Patent Grant
11583015
The present invention relates to the art of baseball gloves, and more specifically to a design and manufacture of unturned baseball gloves with exposed edges.
Baseball gloves are a labor-intensive product calling for a large amount of individual attention. Differences among gloves vary from the thickness of the heel to the design of the web to the deepness of the palm. Outfielders tend to prefer large gloves with deep palms, to make catching fly balls easier. Infielders generally like smaller gloves into which they can reach easily to grip and throw the ball to another player. Most outfielders will break a glove in vertically; infielders tend to prefer gloves broken in horizontally.
Improvements in the design of the glove and the efficiency and protection it offers a ball player are ongoing. Small plastic reinforcements may be used at the base of the small finger and the thumb, and some nylon thread, otherwise a glove is made totally of tanned and cured leather, usually from cattle. Generally, cowhides are the predominant material in use today. Sometimes leather may be sourced from kangaroo hide from Australia, and often in combination with leather from cattle. Kangaroo hide is somewhat softer than cowhide or cattle leather, and the glove can be used after a shorter breaking-in period than usual.
Various synthetic materials have been tested for baseball gloves, but so far none have demonstrated the resilience, and feel that leather has, and no replacement for leather is on the immediate horizon.
The first step in baseball glove manufacture involves die-cutting the leather into four sections: shell, lining, pad, and webbing. Various parts of the glove are cut (typically in dies) and sewn together with a long string (or lace) of rawhide leather. A front and back shell piece are often used. Lettering, such as foil tape (e.g. identifying the manufacturer) is burned into the leather with a brass stamping die.
As is known in the art, the shell of the glove is sewn together while inside-out. It is then turned right-side-out. Lining is then inserted. Before being reversed (or turned as is known in the art), the shell is mulled or steamed. The lacing around the edges of a glove is usually one piece or string of leather. The lacing begins at the thumb or lithe finger and holds the entire shell of the glove together. The turned shell is put on a device known as a hot hand, which is includes four (or five) fingers in a hand-shaped metallic form. Heat from the hot hand helps the shell form to its correct size. At this point, the hot hand also assures that all the openings for the fingers (finger stalls) are open correctly. In order to accommodate and reinforce the edge stitching welting (a thin strip of material) is often placed along the edges between the shells (front and back). Welting reinforces the joint and allows the glove to be turned without losing strength at the edge seam. Additionally, after the glove is turned, piping may be used to cover the inverted turned recess.
A pad may be inserted into the heel of a glove. Better gloves have two-part pads that make it easier for the glove to flex in the correct direction when squeezed. The padding in a glove is made of two layers of leather, often hand-stitched together. Catchers' mitts, which need a thicker palm than other gloves, are made with five layers of leather padding. Plastic reinforcements may also be inserted at the thumb and toe (little finger) sections of the glove. These devices provide added support for the glove and protect the player's fingers from being bent backwards accidentally.
Before completing the lacing, the web is fabricated out of several pieces of leather. The web can consist of anywhere from two to six pieces of leather, depending on the type of web desired. The lacing around the edges of a glove is usually one piece of rawhide string that might be as much as one hundred inches long. The lacing begins at the thumb or little finger and holds the entire glove together. The final lacing operation is at the web section. Some non-leather stitching is needed for the individual parts—the web, for instance, is usually stitched together with nylon thread. The strap across the back of the hand of a glove used to be lined with shearling (sheepskin); a synthetic fabric or felt material is more commonly used today. The palm and back are sewn together first, and then joined together with the other pieces with rawhide lacing.
As is currently predominant, the final step is called a lay off operation; the glove is again placed on a hot hand to adjust any shaping problems and to make sure that the openings for the fingers (finger stalls).
Baseball glove design has not changed much in recent decades. Previous developments included such things as holding the fingers of the glove together with lacing, changes in the design of the pocket and the heel of the glove, and redesigning the catcher's glove so that a catcher can handle a ball with one hand, like other fielders. Earlier attempts at improving the functional design included a six-fingered glove that could be used both at first base and at other infield positions. More recent design developments have focused on how the glove is used at position. Catchers' mitts, for example, have been outfitted with bright, fluorescent edging to make a better target for a pitcher. Others have introduced casual mitts as black gloves with a white palm so that the glove will be a better target for one player throwing a ball to another.
