Patent Application
20070245451
The present invention relates generally to a protective athletic glove, and more particularly to a protective athletic glove having improved moisture removal.
Risk of injuries is always of concern for athletes, particularly for athletes competing in contact and/or physical sports in which protective clothing is worn to limit injuries, such as for example sporting activities including ice hockey, lacrosse, cricket, field hockey and the like. Particularly for such stick based sports, players wear protective gloves such as to limit potential damage to their hands and wrists which may be caused by impacts directed thereagainst by the puck, ball or other players sticks, as the case may be.
Such protective athletic gloves must offer protection to the wearer's hands and wrists, while nevertheless permitting at least some breathability to cool the wearer's hands. As wearing such padded protective gloves while performing rigorous athletic activities, particularly those played in warm climates such as field hockey, lacrosse and cricket, can lead to the wearer's hands becoming hot and sweaty, many attempts have been made to provide improved ventilation and cooling for such protective athletic gloves. For example, ventilation holes extending through the outer padding of the glove have become common.
The palms of such protective athletic gloves are particularly difficult to ventilate, at least partially because the palm portion of the glove tends to be wrapped around a stick held by the user. In an attempt to provide improved ventilation to the wearer's palm, it has been known to provide large openings in the palm portion of the glove, with mesh covering these openings. The mesh allows the wearer's palms to breather more easily while nevertheless enclosing the palm, which is required by regulation in many lacrosse and hockey leagues. While such mesh covered openings provide good ventilation, the mesh inserts defined within the glove's palm tend to wear unduly quickly relative to the more robust material from which the rest of the palm is made, generally caused by the friction between the stick and the mesh material.
Therefore, while cooling the wearer's hand, and in particular the palm portion thereof, remains desirable, a more durable solution is sought such that repair and replacement of the athletic gloves is minimized. Further still, while the mesh material provided in regions of the palm of prior art gloves allows ventilation, it fails to specifically address the problem of high perspiration which can build up within the glove and on particularly on the inner surfaces of the palm thereof. While the mesh provides ventilation, which cools the wearer's hand, perspiration can nonetheless occur and become trapped within the glove, including on the inner surfaces of the meshed palm.
Therefore, there remains a need for a protective athletic glove having improved cooling and internal moisture reduction.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide an improved protective athletic glove.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved protective athletic glove having improved cooling and internal moisture reduction.
Therefore, in accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a protective athletic glove comprising an inner palm side and an opposed outer padded side, the inner palm side having a palm surface covering a majority of the inner palm side and at least one opening defined within the palm surface, a wicking material being disposed at least across said opening, said wicking material being more breathable than said main palm material and having aspiration pores therethrough which actively draw moisture from an inner surface of said wicking material to an outer surface thereof.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a lacrosse glove for protecting at least a wearer's hand having a dorsal side, a palm side, four fingers and one thumb, the lacrosse glove comprising: an inner palm surface on said palm side, said inner palm surface having at least one opening defined therein; and a wicking material disposed at least across said opening, said wicking material being more breathable than said inner palm surface and having moisture aspirating pores therethrough which actively draw moisture from an inner surface of said wicking material to an outer surface thereof.
There is also provided, in accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a protective athletic glove for protecting at least a wearer's hand, the glove having a dorsal side, a palm side, four fingers and one thumb, the glove comprising: an inner palm surface on said palm side, said inner palm surface having at least one opening defined therein; and a wicking material disposed at least across said opening, said wicking material being more breathable than said inner palm surface and having moisture aspirating pores therethrough which actively draw moisture from an inner surface of said wicking material to an outer surface thereof.
Further features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in combination with the appended drawings, in which:
Referring to
In one embodiment of the present invention, the protective athletic glove 10 is specifically intended for lacrosse, which is typically played indoors and/or in warm climates, and as such adequate cooling of the user's hand when wearing the glove 10 is particularly important. As such, most lacrosse gloves, in comparison to ice hockey gloves for example, include means for cooling the user's hand which may include mesh and/or cooling holes incorporated into the glove. The protective athletic glove 10 provides improved cooling and internal moisture reduction for the wearer's hand when wearing the glove, it is well-suited for use as a lacrosse glove. However, it is to be understood that the protective athletic glove 10, while described herein with particular reference to its use as a lacrosse glove, can be used for any type of athletic activity for which protection to the hands of the user is sought, including for example (but not limited to) stick sports such as ice hockey, lacrosse or cricket, or for operating motorized vehicles such as motorcycles, snowmobiles and the like.
Referring now to
The inner palm surface 24 has at least one opening 30 defined therein, and in the embodiment depicted includes a plurality of such openings 30 defined both in the central main palm portion 26 and the digit palm portions 28. Particularly, the openings 30 include larger palm openings 31 defined through the central main palm portion 26 and relatively smaller digit openings 33 defined through the digit palm portions 28.
The inner palm side 12 of the glove 10 further comprises a wicking material 34 which is disposed at least across each of the openings 30 defined within the inner palm surface 24, thereby covering these openings 30. In one embodiment, the wicking material 34 is in fact applied to most of a rear (i.e. inwardly facing) surface of the inner palm surface 24, and therefore is both disposed within each of the openings 30 and also on the inwardly facing side of the inner palm surface 26 such that much of the user's palm and fingers in fact directly contact this wicking material 34.
The wicking material 34 is more breathable than the more robust material of the main palm portion 26, and therefore the wearer's hand is provided with good ventilation, when wearing the glove, via these openings 30 which are covered only by the highly breathable wicking material 34. Further, the wicking material 34 provides improved moisture removal from the interior of the glove in comparison with other breathable materials, such as a simple open-mesh type material. The wicking material 34 defines a plurality of aspiration pores therethrough which act to actively draw moisture from an inner surface of the wicking material towards an outer surface thereof. Such pores defined in the wicking material 34 are significantly smaller than the much larger openings defined in the open mesh material of the prior art. The pores of the wicking material are small enough to employ capillary action to draw moisture outward through the material. For example, the pores of the wicking material 34 are significantly smaller, and in at least one embodiment are microscopic, in comparison with the significantly larger (eg: 1-2 mm) openings of prior art mesh materials.
Accordingly, the wicking material 34 provides both good airflow to the wearer's hand through these pores, while additionally providing improved perspiration and other moisture removal from the inside of the glove via the same aspiration pores, which actively draw moisture through the wicking material. This is not the case of an open mesh-type of material, which merely provides airflow into and out of the glove without providing any such moisture wicking properties. While any number of commercial wicking materials can be employed, in one embodiment the wicking material 34 includes Absortek®.
Referring again to
Each of the palm openings 31 defined within the central main palm portion 26 of the inner palm surface 24 defines a length relative to the longitudinal axis 13 (shown in
The more durable leather or similar synthetic material of the inner palm surface 24 may additionally be provided with small holes 43 in regions thereof outside of the openings 30, in order to provide additional ventilation to the wearer's hand when in the glove 10. Such additional ventilation holes 43 may be formed through the palm surface in any number of ways, including punching for example.
As best seen in
The embodiments of the invention described above are intended to be exemplary. Those skilled in the art will therefore appreciate that the forgoing description is illustrative only, and that various alternatives and modifications can be devised without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Accordingly, the present is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications and variances which fall within the scope of the appended claims.
