A protective athletic glove and method for manufacturing the same are provided. More particularly, a protective athletic glove that includes overlapping protective elements that increase flexibility and movement for the wearer is provided.
Protective athletic gloves are known for use in contact sports such as lacrosse, and hockey. The gloves are designed to protect a wearer of the gloves from injury due to equipment impact (e.g., lacrosse sticks, hockey sticks, balls, pucks, skates, etc.), impacts between participants (e.g., stick checks, body checks, etc.), impacts with the playing surface (falls, dives, knock-downs, etc.), or impacts from objects on and around the playing surface (e.g., lacrosse goals, hockey goals, boards, etc.). Also, the gloves can offer protection against blistering and abrasions to a wearer's hands.
However, conventional protective athletic gloves are fairly rigid in design sacrificing flexibility for protective function.
In conventional gloves, the wrist area is one major flex point on the hand that is restricted by such a construction. As illustrated in
However, the wrist guard 40 hinders the flexion and extension of conventional gloves as well as the radial and ulnar deviation. Along with the wrist guard 40, conventional glove construction of the body of the glove creates non-moving flat spots because the protective elements 20 are sewn down on all sides of an individual block to an internal lining material, as illustrated in
Conventionally, the only way to alleviate these stopping points was to create further gaps in the protective elements or use multiple protective elements. Although using more protective elements can make a glove more flexible, such a construction increases the cost of the glove due to the increased amount of stitching and construction that is required. Moreover, even with additional protective elements and gaps between them to allow for flexibility, there is a limitation to how far adjacent protective elements can move relative to each other and still maintain adequate protection of a player.
As such, there is a need in the art for a protective function while improving the ability of the wearer to flex the hands and wrists in a natural manner.
In one aspect, a protective glove includes a hand receiving portion that includes a metacarpal portion and a wrist portion. The hand receiving portion includes a dorsal side and a palm side. The glove further includes a plurality of protective elements attached to the dorsal side of the hand receiving portion. The plurality of protective elements include a first protective element that overlaps a second protective element. The first protective element includes a distal end that is attached to the dorsal side of the hand receiving portion and a proximal end that extends freely over the second protective element.
In a further aspect, a protective glove includes a hand receiving portion that includes a plurality of finger portions, a thumb portion, a metacarpal portion and a wrist portion. The hand receiving portion includes a dorsal side and a palm side. The dorsal side of the hand receiving portion includes an inner liner that partially defines an interior space of the hand receiving portion. The glove further includes a plurality of protective elements attached to an exterior surface of the inner liner. The plurality of protective elements include a first protective element that is positioned distally with respect to a second protective element of the plurality of protective elements. The first protective element extends from a distal end on a distal side of the first protective element to a free end on a proximal side of the first protective element. The distal end is secured to the inner liner, the free end is not secured to the inner liner and the first and second protective elements are positioned such that the free end of the first protective element is proximal of a distal end of the second protective element and the first protective element extends over a portion of the second protective element. The glove further includes a lower forearm portion attached to the hand receiving portion.
In still a further aspect, a method for manufacturing a protective glove includes providing a hand receiving portion including a plurality of finger portions, a thumb portion, a metacarpal portion and a wrist portion. The hand receiving portion includes a dorsal side and a palm side. The dorsal side of the hand receiving portion includes a liner. A lower forearm portion is attached to a proximal end of the wrist portion of the hand receiving portion. A plurality of protective elements are attached to an exterior surface of the liner after attaching the lower forearm portion to the proximal end of the wrist portion.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description of the invention and the following detailed description are exemplary, but are not restrictive, of the invention.
A more complete appreciation of the invention and many of the attendant advantages thereof will be readily obtained as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
a illustrates a range of flexion and extension of a human hand;
b illustrates a human hand in dorsiflexion;
c illustrates a human hand in palmar flexion;
a illustrates a range of deviation of a human hand;
b illustrates a human hand with a thumb in a neutral position;
c illustrates a human hand with a thumb in an abduction position;
d illustrates a human hand with a thumb in an opposition position;
e illustrates a range of motion of a human finger;
a illustrates a conventional padding element;
b illustrates two conventional padding elements;
c illustrates the conventional padding elements of
a illustrate an exemplary protective padding element according to the present invention;
b illustrates two exemplary protective padding element according to the present invention;
c illustrates the exemplary protective padding elements of
a illustrates a protective athletic glove in accordance with one exemplary aspect of the present invention;
b illustrates a cross-sectional view along line A-A from
a illustrates a protective glove in accordance with an exemplary aspect of the present invention;
b illustrates a cross-sectional view from along line B-B in
c illustrates a cross-sectional view taken along line C-C in
d illustrates a cross-sectional view of a finger portion of a protective glove in accordance with an exemplary aspect of the present invention;
a illustrates a protective glove in accordance with an exemplary aspect of the present invention;
b illustrates a cross-sectional view taken along line D-D of
c illustrates a cross-sectional view taken along line E-E in
d illustrates an exemplary cross-section of an impact gel piece;
a is a first perspective view of a protective athletic glove in accordance with an exemplary aspect of the present invention;
b is a second perspective view of a protective athletic glove in accordance with an exemplary aspect of the present invention;
c is a third perspective view of a protective athletic glove in accordance with an exemplary aspect of the present invention;
a illustrates a partial cut-away view of a protective element;
b illustrates a partial cut-away view of another protective element;
a illustrates a first stage of a method for manufacturing a protective athletic glove in accordance with one exemplary aspect of the present invention;
b illustrates a second stage of a method for manufacturing a protective athletic glove in accordance with one exemplary aspect of the present invention;
c illustrates a third stage of a method for manufacturing a protective athletic glove in accordance with one exemplary aspect of the present invention; and
d illustrates a fourth stage of a method for manufacturing a protective athletic glove in accordance with one exemplary aspect of the present invention.
