Patent Grant
11602183
The invention relates generally to sports gloves for lacrosse, hockey, and/or other sports.
Protective sports gloves, as used in many sports such as lacrosse and hockey amongst others, are designed for protecting a player's hands, notably protecting them from any impact or other contact which could otherwise cause pain or injury. However, it is also important for sports gloves to provide mobility so as to avoid unduly impeding movement of the player's hands and/or wrists when, for example, handling a stick (e.g., a lacrosse stick or a hockey stick) or other sports implement.
Having sports gloves that provide a lot of protection may sometimes detrimentally affect performance and/or comfort of a player if he/she finds himself/herself impaired when, for example, he/she tries to flex his/her hands and/or wrists. Thus, striking a balance between optimum protection and mobility is important in designing sports gloves. In some cases, this may prove challenging since different players may have different preferences in terms of protection and mobility.
While various designs of sports gloves have been used to balance protection and mobility, there remains a need for improvements in sports gloves that may allow adjustment of a level of protection and/or a level of mobility of a player's hands that the sports gloves afford.
According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a sports glove for a wearer. The sports glove comprises a hand covering for protecting a hand of the wearer. The hand covering comprises protective padding. The hand covering comprises a palm portion for overlying a palm of the wearer's hand, a back portion for overlying a back of the wearer's hand, finger portions for receiving fingers of the wearer's hand, and a thumb portion for receiving a thumb of the wearer's hand. The sports glove comprises a cuff for overlying a wrist of the wearer. The cuff comprises protective padding. The cuff is flared relative to the hand covering and configured such that a flare of the cuff is adjustable.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a sports glove for a wearer. The sports glove comprises a hand covering for protecting a hand of the wearer. The hand covering comprises protective padding. The hand covering comprises a palm portion for overlying a palm of the wearer's hand, a back portion for overlying a back of the wearer's hand, finger portions for receiving fingers of the wearer's hand, and a thumb portion for receiving a thumb of the wearer's hand. The sports glove comprises a cuff for overlying a wrist of the wearer. The cuff comprises protective padding. The cuff comprises: a plurality of cuff members movable relative to one another; and a fastener to fasten a first one of the cuff members and a second one of the cuff members. The first one of the cuff members and the second one of the cuff members overlap when fastened.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a sports glove for a wearer. The sports glove comprises a hand covering for protecting a hand of the wearer. The hand covering comprises protective padding. The hand covering comprises a palm portion for overlying a palm of the wearer's hand, a back portion for overlying a back of the wearer's hand, finger portions for receiving fingers of the wearer's hand, and a thumb portion for receiving a thumb of the wearer's hand. The sports glove comprises a cuff for overlying a wrist of the wearer. The cuff comprises protective padding. The cuff comprises: a plurality of cuff members movable relative to one another; a first fastener to fasten a first one of the cuff members and a second one of the cuff members; and a second fastener to fasten the first one of the cuff members and a third one of the cuff members.
These and other aspects of the invention will now become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon review of the following description of embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
A detailed description of embodiments of the invention is provided below, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
It is to be expressly understood that the description and drawings are only for the purpose of illustrating certain embodiments of the invention and are an aid for understanding. They are not intended to be a definition of the limits of the invention.
The glove 10 comprises a hand covering 12 for protecting a hand of the player and a cuff 14 for overlying a wrist of the player. As further discussed later, in this embodiment, the cuff 14 is adjustable as desired by the player. This may allow a fit of the glove 10 and a range of motion and protection of the player's hand to be customized or personalized to some extent. This may also allow the glove 10 and a similar glove on the player's other hand to be adjusted differently.
The hand covering 12 comprises a palm portion 16 for overlying a palm of the player's hand, a back portion 18 for overlying a back of the player's hand, finger portions 201-204 for receiving fingers of the player's hand, and a thumb portion 22 for receiving a thumb of the player's hand.
The hand covering 12 is padded to protect the player's hand. That is, the hand covering 12 comprises protective padding 26. More particularly, in this embodiment, the protective padding 26 comprises protective padding 28 in the back portion 18, protective padding 30 in a back side of each of the finger portions 201-204, and protective padding 32 in a back side of the thumb portion 22. In this example, each of the protective padding 28, the protective padding 30, and the protective padding 32 includes a plurality of pad members 341-34P that are movable relative to one another to facilitate flexion of the player's hand, including flexion of each of the player's fingers and thumb. Flex lines 361-36F (e.g., seams) extend between respective ones of the pad members 341-34P to facilitate flexion of the glove 10 at the flex lines 361-36F.
