Patent Application
20180055108
A baseball or softball batter typically swings a bat several times during a game or in practice or training. During a batter's swing, rapid acceleration and deceleration of the barrel and vibrations from impact with a ball result in strong forces that can damage the fibrous connective tissues, muscles, tendons, and ligaments of the batter's hands, and can cause blisters, callouses, bruises, open wounds, and even broken bones in the hand. A batter's maximum swing speed may be limited by the batter's ability to dissipate the forces experienced by the hand when decelerating a bat at the end of the swing.
Some batters wear a thin batting glove on one or both hands to try to reduce damage to their hands during a swing. But strong forces continue to be dissipated by the batter's hand, so damage can still result from rapid or repeated swings. Other batters may use a loose or floating cushioning item stuffed inside the glove with the batter's hand. But such a cushioning item may move unpredictably and cause distraction of the batter's attention away from an incoming pitch.
Some bats are available with asymmetric handles that seek to reduce the pressure on the hypothenar region of the hand using a handle shape that increases surface area. But many hitters do not like such bats because they disrupt the batter's proprioception and tactile gnosis. In other words, such bats may feel strange to a batter accustomed to a standard handle and circular bat knob, and consequently such bats may be yet another distraction from an incoming pitch.
Because of these disadvantages with existing technology, hand trauma associated with swinging a bat continues to be a problem for batters.
A pad device for protecting a hypothenar eminence region of a user's hand during a swing of a ball bat includes a digital portion having an opening configured to receive at least one of a user's fingers, and a hypothenar portion configured to generally coextend with the hypothenar eminence region of the user's hand. The pad device may include a viscoelastic material or a rate-dependent damping material. In other embodiments, a sports glove includes a glove base and a moldable hypothenar layer coupled to the glove base and positioned to generally coextend with a hypothenar eminence region of a user's hand. The moldable hypothenar layer may include an at least partially rigid moldable material configured to be molded into a form of at least one of the hypothenar eminence region of the user's hand and an end portion of a ball bat. The moldable material may include a moldable thermoplastic material. Embodiments of the present technology protect a user's hypothenar region or hypothenar eminence region during a swing of a ball bat, while minimizing reductions in tactile gnosis, thereby enabling a user to swing a ball bat faster and harder.
Other features and advantages will appear hereinafter. The features described above may be used separately or together, or in various combinations of one or more of them.
In the drawings, wherein the same reference number indicates the same element throughout the views:
The present technology is directed to pad devices and gloves for protection of a hypothenar eminence region of a user's hand, and associated systems and methods. Various embodiments of the technology will now be described. The following description provides specific details for a thorough understanding and an enabling description of these embodiments. One skilled in the art will understand, however, that the invention may be practiced without many of these details. Additionally, some well-known structures or functions may not be shown or described in detail so as to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the relevant description of the various embodiments. Accordingly, the technology may include other embodiments with additional elements or without several of the elements described below with reference to
The terminology used in the description presented below is intended to be interpreted in its broadest reasonable manner, even though it is being used in conjunction with a detailed description of certain specific embodiments of the technology. Certain terms may even be emphasized below; however, any terminology intended to be interpreted in any restricted manner will be overtly and specifically defined as such in this detailed description section.
Where the context permits, singular or plural terms may also include the plural or singular term, respectively. Moreover, unless the word “or” is expressly limited to mean only a single item exclusive from the other items in a list of two or more items, then the use of “or” in such a list is to be interpreted as including (a) any single item in the list, (b) all of the items in the list, or (c) any combination of items in the list. Further, unless otherwise specified, terms such as “attached” or “connected” are intended to include integral connections, as well as connections between physically separate components.
Specific details of several embodiments of the present technology are described herein with reference to baseball or softball. The technology may also be used in other sports or industries when the disclosed features or advantages are desirable, such as other sports involving implements including lacrosse sticks, hockey sticks, cricket bats, field hockey sticks, golf clubs, or other implements. Conventional aspects of gloves may be described in reduced detail herein for efficiency and to avoid obscuring the present disclosure of the technology.
In some embodiments, the digital portion 110 may extend along a length of the pad 100 in a direction opposite the hypothenar portion 130, such that the digital portion 110 extends beyond the finger opening 120. In other embodiments, the digital portion 110 may be suitably sized or shaped to encircle one or more of the user's fingers with only minimal material extending from the digital portion 110 opposite the hypothenar portion 130. For example, the digital portion 110 may be formed from ring elements or it may include ring elements attached to the hypothenar portion 130.
The pad 100 may be formed using a rate-dependent damping material such as a suitable viscoelastic material. For example, the rate-dependent damping material may include thermoplastic urethane (TPU) or urethane foam material such as PORON® XRD® or thermo-pressed polyurethane composite material available from Taiwan Kurim Enterprise Co., or other suitable thermoplastic urethane or urethane foam materials. In some embodiments, the rate-dependent damping material may include clay. The rate-dependent damping material forming the pad 100 may have a thickness within the range of approximately 0.05 inches and 0.5 inches. For example, it may have a thickness of approximately 0.25 inches. Such a rate-dependent damping material tends to conform to the shape of a user's hand 200 and to the shape of the bat handle 300 and the knob 310 when the user gradually grips the handle 300 and the knob 310, but is relatively slow to deform when receiving an impact or impulse force. Accordingly, the pad 100 may generally maintain its shape and thickness when subjected to large impulse forces such as reaction forces from impact with a ball during a swing or reaction forces from decelerating the bat at the end of a swing. The pad 100, therefore, protects the user's hand by absorbing such impulse forces.
