Patent Application
20240138501
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The disclosure relates to protection devices and more particularly pertains to a new protection device for preventing bee stings. The present invention discloses a protection device comprising a form fitting glove having a three layered top section that prevents a bee from stinging a wearer of the glove while ensuring a tight fit to improve dexterity of the glove.
The prior art relates to protection device, which may comprise gloves having internal screens for holding bees away from a hand in such a glove.
Related prior art comprises garments made of netting and having a plurality of protrusions to hold the netting away from skin of a wearer, garments comprising inner and outer layers, wherein the outer layer excludes insects and the inner layer functions to hold the outer layer away from skin of a wearer, and coveralls for apiarists made from three layers of fabric, wherein a medial layer of fabric is of a thickness greater than a length of a bee's stinger. While these prior art references teach layered fabrics that separates insects from skin of a wearer, there is no suggestion that such materials would be suitable for use in gloves and such materials typically would not provide a glove allowing hand movements required for efficiently performing beekeeping tasks.
What is lacking in the prior art is a protection device comprising a glove having a top section comprising inner, outer, and medial layers wherein the inner and outer layers comprise a different material. The inner layer is resiliently stretchable so that the inner layer and a bottom section of the glove conform to contours of the hand and frictionally engage the glove to the hand. The outer layer prevents a bee from contacting the medial layer and the medial layer prevents the bee's stinger from reaching the inner layer. The present invention teaches fabrics and constructions being different relative to the prior art.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a glove, which is configured to be donned by a user by insertion of a respective hand into an opening that is positioned in the glove to removably engaged the glove to the respective hand. The glove comprises a bottom section and a top section, which are positioned, upon donning of the glove, over a palm and a back of the respective hand, respectively, and over lower portions and upper portions of each finger, respectively. The top section comprises an inner layer, an outer layer, and a medial layer, which is positioned between the inner layer and the outer layer. The inner layer is resiliently stretchable so that the inner layer and the bottom section are configured to conform to contours of the respective hand and to frictionally engage the glove to the respective hand. The outer layer is configured to prevent a bee from contacting the medial layer and the medial layer is configured to prevent a stinger of the bee from reaching the inner layer.
Another embodiment of the disclosure includes a method for preventing bee stings to a hand comprising a provision step, which entails providing a hand protection device according to the disclosure above. A first operational step of the method is donning the glove. A second operational step of the method is performing a beekeeping task.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
The pair of fasteners 18 may comprise a first element 20 of a hook and loop fastener 22, which is attached to the cuff 16, and a strap 24, which is attached to and which extends from the cuff 16. A second element 26 of the hook and loop fastener 22 is attached to the strap 24. The strap 24 is configured to be grasped in digits of a hand of the user, positioning the user to pull on the strap 24 to tighten the cuff 16 and to attach the second element 26 to the first element 20 to secure the cuff 16 in a tightened configuration around the wrist of the user. Other fastening means are anticipated for tightening the cuff 16 to the wrist of the user, such as, but not limited to, elastic banding, buckle straps, and the like.
The glove 12 comprises a bottom section 28 and a top section 30, which are positioned, upon donning of the glove 12, over a palm and a back of the respective hand, respectively, and over lower portions and upper portions of each finger, respectively. The top section 30 comprises an inner layer 32, an outer layer 34, and a medial layer 36, which is positioned between the inner layer 32 and the outer layer 34. Typically, the inner layer 32 and the outer layer 34 are comprised of different materials relative to each other. The inner layer 32 is resiliently stretchable so that the inner layer 32 and the bottom section 28 are configured to conform to contours of the respective hand and to frictionally engage the glove 12 to the respective hand. The outer layer 34 is configured to prevent a bee from contacting the medial layer 36 and the medial layer 36 is configured to prevent a stinger of the bee from reaching the inner layer 32, and thereby preventing the user from being stung.
The outer layer 34 may be meshed and thus configured to allow for passage of air to vent the glove 12. The present invention also anticipates a plurality of cutouts 38, which is positioned in the medial layer 36. The medial layer 36 thereby also is configured to allow for passage of air to vent the glove 12. The cutouts 38 may be of any shape, for example, rectangular, circular, hexagonal, or the like.
In one configuration, as is shown in
The present invention anticipates one or both of the outer layer 34 and the medial layer 36 being resiliently stretchable, as might be required with the medial layer 36 being attached to one or both of the inner layer 32 and the outer layer 34. One or more of the outer layer 34, the inner layer 32, and the medial layer 36 may comprise elastomer. For example, the inner layer 32 and the outer layer 34 may comprise one or more of a polyester, a polyether-polyurea copolymer, a polyacrylonitrile, a polyamide, or the like. The medial layer 36 may comprise a synthetic rubber, such as, but not limited to, chloroprene rubber, styrene-butadiene rubber, polyisoprene rubber, nitrile rubber, or the like, as well as natural rubber, silicone, or the like. The bottom section 28 may comprise leather, faux leather, or the like. In one configuration, the bottom section 28 comprises goat skin.
The medial layer 36 has a thickness 42 greater than or equal to 1.60 mm, which is sufficient to prevent penetration of a stinger of a honeybee, which has an average length of 1.62 mm. In some embodiments, the medial layer 36 may have a thickness 42 of from 2.00 to 8.00 mm.
In one embodiment, the inner layer 32 will have a stretch percentage that is greater than a stretch percentage of the outer layer 34, and, typically, a stretch percentage of the medial layer 36. Stretch percentage is a common term used in the textile arts to define the relative amount a textile can be stretched before returning to its original size. The inner layer 32 will typically have a stretch percentage greater than 30% in both a length and a width direction. This will ensure that the inner layer 32 will conform to and fit tightly against the hand of the wearer. Forming a tight fit will ensure that the wearer's fingers are retained properly within finger sleeves of the glove 12, which will increase the wearer's finger dexterity while performing beekeeping duties.
In a particular example, which is not limiting, the outer layer 34 comprises 95% polyester and 5% polyether-polyurea copolymer and, being meshed, has a fabric weight of 210 g/m2. The medial layer 36 in this example comprises chloroprene rubber and has a thickness 42 of 5.0 mm. The inner layer 32 in this example comprises 85% polyester and 15% polyether-polyurea copolymer, is breathable, and has a fabric weight of 186 g/m2. The bottom section 28 comprises goat skin, though other bee stinger impervious materials may be utilized. The glove 12 thus produced was comfortable, allowed for dexterous hand movements, and prevented bee stings while simultaneously ensuring air flow across the back of the wearer's hand to prevent sweating within the glove 12.
In use, the hand protection device 10 enables a method for preventing bee stings to a hand 44 comprising a provision step 46, which entails providing a hand protection device 10 according to the specification above. A first operational step 48 of the method 44 is donning the glove 12. A second operational step 50 of the method 44 is performing a beekeeping task. It is further anticipated that the bee sting protection provided by the top section 30 can be applied to other body parts, such as a torso and arms by means of a jacket, to legs and pelvic areas by means of pants, or to a torso, arms, legs, and pelvic area by means of coveralls. Hoods constructed as per the top section 30 could provide bee sting protection to a head of the user.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
