KNIT FABRIC GLOVES AND OTHER KNIT ARTICLES WITH IMPROVED GRIP/PROTECTIVE SURFACES
Knit articles of clothing having grip/protective members and process of manufacturing same. One embodiment comprises depositing an adhesive onto a backside of a sheet of grip/protective material, and fusing the adhesive to the backside of the sheet of grip/protective material using a first heat/pressure procedure. The first heat/pressure procedure forms a film of fused adhesive on at least a portion of the backside of the sheet. The process can continue by cutting the sheet of grip/protective material into a plurality of grip/protective members sized and shaped for the article of clothing, and attaching at least one grip/protective member to a knitted material that defines at least a portion of the article of clothing. The grip/protective member is attached to the knitted material using a second heat/pressure procedure that re-activates the film of fused adhesive and causes a portion of the re-activated fused adhesive to penetrate into the knitted material.
The present disclosure relates to knit articles, such as knit gloves, with leather or other types of grip/protective members.
BACKGROUNDMany gloves are made by cutting sheets of fabric into a number of parts per a predetermined pattern and then sewing these parts together, thereby completing a glove assembly. This production/assembly method is sometimes referred to as a cut-and-sewn glove. These gloves frequently incorporate leather, such as tanned and dyed goat skin or sheep skin, on the surfaces on the palm side. Usually the leather components are attached to the glove by stitching with threads. Sometimes, instead of using leather, a fabric that has been coated with a synthetic or man-made leather surface is incorporated in the glove assembly.
Although cut-and-sewn gloves are quite common, they also have several problems. For example, the stitched seams often split open, and cut-and-sewn gloves can also be uncomfortable because the seams may rub against the user. Cut-and-sewn gloves may also not have the desired degree of flexibility because the seams tend to bind or otherwise restrict movement at the finger joints.
Another existing method of making gloves is knitting a seamless, one-piece glove. Knit gloves are made using specialty knitting machines that have spools of yarns which feed into knitting needle beds. Computer-aided controls with present knitting programs automate the knitting process. When the knitting machine completes a glove, it releases the glove from the knitting bed. The resulting knit glove is a complete glove made seamlessly and in one piece. Unlike cut-and-sewn gloves, knit gloves are made by directly converting yarns into a complete glove such that no sheets of fabric are required.
Many knitted gloves have grip surfaces that are generally applied using screen printing processes. The grip surfaces are often “dots” or “lines” made from a cured “ink,” such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyurethane (PU) or other suitable synthetic materials. These inks are usually applied directly to the knit glove fabric in liquid form using a stencil printing process to form a predetermined pattern of dots, lines, and/or other features. The applied pattern of liquid (or paste) ink is then exposed to a heat source to convert the liquid ink into solid rubber-like grip surfaces. The grip surfaces co-mingle and bond with the fibers of the knit glove fabric.
Although knit gloves with grip surfaces are very useful, there are also some challenges to manufacturing and providing sufficient grip/protective surfaces with knit gloves. For example, in many applications it would be desirable to attach a leather or other non-stretch grip/protective pad to a knit glove to provide more robust protection or a stronger grip. Such separate grip/protective pads, however, may become detached from the knit fabric. Manufacturing knit gloves with bonded leather grip/protective patches is particularly challenging because the leather patches do not adhere well to the knit fabric.
Several embodiments of the technology are directed to knit clothing articles, such as gloves, with grip/protective members attached to the knit articles such that the articles are flexible, expandable and durable. For example, in the case of gloves, the grip/protective members can be leather and/or synthetic pieces (e.g., pads) that are bonded to selected areas of the knitted material at the palms, fingers, knuckles and/or other areas to provide improved protection, gripping and wear resistance. The gloves can be knit of any of a variety of yarns, such as yarns that incorporate an elastane fiber (e.g., Lycra® spandex made by Invista, Inc). Knit fabric gloves that include an elastane fiber exhibit good stretch and return characteristics (e.g., elasticity) which provides good form fitting (e.g., close fitting to the human hand). Also, a single sized glove can fit a variety of hand sizes because the elasticity allows small gloves to expand and comfortably fit large hands. Knit gloves can be manufactured using knitting machines that are computer controlled to automatically produce a one-piece, seamless-glove to which the grip/protective members can be attached. Suitable computer controlled glove knitting machines for producing basic knit fabric gloves without the grip/protective members are well known in the trade, such as the computer controlled knitting machines made by Shima Seiki Mfg. Ltd. of Wakayama, Japan.
