Slip-prevention sheets and gloves that utilize such sheets

Abstract

Slip-prevention sheets include ceramic powder adhered onto the surface of the sheet. The ceramic powder may impart irregularity to the surface of the sheet in order to increase frictional resistance. Preferably, such slip-prevention sheets may be utilized as surface materials for gloves.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Technical Field

[0002] The present invention relates to slip-prevention sheets and gloves, e.g. golf gloves, which utilize such sheets in the glove design.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] Golfers typically wear gloves in order to more reliably hold or grip a golf club. Gloves also help protect the golfer's hands and may prevent their hands from slipping on the grip. Similarly, gloves are also used for many other types of activities, such as, grasping ski poles, baseball bats and vehicle steering wheels.

[0005] However, even if a golfer wears gloves, the gloves may still slip along the golf club grip when golfer hits the golf ball with a great force. The same problem also may occur when holding a ski pole, a baseball bat or a steering wheel.

[0006] In some cases, the portions of known gloves that form the surface that is designed to directly contact the golf club grip or other implement have included slip-prevention sheets.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] Therefore, it is one object of the present invention to teach improved slip-prevention sheets, which reliably prevent objects from slipping along the sheets. In one representative embodiment, golfing gloves may include such slip-prevention sheets.

[0008] According to one aspect of the present teachings, ceramic powder is adhered onto the surface of material in order to form a slip-prevention sheet. In this case, the ceramic powder may form an irregular surface that serves to increase frictional resistance. In addition, because ceramic is relatively hard and has excellent wear resistance, the increased frictional resistance can be maintained over extended usage.

[0009] The sheets also may include a dye layer that is adheres to the sheet when the sheet is dyed. Optionally, the dye layer may serve as an adhesive for the ceramic powder. In this case, no additional adhesive may be required in order to attach the ceramic powder onto the sheet. In addition, the ceramic powder can be easily adhered onto the sheet when the sheet is dyed.

[0010] According to another aspect of the present teachings, a glove may include a slip-prevention sheet according to the present teachings. In this case, the person wearing the glove can reliably grasp an object, e.g., a golf club grip, a ski pole, a vehicle handle or a baseball bat, with increased frictional resistance against the object.

[0011] Representative gloves may include a palm portion and finger portions. The slip-prevention sheet may be used as a surface material of all or a portion of the palm portion and/or the finger portion. Preferably, the present slip-prevention sheets are utilized for portions of the glove that will contact an object when the person wearing the glove grasps the object. Therefore, the frictional resistance against the object can be increased and the amount of slip-prevention material can be minimized by only utilizing slip-prevention sheets for the portions that will contact the object.

[0012] According to another aspect of the present teachings, methods are taught for manufacturing slip-prevention sheets that include ceramic powder adhered onto the surface of the sheet. Representative methods may include the steps of dipping a base layer of the sheet into a dye bath containing dye in a liquid phase and forming a dye layer on the base layer. Then, ceramic powder may be added to the dye in the dye bath so as to adhere the ceramic powder onto the dye layer. Thereafter, the sheet may be removed from the dye bath and the dye layer is preferably dried in order to solidify the dye layer.

[0013] Therefore, slip-prevention sheets can be easily manufactured without any additional steps, e.g. steps of applying adhesive onto the base layer and drying or curing the adhesive in order to fix the ceramic powder onto the sheet.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] Additional objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be readily understood after reading the following detailed description together with the claims and the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0015] FIG. 1 is a plan view of a representative slip-prevention sheet;

[0016] FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the slip-prevention sheet taken along line II-II shown in FIG. 1; and

[0017] FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view showing how a representative golf glove is used for grasping a golf club grip.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0018] In one embodiment of the present teachings, slip-prevention sheets may include ceramic powder adhered to a surface layer. The ceramic powder may impart irregularity to the surface of the sheet, thereby increasing frictional resistance of the sheets with respect to an object that will contact the sheet. Representative ceramic powders include pottery powder and porcelain powder.

[0019] For example, the slip prevention sheets may be used as surface materials for gloves, e.g., golf gloves, ski gloves, vehicle driving gloves and baseball gloves. Therefore, persons who wear these gloves can reliably grasp golf club grips, ski poles, steering wheels or baseball bats.

[0020] In another embodiment of the present teachings, the slip-prevention sheets may include a base layer on which the surface layer is formed. For example, the base layer may be made of an animal skin, such as sheepskin or emu skin, or may be made of synthetic leather.

[0021] Generally speaking, in order to manufacture gloves, the raw hide of an animal skin may be tanned and colored with dye agents. The colored animal skins may then be cut into parts that will form the glove. The cut parts and appropriate inner layers are then sewn together to form gloves.

[0022] Therefore, in another embodiment of the present teachings, the surface layer may be a dye layer. Preferably, the dye layer may serve as an adhesion layer, so that the ceramic powder can be adhered onto the dye layer without requiring an additional adhesive layer.

[0023] The particle size of the ceramic powder is preferably selected to be about one-tenth of the thickness of the dye layer. In this case, sufficient frictional resistance can be provided, while also providing a relatively smooth surface appearance.

