Shear Management Gloves

Abstract

A glove provides high palm shear force and reduced finger shear force when pulling elongated articles such as a rope, a rod, and the like. A high shear material is applied to a glove palm and a low shear material is applied to inner glove finger surfaces. The fingers are still used to grasp the elongated article, but the shear pulling force on the fingers is reduced and the shear pulling force on the palm is increased. In one embodiment, the high shear material on the palm is a silicone material and the low shear material on the inner finger surfaces is a ballistic material.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to gloves and in particular to utility gloves having a high shear material attached to the palm and a low shear material attached to fingers.

Gloves are often used to grasp and pull elongated articles such as ropes, hoses, bars, and the like. Known gloves include moderate to high shear surfaces on palms and inner finger surfaces to both grasp and pull such elongated articles. The resulting shear forces on the palm and fingers is usually moderate. However, when greater pulling force is required, the grasping by the fingers necessary to provide normal force required to prevent slipping results in very high shear forces on the fingers which may weaken the wearer's grip and cause fatigue, pain, and when experienced frequently or over a long period of time, damage to finger joints.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention addresses the above and other needs by providing a glove which provides high palm shear force and reduced finger shear force when pulling elongated articles such as a rope, a rod, and the like. A high shear material is applied to palm and a low shear material is applied to inner finger surfaces. The fingers are still used to grasp the elongated article, but the shear pulling force on the fingers is reduced and the shear pulling force on the palm is increased. In one embodiment, the high shear material on the palm is a silicone material and the low shear material on the inner finger surfaces is a ballistic material.

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, there is provided a glove with a low shear material on inner finger grasping surfaces. When exerting high pulling forces on an elongated article, shear forces on the fingers may weaken the wearer's grip and cause fatigue, pain, and when experienced frequently or over a long period of time, damage to finger joints. Providing a low shear material on the inner finger surfaces allows a strong grip while reducing the harmful shear forces on the fingers. An example of a low shear material is a ballistic material.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a glove with a high shear material on a glove palm. A combination of a low shear material on the inner finger surfaces, and the high shear material on the glove palm, allows the wearer to tightly grasp the elongated article using the fingers and generate significant shear force through the palm without producing harmful shear forces on the fingers. A preferred low shear material on the fingers has one fourth the grip (e.g., transmits about one fourth of the shear force) of the high shear material on the palm. One example of the low shear material includes an aramid fiber material sold under the trademark Kevlar® and another example includes Kevlar® and nylon.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

The above and other aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following more particular description thereof, presented in conjunction with the following drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a back of hand view of a shear management glove according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a palm of hand view of the shear management glove according to the present invention.

Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding components throughout the several views of the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following description is of the best mode presently contemplated for carrying out the invention. This description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of describing one or more preferred embodiments of the invention. The scope of the invention should be determined with reference to the claims.

In the description the terms up and down correspond to towards the fingers and away from the fingers respectively.

A back of hand view of a shear management glove 10 according to the present invention is shown in FIG. 1 and a palm of hand view of the shear management glove 10 is shown in FIG. 2. The shear management glove 10 addresses issues present in known gloves by providing a high friction palm surface 18 which increases the share of shear force communicated between the palm 11 and an elongated article, and a low friction inner finger surface material 16a-16d which decreases the amount of shear force communicated between the fingers and the elongated article. High shear force communicated between the fingers and the elongated article may weaken the wearer's grip and cause fatigue, pain, and when experienced frequently or over a long period of time, damage to finger joints.

The shear management glove 10 includes a glove body 17 which preferably is an open finger and thumb design allowing a wearer's fingers to extend through ends of glove fingers 12a-12d and the wearer's thumb to extend through an end of the glove thumb 14. The shear management glove 10 further preferably includes a wrist strap 20 for tightening the shear management glove 10 on the wearer's hand. The shear management glove 10 is preferably a tight skin-like fit minimize or prevent an inner surface 22 of the shear management glove 10 from sliding on the wearer's hand.

The inner finger surface material 16a-16d resides on the glove fingers 12a-12d facing the palm 11 when the fingers are closed. The inner finger surface material 16a-16d preferably reach along the glove fingers 12a-12d nearly to the bases 13 of the fingers, and out along the fingers 12a-12d nearly to the ends of the glove fingers 12a-12d, and the inner finger surface material 16a-16d is nearly the widths of the glove fingers 12a-12d. The inner finger surface material 16a-16d is preferably a strong low friction material, for example a ballistic material, minimizing the shear forces on the wearer's fingers. In one embodiment, the inner finger surface material 16a-16d reaches to the ends of the fingers 12a-12d. A suitable material is sold under the name Ballistic Material by Zhongshan Hongxu Daily Products Co., Ltd in Zhongshan City, China.

