INDICATOR GLOVES

Abstract

An indicator glove includes indicators such as numerals, icons, symbols and color change portion along at least one finger portion and/or a thumb portion which enables a user to make comparative measurements without removing the glove or relying on an external measuring device. The glove may be made of latex for medical uses or leather, cloth or other appropriate material. The indicators may be embossed or raised to allow a user to feel the marks as well. The plurality of marks may be printed, molded or burned in with a laser marking device. In the color change embodiment, the glove itself may be made of an appropriate material or may have a portion embedded in an area to indicate the depth of a liquid by changing color or hue.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority and herein incorporates by reference U.S. provisional patent application 61/478,266, filed Apr. 22, 2011.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The human hand has twenty-seven bones and is a miracle of dexterity. Because of the hand, humans have been able to build the modern world. For all its virtue, the hand remains vulnerable to injury. To counter this weakness, gloves have been developed to cover and protect the hand. It is generally believed that the first gloves were mitten-like and made of animal skin and used to protect the hand from cold and injury.

Eventually, gloves became a status symbol and were worn as a symbol of power. Some gloves were made for eating before the days of the spoon and fork because of their virtue of protecting the wearer from hot food. In general, gloves have a long history and have been protecting and adorning human hands for millennia.

While gloves can protect the hand, they also impede some of the dexterity of the hand. It can be difficult to manipulate and use tools such as a measuring device. There is a need for a glove that allows a user to easily perform comparative measurements without having to remove the glove.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An indicator glove includes indicators such as numerals, icons, symbols and color change portion along at least one finger portion and/or a thumb portion which enables a user to make comparative measurements without removing the glove or relying on an external measuring device. The glove may be made of latex for medical uses or leather, cloth or other appropriate material. The indicators may be embossed or raised to allow a user to feel the marks as well. The plurality of marks may be printed, molded or burned in with a laser marking device. In the color change embodiment, the glove itself may be made of an appropriate material or may have a portion embedded in an area to indicate the depth of a liquid by changing color or hue.

Other features and advantages of the instant invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention which refers to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a glove with a numbered index according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a glove with a measuring numbered index according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of a glove with a graphical index according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of a glove with two indices according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of a glove with two indices according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an illustration of a glove with a numbered index according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7A is an illustration of a glove with a numbered index and a liquid depth indicator portion.

FIG. 7B is an illustration of a glove with a numbered index and a liquid depth indicator portion showing liquid depth.

FIG. 8A is an illustration of a glove with a numbered index and a liquid depth indicator portion.

FIG. 8B is an illustration of a glove with a numbered index and a liquid depth indicator portion showing liquid depth.

FIG. 9A is an illustration of a glove with a numbered index and a liquid depth indicator portion.

FIG. 9B is an illustration of a glove with a numbered index and a liquid depth indicator portion showing liquid depth.

FIG. 10A is an illustration of a glove with a graphical index and a liquid depth indicator portion.

FIG. 10B is an illustration of a glove with a graphical index and a liquid depth indicator portion showing liquid depth.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following detailed description of the invention, reference is made to the drawings in which reference numerals refer to like elements, and which are intended to show by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. It is understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that structural changes may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, an indicator glove 100 is shown having a series of numbers 120 appearing along a portion of a glove 110. Numbers 120 are useful to the user for indicating the size or position of another object. Additionally, the finger with the indices 120 may be inserted into an opening and the depth of insertion can be determined by referring to indices 120.

Glove 110 may be a latex or nitrile surgical glove, plastic coated cloth, leather or other suitable material. Number indices 120 may be printed using a silk screen procedure or may be laser etched. Other methods of producing number indices 120 may be used as known in the art such as embossing or molding. The latex or nitrile embodiment is especially useful for physicians where comparative measurements of the size or depth of insertion are important.

Referring now to FIG. 2, an indicator glove 100 is shown having a series of measuring marks 140 printed or embossed along a finger portion of glove 110. Measuring marks 140 may be in inches or centimeters or any other suitable measuring scheme. Of course, a customized measurement index may be used for specialized applications such as in a production line where a part has to be repeatedly located a particular distance. In this embodiment, a single mark or several specific marks may be used that correspond to the selected position.

In use, a measurement may be obtained by placing an object next to measurement indices 140 without referring to an external measuring device. This allows the wearer to quickly and efficiently measure without having to remove glove 110 or to use an external measuring device such as a tape measure or ruler.

Now referring to FIG. 3, indicator glove 100 is shown with a plurality of indicator marks 150 that are represented by a geometric shape. The shape shown is meant to be representative. Any suitable shape may be used to indicate the relative position on glove 110. Although the marks 150 are shown on the palm side of glove 110, marks 150 may be positioned in any suitable location including on the opposite side.

