Patent Application
20150327599
The embodiments described herein relate generally to wearable garments with embedded electrical devices and more particularly, to a glove with an embedded illumination device.
In some instances, it is desirable to provide illumination to facilitate the performing of a task in low light situations. Providing such illumination by holding a flashlight or other illumination device, however, can be awkward. For example, in situations in which the person performing the task is using his or her hands, holding a bulky or cumbersome light can result in undue challenges in performing the task, which in some cases, cannot be overcome without the assistance of another person to hold the light. To mitigate this challenge, gloves with various illumination devices have been developed. Some such gloves include bulky or heavy light and/or power sources, which in some cases, can hinder the movement of a person's hand in tight working conditions or the like. In addition, some known gloves include illumination devices that are removably disposed on an exterior surface of the glove, which can lead to an inadvertent removal of the illumination device from the surface (e.g., by bumping the illumination device against a structure or the like). In some instances, low profile illumination devices are embedded into the glove, however, such a profile can lead to a portion of the glove obstructing the illumination device and thus, not allowing the light to shine to a desired location. Moreover, in some instances, the illumination devices and/or the assembly of the illumination devices into or on a glove can result in an increase in manufacturing time and/or an increase in a number of manufacturing steps, which in turn, can increase the increase the cost of the glove.
Thus, a need exists for improved apparatus and methods for gloves with embedded illumination devices.
Apparatus and methods for a wearable garment with an embedded illumination device are described herein. In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a glove configured to be worn about a hand of a user, an illumination assembly, and an actuator. The glove includes a finger portion that defines an aperture and a thumb portion. The illumination assembly is partially disposed in the finger portion of the glove and includes an illumination member and a housing with a mounting portion coupled to the illumination member. The mounting portion is at least partially disposed within the aperture such that the illumination member is spaced apart a non-zero distance from an exterior surface of the glove. The housing includes a flange disposed within the glove such that a portion of the flange is disposed in a region between the finger portion and the thumb portion. The flange couples the housing to the glove to retain the mounting portion in a substantially fixed orientation within the aperture. The actuator is removably disposed in a portion of the glove and is operably coupled to the illumination assembly. The actuator is configured to be transitioned between a first configuration in which electric power is withheld from the illumination member and a second configuration in which electric power is delivered to the illumination member.
In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a glove configured to be worn about a hand of a user, an illumination assembly, and an actuator. The glove includes a finger portion that defines an aperture and a thumb portion. The illumination assembly is partially disposed in the finger portion of the glove and includes an illumination member and a housing with a mounting portion coupled to the illumination member. The mounting portion is at least partially disposed within the aperture such that the illumination member is spaced apart a non-zero distance from an exterior surface of the glove. The housing includes a flange disposed within the glove such that a portion of the flange is disposed in a region between the finger portion and the thumb portion. The flange couples the housing to the glove to retain the mounting portion in a substantially fixed orientation within the aperture. The actuator is removably disposed in a portion of the glove and is operably coupled to the illumination assembly. The actuator is configured to be transitioned between a first configuration in which electric power is withheld from the illumination member and a second configuration in which electric power is delivered to the illumination member.
In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a glove, an illumination assembly and an actuator. The glove is configured to be worn about a hand of a user and includes a finger portion defining an aperture and a thumb portion. The illumination assembly is partially disposed in the finger portion of the glove and includes an illumination member and a housing. The housing has a flange disposed in the glove and a mounting portion disposed in the aperture. A portion of the flange is disposed in a region of the glove between the finger portion and the thumb portion to couple the housing to the glove. The mounting portion defines a cavity. At least a portion of the illumination member is disposed in the cavity to couple the illumination member to the mounting portion. The cavity has a longitudinal axis that forms an angle with a plane defined by a surface of the flange that is less than about 90°. The actuator is removably disposed in the glove and includes a first portion and a second portion. The first portion being disposed in the cavity and operably coupled to the illumination member. The second portion is configured to be transitioned between a first configuration in which electric power is withheld from the illumination member and a second configuration in which electric power is delivered to the illumination member, via the first portion.
