The present invention relates to molded components for use in protective equipment such as sport gloves, in particular a lacrosse glove or hockey glove.
Protective equipment typically serves to protect body parts from injury by resisting or at least cushioning mechanical impacts. For example, in addition to improving the grip on the inner side of the hand, sports gloves also protects the hands from substantial mechanical loads.
Conventionally, such sports gloves have been formed from a number of parts that are individually sewn together. By using small individual components that are individually stitched together, the glove's flexibility is improved, but the assembly time and labor required to manufacture such gloves is extensive. For example, in a typical lacrosse glove, over thirty individual pieces are assembled and sewn together, which means over sixty pieces must be sewn together to create one pair. Furthermore, the conventional materials used to form such gloves tend to result in gloves are not substantially light-weight.
Thus, in certain embodiments, it may be desirable to find a way to minimize the number of individual pieces used to assemble sports gloves while maintaining or improving flexibility, as well as reducing labor and material costs and improving the ease of manufacturing and customization. Furthermore, it may be desirable to reduce the weight of the sports gloves through the use of lighter materials.
The terms “invention,” “the invention,” “this invention” and “the present invention” used in this patent are intended to refer broadly to all of the subject matter of this patent and the patent claims below. Statements containing these terms should be understood not to limit the subject matter described herein or to limit the meaning or scope of the patent claims below. Embodiments of the invention covered by this patent are defined by the claims below, not this summary. This summary is a high-level overview of various embodiments of the invention and introduces some of the concepts that are further described in the Detailed Description section below. This summary is not intended to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used in isolation to determine the scope of the claimed subject matter. The subject matter should be understood by reference to appropriate portions of the entire specification of this patent, any or all drawings and each claim.
According to certain embodiments of the present invention, a sports glove comprises at least one non-molded component joined to at least one molded component, wherein the at least one molded component comprises a foam layer comprising an exterior layer and an interior layer, a plurality of molded grooves arranged in the exterior layer and the interior layer, wherein the plurality of molded grooves form bending areas in the molded component, and a fabric layer bonded to the exterior layer.
In some embodiments, the fabric layer comprises stretch properties that allow the fabric layer to conform to a molded shape of the foam layer. The exterior layer may comprise a first durometer, and the interior layer may comprise a second durometer. In certain embodiments, the first durometer is greater than the second durometer.
In some embodiments, the foam layer is formed of dual density ethyl vinyl acetate. The exterior layer may be formed of a rate sensitive material.
In certain embodiments, the at least one molded component comprises at least one of a hand portion, a cuff portion, and a wrist portion and/or at least one molded component comprises a flange that is stitched to an edge of the at least one non-molded component.
In certain embodiments, at least one non-molded component comprises a plurality of gussets, and the at least one molded component comprises a hand portion comprises a plurality of finger portions, wherein the plurality of gussets are stitched to the plurality of finger portions.
In some embodiments, the sports glove further comprises a palm material stitched to the plurality of gussets. In some embodiments, the at least one molded component further comprises at least one wrist portion stitched to the hand portion.
According to certain embodiments of the present invention, a protective equipment item comprises a non-molded component joined to a molded component, wherein the molded component comprises a foam layer comprising an exterior layer and an interior layer, a plurality of molded grooves arranged in the exterior layer and the interior layer, wherein the plurality of molded grooves form bending areas in the molded component, and a fabric layer comprising a stretch material, wherein the fabric layer is bonded to the exterior layer.
In some embodiments, the fabric layer comprises stretch properties that allow the fabric layer to conform to a molded shape of the foam layer. The exterior layer may comprise a first durometer, and the interior layer may comprise a second durometer. In certain embodiments, the first durometer is greater than the second durometer.
In some embodiments, the foam layer is formed of dual density ethyl vinyl acetate. The exterior layer may be formed of a rate sensitive material.
In certain embodiments, the at least one molded component comprises a flange that is stitched to an edge of the at least one non-molded component.
According to certain embodiments of the present invention, a method of manufacturing a protective equipment item comprising a non-molded component joined to a molded component comprises bonding a fabric layer and a foam layer, molding the bonded layers in a mold to form the molded component, cutting the molded component from the bonded layers, and assembling the molded component to the non-molded component.
In some embodiments, the molded component comprises a flange around at least a portion of an edge of the molded component, and the molded component is assembled to the non-molded component by joining an edge of the non-molded component to the flange of the molded component. In certain embodiments, the protective equipment item is a sports glove. In some embodiments, the fabric layer comprises synthetic leather.
In the following detailed description, embodiments of the invention are described referring to the following figures:
The subject matter of embodiments of the present invention is described here with specificity to meet statutory requirements, but this description is not necessarily intended to limit the scope of the claims. The claimed subject matter may be embodied in other ways, may include different elements or steps, and may be used in conjunction with other existing or future technologies. This description should not be interpreted as implying any particular order or arrangement among or between various steps or elements except when the order of individual steps or arrangement of elements is explicitly described.