Referring now to FIG. 4, indicator glove 100 is shown having glove 110 with numeric indicators 120 along an index finger portion and secondary numeric indicators 160 along a thumb portion. In this way, a user has two sections for measurements available to them depending on the orientation of the object to be measured. Of course, geometric symbols may be used as shown in FIG. 3 in place of numbers.

Now referring to FIG. 5, indicator glove 100 is shown having glove 110 with numeric indicators 120 and secondary indicators 170 along another finger portion. This embodiment allows greater flexibility to the user by providing two areas with numeric indicators appear. Of course, numeric indices could be provided on other finger portions (not shown).

FIG. 6 shows indicator glove 100 having numeric indicators 120 which are larger in size than those shown in FIG. 1. This increases visibility and allows gloves 100 to be used in applications not requiring small measurements. Of course, numeric indicators 120 may be placed on more than 1 finger portion as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

Referring now to FIGS. 7A and 7B, indicator glove 100 is shown having a liquid or temperature contact indicator portion 180 disposed on a finger portion of glove 110. When glove 110 comes in contact with a liquid, contact indicator portion changes color 190 to give the user a measurement of the depth of the liquid. In the case where a temperature sensitive material is used, the contact indicator portion changes color in response to a temperature change of the liquid. Contact indicator may be a liquid crystal material, dye, ink, paint, paper or polymer. In this embodiment, the indicator material 180 is attached to glove 110. It may be molded into the glove material or it may be applied to the surface of the glove. FIG. 7A shows glove 110 before contact with liquid and FIG. 7B illustrates the response to liquid contact.

Now referring to FIGS. 8A and 8B, indicator glove 100 is shown having a contact indicator portion 210 that changes color or shade to indicate contact with a liquid or a temperature change depending on the material used. Where the change is produced in response to contact with a liquid, numeric indictors 120 are used to determine the depth of the liquid. In this embodiment, at least a portion of the glove 110 is made from a material that visually changes in response to environmental changes. As discussed above, liquid crystal or polymers may be used as is known in the art. FIG. 8A shows glove 110 before contact with liquid and FIG. 8B illustrates the response to liquid contact.

In reference to FIGS. 9A and 9B, indictor glove 100 is shown having a visual indictor portion 210 on four fingers. Again, this is meant to illustrate different embodiments such as shown, but it should be understood that other configurations are possible such as indictors on two fingers, on thumb portion, etc. As discussed above, FIG. 9A shows glove 110 before contact with liquid and FIG. 9B illustrates the response to liquid contact.

Now referring to FIGS. 10A and 10B, indicator glove 100 is shown having a contact indicator portion 210 that changes color or shade to indicate contact with a liquid or a temperature change depending on the material used. Where the change is produced in response to contact with a liquid, graphic indictors 150 are used to determine the depth of the liquid. FIG. 10A shows glove 110 before contact with liquid and FIG. 10B illustrates the response to liquid contact.

Additionally, indicator glove 110 may be used by a physician to keep track of instruments by serving as a visual reminder to account for all instruments in order to minimize the risk of leaving something inside a patient during surgery.

Numeric and graphic indicators may be printed, pressed, embossed, laser etched, burned or other appropriate method of reliably providing indicators on glove as is known in the art.

Although the instant invention has been described in relation to particular embodiments thereof, many other variations and modifications and other uses will become apparent to those skilled in the art.

Claims

1. An indicator glove comprising:

at least one indicator disposed on a finger portion of a glove; and

said at least one indicator being adapted to allow a user to visually make a measurement.

2. The indicator glove of claim 1 wherein said at least one indicator is a numeric indicator.

3. The indicator glove of claim 1 wherein said at least one indicator is a graphical indicator.

4. The indicator glove of claim 1 further comprising a contact indicator portion disposed on at least one finger portion of said glove wherein said contact indicator portion visually indicates contact with a liquid.

5. The indicator glove of claim 4 wherein said contact indicator portion visually indicates the depth of said liquid.

6. An indicator glove comprising:

at least one indicator disposed on a finger portion of a glove;

said at least one indicator being adapted to allow a user to visually make a measurement; and

said indicator glove being made from a color change material wherein when said finger portion comes in contact with a liquid, the color changes to indicate the depth of contact.

7. The indicator glove of claim 6 wherein said at least one indicator is a numeric indicator.

8. The indicator glove of claim 6 wherein said at least one indicator is a graphical indicator.

9. An indicator glove comprising:

a plurality of indicators linearly disposed on a finger portion of a glove; and

said plurality of indicators being adapted to allow a user to visually make a measurement with reference to said plurality of indicators.

10. The indicator glove of claim 9 wherein said plurality of indicators are numeric indicators.

11. The indicator glove of claim 6 wherein said plurality of indicators are graphical indicators.

12. The indicator glove of claim 1 further comprising a contact indicator portion disposed on said finger portion of said glove wherein said contact indicator portion visually indicates contact with a liquid.

13. The indicator glove of claim 4 wherein said contact indicator portion visually indicates the depth of said liquid.