued Mar 1, 2005, to Donald Eugene Todd and David Alan Brown.
Buck Weimer’s invention was intended to help people suffering from a side-effect of Crohn’s Disease. Newman’s panties are a twist on that, aiming at biological activity that affects approximately 50% of the adult population directly, and by proximity, nearly everyone else.
(Thanks to investigator Anna Smith for bringing this to our attention.)