In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a glove, a housing, an illumination member, and an actuator. The housing is partially disposed in a finger portion of the glove and has a monolithic construction including a flange and a mounting portion. The flange is disposed in the glove and the mounting portion is disposed, at least in part, within an aperture defined by the finger portion. The flange couples the housing to the glove to retain the mounting portion in a substantially fixed orientation within the aperture. The mounting portion defines a cavity having a longitudinal axis that forms an angle with a plane defined by a surface of the flange that is less than about 90°. The illumination member is coupled to the mounting portion of the housing and has a first electric power state and a second electric power state. At least a portion of the illumination member is disposed in the cavity defined by the mounting portion. The actuator is disposed in the glove and includes a first portion and a second portion. The first portion is disposed in the cavity defined by the mounting portion and is operably coupled to the illumination member. The second portion is configured to be transitioned between a first configuration in which the illumination member is in the first electric power state and a second configuration in which electric power is delivered to the illumination member, via the first portion, to transition the illumination member to the second electric power state.
As used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, the term “a member” is intended to mean a single member or a combination of members, “a material” is intended to mean one or more materials, or a combination thereof.
As used herein, the terms “about” and “approximately” generally mean plus or minus 10% of the value stated. For example, about 0.5 would include 0.45 and 0.55, about 10 would include 9 to 11, about 1000 would include 900 to 1100. Similarly, the term “substantially” when used in connection with a geometric structure or relationship is intended to convey that the structure or relationship so defined is nominally the stated value or relationship. As one example, a portion of a structure that is described as being “substantially linear” is intended to convey that, although linearity of the portion is desirable, some non-linearity can occur in a “substantially linear” portion. Such non-linearity can result from manufacturing tolerances, measurement tolerances, or other practical considerations. Thus, a geometric construction modified by the term “substantially” includes such geometric properties within a tolerance of, for example, plus or minus 10% of the stated geometric construction. For example, a “substantially linear” portion of a structure can define an axis or centerline that is within plus or minus 10% of being linear.
As used herein, the words “proximal” and “distal” refer to a direction closer to and away from, respectively, a user wearing a garment such as those described herein. Thus, for example, the end of the garment further away from a central portion of the user (e.g., the user's wrist) would be the distal end of the garment, while the end opposite the distal end would be the proximal end of the garment. Specifically, as described herein, an end portion of a glove that is adjacent to a wrist of the user about which the glove is disposed would be a proximal end portion and an end opposite the proximal end portion would be a distal end portion.
Referring now to the figures,
In some embodiments, the glove 100 can surround substantially the entire hand about which it is disposed. Similarly stated, the finger portion 110 and the thumb portion 115 can be full length with an end portion that is substantially closed. In other embodiments, the glove 100 can surround a portion of the hand about which it is disposed. For example, the finger portion 110 and/or the thumb portion 115 can have an end portion that is open and can have a length that is shorter than the finger and/or thumb, respectively, about which it is disposed. Thus, a portion of the finger and/or thumb of the user's hand can extend beyond a distal surface of the finger portion 110 and/or the thumb portion 115, respectively. In some embodiments, the finger portion 110 can be associated with and/or otherwise configured to be disposed about an index finger of the hand (e.g., the finger adjacent to the thumb). Thus, as shown in
As shown in
The housing 155 can be, for example, a monolithically constructed member that is formed from a relatively flexible material such as, for example, a thermoplastic or elastomeric material (e.g., rubber or the like). For example, in some embodiments, the housing 155 can be a single molded piece (e.g., injection molded and/or the like). The housing 155 includes a flange portion 160 and a mounting portion 165. The flange 160 is disposed in the glove 100 and couples the housing 150 thereto. For example, although not shown in
The flange 160 can be, for example, a base portion or the like that is relatively thin and/or flexible. Moreover, as shown in
The mounting portion 165 of the housing 155 extends from the flange 160 and is coupled to the illumination member 175. More specifically, as shown in
