Patent Application
20160213510
The present invention relates generally to gloves and more specifically to gloves which assist in regulating the blood temperature of a wearer.
Medical personnel and First Responders alike consume large quantities of nitrile and rubber gloves in their daily duties. Infectious disease outbreaks, such as the Ebola epidemic currently underway in West Africa and select parts of Europe and the United States, compound this consumption. Nitrile and rubber gloves are used to protect the wearer from various infections and contaminants present in their work environments. Nitrile has replaced latex as the material of choice for most applications because of it is generally hypoallergenic compared to its other waterproof cousin, latex. Rubber gloves are used as an outer layer to nitrile base gloves in higher threat environments where blood borne or airborne pathogens may be present.
While nitrile, latex and rubber all provide excellent barriers to infectious disease and other biological and chemical threats, it is this very ability to defend against these threats that also creates the biggest challenge for the end-user: heat build-up. None of these materials allow for the evaporation of sweat from human skin. Evaporation is a fundamental impossibility when juxtaposed against the requirement to provide a barrier against threatening microbes. However, without evaporation, the human body is robbed of its ability to regulate its own body temperature which can lead to a host of medical problems including dehydration, heat stress/exhaustion, loss of mental acuity, heat stroke and in the worst cases, death.
Thus there remains a need for gloves which assist in regulating the body temperature of the wearer.
The present invention provides an innovative glove configured to cool or heat circulating arterial blood of a wearer. The glove comprises a holder having a heating or cooling device, wherein the device is situated such that it is in an abiding heat transfer relation with a wearer's skin thereby allowing effective heat transfer with the wearer's circulating arterial blood.
In another aspect, the invention provides a method of regulating blood temperature. The method includes putting a glove of the invention on the hand of a user and activating the heating or cooling device thereby causing heat transfer between the heating or cooling device and circulating arterial blood of the user.
In the drawings, like elements are assigned like reference numerals. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, with the emphasis instead placed upon the principles of the present invention. Additionally, each of the embodiments depicted are but one of a number of possible arrangements utilizing the fundamental concepts of the present invention. The drawings are briefly described as follows:
The invention relates to a glove device configured to regulate the blood temperature of a wearer. When describing the present invention, all terms not defined herein have their common art-recognized meanings. To the extent that the following description is of a specific embodiment or a particular use of the invention, it is intended to be illustrative only, and not limiting of the claimed invention. The following description is intended to cover all alternatives, modifications and equivalents that are included in the spirit and scope of the invention, as defined in the appended claims.
The present invention provides an innovative glove configured to cool or heat circulating arterial blood of a wearer. The glove comprises a holder having a heating or cooling device, wherein the device is situated such that it is in an abiding heat transfer relation with a wearer's skin thereby allowing effective heat transfer with the wearer's circulating arterial blood.
The holder (30) is configured to receive or house a thermal device (40) configured to heat or cool circulating blood of the user. As such, the thermal device is disposed immediately adjacent to and in heat transfer relationship with the skin of the wearer. That is, the thermal device may be separated from the skin of the user by only the material of the glove. One of skill in the art would understand that heat flow may be bi-directional (i.e., extend either toward or from the thermal device) because heat transfer can be heat flow either from the thermal device to the user (i.e., supplying heat to the user), or heat flow from the user to the thermal device (i.e., cooling the user). In various embodiments, the thermal device may include reactants, which when reacted provide heat (i.e., exothermic chemical reaction) to the user, or alternatively provide cooling (i.e., endothermic chemical reaction) to the user. The thermal device may provide heating or cooling by mechanisms other than chemical reaction. For example, the thermal device may be thermoelectric, resistance, reverse Peltier effect, or any other desired form of heating or cooling.
It will be appreciated that the glove of the invention may be configured for use in a variety of environments and vocations. For example, the device may be configured for use by medical personnel, firefighters/first responders, law enforcement, military personnel, garbage collectors and the like. Additionally, the glove of the invention may be suitable for use in motorsports, military applications, construction, welding, ski/snow sports, hunting/outdoor sports, and the like. As such, the glove of the invention may be constructed of any number of natural or synthetic materials, including, but not limited to any of the following: nitrile, latex, rubber, plastic, nylon, polyester, Nomex, Carbon-X, cotton, neoprene, leather, suede, Clarino, wool, fleece, Spectra Shield, synthetic leather, canvas, Kevlar or any other material used to make gloves for any application. In one particular embodiment, the glove is constructed of pathogen resistant material such that the glove imparts resistance to infection to the user. Such a glove may be used by medical personnel treating infected patients.
In one embodiment, the glove may be a single unit construction such that the cuff or gauntlet portion of the glove extends to cover the entire arm; thereby covering multiple pulse points (ulnar/radial and brachial).
In another embodiment, the glove may be either a single or dual pulse point glove, having built-in instant cooling packs as the thermal device. As discussed above, such packs may include reactants configured to produce an endothermic reaction when reacted. For example, such packs may include various ratios of urea or ammonium nitrate and water to produce endothermic reactions when the materials are combined. One will appreciate that the built-in instant packs are not restricted to these materials, but could be any material or combination of materials which produce on-demand endothermic reactions.
Although the invention has been described with reference to the above example, it will be understood that modifications and variations are encompassed within the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is limited only by the following claims.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/108,821, filed Jan. 28, 2015, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62108821 | Jan 2015 | US |