[0024] In another embodiment of the present teachings, methods are taught for manufacturing slip-prevention sheets. Such methods may include dipping a base layer, e.g. an animal skin, of the sheet into a dye bath containing dye in a liquid phase and forming a dye layer on the base layer. The ceramic powder is then added to the dye in the dye bath and mixed with the dye. As a result, the ceramic powder will adhere to the dye layer. The base layer with the dye layer may then be removed from the dye bath and may be transferred into an appropriate oven, where the dye layer is dried and solidified.

[0025] Therefore, the slip-prevention sheet with ceramic powder can be manufactured by utilizing the dye layer as an adhesive layer for the ceramic powder. As a result, no additional step of applying adhesives onto the base layer is required, so that the slip-prevention sheet can be easily manufactured at minimum costs.

[0026] In another embodiment of the present teachings, gloves are taught that may include the slip-prevention sheet as a surface material.

[0027] Therefore, a person wearing the glove can reliably grasp objects, such as golf club grips, ski poles, steering wheels and baseball bats.

[0028] The slip-prevention sheet may be used as a surface material of one or more portions of the glove. For example, the slip-prevention sheet may be used as surface materials of a palm portion and/or finger portions of the glove, because these portions typically contact an object when a person wearing the glove grasps the object. As a result, the manufacturing cost of the glove can be minimized by utilizing the slip-prevention sheets only for portions of the glove surface that will contact the object.

[0029] Each of the additional features and teachings disclosed above and below may be utilized separately or in conjunction with other features and teachings to provide improved slip-prevention sheets and gloves and methods for designing and using such sheets and gloves. Representative examples of the present invention, which examples utilize many of these additional features and teachings both separately and in conjunction, will now be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings. This detailed description is merely intended to teach a person of skill in the art further details for practicing preferred aspects of the present teachings and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. Only the claims define the scope of the claimed invention. Therefore, combinations of features and steps disclosed in the following detail description may not be necessary to practice the invention in the broadest sense, and are instead taught merely to particularly describe representative examples of the invention. Moreover, various features of the representative examples and the dependent claims may be combined in ways that are not specifically enumerated in order to provide additional useful embodiments of the present teachings.

[0030] A representative embodiment will now be described with reference to the drawings. A representative slip-prevention sheet 10 is shown in plan view in FIG. 1 and may have a rectangular shape of length L1 in the lateral direction and length L2 in the longitudinal direction. For example, length L1 may be 90 cm and length L2 may be 1 m.

[0031] FIG. 2 depicts an enlarged partial view of a cross section taken along line II-II of the slip-prevention sheet 10 shown in FIG. 1. For example, the sheet 10 may include a base layer 11 that is made of the tanned skin of a sheep, an emu and other animals. Dye layers 12 and 13 may include a dye and/or an auxiliary dying agent and dye layers 12 and 13 may be adhered the respective surfaces of the base layer 11. The dye layers 12 and 13 may be colored, e.g., black, red, white or any other desired colors. In addition, ceramic layers 14 and 15 may be adhered to the respective dye layers 12 and 13. Ceramic layers 14 and 15 preferably may be formed from one or more ceramic powders.

[0032] The base layer 11 may have a thickness t1 of about 0.5 to 0.6 mm. The thickness t2 of dye layer 12 and the thickness t3 of dye layer 13 each may about one-third of the thickness t1 of the base layer 11. Thus, t2 and t3 may be about 0.15 to 0.2 mm. The diameter of the particles in the ceramic powders of the ceramic layers 14 and 14 may be about one-tenth of the thickness t2 and t3. Thus, the ceramic particle sizes may be about 0.015 to 0.02 mm. Representative ceramic powders may include alumina ceramic powder. The diameter of particles in the alumina ceramic powder may be substantially equal to the diameter of commercially available flour particles. Such alumina ceramic powder may be purchased from Nippon Light Metal Co., Ltd. of Japan. Alternatively, the ceramic powders may include pottery powder and porcelain powder. Pottery powder has the advantage of being less expensive than porcelain powder.

[0033] A representative method for manufacturing the slip-prevention sheet 10 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 will now be described.

[0034] First, the base layer 11 may be dipped into a dye bath (not shown) containing a dye in a liquid phase for about 2 hours. As a result, the dye layers 12 and 13 will be formed on both sides of the base layer 11. For example, the dye bath may include a rotary drum and the liquid dye may be maintained at about 45° C. in the rotary drum during the dying process. Subsequently, softening oil may be added to the dye bath, so that the oil will permeate into the base layer 11 through the dye layers 12 and 13 and soften the base layer 11. This step generally requires about one hour for the base layer 11 to soften.

[0035] Thereafter, ceramic powder may be added to the dye bath. By adding the ceramic powder before the dye layers 12 and 13 have solidified, the ceramic powder will adhere to the dye layers 12 and 13 within about 30 minutes, thereby forming the ceramic layers 14 and 15. Thus, the dye layers 12 and 13 may preferably also serve as an adhesive for adhering the ceramic powder onto base layer 11 and no other adhesive material is required. Further, the ceramic layers 14 and 15 define surfaces 10a and 10b of the slip-prevention sheet 10.