As described above, the mounting portion 165 is coupled to the illumination member 175. For example, in some embodiments, the illumination member 175 can be coupled to and/or otherwise disposed at or adjacent to a distal end portion of the mounting portion 165. In some embodiments, the mounting portion 165 can define a cavity or an inner volume within which a portion of the illumination member 175 can be disposed. In this manner, the illumination member 175 can be at least temporarily coupled to the mounting portion 165 via, for example, a friction fit, a press fit, an adhesive, a threaded coupling and/or the like. Although the illumination member 175 is shown in
The actuator 180 is disposed within the glove 100 and is operably coupled to the illumination member 175 of the illumination assembly 150. For example, in some embodiments, the glove 100 can define a pouch (not shown in
Although the mounting portion 165 is shown as being substantially rectangular, in other embodiments, the mounting portion 165 can have any suitable shape, size, and/or configuration. For example, at least a portion of the mounting portion 165 can be rounded. Furthermore, while the mounting portion 165 is shown in
In some embodiments, the angle associated with the top surface of the mounting portion 165 and/or the longitudinal axis of the cavity can be such that the electrical conductors (e.g., wires) of the actuator 180 can be coupled to a corresponding portion of the illumination member 175 in such a manner that when a user dons the glove 100, the position of the coupling between the electrical conductors and the illumination member 175 is spaced apart a non-zero distance from the user's hand. In some embodiments, the angle associated with the longitudinal axis of the cavity can, for example, allow the illumination member 175 and the electrical conductors of the actuator 180 to be coupled at an angle less than about 90°. In some embodiments, the angle associated with the longitudinal axis of the cavity can, for example, allow a portion of the electrical conductors of the actuator 180 to be bent at an angle less than about 90° relative to the flange 160, which can, for example, align end portions thereof with a corresponding conductive portion of the illumination member 175, thereby allowing the electrical conductors to be coupled to the illumination member 175. Moreover, the portion of the electrical conductors of the actuator 180 can be bent with a relatively large radius or the like (i.e., not sharp, abrupt, and/or perpendicular). Thus, discomfort associated with the coupling of the electrical conductors of the actuator 180 to the illumination member 175 and/or the bend of the electrical conductors, and/or the risk of damage to the coupling is reduced or substantially avoided.
The glove 200 includes and/or is otherwise coupled to the illumination assembly 250 and an actuator 280. For example, a portion of the illumination assembly 250 is disposed in the finger portion 210 of the glove 200. More specifically, as shown in
The illumination assembly 250 includes a housing 255 and an illumination member 275. The illumination member 275 can be any suitable illumination device such as, for example, an incandescent light, a halogen light, a light emitting diode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), or the like. As described in further detail herein, the illumination member 275 can be transitioned between a first electric state (e.g., an “off” configuration), a second electric state (e.g., an “on” configuration) to produce a visual light output (e.g., white light or a light with a frequency(ies) in the visible spectrum), and an optional third electric state (e.g., a “flashing” configuration) to produce a flashing or blinking (repeated or periodically repeated) of the visual light output.
The housing 255 includes a flange portion 260 and a mounting portion 265. The housing 255 can be, for example, a monolithically-constructed member that is formed from a relatively flexible material such as, for example, a thermoplastic or elastomeric material (e.g., rubber or the like). For example, in some embodiments, the housing 255 can be a single molded piece (e.g., injection molded and/or the like). More specifically, in some embodiments, the housing 255 can be, for example, an arrangement of walls with a substantially constant thickness, thereby forming a shell of a given shape (e.g., the walls form a hollow or non-solid shape). The flange 260 is disposed within the glove 200 between the inner layer 225 and the outer layer 230 and is configured to couple the housing 250 thereto. For example, in some embodiments, the flange 260 can be placed in a desired position and can be sewn to the inner layer 225 and/or the outer layer 230. In some embodiments, the flange 260 can be positioned such that at least a portion of the illumination assembly 250 is disposed in a distal position relative to a knuckle portion of the glove 200 associated with, for example, a region at which the finger portion 210 extends from, for example, a palm region of the glove 200. As such, the flange 260 is coupled to the glove 200 to maintain at least a portion of housing 255 in a substantially fixed position relative to the finger portion 210, as described in further detail herein.