The protective padding 26 may comprise any suitable impact-absorbing material. For example, in this embodiment, the protective padding 26 comprises foam. For instance, in some examples of implementation, the foam may be ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) foam, expanded polypropylene (EPP) foam, expanded polyethylene (EPE) foam (e.g., low-density polyethylene (LDPE) foam), vinyl nitrile (VN) foam, polyurethane foam, or any other suitable foam. Also, in some embodiment, the protective padding 26 may comprise a gel.
In addition to the protective padding 26, in this embodiment, the hand covering 12 comprises an inner liner 40 and an outer cover 42 between which the protective padding 26 is disposed. More particularly, in this embodiment, the inner liner 40 comprises an inner liner 21 in the back portion 18, an inner liner 23 in a back side of each of the finger portions 201-204, and an inner liner 25 in a back side of the thumb portion 22.
The inner liner 40 and the outer cover 42 may comprise any suitable material. In this embodiment, the inner liner 40 comprises fabric. For instance, in some examples of implementation, the fabric of the inner liner 51 may comprise a woven fabric, a nonwoven fabric, or any other suitable fabric. Also, in this embodiment, the outer cover 42 comprises flexible non-foam polymeric material. For instance, in some cases, the flexible non-foam polymeric material of the outer cover 42 may comprise polyurethane.
The palm portion 16 of the hand covering 12 may comprise any suitable material. In this embodiment, the palm portion 16 comprises breathable material 44 to provide ventilation of the player's hand. For example, in this case, the breathable material 44 comprises mesh. Also, in this embodiment, the palm portion 16 comprises wear-resistant material 46 to enhance a resistance to wear of the palm portion 16. The wear-resistant material 46 has a greater wear resistance than the breathable material 44. For instance, in some examples of implementation, the wear-resistant material 46 may comprise leather (e.g., synthetic leather), suede (e.g., synthetic suede) or any other suitable material.
The hand covering 12 may be implemented in various other ways in other embodiments (e.g., may comprise any suitable materials arranged in any suitable manner).
The cuff 14 extends rearwardly from the hand covering 12 to overly the player's wrist. In this example, the cuff 14 also overlies a distal region of a forearm of the player adjacent to the player's wrist.
In this embodiment, the cuff 14 comprises protective padding 52 to protect the player's wrist and forearm. The protective padding 52 may comprise any suitable impact-absorbing material. For example, in this embodiment, the protective padding 52 comprises foam. For instance, in some examples of implementation, the foam may be ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) foam, expanded polypropylene (EPP) foam, expanded polyethylene (EPE) foam (e.g., low-density polyethylene (LDPE) foam), vinyl nitrile (VN) foam, polyurethane foam, or any other suitable foam. In other embodiments, the protective padding 52 may comprise material other than foam.
Also, in this example, the cuff 14 comprises an inner liner 43 and an outer cover 56 between which the protective padding 52 is disposed. The inner liner 43 faces the player's wrist and forearm and may comprise any suitable material. For example, in this embodiment, the inner liner 43 comprises fabric. For instance, in some examples of implementation, the fabric of the inner liner 43 may comprise a woven fabric, a nonwoven fabric, or any other suitable fabric. The inner liner 43 may be implemented in various other ways in other embodiments. The outer cover 56 faces away from the player's wrist and forearm and may comprise any suitable material. For example, in this embodiment, the outer cover 56 comprises flexible non-foam polymeric material. For instance, in some cases, the flexible non-foam polymeric material of the outer cover 56 may comprise polyurethane. The outer cover 53 may be implemented in various other ways in other embodiments.
In this embodiment, the cuff 14 comprises a plurality of cuff members 351-353 movable relative to one another. This may sometimes be referred to as a “split cuff” design. This may provide flexibility and facilitate adjustment of the cuff 14, as further discussed later. The protective padding 52 comprises protective padding 551 of the cuff member 351, protective padding 552 of the cuff member 352, and protective padding 553 of the cuff member 353. Similarly, the inner liner 43 and the outer cover 56 respectively comprise an inner liner 451 and an outer cover 571 of cuff member 351; an inner liner 452 and an outer cover 572 of cuff member; and an inner liner 453 and an outer cover 573 of cuff member 353.