As such the development of the ball glove has not progressed to improve and speed up manufacture, reduce costs, and allow experimentation with new materials and new functionality. The requirements of turning have made the manufacture of ball gloves tedious, effort ad skill intensive, and limit the materials available for use.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a ball glove that is more easily manufactured without turning.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing a ball glove without turning.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art as the description thereof proceeds.
The present invention is directed to an exposed edge stitched ball glove. The ball glove is made of an outer shell. The outer shell includes the palm or front surface sheet and a back surface that may be made of multiple pieces. The palm and back join to form finger portions, a thumb portion, and a palm portion, with a webbing set between the pointer/index finger and thumb. The outer shell has an opening below (and behind) the palm portion created by an unjoined region of said front surface and said back surface of the shell. The outer shell front surface and back surface are joined, while the exterior surface of each of the front and back surface exposed. No turning is required. The interior side of the palm meets the interior side of the backing (pieces) and lay flat against one another along the seam (outside edge). Thus the material (e.g. leather) lays flat against one another to form shell. Exterior side of each of the palm and rear/back pieces remain exposed and are not bent in to form seams. Fingers and other three-dimensional forms are made by use of design die cuts that can be slightly bent to provide volumetric space within glove, but do not require complete bending, as is known in the art of turning. Stitching is placed around edges of the joined front and back surface pieces. The edges of the palm and back pieces are exposed on an exterior surface of the ball glove, and may be painted or covered with an acrylic or other type of treatment. Hard embellishments may be set on the exterior surface of at least one of said front surface and said back surface, preferably the back surface, that is then joined with the opposing side with edges exposed. The palm may be made of an exotic organic material derived from a reptile and/or fish, such as an alligator or stingray.
The present invention also includes a method of manufacturing a ball glove. Pieces for the shell and liner are die-cut as simple flat pieces in a shape or arrangement predetermined to make the ball glove. Flat pieces may be hot stamped or otherwise met with indicia. The shell (palm and rear pieces) are stitched together to form a three-dimensional shell whereby the thumb and pinky oriented towards one another with the pocket recessed. The liner pieces are also stitched to together and then inserted into the shell. The liner is secured with an adhesive, and then bound to one another. Jelly or tack may be set between the palm and palm liner. Top fingers and webbing may be laced together. Edges between the palm piece and back of the shell are left exposed in edges and joints. The edges and/or joints may be painted or coated with an acrylic or other material as is known in the art to protect the exposed untanned leather cross-section and/or provide indicia.
The present invention will be described with greater specificity and clarity with reference to the following drawings, in which:
Baseball gloves are normally stitched inside-out and then turned prior to lacing and forming. Gloves are sewn in the traditional way with welting/piping & turning. In order to turn them without tearing seams, when the leather is stitched together, welting is sewn in-between the leather components to make the seams stronger. This method of stitching requires a significant amount of skill and results in the need to perform significant shaping and forming after the glove is turned as a result of the leather being “disrupted” during turning. It also limits the type of leathers that are used in baseball gloves (normally softer chrome-tanned tanned leathers vs. more structured/stiffer veg-tanned leathers) or delicate/exotic leathers because they are not possible to turn or turning results in excessive creasing and damage to the leathers. Turning also hides the stitching or seams, which is common amongst glove-makers for many decades.
Baseball gloves can now be made without welting/piping and without turning so that edges and stitching are exposed and unique leathers can be employed. Some unique leather beyond bovine and kangaroo include, but are not limited to elephant, stingray, alligator/crocodile, snake, or any other material known in the art both organic and synthetic. As the glove does not have to be turned, the material does not need to withstand the turning process. Baseball gloves produced with outside stitching and without the need for turning, eliminate the need for welting and the difficulty associated with training operators to acquire the necessary skill to stitch baseball gloves. This method of construction reduces the amount of disruption/creasing to the leather and the amount of forming and shaping required. It also allows for use of leathers otherwise not possible in baseball gloves, such as veg-tanned, exotic and delicate leathers. This construction method results in unique opportunities in glove design, highlighted stitching that was previously not visible or highlighting edges created by exposing color on the back-side of leather or through edge painting. The edges may be painted to emphasize the look and to otherwise protect the exposed untanned internal leather.
