CN113017180A - Gloves - Google Patents

Abstract

A glove (100) for reducing muscle stress, comprising: a thumb (150) having a thumbball contour (155); a plurality of fingers (161-164) having one or more flattened fingers to improve the match of physical contours between the glove and fingers of a glove user; a flattened palm (120) and back of hand contour (130) to resemble the physical contour of a glove user's palm and back of hand; a cuff area (110); a plurality of bifurcation areas; a plurality of concave contours (145) for mimicking the physical contours of the bifurcations of the fingers of a glove user, or one or more grooves (170) at the palm region (120) and/or the back of the hand region (130), the one or more grooves (170) for providing additional flexibility and extensibility for comfort of the glove user.

Description

Gloves

Technical Field

The invention relates to a glove, in particular to a glove for reducing muscle pressure.

Background

Industrial gloves are intended for protecting the hands of a user from hazardous conditions during activities. The durability, chemical resistance and abrasion resistance of industrial gloves must be sufficient to perform their function, and often this will result in thicker and longer lengths of gloves. As the thickness and length of the glove increases, the glove is stiffer and more difficult to wear, which can further cause discomfort during donning. In use, a user experiencing hand or muscle fatigue may affect their performance in a particular activity. The user may also experience fatigue after wearing the glove for extended periods of time.

Industrial gloves may be designed for either hand-specific or ambidextrous use. However, ambidextrous gloves are easier to produce and are more cost effective than gloves intended for a particular hand. Furthermore, for gloves that are ambidextrous, they have a higher production yield with a lower rejection rate than gloves intended for a particular hand. A ambidextrous glove is more economical because it can fit both hands. Furthermore, the production costs and rejection rate of the hands-free model are low compared to hand-specific models or templates (formers).

In view of the above, it would be advantageous to develop a ambidextrous glove that reduces muscle stress.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention relates to a ambidextrous glove for reducing muscle stress, comprising: a thumb having a thumbball contour; a plurality of fingers having one or more flattened finger profiles to improve the match of physical profiles between the glove and fingers of a glove user; a flattened palm profile and a dorsal profile to resemble the physical profile of the palm and dorsal of a glove user; a cuff or cuff (cuff) area; a plurality of bifurcation areas; a plurality of concave contours to mimic the physical contours of the bifurcations of the fingers of a glove user, or one or more grooves at the palmar and/or dorsal regions to provide additional flexibility or extensibility to provide comfort to the glove user.

Drawings

The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given here below and the accompanying drawings, which are given by way of illustration only, and thus do not limit the present invention, and wherein:

in the drawings:

FIG. 1 depicts a front view of a reduced muscle pressure ambidextrous glove having a concave profile.

FIG. 2 depicts a top view of a reduced muscle pressure ambidextrous glove having a concave profile.

FIG. 3 shows a side view (from the thumb) of a reduced muscle pressure ambidextrous glove with a concave profile.

FIG. 4 shows a side view (from the little finger) of a reduced muscle pressure ambidextrous glove with a concave profile.

FIG. 5 shows a front view of a ambidextrous glove with recessed muscle pressure reduction.

FIG. 6 shows a top view of a ambidextrous glove with recessed muscle pressure reduction.

Figure 7 shows a side view (from the thumb) of a ambidextrous glove with recessed reduced muscle pressure.

Figure 8 shows a side view (from the little finger) of a ambidextrous glove with recessed muscle pressure reduction.

Figure 9a shows a detailed illustration of a hand.

Fig. 9b shows the pressure and discomfort areas evaluated by the test subjects when wearing different types of gloves.

Detailed Description

Detailed descriptions of preferred embodiments of the invention are disclosed herein. However, it is to be understood that the described embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which can be embodied in various forms. Therefore, the details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as the basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention. The numerical data or ranges used in the specification should not be construed as limiting. A detailed description of implementing preferred embodiments is described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The present invention relates to an ambidextrous glove (100) with an ergonomic design for reducing muscle stress. By modifying the model, reduced pressure and ergonomic features are created at selected areas of the glove (100). Since the glove (100) is ambidextrous, these features are introduced on both sides of the glove (100) so that the glove can be worn either right-handed or left-handed. This design makes production easy, improves yield, reduces rejection rate, and improves cost efficiency. The user experiences less fatigue and more comfort while performing the activity.

The present invention will now be explained in detail. In a preferred embodiment, the glove (100) includes a thumb (150) having a front surface and a back surface, a plurality of fingers (161) each having a front surface and a back surface, a palm region (120), a back region (130), a plurality of crotch regions (140), a cuff region (110), and one or more pressure reduction features.

Since glove (100) is ambidextrous, it should be understood that glove (100) may be used for either the right or left hand. Thus, the front and back surfaces of the thumb (150), fingers (161-164), palm region (120), and back hand region (130) of the glove (100) may be interchangeable according to the fit of the hand. The illustrations (fig. 1-8) are based on a glove (100) for a right hand.

