US459441A - Ball-catcher s glove - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

'J. P. DRAPER. BALL GATOHERS GLOVE.

Patented Sept. 15, 1891.

WITNESSES- ma Noam! PETERS cm, mow-mm, wisumuron, n. c.

NITE S ATE JASON F. DRAPER, OF ASHLAND, NEIV HAMPSHIRE.

BALL-CATCH ERS G LOVE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 459,441, dated September 15, 1891.

Application filed October 15, 1890. Serial No. 368,189. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JASON F. DRAPER, of Ashland, in the county of Grafton and State of NewHampshire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Base-Ball Catchers Gloves or Mittens, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has for its object to provide a base-ball catchers glove or mitten in which the thumb shall be more flexible, so as to give greater freedom of movement to the human thumb within it than heretofore, and, secondly, to provide improved means for guardin g the ends of the wearers fingers and thumb from injury in case the ball strikes the edge portion of the glove or mitten.

To these ends the invention consists in the several improvements which I will now proceed to describe and claim.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 represents a View of the front or palm side of a catchers mitten embodying my improvement. Fig. 2 represents a back view of the same. Fig. 3 represents a view of the pad-holder and palm and thumb pads attached thereto. Fig. 41 represents an edge view of the guards that protect the ends of the thumb and fingers, and Fig. 5 represents an enlarged section on line 5 5 of Fig. 1.

The same numerals of reference indicate the same parts in all the figures.

In the drawings, 2 represents afront piece, which covers the palm of the hand and the front side of the fingers, and may be extended tocover the whole of the front side of the thumb, although I have here shown the covering of the thumb made in two parts, one of which is an extension of the front piece 2, while the other is a segmental piece 3, as shown in Fig. 1, the piece 3 being suitably attached to the extension of the piece 2.

At the back of the mitten are the pockets 4 for the reception of the thumb and fingers of the wearer, said pockets being arranged in the same order that the fingers and thumb of a glove are arranged, and are composed of buckskin or other suitably strong and durable material. Said pockets are stitched to a suitable back piece 6, which is of substantially the same form as the front piece 2, except that it is somewhat fuller, so that it can bendinwardly from the edge of the mitten, as I shown in Fig. 5, and constitute the inner side of the thumb and finger pockets.

7 represents a pad-holding piece, which is of the same shape as the front piece 2 and rial, and has attached to one side two pads 8 and 9, which do not extend to the margin of the piece 7, a sufficient width ofthe said piece projecting outside the pads to permit the attachmentof the piece to other parts of the glove. The pad 8 is formed to cover the palm and finger portions of the mitten, while the pad 9 covers the thumb portion. Said pads are separated by an intervening space 10, so that the flexibility of the thumb is not impaired by the padding material, as it would be if the pad extended continuously from the palm to and along the thumb. The flexibility of the thumb is further increased by a gore 12, Fig. 2, which, with the thumb and finger pockets 4 and strap 13, constitute the back of the hand-receiving portion of the mitten. Said gore is made of lighter, thinner, and more flexible material than the pockets 4 and is interposed between the thumb-pocket and the pocket that receives the forefinger, as shown in Fig. 2, one edge of the gore being stitched to the base of the thumb-pocket, another to the base of the forefinger-pocket, and another to the inner end of the back strap 13, which strap is pro vided at its free end with eyes 14, adapted to engage a stud 15, said eyes and stud constituting a well-known form of glove-fastening. It will be seen that the opening 10 between the pads S 9 at the frontside of the thumb and the flexible gore 12 at the back side of the thumb enable the thumb to be freely moved both forward and backward.