[0036] The resulting slip-prevention sheet 10 is then removed from the dye bath and is completely dried in order to solidify or fix the dye layers 12 and 13.

[0037] FIG. 3 shows a right-handed golfer holding grip 41 of golf club 40 with a right hand 31 and a left hand 38b. The golfer is wearing a glove 20 on the left hand 38. The golf club 40 also may include shaft 42 and golf club head 43. The shaft 42 extends between the grip 41 and the head 43.

[0038] The glove 20 may be manufactured using the above-described slip-prevention sheet 10. For example, the slip-prevention sheet 10 may be used as a surface material for the glove 20. In this case, either surface 10a or surface 10a of the sheet 10 may be exposed so as to contact the grip 41 when the golfer is holding the grip 41. Therefore, the ceramic powder of the ceramic layers 14 or 15 may provide reliable frictional contact for the grip 41. Although not shown in the drawings, the glove 20 may also include a suitable inner layer that directly contacts the left hand 38 of the golfer.

[0039] The glove 20 may include a palm portion 22, a thumb portion 23, an index finger portion 24, a middle finger portion 25, an annular finger portion 26 and a little finger portion 27. Each portion will contact the grip 41 when the golfer is holding the grip 41. Therefore, the golfer can reliably grasp the grip 41 with both hands 31 and 38 and the portions 22 to 27 of the glove 20 will provide reliable frictional contact for the grip 41 in order to minimize the chances of slippage during a golf swing.

[0040] Although the slip-prevention sheet 10 may be used as a surface material for covering the entire surface of the glove 20, the slip-prevention sheet 10 may be used for only a part(s) of the glove 20. For example, the slip prevention sheet 10 may be used for a portion of the surface of the respective palm portion 22, thumb portion 23, index finger portion 24, middle finger portion 25, annular finger portion 26 and little finger portion 27.

[0041] Further, although the above representative embodiment has been described in connection with a slip-prevention sheet that includes a base layer made of the tanned skin of a sheep, an emu and other animals, the present invention also may be applied to slip-prevention sheet that includes a base layer made of synthetic leather. In such an alternative embodiment, the dye layer may be replaced with an adhesive layer, e.g. a polyurethane adhesive layer that may be applied onto the base layer. The ceramic powder may be spread over the adhesive layer and the adhesive layer may then be solidified or cured to fix the ceramic powder onto the base layer.

Claims

1. A sheet comprising ceramic powder adhered onto a surface of the sheet.

2. A sheet as in claim 1, further including a dye layer adhering the ceramic powder to the surface of the sheet.

3. A glove comprising a sheet as in claim 1 as a surface material of at least a portion of the glove.

4. A glove as in claim 3, wherein the glove includes a palm portion and finger portions, and wherein the sheet is used as a surface material of a part of the palm portion or the finger portion that contacts an object when a person wearing the glove grasps the object.

5. A glove comprising a sheet as in claim 2 as a surface material of at least a portion of the glove.

6. A glove as in claim 5, wherein the glove includes a palm portion and finger portions, and wherein the sheet is used as a surface material of a part of the palm portion or the finger portion that contacts an object when a person wearing the glove grasps the object.

7. A slip-prevention sheet comprising a surface layer having ceramic powder adhered thereto.

8. A slip-prevention sheet as in claim 7, further including a base layer on which the surface layer is formed.

9. A slip-prevention sheet as in claim 8, wherein the surface layer further comprising a dye layer that adheres the ceramic powder to the base layer.

10. A slip-prevention sheet as in claim 7, wherein the ceramic powder has a particle size of about one-tenth of the thickness of the dye layer.

11. A slip-prevention sheet as in claim 10, wherein the ceramic powder is selected from the group consisting of pottery powder and porcelain powder

12. A slip-prevention sheet as in claim 8, wherein the base layer is selected from the group consisting of an animal skin and synthetic leather.

13. A method for manufacturing the slip-prevention sheet of claim 1, comprising:

dipping a sheet having a base layer into a dye bath containing dye in a liquid phase and forming a dye layer on the base layer;

adding ceramic powder to the dye in the dye bath so as to adhere the ceramic powder onto the dye layer; and

removing the sheet from the dye bath and drying the dye layer in order to solidify the dye layer.

14. A method as in claim 13, wherein the base layer is selected from the group consisting of animal skin and synthetic leather.

15. A glove comprising the slip-prevention sheet as in claim 7 as a surface material of the glove.

16. A glove as in claim 15, wherein the glove comprises a palm portion and finger portions, and wherein the slip-prevention sheet is disposed as a surface material for at least portion of the pal portion or the finger portions that contacts an object when a person wearing the glove grasps the object.

17. A glove as in claim 15, wherein the glove is a golf glove.

18. A glove as in claim 15, wherein the slip-prevention sheet includes a base layer onto which the surface layer is formed, and wherein the surface layer comprises a dye layer that adheres the ceramic powder to the base layer.