One specific yarn that may be knit into a suitable glove is a spun yarn of Nomex®, an aramid fiber, made by the DuPont Company, Wilmington, Del. The yarn is core spun incorporating a Lycra® spandex fiber that is elastic and provides the stretch and return characteristics. A suitable material for the grip/protective members is leather, such as tanned and dyed goat skin approximately 1 mm thick. As explained in more detail below, leather grip/protective members can be bonded to portions of the knit fabric using a powdered heat activated adhesive or a web adhesive, which is a hot melt (synonymous with heat activated) adhesive made in the form of a non-woven fabric form. A suitable powdered adhesive, for example, is made by EMS-Chemie (North America) Inc., Sumter, S.C. A suitable web form of adhesive is made by Bostik, Inc., Middleton, Mass.
In several embodiments of the technology, the grip/protective members are made from an animal hide having a front side or hair side (i.e., the smoother epidermal side of the hide from which the fur or wool has been removed) and a backside (i.e., the opposite side of the hide that was next to the flesh of the animal). The animal hide or a sheet of suitable synthetic grip/protective member material can be prepared for making the grip/protective members by depositing a suitable amount of powdered heat activated adhesive or a sheet of web heat activated adhesive onto the backside of the hide/sheet and then heating the hide/sheet to activate the adhesive. For example, the hide/sheet with the adhesive can be heated by infrared radiation or by direct contact conduction heating to fuse the adhesive to the backside of the hide/sheet. As described in more detail below, direct contact conduction heating with pressure may provide certain benefits compared to non-contact infrared radiation heating.
After the adhesive has cooled and is secured to the backside of the hide/sheet, the desired shapes of grip/protective members are cut from the adhesive coated hide/sheet by any of several instruments. One suitable instrument, for example, is a steel rule die and a die press that cuts the adhesive coated hide/sheet.
The grip/protective members are bonded to the knit portion by placing the fabric glove on the lower platen of a suitable platen press and then driving a heated top platen against the grip/protective members. Suitable heated platen presses are commonly available and may be operated by compressed air or by a hydraulic system. In operation, the upper platen is heated and the press lowers the upper platen and forces the grip/protective members against the fabric glove. Heat from the heated upper platen penetrates through the grip/protective members and activates the adhesive to effect a bond between the grip/protective members and the fabric glove.
The finger pads 120a-d cover only a portion of the circumference of the finger portions. This improves the comfort of the glove compared to pads that encircle the finger portions because the areas of fabric around the finger portions not bonded to leather are the only portions of the knitted mat that can stretch to accommodate the shapes and various sizes of different hands or the changing shape and size of a hand as it is articulated. Each finger pad 120a-d and the other grip/protective members can be strategically sized and located to provide protection and wear resistance to selected areas of the glove 100. For example, the pads 120a-d, 122, 124a-b and 126 can be configured for the places of the gloves most likely to be abused or abraded, or areas that are used to grip items or protect a person's hand. The rest of the stretch fabric of the glove provides a secure, comfortable fit and stability to the areas covered by the grip/protective members.
From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that specific embodiments of the invention have been described herein for purposes of illustration, but that various modifications may be made without deviating from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not limited except as by the appended claims.
Claims
1. A process for manufacturing an article of clothing having grip/protective members, comprising:
- depositing an adhesive onto a backside of a sheet of grip/protective material;
- fusing the adhesive to the backside of the sheet of grip/protective material using a first heat/pressure procedure thereby forming a film of fused adhesive on at least a portion of the backside of the sheet;
- cutting the sheet of grip/protective material into a plurality of grip/protective members sized and shaped for the article of clothing; and
- attaching at least one grip/protective member to a knitted material that defines at least a portion of the article of clothing using a second heat/pressure procedure that re-activates the film of fused adhesive thereby causing a portion of the re-activated fused adhesive to penetrate into the knitted material.
2. The process of claim 1, wherein:
- the sheet of grip/protective material comprises a leather piece of an animal hide, and the front side of the leather piece comprises an epidermal side of the animal hide and the backside of the leather piece comprises a side opposite the epidermal side of the animal hide;
- depositing an adhesive onto the backside of the sheet of grip/protective material comprises dispersing a layer of powdered or web adhesive onto at least a portion of the backside of the leather piece;
- fusing the adhesive to the backside of the sheet of grip/protective material comprises pressing a first platen heated to a temperature of about 230 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit against the layer of powder adhesive with a force of about 4 to 50 pounds per square inch for 20-60 seconds; and
- attaching the grip/protective member to the knitted material comprises pressing a second platen heated to a temperature of about 250 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit against the front side of the grip/protective member with a force of about 10 to 250 pounds per square inch for 20-90 seconds.