As shown in
As shown in
In some embodiments, the mounting portion 265 can have a size and/or perimeter that is, for example, slightly smaller than a surface of the finger portion 210 defining the aperture 211. In this manner, when the flange 260 couples the housing 250 to the glove 200, a region of the mounting portion 265 is disposed in a relatively fixed position within the aperture 211. Similarly, the arrangement of the mounting portion 265 and the flange 260 can be such that when the flange 260 is coupled to the outer layer 230 (e.g., sewn thereto), at least a portion of the mounting portion 265 is maintained in a substantially fixed position relative to an exterior surface 205 of the glove 200. Moreover, in some embodiments, by increasing the perimeter and/or footprint of the flange 260 (as described above) such that a portion extends into the region 240 of the glove 200 between the finger portion 210 and thumb portion 215 and/or extends into the thumb portion 215, the flange 260 can provide structural rigidity for the housing 255 that can reduce or substantially prevent undesirable bending, flexing, deforming, and/or reconfiguring of the illumination assembly 250 relative to the glove 200. As such, when the illumination assembly 250 is actuated (e.g., placed in an on-position), the illumination member 275 can produce an output of light that remains in a substantially consistent orientation relative to at least a portion of the glove 200. In addition, the mounting portion 265 of the housing 255 can extend through the aperture 211 defined by the finger portion 210 in such a manner that when a user flexes or bends his or her finger disposed in the finger portion 210, the illumination assembly 250 is maintained in a substantially fixed orientation relative to the glove 200. For example, in some embodiments, the illumination assembly 250 can be positioned relative to the finger portion 210 such that as the finger portion 210 is bent (e.g., in response to the user donning the glove 200 making a first or flexing at least the finger portion 210), the orientation of at least the mounting portion 265 relative to, for example, a portion of the glove 200 other than the finger portion 210 is substantially limited. For another example, in some embodiments, the illumination assembly 250 can be positioned relative to remaining portions of the glove 200 such that as the glove 200 is rotated such as when turning a key in a lock, the position of the illumination assembly 250 and the corresponding output light remains substantially fixed. For yet other examples, the illumination assembly 250 can be positioned relative to remaining portions of the glove 200 such that the position (or range of positions) of the illumination assembly 250 and the corresponding output light remains within a range of positions appropriate for a given activity such as an outdoor performance activity (e.g., running, snow skiing, biking, etc. with the output light positioned in front of the wearer during the activity). Thus, when the illumination assembly 250 is actuated, the illumination member 275 can produce a light output with an orientation that is relatively stable relative to the glove 200.
