WO1998048903A1

WO1998048903A1 - Exercise throwing glove

Info

Publication number: WO1998048903A1
Application number: PCT/US1998/008546
Authority: WO
Inventors: Chris E. Nesmith
Original assignee: Nesmith Chris E
Priority date: 1997-04-29
Filing date: 1998-04-28
Publication date: 1998-11-05
Also published as: AU7168298A

Abstract

A glove (10) adapted to be used by a baseball player in training to strengthen the arm and the fingers with which the player throws a baseball, namely the thumb, fore and middle fingers. The glove has a thin soft leather bottom surface for gripping a baseball, a stretchable nylon top surface to help insure a tight fit, and a hook and loop adjustable strap (14) that secures the glove around the user's wrist. A plurality of small weights (40) are disposed within weight pockets (34) attached to the top surface of the glove over the thumb (20), fore finger (22), and middle finger receiving portions (24) only, thereby providing added resistance to the motions of the wearer's arm and the specific gripping fingers when the glove is worn while pitching a ball.

Description

EXERCISE THROWING GLOVE

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/045,076, filed April 29, 1997.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a weighted exercise glove. More specifically, the invention relates to a glove having weights attached thereto in a configuration that is specifically adapted to help baseball players improve their throwing ability.

2. DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART

Baseball is one of the most popular sports in America today. It is played by millions of people of varying ages, and as with any sport, people are always seeking ways to improve their abilities. In particular, people often seek to improve their throwing and pitching abilities because these abilities are an important part of the game. Typically, people seek to improve these abilities through practice and informed instruction, but it is often necessary for a person to increase the physical strength of their fingers, hands and arms in order to continue to improve these abilities.

Many gloves intended to increase the strength of a person's fingers, hands, or arms have been disclosed in the related art. These have included gloves having a plurality of small weights attached to the back thereof in specific configurations, gloves having weighted fingertips, and gloves having weights which- may be releasably attached thereto.

U.S. Patent Number 4,911,433, issued March 27, 1990 to John D. Walker and Larry Martin, discloses a baseball batting practice glove having a plurality of weights attached to the back of the hand receiving portion of the glove and to the back of the index, middle, ring, and "little" finger receiving portions. The weights on the glove of Walker and Martin are intended to provide extra resistance to a person's batting motion to strengthen their hands and improve their hand speed. The configuration of the weights is intended to distribute the collective weight of the glove evenly. German Patent Number, issued January 16, 1924, discloses a weighted glove adapted for use in self defense. The glove has pockets formed on the back side of all its finger receiving portions and on the back side of its hand receiving portion for receiving the small metallic balls that provide the extra weight .

U.S. Patent Numbers 2,736,034, issued February 28, 1956 to Eva Redick Fredenhagen and Franz A. Fredenhagen, and 3,838,853, issued October 1, 1974 to Eve Redick Fredenhagen, disclose gloves intended to strengthen a person's fingers when they are worn when using a key operated instrument such as a typewriter or piano. These gloves have weights held within pockets on the back side of each finger receiving portion adjacent the tip thereof.

U.S. Patent Number 3,298,689, issued January 17, 1967 to Frank Santora, discloses in one embodiment a glove adapted to be worn to help a bowler more accurately deliver the bowling ball down the lane to the pins. The glove of Santora has compartments formed on the back of the fore, middle, ring, and "little" finger receiving portions thereof which allow weights to be attached to the back of a user's fingers _ in a variety of desired configurations affecting the release of the bowling ball.

U.S. Patent Numbers 4,923,418, issued May 8, 1990 to Ned Hoffman, and 5,004,227, issued April 2, 1991, also to Ned Hoffman, and PCT Application Publication No. WO 81/00055, disclose fingerless gloves adapted to be used for general exercise purposes. These gloves all have weights which may be attached to the back side of their hand receiving portions, but none are adapted to strengthen individual fingers.

U.S. Patent Number 5,453,064, issued September 26, 1995 to Charlton H. Williams, Jr. discloses a glove which is adapted to strengthen individual fingers of the user. The glove of Williams utilizes resilient rods to provide resistance to the motions of the wearers fingers.

