Claims
- 1. A flat protective glove made from a pair of substantially planar superposed contoured flexible sheets of polymer material having mutually sealed edge portions, at least one of said sheets being non-elastically stretchable, said glove comprising:
- a palm portion;
- four finger portions for receiving the first, second, third and fourth finger, respectively, of a human hand, the finger portions extending from the palm portion, the width of at least one of the finger portions increasing from a first value at a first position adjacent to the palm portion to a second, maximum value at a second position intermediate of said first position and the free end of said finger portion;
- a thumb portion extending from the palm portion in diverging relationship with the finger portions, the longitudinal axis of the thumb portion and the longitudinal axis of the finger portion for receiving the second finger of the hand defining the angle of 40.degree.-60.degree.; and
- a wrist or sleeve portion defining a hand entrance opening at its free end and having a width decreasing from a first value at the free end of the wrist or sleeve portion to a second minimum value adjacent to the palm portion, the palm portion having a concavely curved edge portion defining an indentation located opposite to the thumb portion between the fourth finger portion and the wrist portion so as to define a tortuous passage for the hand when inserted into the glove through the hand entrance opening, and wherein at least one edge portion interconnecting adjacent, mutually spaced finger portions is concavely curved so as to substantially define a circular arc of predetermined radius where the radii of the circular edge portions between the first and second finger, the second and third finger, and the third and fourth finger are 6 mm, 5 mm, and 5.5 mm, respectively, and wherein the radius of the circular arc-shaped edge portion between the thumb portion and the first finger portion is 14 mm.
- 2. A glove according to claim 1 wherein a joint of a finger received in any of said finger portions is located at or adjacent to said second intermediate position.
- 3. A glove according to claim 1, wherein said flexible sheet material is a plastic film laminate.
- 4. A glove according to claim 3, wherein said superposed walls are interconnected by heat-sealing.
- 5. A glove according to claim 1, wherein the width of the finger portion increases from said first value to said second, maximum value for each of the finger portions receiving the first, second, and third fingers, respectively, of the hand.
- 6. A glove according to claim 1, wherein said sheets of polymer comprise a polymer film laminate.
- 7. A glove according to claim 1, wherein said superposed sheets of polymer material are interconnected by heat-sealing.
Priority Claims (1)
| Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
| 8707585[U] |
May 1987 |
DEX |
|
Parent Case Info
This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/391,654, filed Aug. 8, 1989, now abandoned, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/124,014, filed Nov. 23, 1987, also now abandoned.
The present invention relates to a protective glove for protection against chemical compounds or mixtures thereof. Such glove may be made from flexible sheet material, such as plastic film, plastic laminate or elastomers, which is substantially impermeable to liquid and vapor. The glove may, for example, be of the type disclosed in the European Patent Specification No. 102,992. The fit of such conventional protective gloves is normally rather poor, and therefore they are less comfortable to wear.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a glove of the above type having an improved fit and wearing comfort.
Thus, the present invention provides a protective glove comprising a palm portion, four finger portions, a thumb portion, and a wrist or sleeve portion for receiving the palm, the fingers, the thumb, and the wrist, respectively, of a human hand, in a flat condition of the glove the width of at least one of the finger portions increasing from a first value at a first position adjacent to the palm portion to a second, maximum value at a second position intermediate of said first portion and the free end of said finger portion. This is in contrast to the conventional protective gloves, wherein the finger portions have an outwardly tapered shape, and it has been found that the glove according to the invention is more comfortable to use because of the fact that the maximum width of one or more of the finger portions is at positions where the user's finger joints are received. Therefore, bending of the fingers does not tend to expel the fingers from the finger portions as is the case in conventional gloves with outwardly tapered finger portions.
The width may increase from said first value to said second, maximum value for any of the finger portions. In the preferred embodiment, however, it is true for at least each of the finger portions receiving the first, second, and third fingers, respectively, of the hand.
When the glove is of the disposable type it is important that it may be made relatively simply and cheaply. Thus, according to the invention the glove made be made from a pair of contoured, superposed walls, which are of flexible sheet material, and which are mutually sealed along their edges apart from an entrance opening defined at free end of the wrist or sleeve portion. When the glove is made from superposed walls of flexible sheet material, such as plastic film or laminated plastic films, it is important that the sealing seam along the edges of the contoured walls is sufficiently broad to obtain substantially the same low permeability through the seam material between the walls as transversely through each of the walls.
In order to further improve the fit and wearing comfort the sheet material of at least one of said superposed walls may be deep-drawable, or non-elasticly deformable, whereby the glove may adapt itself to the individual user, because a local stress induced in the walls of the glove during use, for example when the user bends his fingers, may cause a corresponding non elastic stretching of the wall material.
The adjacent edges of adjacent pairs of finger portions may substantially meet at the inner end or root of the finger portions adjacent to the palm portion as in the conventional glove of the present type. However, in the preferred embodiment of the glove according to the invention adjacent finger portions are mutually spaced at said first position at the inner end of the finger portions. It has been found that this further increases the wearing comfort of the glove. In order to avoid sharp corners which might promote tearing of the flexible sheet material, the edge portion of the glove interconnecting adjacent, mutually spaced finger portions may be concavely curved so as to substantially define a circular arc.
The wearing comfort of the glove according to the invention may be further improved by increasing the angle defined between the longitudinal axis of the thumb portion and the longitudinal axis of the finger portion for receiving the second finger of the hand. This angle may, e.g., be 40.degree.-60.degree..
Furthermore, in the flat condition of the glove the width of the wrist or sleeve portion may decrease from a first value at the free end of the wrist or sleeve portion to a second minimum value adjacent to said palm portion. This feature further increases the fit and wearing comfort of the glove.
The flexible sheet material from which the glove is made may be any suitable, liquid and vapor impermeable sheet material which is sufficiently cheap for use in a disposable glove. In most cases, however, such flexible sheet material is a plastic film or a plastic film laminate, and the superposed plastic walls may then be mutually interconnected by heat sealing.
US Referenced Citations (21)
Foreign Referenced Citations (2)
| Number |
Date |
Country |
| 102992 |
Nov 1986 |
EPX |
| 1555846 |
Dec 1968 |
FRX |
Continuations (2)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
| Parent |
391654 |
Aug 1989 |
|
| Parent |
124014 |
Nov 1987 |
|
Patent Grant
5016286