The glove (100) is made of an elastomeric material such as, but not limited to, nitrile, natural rubber, and synthetic rubber. The glove (100) is introduced in four standard sizes, small (S), medium (M), large (L) and extra large (XL).

FIG. 1 depicts a front view of a ambidextrous glove (100) for reducing muscle stress according to the present invention. The glove (100) includes a thumb (150) and four fingers (161-164) interconnected to one another by a plurality of crotch regions (140). The thumb (150), fingers (161-164) and crotch region (140) are connected to the palm region (120) and the back region (130). The palm region (120) and the back region (130) also lead to the wrist guard region (110).

In a preferred embodiment, the cuff area (110) is the lower end of the glove (100) and is provided with an opening at the bottom for wearing. The elasticity of the glove material allows the opening to be easily stretched for donning. The cuff area (110) contains the wrist of the user when the hand is inserted into the glove (100). The wrist circumference at the cuff area (110) is enlarged to have a larger wrist circumference than the wrist circumference of a conventional glove to facilitate donning and reduce discomfort. The upper side of the cuff area (110) is connected to the palm area (120) and the back area (130). Table 1 shows the wrist circumferences of gloves (100) in different sizes.

Table 1: wrist circumference of the glove.

Size of gloves	S	M	L	XL
					Wrist circumference (mm)	168–183	184–200	198–214	210–227

Dorsal region (130) refers to the back side of the hand or the side opposite the palmar region (120). The palm region (120) and the back of the hand region (130) include a flattened contour to resemble the physical contour of the palm and back of the hand of the user. The flattened profile reduces pressure at the metacarpophalangeal joints of the index finger (161), middle finger (162), ring finger (163), and little finger (164) and helps to accommodate the physical contour mismatch between the glove (100) and the palm and back of the hand of the user. Table 2 shows the palm circumference of gloves (100) in different sizes when measured at "P" (see fig. 1).

Table 2: the palm circumference of the glove.

Size of gloves	S	M	L	XL
					Palm circumference (mm)	172–181	190–203	214–225	232–243

A plurality of crotch regions (140) are provided at upper connection positions between the palm region (120) and the back region (130), whereby they connect the thumb (150), index finger (161), middle finger (162), ring finger (163), and little finger (164) to each other. A plurality of concave contours (145) extend from the distal end of each finger bifurcation to the palm region (120) and/or the back of the hand region (130), wherein the concave contours (145) function to mimic the physical contours of the human fingers bifurcation and thereby enhance the comfort of the glove user when wearing the glove (100). The length of the concave profile 145 from the end of each finger bifurcation to the palmar region (120) and/or the dorsal region (130) ranges from 10mm to 75 mm. The depth of the concave profile (145) decreases progressively from the end of each finger bifurcation to the palmar region (120) and/or the dorsal region (130). The maximum depth of the concave profile (145) at the end of each finger bifurcation is 25 mm.

Fig. 2 depicts a top view of a ambidextrous glove (100) for reducing muscle stress.

A reduced muscle pressure ambidextrous glove (100) includes fingers having a flattened finger profile to improve the match of the physical profile between the glove (100) and the user's fingers. The finger circumference at the center of the fingers of glove (100) remained within a common range, as shown in table 3 below. Preferably, only the index finger (161) and middle finger (162) of the glove (100) are flat as they are the primary supports for any hand motion. The flat finger profile improves the matching of the physical profile, which will reduce the pressure at the index finger (161) and middle finger (162). The glove user will have better gripping ability at the index finger (161) and middle finger (162) because the total contact area between the glove (100) and the user's fingers is maximized by matching their physical contours.

Table 3: finger circumference at the center of the index and middle fingers of the glove.

Fig. 3 depicts a side view from the thumb (150) of the reduced muscle pressure ambidextrous glove (100), and fig. 4 depicts a side view from the little finger (164) of the reduced muscle pressure ambidextrous glove (100). The thumb (150) area covers from the proximal phalanx to the metacarpal bone of the thumb, which includes a thumbball contour (155). The thumbball contour (155) can reduce pressure on thumb muscles such as, but not limited to, the flexor hallucis brevis and the abductor hallucis brevis as a user bends the thumb. The width of the thumb ball is measured on the model because it is difficult to measure on the glove (100). The width of the thumb ball on the model (which was measured horizontally) is listed in table 4.

Table 4: the width of the thumb ball on the model.

Size of model	S	M	L	XL
					Thumb ball (mm)	Minimum 33	Minimum 35	Minimum 37	Minimum 39

The thumb (150) and fingers (161-164) of the glove are spread apart slightly to reduce pressure at the fingers when the glove user spreads their fingers to grasp an object. The horizontal distance between the thumb (150) and little finger (164) is measured on the model because of inaccuracies in the measurement on the glove. The horizontal distance between the thumb (150) and little finger (164), also referred to as span width, on the model is listed in table 5.