3. The process of claim 1, wherein the sheet of protective material comprises a front side having a first surface texture and a backside having a second surface texture, wherein the first surface texture is smoother than the second surface texture.
4. The process of claim 3, wherein the sheet of protective material comprises an animal hide.
5. The process of claim 3, wherein the sheet of protective material comprises a synthetic material.
6. The process of claim 1, wherein:
- the knitted material comprises a knitted glove having finger portions, a thumb portion and a palm; and
- attaching the grip/protective member to the knitted material comprises attaching a plurality of grip/protective members to finger portions, at least one grip/protective member to the thumb portion, and at least one grip/protective member to the palm.
7. The process of claim 1, wherein depositing the adhesive onto the backside of the sheet of grip/protective material comprises dispensing a powder adhesive over the entire backside of the sheet of grip/protective material.
8. The process of claim 1, wherein depositing the adhesive onto the backside of the sheet of grip/protective material comprises dispensing a powder adhesive in a pattern having discrete areas of adhesive that are spaced apart from each other on the backside of the sheet of grip/protective material.
9. The process of claim 1, wherein the knitted material includes an elastane fiber.
10. A process of manufacturing a glove, comprising:
- knitting a one-piece, seamless glove including an elastane fiber, wherein the glove has finger portions, a thumb portion and a palm portion;
- providing a plurality of grip/protective members that each have a grip/protective material and a fused adhesive layer, wherein the fused adhesive layer comprises a powder or web adhesive that has been fused with a backside of the grip/protective material by pressing a heated platen against the powder or web adhesive; and
- attaching the grip/protective members to the finger portions, the thumb portion and the palm portion of the glove by placing the fused adhesive layer of the grip/protective members against corresponding portions of the glove, pressing the glove between a heated platen and a bolster plate, and heating the heated platen such that the fused adhesive reflows into interstitial spaces of the knitted glove.
11. The process of claim 10, wherein:
- providing the plurality of grip/protective members comprises (a) providing a sheet of grip/protective material having a leather piece of an animal hide with a front side defined by an epidermal side of the animal hide and a backside defined by a side opposite the epidermal side of the animal hide, (b) dispensing a powder or web adhesive onto at least a portion of the backside of the leather piece, and (c) fusing the adhesive to the backside of the sheet of grip/protective material by pressing a first platen heated to a temperature of about 230 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit against the layer of powder adhesive with a force of about 4 to 50 pounds per square inch for 20-60 seconds; and
- attaching the grip/protective member to a knitted material comprises pressing a second platen heated to a temperature of about 250 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit against the front side of the grip/protective member with a force of abut 10 to 250 pounds per square inch for 20-90.
12. The process of claim 11, wherein dispensing the powder adhesive onto the backside of the sheet of grip/protective material comprises coating the entire backside of the sheet of grip/protective material with the powder adhesive.
13. The process of claim 11, wherein dispensing the powder adhesive onto the backside of the sheet of grip/protective material comprises coating discrete areas of the grip/protective material with the powder adhesive to form a pattern of adhesive area spaced apart from each other on the backside of the sheet of grip/protective material.
14. The process of claim 10, wherein the protective material comprises a front side having a first surface texture and a backside having a second surface texture, wherein the first surface texture is smoother than the second surface texture.
15. The process of claim 14, wherein the sheet of protective material comprises an animal hide.
16. The process of claim 14, wherein the sheet of protective material comprises a synthetic material.
17. An article of clothing, comprising:
- a knitted mat comprising an elastane fiber; and
- a grip/protective member having a front side with a first surface texture, a backside with a second surface texture, and layer of adhesive fused with the backside of the grip/protective member under pressure and an elevated temperature, wherein the first surface texture is smoother than the second surface texture, and wherein the fused adhesive layer is bonded to the knitted mat such that a portion of the fused adhesive layer penetrates into interstitial spaces of the knitted mat.
18. The article of clothing of claim 17, wherein the knitted mat comprises a one-piece, seamless glove having finger portions, a thumb portion, and a palm portion, and the grip/protective member comprises a finger pad attached to one of the finger portions.
19. The article of clothing of claim 17, further comprising a plurality of grip/protective portions attached to the glove at the finger portions, the thumb portion and the palm portion.
20. The article of clothing of claim 17, wherein the knitted mat comprises a sleeve.
Type: Application
Filed: Jul 14, 2009
Publication Date: Jan 21, 2010
Inventor: Cole Williams (Binbridge Island, WA)
Application Number: 12/502,989
International Classification: A41D 19/00 (20060101); D04B 39/00 (20060101);