Certain terminology used in the following description is for convenience only and is not limiting. The phrase “most proximal end” is generally used to describe where an appendage (such as the hand) joins the body, and the phrase “most distal end” is used for the point furthest from the point of attachment to the body. Connecting the most proximal end and the most distal end define a proximo-distal axis. The terms “proximal” and “distal” are also used herein as relative terms to indicate where structures lie along the proximo-distal axis for a given structure.
Gloves are designed to provide substantial protection to the participant's fingers, hands, wrists, and lower forearms while maintaining as much flexibility within the glove as possible. Flexibility is desired by the wearer so as to impart freedom of movement to the fingers, hand, wrists and lower forearms needed to properly participate in a sport while protection is required to reduce injury to the same.
For example, as best illustrated in
Thus, lacrosse players and hockey players typically need to be able to flex in all directions freely in order to grip equipment and engage in necessary wrist action while still maintaining an acceptable level of protection. However, as discussed above, conventional glove design limits the amount of dorsiflexion that is available to a player when they are manipulating a stick in either lacrosse or hockey. Notably, conventional hockey gloves have limited flexion and extension as well as difficult radial and ulnar deviation, and typical lacrosse gloves include significant limitations on dorsiflexion.
The solutions presented herein can be incorporated into a protective athletic glove for use while playing hockey, for use while playing lacrosse, or for use while engaging in any other sport that requires the player to be able to flex in all directions freely in order to grip equipment and engage in necessary wrist action.
a to 5c illustrate exemplary protective elements in accordance with one exemplary aspect of the present invention. In particular, the protective element 120 is fastened to an inner liner, but is not secured on all sides to allow for movement and flexibility. As best illustrated in
For example, as illustrated in
The construction of an exemplary protective athletic glove in accordance with the above-noted features will now be described with reference to
Turning first to
The finger portion includes protective padding elements 211, 212, 213, 214 and 219 (illustrated in
b illustrates a cross-sectional view of the protective athletic glove 200 taken along line A-A in
Wrist portion 240 includes foam portions 240a, 240b and 240c. As with protective element 233, the protective element 240 is only attached on a distal end thereof, and a proximal end of the protective element 240 overlaps the lower forearm portion 252. The lower forearm portion 252 includes foam elements 252a, 252b and 252c. The lower forearm portion is attached to the liner 270 via a piece of material 272, which may be, for example, stretch gore material. Although the elements described above are described as foam pieces, other materials are possible, as will be readily understood by one of skill in the art. In addition, although several of the protective elements illustrated in the figures and described above are described as layered structures, it is also possible to form padding from single blocks of foam, gels, air, honeycomb structure and other materials that will be recognized by one of skill in the art.
a to 8d illustrate several aspects of the finger portion 210 of the protective athletic glove 200 in greater detail. In particular,
a illustrates portions of the wrist portion 240 and the metacarpal portion 225 in greater detail. In particular,
As best illustrated in
a to 10c provide further views of the protective athletic glove 200. As discussed above, each of the protective elements described herein can be made of a variety of structures. For example, each of the portions of the lower forearm portion and the wrist portion can be made up of a foam structure that includes a 3.00 mm T5 foam top layer and two layers of 3.0 mm T20 foam. In another aspect, for example, the metacarpal protection piece 219b illustrated in
The protective elements can be made up of various materials, including foams, gels, airbags or plastics. For example, turning to
Turning now to
In the present example, each of the protective elements in the finger portion 310, the thumb portion 315, the metacarpal portion 320 and the metacarpal portion 325 are secured to a lining of the protective glove 300 around an entire periphery of each respective element. By contrast, each of the elements in the metacarpal portion 330, the wrist portion 340 and the lower forearm protection portion 350 are only secured to an underlying layer of the protective glove 300 at a distal end of each respective element, and are free of attachment to a dorsal side of the protective glove on a proximal end of each protective element. In this configuration, each of the protective elements 331, 332, 333, 334, and 335 of the metacarpal portion 330 overlaps the wrist portion 340. Likewise, the wrist portion 340 overlaps the lower forearm protection portions 351, 352 and 353. In operation, this allows greater dorsiflexion and results in a configuration in which the wrist portion 340 is able to telescope into the metacarpal portion 330, and the cuff portion 350 is able to telescope into the wrist portion 340.
In addition, for greater flexibility, the wrist protection element 340 includes cut portions 340a and 340b that extend in a proximo-distal direction from a proximal end of the wrist protection element 340. Likewise, as illustrated in
The design of the metacarpal portion 330 also aids in the flexibility of the glove. Specifically, as shown in
a to 20c illustrate a method of manufacturing a protective glove 200 in accordance with one exemplary aspect of the present invention. In conventional glove design, padding is overlain on a glove body and a cuff is later attached to the glove body. Due to the overlapping nature of the present construction, a new method was devised. In particular, a glove body is provided that already includes protection elements affixed to a finger portion 210, thumb portion 215 and a metacarpal portion 225. A cuff 250 is attached to this glove body. As illustrated in
Next, as illustrated in
Obviously, numerous modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein.
This document claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/272,435, entitled “Protective Athletic Glove,” filed Sep. 24, 2009, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61272435 | Sep 2009 | US |