However, none of the related art discloses a glove which has weights attached to the thumb, fore, and middle finger receiving portions thereof so that the player's arm and fingers used to throw a baseball are strengthened by the additional resistance provided by the weights when the glove is worn when throwing a baseball . None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a glove adapted to be used by a baseball player in training to strengthen the arm and the fingers with which the player throws a baseball, namely the thumb, fore, and middle fingers. The glove has a thin soft leather bottom surface for gripping a baseball, a stretchable nylon top surface to help insure a tight fit, and a strap of hook and loop type fastener (VELCRO) that secures the glove. around the user's wrist. A plurality of small weights are attached to the top surface of the glove over the thumb, fore, and middle finger receiving portions of the glove by sewing them into segmented pouches attached thereto. The weights provide added resistance to the motion of wearer's arm and throwing fingers when the glove is worn while throwing a ball during practice and warm-up periods . This added resistance during practice helps to increase the strength of the user' s arm and throwing fingers to improve throwing ability.

Accordingly, it is a principal object of the invention to provide a glove adapted to improve a user's throwing ability.

It is another object of the invention to provide a glove which allows a person to easily grip a baseball when wearing the glove .

It is a further object of the invention to provide a glove which creates resistance to the motion of a user's thumb, fore, and middle fingers when the glove is worn when throwing a baseball in conventional fashion.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a glove with a plurality of small weights attached to the back thereof aligned over the length of the user's throwing fingers .

It is an object of the invention to provide improved elements and arrangements thereof in an apparatus for the purposes described which is inexpensive, dependable and fully effective in accomplishing its intended purposes .

These and other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of the exercise throwing glove of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view of the exercise throwing glove taken along line 2 --2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an environmental perspective view of the exercise throwing glove in use.

Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings .

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to the drawings, Fig. 1 illustrates an exercise throwing glove 10 of the present invention which is adapted to be used by a baseball or softball player in training to strengthen the arm and the fingers with which the player throws a ball. The glove 10 comprises a palm side of soft leather and a back side of stretchable nylon with a plurality of discrete weights 40 attached thereto in a configuration that provides added resistance to the user's arm, thumb, fore finger, and middle finger when the glove is worn when throwing a ball.

The glove 10 includes a phalanx receiving portion 16, with a wrist receiving part 12 integrally attached to one end thereof, and, at the opposing end, a thumb receiving portion 20, a fore finger receiving portion 22, a middle finger receiving portion 24, a ring finger receiving portion 26, and a little finger receiving portion 28 attached thereto. The wrist receiving part 12 has an adjustable strap 14 made of a hook and loop fastener material which is positioned and adapted to secure the wrist receiving part 12 of the glove 10 to a user' s wrist to prevent the glove 10 from slipping off during use. Weight pocket panels 30 are attached with stitching_ 32 to the back sides of the thumb receiving portion 20, the fore finger receiving portion 22, and the middle finger receiving portion 24. Each weight pocket panel 30 is preferably singular elongated piece of stretchable nylon, each of which extends from a distal end of each of the thumb receiving portion 20, the fore finger receiving portion 22, and the middle finger receiving portion 24 to a portion of the phalanx receiving portion 16 which lies below the knuckles of the wearer. Each weight pocket panel 30 is aligned to follow a longitudinal axis defined by one of the respective thumb and finger receiving portions . The stitching 32 which connects each weight pocket panel 30 to the back sides of the thumb receiving portion 20, the fore finger receiving portion 22, and the middle finger receiving portion 24 runs around the perimeter of each weight pocket panel 30 so that a weight receiving space is defined between the top side of the respective thumb and finger receiving portions and the weight pockets 30. As best illustrated in Fig. 2, the stitching 32 also runs between opposing edges of the weight pockets 30 at regular intervals to form a plurality of individual weight pockets 34. The segmented array of the weight pockets 34 allows the fingers to flex while the glove is worn, as discussed hereinafter.