Table 5: horizontal distance (span width) between thumb and pinky finger on the model.

Size of model	S	M	L	XL
					Span width (mm)	110–116	121–127	132–138	136–142

Referring to fig. 5-8, instead of having a concave profile (145) that acts as a pressure-reducing feature, the ambidextrous glove (100) for reducing muscle pressure includes a plurality of grooves (170), preferably at least four grooves at the palm region (120) and/or the back-of-the-hand region (130), in which the grooves (170) are concave, or convex, or a combination of both concave and convex. The width of the groove (170) is in the range from 2mm to 6 mm. The depth of the concave groove and the height of the convex groove are in the range from 0.5mm to 3.5 mm. The length of the groove (170) is in the range from 10mm to 65 mm. Typically, three indentations (170) are provided at the palm region (120) and/or the back of the hand region (130) and are covered from the proximal phalanx to the metacarpal of the index finger (161), middle finger (162), ring finger (163) and little finger (164). A recess (170) is provided at the palmar region (120) and/or the dorsal region (130) of the hand and is covered over the adductor pollicis and the first intercostal dorsal muscle. Each groove (170) may be vertically straight, or inclined in the range of 1 ° to 20 ° clockwise or counterclockwise from the vertical axis. The function of the recess (170) is to provide additional flexibility and extensibility to the ambidextrous glove (100) for reducing muscle stress when the glove user bends all of his fingers while performing any task. The additional flexibility and extensibility of the glove (100) prevents the glove from becoming taut in the palm region (120) and the back of the hand region (130), which can cause stress, fatigue, or discomfort. The recess (170) does not significantly contribute to the additional overall weight and material cost of the glove (100).

User evaluation of ambidextrous industrial gloves for reducing muscle stress

Glove instruction book

1. Conventional industrial gloves made of nitrile for both hands (labeled control).

2. Ambidextrous nitrile muscle stress-reducing glove (100) (labeled as design 1) of the present invention having a concave profile (145).

3. Ambidextrous nitrile muscle stress-reducing glove (100) of the present invention having a recess (170) (labeled design 2).

Table 6: physical dimensions of control gloves, design 1 gloves, and design 2 gloves

Glove type	Control group	Design 1	Design 2
				Glove weight (g)	11.7±0.1	11.9±0.2	11.8±0.3
Gloves length (mm)	300±2	300±2	300±2
				Palm width (mm)	97±1	99±1	99±1
Wrist guard thickness (mm)	0.12±0.01	0.11±0.01	0.11±0.01
				Palm thickness (mm)	0.21±0.01	0.21±0.01	0.20±0.01
Finger thickness (mm)	0.23±0.01	0.25±0.01	0.23±0.01

Evaluation method

A user evaluation form is prepared that focuses on evaluating different hand parts including wrist, palm, fingers, bifurcations and knuckles (when gripped). Control (ambidextrous nitrile conventional industrial gloves) gloves, design 1 (ambidextrous nitrile muscle pressure-reducing gloves (100) with concave contours (145) according to the invention) gloves and design 2 (ambidextrous nitrile muscle pressure-reducing gloves (100) with grooves (170) according to the invention) gloves were provided to 30 test subjects for evaluation according to the user evaluation form. The test subjects were asked to move their fingers and bend their hands while wearing each type of glove. The pressure and discomfort points assessed by the subjects were marked on the gloves and recorded in the table. The subject's comments on each type of glove are also recorded in tabular form.

The pressure and upset points are counted and summarized in the following section.

Results

Table 7: detailed user evaluation results.

Summary of the invention

Table 8: summary of user evaluations.

Fig. 9a shows a detailed illustration of a hand, and fig. 9b shows pressure and discomfort areas evaluated by a test subject when the test subject is wearing a different type of glove. Based on the results shown in fig. 9b and table 8, the reduced muscle pressure ambidextrous industrial glove of the present invention was more comfortable to wear than the control glove. Both design 1 and design 2 of the present invention have significantly reduced pressure areas and areas of discomfort at the palm portion, finger portion, crotch portion, and knuckle (when gripping) portions. Discomfort at the wrist portion is also eliminated. In contrast, design 2 of the present invention is more comfortable than design 1 of the present invention because less of the user experiences pressure at the palm portion, finger portion, crotch portion, and knuckle portion. 60% of the test subjects found that the design 2 glove was the most comfortable of them. The statistics are shown in table 9.