The mounting portion 265 can be any suitable shape, size, and/or configuration. For example, in some embodiments, the mounting portion 265 can be substantially cylindrical and can extend from a surface 261 of the flange 260 in a transverse direction. More particularly, as shown in
As described above, the distal end portion 267 of the mounting portion 265 is coupled to the illumination member 275. For example, a portion of the illumination member 275 can be disposed within the cavity 268 and coupled to the mounting portion 265 via, for example, a friction fit, a press fit, an adhesive, a threaded coupling and/or the like. As shown in
Similarly, as shown in
The actuator 280 is disposed within the glove 200 and is operably coupled to the illumination member 275 of the illumination assembly 250 (see e.g.,
The actuator 280 can be any suitable actuating device, mechanism, and/or assembly that can be transitioned between a first configuration and a second configuration. For example, as shown in
The second portion 282 of the actuator 280 can include one or more electrical conductors such as wires or the like that can electrically connect the illumination member 275 to the actuator 280. More specifically, the mounting portion 265 and the actuator 280 are arranged in such a manner that the second portion 282 of the actuator 280 passes through the opening 262 defined by the flange 260 to dispose an end of the second portion 282 in the cavity 268. In this manner, the second portion 282 can be coupled to the illumination member 275 in such a way that the position of the coupling between the second portion 282 of the actuator 280 and the illumination member 275 is spaced apart a non-zero distance from the user's hand. In some embodiments, the angle α associated with the longitudinal axis A of the cavity 268 (see e.g.,
In some embodiments, the angle α associated with the longitudinal axis A of the cavity 268 can, for example, allow a region of the second portion 282 of the actuator 280 to be bent at an angle less than about 90° relative to the flange 260, which can, for example, align the end of the second portion 282 with a corresponding conductive portion of the illumination member 275, thereby allowing the end of the second portion 282 of the actuator 280 to be coupled to the illumination member 275. Moreover, the region of the second portion 282 of the actuator 280 can be bent with a relatively large radius or the like (i.e., not sharp, abrupt, and/or perpendicular). Thus, discomfort associated with the coupling of the second portion 282 of the actuator 280 to the illumination member 275 and/or the bend of the region of the second portion 282, and/or the risk of damage to the coupling is reduced or substantially avoided. In this manner, when the actuator 280 is in its first configuration and at least a portion of the electric circuit included in the first portion 282 is electrically isolated from the power source, the illumination member 275 is electrically isolated from the power source; when the actuator is transitioned to its second configuration and the electric circuit of the first portion 281 of the actuator 280 is electrically connected to the power source, the illumination member 275 can receive a flow of electric power from the power source, via the electric circuit and the second portion 282 of the actuator 280 (e.g., the wires), and in response produce an output (i.e., light).
Although the illumination assembly 250 was particularly shown and described above with reference to
The gloves 100 and 200 described herein can be any suitable type of glove that can, in some instances, have an intended purpose. For example, in some embodiments, a glove can be intended to provide warmth in relatively cold weather, and as such can include an insulating material and/or multiple layers. In other embodiments, the glove can be intended to provide protection, for example, for mechanics, landscapers, construction workers, plumbers, and/or the like and thus, can include one or more protective inserts and/or can be formed from a material that can provide protection against injury such as, for example, leather, nylon, etc., while maintaining a desired level of dexterity. In still other embodiments, the glove can be intended to fluidically isolate the hand of the wearer from a volume outside of the glove such as, for example, when used in a medical procedure or the like and as such, the glove can be relatively thin and formed from a materially that is substantially impermeable to fluids. In yet other embodiments, the glove can be intended for use in outdoor performance activities such as running, snow skiing, biking, etc.
While various embodiments have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not limitation. Where schematics and/or embodiments described above indicate certain components arranged in certain orientations or positions, the arrangement of components may be modified. While the embodiments have been particularly shown and described, it will be understood that various changes in form and details may be made. For example, while the glove 200 is shown as including full length and/or enclosed fingers, in other embodiments, a glove can include finger portions that are less than full length and that have ends that are open. Thus, when a user dons the glove, a portion of the user's fingers can extend through the ends of the finger portions.
Although various embodiments have been described as having particular features and/or combinations of components, other embodiments are possible having a combination of any features and/or components from any of embodiments as discussed above. For example, any of the illumination assemblies 350, 450, and/or 550 can be disposed in, for example, the glove 200 in a substantially similar manner as described above with the illumination assembly 250.
Where methods and/or events described above indicate certain events and/or procedures occurring in certain order, the ordering of certain events and/or procedures may be modified. Additionally, certain events and/or procedures may be performed concurrently in a parallel process when possible, as well as performed sequentially as described above.