Weights 40 reside within each weight pocket 34, and may comprise various forms and materials, but preferably are generally flat square plates, each weighing approximately one-quarter ounce. The weights 40 are somewhat smaller than the weight pockets 34 into which the weights 40 are placed so that the weights 40 are spaced apart from one another by a sufficient distance to permit substantially uninhibited flexing of the phalanx receiving portion 16, the thumb receiving portion 20, the fore finger_ receiving portion 22, and the middle finger receiving portion 24 of the glove 10.

In the preferred embodiment, five weight pockets 34 are formed on the back side of the thumb receiving portion 20, seven weight pockets 34 are formed on the back side of the fore finger receiving portion 22, and eight weight pockets 34 are formed on the back side of the middle finger receiving portion 24. This arrangement results in a total of twenty pockets, each capable of receiving a single one-quarter ounce weight 40, for a total five ounces of weight being added to the glove 10, which is the approximate weight of a regulation baseball. The glove 10 acts to strengthen a user's arm in a conventional fashion because the weight added to the glove 10 provides added resistance to the motion of a thrower's arm when the glove 10 is worn while throwing a baseball. By arranging the weights 40 on the back side of only the thumb receiving portion 20, the fore finger receiving portion 22, and the middle finger receiving portion 24 of the glove 10, added resistance is distributed primarily to the fingers with which a user grips a ball in the conventional fashion (as illustrated in Fig. 3) while pitching.

It is to be understood that the glove of the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, but encompass any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. A glove for exercising the hand and arm of a user when throwing a ball, comprising: a phalanx receiving portion having a top side, a bottom side, a palm side and a back side; a thumb receiving portion, a fore finger receiving portion, a middle finger receiving portion, a ring finger receiving portion, and a little finger receiving portion, each having a proximate end attached to said phalanx receiving portion and having a distal end, each further having a corresponding palm side and back side; a plurality of weights fixedly attached to each of said back sides of the thumb receiving portion, said fore finger receiving portion, and said middle finger receiving portion; whereby said plurality of weights provide added resistance to the arm, thumb, fore finger, and middle finger of a user when throwing a ball .

2. The glove according to claim 1, further comprising a wrist receiving part attached to said phalanx receiving portion, said wrist receiving part having an adjustable strap thereon adapted to secure said glove to a person's hand.

3. The glove according to claim 2, wherein said strap includes hook and loop fastener material.

4. The glove according to claim 1 wherein said palm side of each of said thumb receiving portion, said fore finger receiving portion, said middle finger receiving portion, said ring finger receiving portion, said little finger receiving portion, and said phalanx receiving portion is made of a soft leather material.

5. The glove according to claim 1 wherein said back_ side of each of said thumb receiving portion, said fore -finger receiving portion, said middle finger receiving portion, said ring finger receiving portion, said little finger receiving portion, and said phalanx receiving portion is made of a stretchable nylon fabric .

6. The glove according to claim 1 wherein: said plurality of weights are arranged into a first row, second row and third row, each running from said distal end to said proximate end and continuing onto said phalanx portion, wherein the combined mass of the weights within said first row, said second row, and said third row is distributed evenly along said back side of said thumb receiving portion, said fore finger receiving portion, and said middle finger receiving portion, respectively.

7. The glove according to claim 6 wherein: each weight of said plurality of weights are spaced apart from one another to permit substantially uninhibited flexing of a palm, thumb, fore finger, middle finger, ring finger, and little fingers when disposed within the glove so that a baseball may be easily gripped by a person wearing said glove.

8. The glove according to claim 6, including: a panel defining a plurality of weight pockets, said panel formed of an elongate piece of sheet material and having a top end, a bottom end, and two edges, said panel connected to said back side of said glove from said distal end to said proximate end, said bottom end terminating on said phalanx receiving member, said panel stitched around its perimeter and between its two edges to form said plurality of weight pockets .

9. The glove according to claim 6 wherein said_ weights are generally flat, rectangular plates.

10. The glove according to claim 6 wherein each of said plurality of weights of said glove each have a weight of about 1/4 ounce, said plurality totalling a weight of about five ounces.