In some embodiments, the digital portions 110 of the pads 100, 400, 500 may be shaped and sized such that the pads 100, 400, 500 fit under a traditional batting glove. In other embodiments, the pads 100, 400, 500 may be shaped and sized to be used alone or without a traditional batting glove.
In embodiments of the present technology, a pad 100, 400, or 500 may be shaped and sized to protect the hypothenar region or hypothenar eminence region of the palm of the hand 200 (for example, the region identified as area 220 in
Glove with Moldable Hypothenar Intermediate Layer
The glove assembly 600 may also include a fastening strap 630. The fastening strap 630 may be a conventional fastening strap for retaining the glove assembly 600 on a user's hand. For example, the fastening strap 630 may be formed from elastic, VELCRO® hook-and-loop straps, or an arrangement of straps and buckles.
An outer hypothenar layer 640 may be stitched, glued, riveted, or otherwise suitably fastened to the glove base 610 in the glove assembly 600, or it may be an integral region of the glove base. For example, the outer hypothenar layer 640 may be fastened to the glove base 610 around a perimeter 645 of the outer hypothenar layer 640. The outer hypothenar layer 640 may be sized, shaped, or otherwise configured to generally coextend with or generally overlay a hypothenar region or hypothenar eminence region of the user's hand when the user wears the glove assembly 600. For example and for illustration, the hypothenar region or hypothenar eminence region of the user's hand may generally be located within the area 650 illustrated in
In embodiments in which the outer hypothenar layer 640 is fastened to the glove base 610 around a perimeter 645 of the outer hypothenar layer 640, the outer hypothenar layer 640 and the glove base 610 form a pocket area, opening, or space between the outer hypothenar layer 640 and the glove base 610.
The moldable layer 700 may be formed from a moldable material that “learns” a shape and retains that shape for an extended time or indefinitely. For example, the moldable layer 700 may be formed from a thermoplastic or thermoformable material that can be heated to become flexible to be formed into a shape. Upon cooling, the material remains molded in such a shape. The moldable layer 700 may have a thickness within the range of approximately one-tenth of an inch to one-half of an inch, or it may have any other suitable thickness.
In some embodiments, a user may swing the ball bat several times while the moldable layer 700 remains warm or heated in order to simulate play to form the layer 700 into a favorable custom form that is retained when the layer 700 is cooled or cured. For example,
The inventors discovered that such a glove assembly including a molded thermoplastic (or other material) layer generally conforming and coextending with a user's hypothenar region or hypothenar eminence region would protect the user's hand by dissipating force in an improved manner relative to a standard batting glove. Once molded into a hardened custom form, the layer 700 mates with the user's hand and with the bat handle 300 and knob 310, increasing the contact area and reducing pressure on vulnerable areas of the hand such as the hypothenar region. Accordingly, the technology disclosed herein reduces the risk of hand trauma during a swing. The technology may also enable the user to swing faster or harder than when using conventional batting gloves. For example, a user may be able to swing harder because the technology allows increased ability to decelerate the bat by dissipating the damaging forces associated with the deceleration portion of the swing.
The present technology allows for improved swing speed and protection from hand trauma while avoiding excessive loss of tactile gnosis. For example, the layer 700 may be shaped and sized to be positioned only in the hypothenar region or hypothenar eminence region of the user's palm, leaving the remainder of the hand capable of tactile perception of the bat. And the layer 700 is at least somewhat rigid when formed and cooled, so it will not deform through a swing, thereby limiting potential reductions in tactile gnosis. Yet another advantage of the present technology is that the layer 700 is discreet, such that the glove assembly 600 may be styled to aesthetically resemble traditional gloves.
The technology disclosed herein provides a pad device for protecting a hypothenar region or hypothenar eminence region of a user's hand and a glove with a moldable hypothenar intermediate layer for protecting the hypothenar region or hypothenar eminence region. This technology allows batters to make more swings at maximum effort while reducing the risk of damage to the hand's hypothenar region. The technology disclosed herein may be used in other industries or other sports involving implements, such as lacrosse, hockey, cricket, field hockey, or golf. In various embodiments, a variety of straps, buckles, or other devices may be used to retain the technology on a user's hand. In addition, in various embodiments, a variety of suitable materials may be used.
From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that specific embodiments of the disclosed technology have been described for purposes of illustration, but that various modifications may be made without deviating from the technology, and elements of certain embodiments may be interchanged with those of other embodiments. For example, in some embodiments, the moldable layer 700 may be positioned in a pocket or opening of a glove base rather than interposed between layers of a glove assembly. In other embodiments, the moldable layer 700 may be an outermost layer of a glove assembly, or may be coupled to a glove assembly, with or without a covering layer on the moldable layer 700.
Further, while advantages associated with certain embodiments of the disclosed technology have been described in the context of those embodiments, other embodiments may also exhibit such advantages, and not all embodiments need necessarily exhibit such advantages to fall within the scope of the technology. Accordingly, the disclosure and associated technology may encompass other embodiments not expressly shown or described herein, and the invention is not limited except as by the appended claims.