Table 9: statistics of bimanual industrial glove preferences for 30 test subjects

Glove type	Number of preferences	Percentage of preference (%)
			Control group	4	13
Design 1 (invention)	8	27
			Design 2 (invention)	18	60
Total of	30	100

60% of the test subjects selected design 2 of the present invention as their preferred glove, followed by 27% of the test subjects selected design 1 of the present invention. Only 13% of the test subjects selected the control group sample as their preferred glove.

In summary, designs 1 and 2 of the present invention effectively improved ambidextrous nitrile industrial gloves in terms of comfort. Most test subjects preferred design 2 of the present invention over design 1 of the present invention.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular example embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" may also be intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The terms "comprises," "comprising," "including," and "having" are inclusive and therefore specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

The methods, steps, processes, and operations described herein are not to be construed as necessarily requiring their performance in the particular order discussed or illustrated, unless specifically identified as an order of performance. It should also be understood that additional or alternative steps may be employed. The use of the expression "at least" or "at least one" implies the use of one or more elements, as may be used in one of the embodiments to achieve one or more desired purposes or results.

Claims (13)

1. A glove (100) for reducing muscle stress, comprising:

a thumb (150) having a thumbball contour (155);

a plurality of fingers (161-164) having one or more flattened finger profiles to improve the match of physical profiles between the glove (100) and the fingers of a glove user;

a flattened palm (120) and back of hand contour (130) to resemble the physical contour of a glove user's palm and back of hand;

a cuff area (110);

a plurality of bifurcation regions (140); and

a plurality of concave contours (145) at the palm (120) and/or back of hand regions (130) to mimic the physical contours of the bifurcations of the fingers of a glove user.

2. A glove (100) for reducing muscle stress, comprising:

a thumb (150) having a thumbball contour (155);

a plurality of fingers (161-164) having one or more flattened finger profiles to improve the match of physical profiles between the glove (100) and the fingers of a glove user;

a flattened palm (120) and back of hand contour (130) to resemble the physical contour of a glove user's palm and back of hand;

a cuff area (110);

a plurality of bifurcation regions (140); and

one or more indentations (170) located at the palm (120) and/or back of hand region (130) to provide additional flexibility and extensibility to provide comfort to the glove user.

3. The muscle pressure reducing glove (100) of claim 1 or 2, wherein the glove (100) is ambidextrous, and wherein the front and rear surfaces of the thumb (150), fingers (161-164), palm (120) and dorsal region (130) of the glove (100) are interchangeable according to the fit of the hand.

4. The muscle pressure reducing glove (100) of claim 1 or 2, wherein the wrist circumference at the cuff area (110) is enlarged to have a larger wrist circumference than the wrist circumference of a conventional glove, thereby facilitating donning and reducing discomfort.

5. The muscle pressure reducing glove (100) of claim 1 or 2, wherein the flattened palm (120) and dorsal profile (130) reduces pressure at the metacarpophalangeal joints of the index finger (161), middle finger (162), ring finger (163), and little finger (164) and facilitates adaptation of the physical contour mismatch between the glove (100) and the palm and dorsal of the user.

6. The muscle pressure reducing glove (100) of claim 1 or 2, wherein the flattened finger profile improves the match of the physical profile between the glove and the user's fingers, thereby maximizing the total contact area between the glove (100) and the user's fingers.

7. The muscle pressure reducing glove (100) of claim 1 or 2, wherein the thumb ball contour (155) reduces pressure at the flexor hallucis brevis and abductor hallucis brevis when the user bends the thumb.

8. The muscle pressure reducing glove (100) of claim 1 or 2 wherein, when the glove user stretches his fingers to grasp an object, the thumb (150) and fingers (161-164) of the glove stretch slightly to reduce the pressure at the fingers.

9. The muscle pressure reducing glove (100) of claim 1, wherein the concave profile is configured to improve comfort for a user of the glove (100) when wearing the glove (100).

10. The muscle pressure reducing glove (100) according to claim 1, wherein the length of the concave contour (145) from the end of each finger bifurcation to the palm (120) and/or the dorsal region (130) ranges from 10mm to 75mm, the depth of the concave contour (145) gradually decreases from the end of each finger bifurcation to the palm (120) and/or the dorsal region (130), and the maximum depth of the concave contour (145) at the end of each finger bifurcation is 25 mm.

11. The muscle pressure reducing glove (100) of claim 2, wherein the indentation (170) is concave or convex, or a combination of concave and convex.

12. The muscle pressure reducing glove (100) according to claim 2, wherein the width of the groove (170) is in the range from 2mm to 6mm, the depth of the concave groove and the height of the convex groove are in the range from 0.5mm to 3.5mm, and the length of the groove (170) is in the range from 10mm to 65 mm.

13. The muscle stress-reducing glove (100) of claim 2, wherein the additional flexibility and extensibility of the glove (100) prevents glove tightness at the palm (120) and dorsal region (130) that causes stress, fatigue, or discomfort.

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