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Exposed edges manufacturing does not require glove turning which eliminates a step in the process and process, reduces the need for shaping and forming that normally takes place to offset the effects of turning. Eliminating the step of turning, eliminates the need for stitching leather welt or piping into the seams, which is normally needed to maintain the strength of the seams during turning. Not only does this eliminate the need of a raw material (welt or piping), stitching without welting requires less skill. This reduces the amount of training required, especially in the process of “closing” the glove where the palm is stitched to the back components.
The most difficult part of stitching a baseball glove is closing and the most difficult part of closing it stitching the crotch of the fingers. Stitching the crotches without welting allows for increasing the distance or space from one side of the crotch (one side of the finger) to the other (opposite side of the finger). This is not possible with wetted gloves because the space between the fingers after turning becomes too great, risking a ball going through the glove (fingers) or requiring additional lacing to prevent that from happening. Stitching with exposed edges results in a greater surface area of leather being exposed to the ball and therefore allows for narrowing of the fingers or increasing the gap in the crotch to make it easier to stitch in the crotch area.
Stitching with welting or piping requires the gloves to be stitched inside-out and then turned, which makes it difficult for the stitching operator to detect stitching mistakes until after the glove is turned. When stitching mistakes are found at this point, the glove needs to be turned back and the correction made before re-turning again. With edge-exposed stitching, the stitching operator gets immediate feedback, can correct in the final form.
Stitching with exposed edges also allows the detection of “flanky” or poor quality leather earlier on in the process, whereas with welt-stitching flanky leather in the palm is often only identified after the glove is turned, again resulting in the glove having to be turned back and all the stitching taken out in order to replace the leather palm and stitch and turn again. This is both a cost and quality issue.
In terms of improvements to the final product, because turning is not required when exposing the edges, the gloves result in more consistent shape and size from one glove to the next. With welt stitching, the glove size and shape is more greatly impacted by the thickness/bulkiness of the welt after turning.
Further, by avoiding turning, the leather is disturbed significantly less, resulting in smoother leather with fewer creases. Leather components can be trimmed less, so less material is needed for seam margin as is required when the gloves are turned. This results in less bulky and more streamlined seams and gloves for any given size.
As the leather is disturbed significantly less, alternative leathers, typically not possible as a result of turning can be used. This applies to a wide range of exotic and specialty or delicate leathers as well as highly structured leathers that are very difficult to turn. These exotic materials may be used to comprise the entire palm to provide a one or two-toned theme wherein the palm and back are of different leather/material types.
There is also ornamental value in exposed edges that create a unique look with options to: (1) expose raw edges: (2) color or paint them as an added design feature; (3) highlight them with contrasting stitching that is also exposed; and (4) expose color that goes through the leather and is visible through the exposed edge that is normally not visible with welt stitching.
Exposed edge construction results in lighter weight gloves (which is considered a performance benefit) because welting is eliminated as well as less leather being used as a result of the ability to trim the components compared to a glove with welt construction for any given size glove.
Exposed edges on the ends of the fingers are less rigid and allow for easier “scooping” or fielding of ground balls compared to finger tips made with welt construction that are more rigid and can cause a ball to hit and bounce off the end of a finger more easily.
As for manufacture, there are a number of steps in the manufacture of gloves. Often these steps are sequential, meaning they have to be performed in a specific order. The prior art method of manufacture is amended as follows:
Finally, there is another benefit to not turning the gloves when it comes to personalization (which has become a significant trend in recent years)—adding hard embellishments (e.g., metal) is not feasible when turning the gloves without causing damage to the leather. Stitching with exposed edges allows for easy addition of hard embellishments to be sewn on the glove as personalization or design. The hard embellishments may be added before or after die cutting, and prior to stitching.
The present application includes subject matter disclosed in and claims priority to a provisional application entitled “Exposed Edge Stitched Ballglove” filed Jun. 13, 2019 and assigned Ser. No. 62/861,062, describing an invention made by the present inventor, herein incorporated by reference.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2722007 | Tompkins | Nov 1955 | A |
| 20080060105 | Lin | Mar 2008 | A1 |
| 20130247272 | Reed | Sep 2013 | A1 |
| 20210023436 | Aoki | Jan 2021 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62861062 | Jun 2019 | US |