According to certain embodiments of the present invention, as illustrated in
In these embodiments, the fabric layer 16 may be formed of any fabric material having some stretch properties. For example, the fabric layer 16 may be formed of two-way stretch material up to and including four-way (or greater) stretch materials, such as Lycra®, Spandex, or any other suitable material having similar properties.
For example, in certain embodiments, the fabric layer 16 may comprise synthetic or faux “skin” materials, including but not limited to synthetic leathers or other faux products. In most conventional applications of faux or synthetic leather, a substrate is needed. In the present embodiments, the foam layer 18 may serve as the substrate, which allows the application to be thinner and lighter than conventional uses of synthetic leather or other similar materials. In certain embodiments, the fabric layer 16 may be formed of leather.
The foam layer 18 may be formed of an exterior layer 20 having a first durometer, and an interior layer 22 having a second durometer. In certain embodiments, the first durometer value is higher than the second durometer value. In certain embodiments, the second durometer value is the same as or higher than the first durometer value. Examples of suitable materials include but are not limited to dual density ethyl vinyl acetate (“EVA”), rubber, expanded thermoplastic polyurethane (“eTPU”), as well as other foams, such as thermoplastic polyurethane (“TPU”), expanded polypropylene (“EPP”), and polyurethane (“PU”). In some embodiments, the exterior layer 20 durometer may be 51 (and may further range from 15-65), and the interior layer durometer may be 35 (and may further range from 15-65).
In other embodiments, the exterior layer 20 (and/or the interior layer 22) may be a rate sensitive material that deforms easily under a softer impact to prevent milder injuries, while stiffening under a harder impact to prevent compressing or crushing to their ultimate limit and “bottoming out,” which is understood by those of skill in the relevant to mean compressing to a point that the remainder of the impact energy is passed on directly to the body part that is being protected by the material. In these materials, the stress vs. strain characteristics are dependent on the rate of loading, so the harder the impact, the greater the resistance to the force. Examples of such materials are lightweight grades of PU and other similar materials. Examples of commercially available rate sensitive materials are offered by D3O®, a British-based specialist materials company, at http://www.d3o.com/materials/(last accessed on Feb. 12, 2015).
In some embodiments, the molded components 12 comprise a hand portion 24, a cuff portion 26, and/or at least one of three wrist portions 28A, 28B, 28C. In certain embodiments, all or a subset of the molded components 12 may be integrally formed as a single piece.
One or more of the molded components 12 may further comprise a plurality of molded grooves 14 that provide bending areas within each molded component 12. The molded grooves 14 may be positioned on the exterior layer 20, the interior layer 22, or both of one or more of the molded components 12 in locations where bending and/or flexibility is needed. For example, the molded grooves 14 on the exterior layer 20 may be aligned with the molded grooves 14 on the interior layer 22 (see e.g. main body 32 in
For example, as shown in
In contrast, as shown in
In certain embodiments, at least some of the edges of the molded components may comprise flanges 38. The flanges 38 may be approximately 8 mm in width, but may be wider or narrower as needed to achieve the desired result. The flanges 38 are provided as a location for stitching or to otherwise join the molded components 12 to each other and/or to other non-molded components 40. For example, as shown in
As best illustrated in
The wrist portions 28A, 28B, 28C may be attached to the flange 38 along an end of the hand portion 24 that is substantially opposite the finger portions 30. To provide additional flexibility, the wrist portions 28A, 28B, 28C may be molded as three separate pieces also having flanges 38 for attaching to each other and the flange 38 of the hand portion 24. In other embodiments, the wrist portions 28A, 28B, 28C may be molded as a single, integrally formed piece.
In certain embodiments, the central wrist portion 28B is at least partially joined to each of the side wrist portions 28A, 28C via an elastic fabric 46 or other similar stretchable material that allows the wrist portions 28A, 28B, 28C to stretch away from each other and bend in different directions with the wrist movement of a wearer. A trim piece 48 may be attached via any suitable mechanical or chemical coupling method to the remaining edges of the flanges 38 that are not already attached to another flange 38 and/or the elastic fabric 46.
In certain embodiments, a logo or other decorative item 50 may be attached to an upper surface of the fabric layer 16, as shown in
The cuff portion 26 may be attached at each end 52 to the hand portion 24, the wrist portions 28A, 28C and/or to the palm material 44. As illustrated in
To ensure that the cuff portion 26 is not too stiff, as best illustrated in
In some embodiments, a logo or other decorative item 50 may be molded into the region 56 of the exterior layer 20. In other embodiments, the logo or other decorative item 50 may be printed in a distorted manner on the two-dimensional fabric layer 16 so that the decorative item 50 will appear correctly within the fabric layer 16 after the cuff portion 26 has been molded into its three-dimensional shape. In yet other embodiments, the region 56 may comprise a cavity that is configured for separate insertion of a logo or other decorative item 50 after the sports glove 10 has been manufactured.
