The present invention relates to gloves and more particularly to gloves having protective layers attached thereto to provide certain attributes to the glove, and a coating layer applied over the glove and a portion of the protective layers.
When performing certain activities, it is often desirable and even necessary to wear gloves to cover and protect the hands of the individual. These gloves are formed from a wide range of materials and take various forms that can be altered as necessary depending on the particular activity being performed by the individual wearing the gloves, such as participating in sporting events, performing manual labor, or performing medical procedures, among others.
A large number of gloves used in various situations are formed from conventional fabric materials, which allow the individual wearing the glove to properly grasp the object being handled, while also allowing air to circulate through the glove, making the glove more comfortable to wear. However, for certain types of work that involve the handling of potentially hazardous substances or items that can cause damage to the hand of an individual when coming into direct contact with the hand, the benefits of the fabric material forming the glove can be detrimental to the use of the glove in these circumstances In particular, knit gloves, or gloves formed from cloth-like materials have not previously been used for protective purposes because of the nature of the knit or cloth materials, which can easily be torn, cut or punctured, and which readily absorb fluids. Though the knit or cloth gloves are formed from materials that are breathable and stretchable, making the gloves very comfortable to wear, relatively inexpensive and easy to manufacture, these attributes make the gloves formed of these types of materials highly undesirable for use as a glove designed specifically to protect the hand of a wearer.
As a result, in these types of circumstances where the individual wearing the gloves contacts various types of objects, materials, fluids or substances that can be hazardous to the individual if the individual comes into direct contact with those materials, one of the primary considerations for the use of gloves in these situations is the ability of the glove to protect the hand of the individual from damage or injury resulting from direct contact with the objects, fluids or other materials being handled or contacted by the individual wearing the gloves.
Therefore, to enhance the ability of a glove to protect the hand of a wearer, various types of materials have been utilized in the construction of gloves utilized for these purposes. For example, certain types of gloves have been developed that are unitarily formed from materials that are highly resistant to tearing, cutting and/or puncturing, and that are resistant to chemicals and fluids, i.e., waterproof, in order to provide the glove with the desired enhanced protective features. Materials of this type provide a suitable barrier between the hand of the individual positioned within the glove and the substances being handled by the individual that are in contact with the exterior of the glove, to prevent any direct contact between the hand and the substance contacted by the exterior of the glove.
However, as a function of the barrier provided by the unitary material forming the glove that prevents direct contact between the hand and the substance being handled, the material also prevents any gases from entering and circulating through the glove. Thus, the glove does not “breathe”, making the glove very uncomfortable to wear for any significant length of time.
For certain uses, gloves have been developed that have both barrier and breathable characteristics, such as gardening gloves in which a knit or cloth glove is partially coated in a dipping process that deposits a protective coating over a portion of the glove, usually the palm portion, and that leaves the remainder of the glove exposed to enable the glove to stretch, flex and breathe as a normal knit glove. However, because the coating does not extend over the entire surface of the knit glove, the glove formed with the dipped coating does not provide the necessary level of protection required for certain tasks.
As a result, it is desirable to develop a glove formed from an inexpensive material that is stretchable, breathable, and easy to manufacture that can be adapted for effective utilization as a protective glove that resists tearing, cutting or puncturing, that is resistant to chemicals and that is waterproof.
According to one aspect of one embodiment of the present invention, a glove is provided that is formed to have a base layer formed of a fabric, knit or cloth material that provides the glove with the ability to stretch and breathe. Over the knit base layer, the glove has one or more protective layers attached to the glove. These protective layers have various attributes that are not present in the underlying knit base layer, such as puncture, cut and tear resistance properties, a chemical resistance properties and/or a waterproof properties, which can all be present in a single layer or in separate layers disposed on the knit base layer. After the protective layer or layers are applied to the surface of the base layer of the glove, the glove has a suitable coating material applied to a portion of the base layer and the protective layers in order to form a coating layer over a portion of the glove. The coating layer provides additional protective attributes to the glove, and provides a covering for the seam created between the protective layer or layers and the base layer of the glove.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the coating layer can be applied to the glove in a manner that entirely covers one protective layer disposed on one surface of the base layer, and that covers only the peripheral edge of another separate protective layer disposed on a separate surface of the glove.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, the base layer can have a first coating layer applied to the base layer prior to the attachment of the protective layer or layers to the base layer, and then a second coating layer applied to the glove over the first coating layer, the base layer and/or a portion of the protective layers.
Numerous other aspects common features and advantages of the present invention will be made apparent from the following detailed description taken together with the drawing figures.
The drawings illustrate the best mode currently contemplated for practicing the present invention.
In the drawings:
With reference now to the drawing figures in which like reference numerals designate like parts throughout the disclosure, a glove constructed according to the present invention is indicated generally at 10 in
As best shown in
Referring now to
Looking now at
In an alternative embodiment, the base layer 11 can have an inner coating layer (not shown) applied to the base layer 11 in a pattern similar to the outer coating layer 24 prior to the attachment of either the first protective layer 20 or the second protective layer 22 to the base layer 11. In this embodiment, preferably only the second protective layer 22 secured to the back portion 12 of the base layer 11 is utilized, with the outer coating layer 24 applied to the glove 10 over the inner coating layer and the periphery 26 of the second protective layer 22.
In addition to any of the previous embodiments, as shown in
Various alternatives or contemplated as being within the scope of the following claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter regarded as the invention.
This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/022,561, filed on Jan. 22, 2008, the entirety of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
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