Patent Application
20210085412
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The disclosure relates to inflation devices and more particularly pertains to a new inflation device for inflating latex gloves to enhance wearing the latex gloves.
The prior art relates to inflation devices.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a housing that is fluidly coupled to a vacuum source for purging the housing of air. The housing has a pair of glove apertures extending into an interior of the housing. A plurality of engagements is each distributed around a respective one of the glove apertures. Each of the engagements engages a wrist opening on a respective pair of latex gloves when the engagements are turned on. The latex gloves are inflated when the housing is purged of air thereby facilitating a user to insert their hands into the gloves. each of the engagements releasing the latex gloves when the engagements are turned off. A release is coupled to the housing and the release facilitates air to fill the housing when the release is turned on thereby facilitating each of the latex gloves to deflate around the user's hands.
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 back wall 18 has a suction aperture 26 extending into an interior of the housing 12 and the bottom wall 22 has a release aperture 28 extending into the interior of the housing 12. Each of the glove apertures 16 extends into the interior of the housing 12 and each of the glove apertures 16 has a bounding edge 30. The pair of glove apertures 16 includes a first glove aperture 32 and a second glove aperture 34. The suction aperture 26 is fluidly coupled to the vacuum source 14.
A pair of grommets 36 is provided and each of the grommets 36 forms a closed loop. Each of the grommets 36 is coupled to the bounding edge 30 of a respective one of the glove apertures 16. A pair of brackets 38 is each coupled to and extends away from the back wall 18 of the housing 12. Each of the brackets 38 is fastenable to a support surface 40 for retaining the housing 12 on the support surface 40. The support surface 40 may be a wall in the operating room or other vertical support surface. Additionally, the housing 12 may be positioned at a strategic height to facilitate a user to insert each of the user's hands into the glove apertures 16. The user may be a surgeon or other individual that has previously sterilized their hands.
A plurality of engagements 42 is provided and each of the engagements 42 is coupled to the housing 12. Each of the engagements 42 is distributed around a respective one of the glove apertures 16. Additionally, each of the engagements 42 engages a wrist opening 44 on a respective pair of latex gloves 46 when the engagements 42 are turned on. Moreover, the latex gloves 46 are positioned within the housing 12 when the engagements 42 engage the latex gloves 46. In this way each of the latex gloves 46 is inflated when the housing 12 is purged of air thereby facilitating the user to insert their hands into the gloves. Thus, the user can wear the latex gloves 46 without compromising the sterility of their hands. The latex gloves 46 may be surgical gloves of any conventional design.
Each of the engagements 42 releases the latex gloves 46 when the engagements 42 are turned off. The plurality of engagements 42 includes a set of first engagements 48 and a set of second engagements 50. Each of the first engagements 48 is distributed around the first glove aperture 32 and each of the second engagements 50 is distributed around the second glove aperture 34. Each of the engagements 42 comprises a clamp motor 52 that is coupled to an interior surface 54 of the front wall 20 of the housing 12. The clamp motor 52 is aligned with the bounding edge 30 of a respective one of the glove apertures 16, and the clamp motor 52 rotates in a first direction or a second direction. The clamp motor 52 may be an electric motor or the like.
Each of the engagements 42 includes a clamp 54 that has a shaft 56 and a finger 58 extending away from the shaft 56. The finger 58 has a distal end 60 with respect to the shaft 56 and the finger 58 is curved between the shaft 56 and the distal end 60. The shaft 56 is coupled to the clamp motor 52. The distal end 60 of the finger 58 is urged toward the bounding edge 30 of the respective glove aperture 16 when the clamp motor 52 rotates in the first direction. In this way the finger 58 compresses the latex glove 46 against the bounding edge 30. The finger 58 is urged away from the bounding edge 30 of the respective glove aperture 16 when the clamp motor 52 rotates in the second direction. In this way the finger 58 disengages from the latex glove 16 thereby facilitating the latex glove 16 to be removed from the housing 12.
A release 62 is coupled to the housing 12 and the release 62 facilitates air to fill the housing 12 when the release 62 is turned on. In this way each of the latex gloves 46 deflates around the user's hands. The release 62 comprises a release motor 64 that is coupled to the bottom wall 22 of the housing 12. The release motor 64 is rotatable in a first direction or a second direction. Additionally, the release motor 64 may comprise an electric motor or the like.
The release 62 includes a valve 66 that is coupled to the release motor 64. The valve 66 covers the release aperture 28 when the release motor 64 rotates in the first direction. Additionally, the valve 66 forms an air impermeable seal with the bottom wall 22 of the housing 12 when the valve 66 covers the release aperture 28. In this way the valve 66 retains the vacuum within the housing 12. The valve 66 is displaced from the release aperture 28 when the release motor 64 rotates in the second direction to facilitate air to fill the housing 12. A pole 68 is coupled to and extends downwardly from the bottom wall 22 of the housing 12 and the pole 68 has a distal end 70 with respect to the housing 12.
A pair of pedals 72 is provided and each of the pedals 72 is pivotally coupled to the distal end 70 of the pole 68 and each of the pedals 72 can be stepped on the by the user. Each of the pedals 72 is electrically coupled to respective ones of the engagements 42 and the release 62 for turning the engagements 42 and the release 62 on and off. Additionally, each of the pedals 72 is biased into a home position.
The pair of pedals 72 includes an engagement pedal 74 and a release pedal 76. The engagement pedal 74 is electrically coupled to the clamp motor 52 of each of the engagements 42 and the clamp motor 52 of each of the engagements 42 rotates in the first direction when the engagement pedal 74 is stepped on. Moreover, the clamp motor 52 of each of the engagements 42 rotates in the second direction when the clamp 54 pedal is not stepped on. The release pedal 76 is electrically coupled to the release motor 64 and the release motor 64 rotates in the second direction when the release pedal 76 is stepped on. The release motor 64 rotates in the first direction when the release pedal 76 is not stepped on. Each of the engagement pedal 74 and the release pedal 76 is electrically coupled to a power source, such as the electrical system of the hospital.
A safety valve 78 is coupled to the top wall 24 of the housing 12 and the safety valve 78 is in fluid communication with the interior of the housing 12. The safety valve 78 is in a normally closed condition. The safety valve 78 is urged into an open condition when air pressure within the housing 12 reaches dangerous levels. In this way the air pressure within the housing 12 is equalized with respect to ambient air. The safety valve 78 may be an air pressure relief valve 66 or the like.
In use, each of the latex gloves 46 is positioned in the respective glove aperture 16 and the wrist opening 44 of each of the latex gloves 46 is positioned in the engagements 42 around the respective glove aperture 16. The engagement pedal 74 is stepped on to facilitate the engagements 42 to engage the wrist opening 44 of the respective latex glove 46. The release pedal 76 is stepped on the close the valve 66, thereby facilitating the vacuum source 14 to depressurize the interior of the housing 12. In this way each of the latex gloves 46 is inflated thereby facilitating the user to insert their hands into each of the latex gloves 46. The release pedal 76 is released thereby facilitating the housing 12 to be pressurized. Thus, the latex gloves 46 deflate around the user's hands. In this way the user can put on the latex gloves 46 without compromising the sterility of the user's hands.
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.