The palm surface 18 reaches up to within about ¼ to ½ inch from the bases 13 of the fingers and down to within about ¼ to ½ inch from the base 15 of the glove thumb 14, and across the shear management glove 10 to within about ¼ to ½ inch from the end of the thumb 14 to the opposite side of the palm 11. The palm surface 18 is preferably a high friction material, for example a silicone material, or a polyurethane silicone blend, communicating the shear forces to the wearer's palm. A suitable material is Silicone PU manufactured by Zhongshan Hongxu Daily Products Co., Ltd in Zhongshan City, China. In one embodiment, the palm surface 18 communicates about four times the shear force to the wearer's palm that the inner finger surface material 16a-16d conducts to the wearer's fingers.

While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments and applications thereof, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention set forth in the claims.

Claims

1. A shear management glove comprising:

a glove body;

glove fingers extending from the glove body; and

low friction material attached to inner surfaces of the glove fingers, the low friction material configured to cover nearly all of a surface of the glove fingers making contact with an elongated article when the glove is worn while grasping the elongated article, the low friction material reducing shear forces between the glove fingers and the elongated article.

2. The shear management glove of claim 1, wherein the low friction material reaches down nearly to bases of the glove fingers.

3. The shear management glove of claim 2, wherein:

the glove is an open finger glove; and

the low friction material reaches up nearly to ends of the glove fingers.

4. The shear management glove of claim 3, wherein the low friction material reaches down proximal to the bases of the glove fingers.

5. The shear management glove of claim 4, wherein the low friction material reaches nearly the widths of the glove fingers

6. The shear management glove of claim 5, wherein the low friction material is a ballistic material.

7. The shear management glove of claim 1, wherein the glove includes four fingers, the low friction material residing on the inner surfaces of each of the four fingers.

8. The shear management glove of claim 7, wherein the four fingers are open fingers.

9. The shear management glove of claim 1, further including a high friction material attached to a glove palm of the glove.

10. The shear management glove of claim 9, wherein the high friction material reaches up to within about ¼ to ½ inch from the bases of the fingers.

11. The shear management glove of claim 10, wherein the high friction material reaches down to within about ¼ to ½ inch from a base of the glove thumb.

12. The shear management glove of claim 11, wherein the high friction material reached nearly to an end of the glove thumb.

13. The shear management glove of claim 12, wherein the high friction material reached across the glove palm to nearly a side opposite to the glove thumb.

14. The shear management glove of claim 13, wherein the high friction material is a silicone material.

15. The shear management glove of claim 13, wherein the high friction material is a polyurethane silicone blend.

16. The shear management glove of claim 9, wherein the high friction material on the palm has about four times the grip of the low friction material on the fingers.

17. The shear management glove of claim 9, wherein the high friction material on the palm communicates about four times the shear force of the low friction material on the fingers.

18. A shear management glove comprising:

a glove body;

glove fingers extending from the glove body;

low friction ballistic material attached to inner surfaces of the glove fingers, the low friction material configured to cover nearly all of a surface of the glove fingers making contact with an elongated article when the glove is worn while grasping the elongated article and reducing shear forces between the glove fingers and the elongated article; and

high friction silicone material attached to a glove palm of the glove, the high friction material configured to cover nearly all the glove palm making contact with the elongated article when the glove is worn while grasping the elongated article and increasing shear forces between the glove palm and the elongated article, the high friction material communicating about four times the shear force to the palm that the low friction material communicates to the fingers.

19. A shear management glove comprising:

a glove body;

open ended glove fingers extending up from the glove body;

an open ended glove thumb extending laterally from the glove body;

low friction material attached to inner surfaces of the glove fingers, the low friction material reaching: up nearly to ends of the glove fingers; down proximal to bases of the glove fingers; and nearly the widths of the glove fingers; and

high friction material having about four times the grip of the low friction material attached to a glove palm of the glove, the high friction material reaching: up to within about ¼ to ½ inch from the bases of the glove fingers; down to within about ¼ to ½ inch from a base of the glove thumb; nearly to an end of the glove thumb; and across the glove palm to nearly a side opposite to the glove thumb.