Additional trim pieces 48 may be attached via any suitable mechanical or chemical coupling method to the remaining portions of the flanges 38 that are not already attached to either another flange 38 or the elastic fabric 54.
While the cuff portion 26 and the hand portion 24 may be formed as a single molded piece with a series of molded grooves 14, the cuff portion 26 and/or the hand portion 24 may be formed of multiple molded pieces joined with an elastic fabric, as shown for the wrist portions 28A, 28B, 28C. Furthermore, multiple pieces may be included in any suitable number and location as needed to achieve the desired flexibility and movement.
As shown in
According to certain embodiments of a method 200 of manufacturing the sports glove 10, as illustrated in
The fabric layer 16 is cemented, glued, or otherwise adhered to the foam layer 18 in a bonding step 204. In some embodiments, the materials used to form the layers 16, 18 may bond directly to one another by pressing the materials together with a nip roller or other pressing device 104 following the pre-heating step 202 so that no additional adhesive or cement is needed in the bonding step 204.
An exemplary embodiment of the bonded layers 16, 18 is shown in
The bonded layers 16, 18 are then placed on a mold 106 in a molding step 206. In this step, the materials may be warm from the pre-heating step 202, but the mold may be cold so that the pressure applied by plates of the mold 106 imparts the molded shape to the bonded layers 16, 18 without the use of additional heat. In other embodiments, a heated mold 106 may be used, depending on the particular materials used for the foam layer 18. In certain embodiments, the bonded layers 16, 18 may be injected into the heated mold. In further embodiments, the fabric layer 16 may be glued/adhered to the foam layer 18 (before or after molding) and/or the fabric layer 16 may be included in the mold.
After the molding step 206, the molded layers 16, 18 are processing through a cutting step 208, which removes the molded component 12 from the surrounding layers 16, 18 and also imparts the flange 38 around the edges of the molded component 12. The cutting step 208 may comprise a die cutter 108 or other suitable trimming tool.
In the molding step 206 and the cutting step 208, one or more of the molded components 12 may be formed simultaneously, depending on the pattern, the size of the mold 106, and/or the size of the die cutter 108. For example, as shown in
Once the molded components 12 exit the cutting step 208, the molded components 12 and the non-molded components 40 (such as the gussets 42, palm material 44, elastic fabric pieces 46, 54, collar 58, and trim pieces 48) are assembled in the assembly step 210 using conventional stitching or other mechanical or chemical attachment methods. If apertures 34 have been added to the hand portion 24 (or any other molded components 12), eyelets 36 may be installed in these apertures 34 as part of the assembly step 210.
Some or all of the above steps 202-210 may be performed as batch, semi-bath, or flow process steps. For example, the fabric layer 16 and the foam layer 18 may be provided in rolls 112, which are unwound and fed through the pre-heater 102 in the pre-heating step 202, bonded via the press 104 (without or without the addition of additional cement or other adhesives) in the bonding step 204, fed into the mold 106 in the molding step 206, and finally fed into the die cutter 108 in the cutting step 208. The molded components 12 may be collected by a conveyor 114, and the scrap material may be collected on a rewind stand 116 at the end of the process. In other embodiments, the layers 16, 18 may be unwound and fed through the pre-heating step 202 and the bonding step 204, after which the bonded layers 16, 18 may be cut into sheets, which are then moved through the molding steps 206 and the cutting steps 208 as a batch process. Any suitable combination of batch, semi-batch, or continuous flow steps may be used as needed or desired to achieve the desired throughput and efficiency.
The use of molded components 12 in place of traditional components, which can number approximately 30 or more individual pieces alone within a single sports glove that must be sewn or otherwise assembled together, saves an extensive amount of assembly time, which translates directly into reduced labor costs, reduced manufacturing time, and less waste. In addition, the molded components 12 are significantly lighter than the weight of conventional components, in certain embodiments, resulting in a weight reduction ranging from 10%-25% in certain embodiments, and more specifically in a range of 15%-20% in further embodiments, and more specifically approximately 17% in still further embodiments for the sports glove 10. The use of molded components 12 also provides more complete protection because there are no seams like traditional gloves, thus translating into an increase in the protected surface area, and the finger portions 30 may be imparted with a crowned/curved shape to better contour to the rounded shape of the fingers for additional protection. Additional benefits include the ease of graphics customization, which enables the use of sublimation printing, custom colors, team colors/graphics, etc.
While
In the following, further examples are described to facilitate the understanding of the invention:
Different arrangements of the components depicted in the drawings or described above, as well as components and steps not shown or described are possible. Similarly, some features and sub-combinations are useful and may be employed without reference to other features and sub-combinations. Embodiments of the invention have been described for illustrative and not restrictive purposes, and alternative embodiments will become apparent to readers of this patent. Accordingly, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above or depicted in the drawings, and various embodiments and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the claims below.