To protect the ends of the thumb and fingers of the wearer against the ball in case the latter strikes the edge of the mitten, I provide two guards 1 17, the former adapted to cover the ends of the fingers and the latter the end of the thumb. Said guards are curved strips of any suitable non-metallic material and are preferably made of alternate layers of cotton or other fabric and vulcanized rubher, the form of each guard in cross-section being preferably that shown in Fig. 5. The said guards are covered by an edge strip 18 of stout leather, which serves as a hinder or connection between the front and back portions of the mitten and is secured to the guards by means of rivets 20. The guards thus constructed are sufficiently flexible to prevent liability of their being broken by blows upon them, and at the same time they afford sufficient protection to the wearers fingers to prevent injury thereto in case the ball strikes the edge of the mitten. The flexibility of the guards also enables them to be bent without being permanently distorted, the guards resuming their normal position when free to do so.

My reason for specifying the non-metallic material is as follows, viz: Guards made of metal and inserted in the mitten in the position here shown if made of tempered steel would be liable to be broken by shocks of the ball against them and would also be liable to berusted when the mitten is wet. If metal guards were used of some less elastic metal, such as brass or copper, they would be liable to be permanently bent and distorted by the rough usage to which they would be subjected. My improved guard, being made of a flexible and elastic non-metallic material, is not liable to any of these objections above raised against metallic guards. I do not limit myself, however, to the use of the particular material or materials above men tionedviz., alternate layers of fabric and rubberbut may make the guards wholly of vulcanized rubber or of sole-leather or any other material which is suitably flexible without bein compressible to any material extent, so that it will affordsufficient resistance to properly protect the thumb and fingers.

I am aware that a glove or mitten of this class has been provided with a finger-guard composed of a stuffed roll made wholly of compressible material, said roll being necessarily very bulky in order to afford the desired protection. I am also aware that it has been proposed to use metallic guard-strips to protect the ends of the fingers in a base-ball glove or mitten. My improved guard is distinguished from the stuffed roll by the fact that it is practically incompressible as compared with said roll, so that it may be made much more compact or less bulky, and yet afford better protection. It is distinguished from the metallic guard-strip by the fact that it is non-metallic and incapable of being broken by the hard usage to which it is liable to be subjected, besides being free from liability to corrode and rust.

It is obvious that the described improvements relating to pads and to the gore be tween the thumb and fingers may be used in a catchers glove in which the finger-receiving pockets are independent and separate from each other, like the fingers of an ordinary glove, in which case the palm-pad 8 would be provided with branches or divisions formed to extend out upon the front side of the fingers.

I claim- 1. In a ball-catchers glove or mitten, the combination, with the external portions or coverings, of the internal pads 8 and 9, formed, respectively, to cover the front of the hand and thumb, said pads being separated by an intermediate space,whereby interference with the movements of the thumb by thepadding material is prevented, as set forth.

2. In a ball-catchers mitten or glove, the combination, with the external front and back parts, of the pad-holding piece 7, provided with the palm-pad 8 and with the thumb-pad 9, said pads being separated by a space or opening 10, the margin of the piece '7 projecting outside of the pads, whereby the said piece is adapted to be secured to other parts of the glove, as set forth.

3. In a ball-catchers glove or mitten, the combination,with the thumb and finger rec'eiving portions, of the flexible gore 12, made in a separate piece of thinner material than the said covering portions and united at one edge to the base of the thumb-covering portion and at another edge to the base of one of the finger-covering portions, as set forth.

4:. In a ball-catchers glove or mitten, the combination, with the front and back covering portions, of the pads 8 and 9, separated by an open space at the front of the thumb, and the flexible gore 12,interposed between the parts that cover the back of the thumb and the back of the forefinger, whereby the freedom of the thumb to move both forward and backward is increased, as set forth.

5. The combination, with the front and back pieces and the marginal binding-piece 18, of a flexible guard 16, secured to said bindingpiece and arranged at the inner side of the latter between the front and back pieces, said guard being composed of flexible yet firm and comparatively incompressible non-metallic material, as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name tothis specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 11th day of October, A. D. 1890.

JASON F. 'DRAPER.

Witnesses: Gno. OAss, H. S. HUCKINS.

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