The cuff 14 is flared relative to the hand covering 12. That is, the cuff 14 spreads outwardly relative to the hand covering 12. A flare of the cuff 14 is such that the cuff 14 extends away from the player's wrist and forearm from a front edge 51 of the cuff 14 to a rear edge 53 of the cuff 14. The rear edge 53 of the cuff 14 is thus disposed outward of the front edge 51 of the cuff 14, i.e., further away from the player's wrist and forearm than the front edge region 51 of the cuff 14. By being flared, the cuff 14 provides more flexibility to the player who can flex or otherwise move his/her wrist with a greater range of motion unimpeded by the cuff 14.
The flare of the cuff 14 can be measured as an angle θ between the cuff 14 and the hand covering 12. The angle θ is defined between (i) a straight line Pc extending through the front edge 51 of the cuff 14 and the rear edge 53 of the cuff 14 and (ii) a straight line Ph tangent to the hand covering 12 and intersecting the straight line Pc at the front edge 51 of the cuff 14. The angle θ can be taken at various locations on the glove 10, such as an angle θb between the cuff 14 and the back portion 18 of the hand covering 12, an angle θm between the cuff 14 and a medial side 37 of the hand covering 12, or an angle θl between the cuff 14 and a lateral side 39 of the hand covering 12.
The cuff 14 is configured such that it is adjustable. This may allow the player to tailor how the glove 10 fits, how much the player's wrist can flex without being impeded by the cuff 14, and how much protection is provided by the cuff 14.
To that end, the cuff 14 comprises a cuff adjuster 60 to adjust the cuff 14. Various aspects of the cuff 14 may be adjustable by the cuff adjuster 60. Notably, in this embodiment, the cuff adjuster 60 allows the flare of the cuff 14 to be adjusted. In that sense, in this example, the cuff adjuster 60 may also be referred to as a “flare adjuster”. For instance, the flare of the cuff 14 may be greater (i.e., the angle θ may be smaller) when a greater range of motion of the player's wrist is desired, while the flare of the cuff 14 may be smaller (i.e., the angle θ may be greater) when more protection of the player's wrist and forearm is desired.
For example, as shown in
In this embodiment, the cuff adjuster 60 comprises a plurality of fasteners 621, 622 operable to adjust the cuff 14. In this case, the fasteners 621, 622 are operable to adjust the flare of the cuff 14. Each of the fasteners 621, 622 is located on the cuff 14 between and away from a first longitudinal end 66 and a second longitudinal end 68 of the cuff 14. In this example of implementation, a lace 59 interconnects the longitudinal ends 66, 68 of the cuff 14 by extending underneath the player's wrist or forearm when the glove 10 is worn to allow tightening or loosening of the cuff 14. In contrast, each of the fasteners 621, 622 is operable to adjust the cuff 14 without extending underneath the player's wrist or forearm when the glove 10 is worn.
Furthermore, in this embodiment, each of the fasteners 621, 622 comprises a first fastening element 651 on a respective one of opposite longitudinal end regions 921 and 922 of the cuff member 352 and a second fastening element 652 on a longitudinal end region 90 of a respective one of the cuff members 351, 353. In this embodiment, each of the fasteners 621, 622 comprises a hook-and-loop fastener. In this case, the fastening element 651 of each of the hook-and-loop fasteners 621, 622 comprises a hook element of that hook-and-loop fastener, and the fastening element 652 comprises a loop element of that hook-and-loop fastener. In other cases, this may be reversed.
More particularly, in this embodiment, the fastener 621 is configured to fasten the cuff member 351 and the cuff member 352 which are adjacent to one another. The fastener 621 is operable to adjust a position in which the cuff member 351 and the cuff member 352 are fastened in order to adjust the cuff 14, including, in this case, the flare of the cuff 14. In this example of implementation, the cuff member 351 and the cuff member 352 overlap when fastened. The fastener 621 is operable to vary an overlap of the cuff member 351 and the cuff member 352 to adjust the position in which the cuff member 351 and the cuff member 352 are fastened. For instance, the position in which the cuff members 351, 352 are fastened and their overlap in
Similarly, in this embodiment, the fastener 622 is configured to fasten the cuff member 352 and the cuff member 353 which are adjacent to one another. The fastener 622 is operable to adjust a position in which the cuff member 352 and the cuff member 353 are fastened in order to adjust the cuff 14, including, in this case, the flare of the cuff 14. In this example of implementation, the cuff member 352 and the cuff member 353 overlap when fastened, and the fastener 622 is operable to vary an overlap of the cuff member 352 and the cuff member 353 to adjust the position in which the cuff member 352 and the cuff member 353 are fastened.
In this example of implementation, through the fasteners 621 and 622, the cuff adjuster 60 thus allows the player to omnidirectionally adjust the positions in which the cuff members 351-353 are fastened to one another. For example, the position in which the cuff member 351 is fastened to the cuff member 352 may be adjusted in any desired direction.
In this embodiment, the glove 10 also comprises a sub-cuff 70 disposed under the cuff 14, attachable to at least one of the player's wrist and forearm, and movable relative to the cuff 14 when the player's wrist is flexed. This may provide additional protection to the player's wrist and/or forearm (e.g., if the player's wrist is flexed so much that the cuff 14 is moved sufficiently far to expose part of the player's wrist and/or forearm that the cuff 14 usually covers).
More particularly, in this embodiment, the sub-cuff 70 comprises a band 72 configured to be wrapped about the player's wrist and/of forearm. The band 72 has a first longitudinal end 74 and a second longitudinal end 76 that are movable relative to one another to wrap and unwrap the band 72 about the player's wrist and/or forearm. The sub-cuff 70 comprises a fastener 78 operable to secure the sub-cuff 70 to the player's wrist and/or forearm. In this example, the fastener 78 comprises fastening elements 811, 812 respectively disposed adjacent ones of the longitudinal ends 74, 76 of the band 72. For instance, in this example of implementation, the fastener 78 comprises a hook-and-loop fastener, wherein a hook connector is disposed adjacent the longitudinal end 74 and a loop connector is disposed adjacent the longitudinal end 76. The fastener 78 may be affixed to the band 72 in any suitable way, such as for example stitching, an adhesive, or ultrasonic welding amongst others.
In this embodiment, the band 72 of the sub-cuff 70 comprises protective padding disposed between an inner liner and an outer cover. For example, in some embodiments, these components may include materials such as those respectively described above in respect of the protective padding 52, the inner liner 43 and the outer cover 56 of the cuff 14.
The sub-cuff 70 may be attached to a remainder of the glove 10 in any suitable way. In this embodiment, the sub-cuff 70 is attached to the hand covering 12 by elastic members 911, 912 that allow the sub-cuff 70 to move relative to the hand covering 12 when the player's wrist bends.
In addition, in this embodiment, the glove 10 comprises a wrist guard 80 disposed over a junction 82 between the hand covering 12 and the cuff 14 to provide additional protection in that area, which bends significantly when the player flexes his/her wrist.
The glove 10, including the cuff 14 and its cuff adjuster 60, may be constructed in various other ways in other embodiments.
For example, in other embodiments, each of the fasteners 621, 622 of the cuff adjuster 60 may be any other type of fastener (e.g., a button, a clip, a buckle, a snap, etc.). For instance, in some embodiments, as shown in
As another example, in other embodiments, the cuff adjuster 60 may comprise any number of fasteners such as the fasteners 621, 622 (e.g., a single fastener or three or more fasteners).
As another example, in other embodiments, the cuff 14 may comprise any other number of cuff members such as the cuff members 351-353 (e.g., two cuff members only, or four or more cuff members). In other embodiments, the cuff 14 may not be have a “split cuff” design (i.e., may not have cuff members movable relative to one another but rather is a single continuous piece).
While in this embodiment the glove 10 is a lacrosse glove, in other embodiments, a sports glove constructed using principles described herein in respect of the glove 10 may be another type of sports glove for a player playing another type of contact sport (sometimes referred to as “full-contact sport” or “collision sport”) in which there are significant impact forces on the player due to player-to-player and/or player-to-object contact. For example, in other embodiments, a sports glove constructed using principles described herein in respect of the glove 10 may be a hockey glove for a hockey player playing hockey.
Any feature of any embodiment discussed herein may be combined with any feature of any other embodiment discussed herein in some examples of implementation.
Certain additional elements that may be needed for operation of certain embodiments have not been described or illustrated as they are assumed to be within the purview of those of ordinary skill in the art. Moreover, certain embodiments may be free of, may lack and/or may function without any element that is not specifically disclosed herein.
Although various embodiments and examples have been presented, this was for the purpose of describing, but not limiting, the invention. Various modifications and enhancements will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art and are within the scope of the invention, which is defined by the appended claims.
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