Weight Lifting Gloves with Barbell Stop

Abstract

The weight lifting glove has a barbell stop which is either a singular, laterally extending stop element or a series of aligned stop elements above the crease of the user's wrist, generally extending from the thenar to the hypothenar of the palm. The stop is mounted on or within said anterior glove cover and is elevated above a surface of the anterior glove cover. The stop is adopted to restrain a barbell grasped by the gloved hand of the user. The stop may be rigid or slightly compressible. In general, is a semi-cylindrical shape.

Description

This is a regular patent application claiming the benefit of provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/682,473, filed Aug. 13, 2012 entitled “Weight Lifting Glove with Barbell Stay,” the contents of which is incorporated herein by reference thereto.

The present invention relates to a weight lifting glove with a stop bar or series of raised buttons which prevents the barbell, held by the gloved hand of a user, from slipping off the user's palm during a weight lifting exercise.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Weight lifting gloves have long been used by gym enthusiasts. These gloves typically include finger holes, through which extend the phalanges of the user's fingers, an anterior cover portion which cover the palm-side of the user's hand, and a dorsal side glove cover section which covers the outside of a user's hand.

Occasionally, a weight lifter while doing barbell presses, may experience that the barbell slips from the user's gloved hand. Although the thumb wraps around one portion of the barbell and the index finger wraps around the laterally opposing portion of the barbell, the bar sometimes slips off the bottom of the gloved hand near or past the crease of the wrist.

The present invention solves this problem associated with the prior art gloves.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a weight lifting glove with a barbell stop.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a weight lifting glove which has a barbell stop above the crease of the wrist and wherein the stop extends laterally across the user's hand.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The weight lifting glove has a barbell stop which is either a singular, laterally extending stop element or a series of aligned stop elements above the crease of the user's wrist, and better yet extending from the thenar to the hypothenar of the user's palm. The stop is mounted on or within said anterior cover side of said glove and substantially extends laterally across the glove, elevated above a surface of the anterior glove cover. The stop is adopted to restrain a barbell grasped by the gloved hand of the user. The stop may be rigid or slightly compressible. In general, is a semi-cylindrical shape.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further objects and advantages of the present invention can be found in the detailed description of the preferred embodiments when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 diagrammatically illustrates the anterior side of a user's gloved hand with the barbell stop laterally extending across a lower region of the glove;

FIG. 2 diagrammatically illustrates a dorsal side of the gloved hand;

FIGS. 3-4 diagrammatically illustrate a unitary bar as a stop, each bar being either a rigid item or a substantially compressive item;

FIG. 5 diagrammatically illustrates the lateral stop comprising a plurality of aligned stops (ridges, buttons or raised lands);

FIG. 6 diagrammatically illustrates a pair of stops which together form a lateral stop element extending across the interior cover of the glove wherein the stops are laterally spaced apart; and

FIG. 7 diagrammatically illustrates the two element stop system.

DETAIL DESCRIPTIONS OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention relates to a weight lifting glove with a barbell stop.

The new feature is a support stay element protruding above the surface plane of the palm cover of the glove. The stay stop element protrudes as a bump or build-up over the palm cover. In this manner, when the user does curl exercises with a dumbbell bar or over head lifts with the bar, the stay element acts as a stop on the user's gloved hand. Of course, the user's fingers wrap around the dumbbell bar. The stay stop element creates a slight rest point for the bar thereby enhancing the user's grip on the bar and permitting a better grip on the bar. The stay acts as a stop for the bar. The stay stop element may be a solid metal or plastic. The stay may be a built-up cushion of softer material that is sewn into the palm cover of glove. Stay stop element may span the lateral extent of the glove or may be segmented into 2 or 3 short segments. If segmented, the segments comprising the stay stop element should be laterally aligned to form a stop-like structure.

FIGS. 1 and 2 are discussed concurrently herein. Similar numerals designate similar items herein. The palm-side of the hand 10 is the anterior side 9 and is sometimes called the palmar side 9. The back side of the hand 10 is called the dorsal side 7 and is shown in FIG. 2. Thenar 25 is the palmar fascia near the base of the thumb phalange 11. The hypothenar 23 is the outer pad of the palmar fascia laterally opposite thenar 25 on the anterior side 9 of the user's hand. The palmar fascia is a firm layer of soft tissue that stabilizes the palm of the hand.

Phalanges are the finger bones in the fingers. Carpals are the wrist bones. Joints are places where bones fit together allowing movement. The palmar fascia is a firm layer of soft tissue that stabilizes the palm of your hand.

Hand 10 is substantially covered by weight lifting glove 12 in FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 shows the anterior side 9 of the palm side of hand 10. FIG. 2 shows dorsal side 7 of hand 10. Glove 12 is shown in both FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. FIG. 2 shows a dorsal glove cover 6 which substantially covers dorsal surface 7 of hand 10. In a similar manner, anterior side 9 of hand 10 is covered by anterior glove section 4. Glove 12 includes a plurality of finger holes 14, 16, 18, and 20 through which fingers 13, 15, 17 and 19 extend. Thumb 11 passes through thumb hole 8 of glove 12. Typically, these weight lifting gloves 12 extend down to a wrist crease 21 of the user. A stop 30 is mounted on or within anterior cover side 4 of glove 12. In the illustrated embodiment, a unitary bar 32 is sewn into anterior glove cover 4 as noted by seam lines 34. The stop preferably is a semi-cylindrical element.

Stop 30 extends laterally generally from the base of thumb 11, which is called thenar 25 to generally near the laterally opposing hypothenar 23. In other words, the lateral bar 30 rises above the surface plane 4 of the anterior glove cover section 4. Stop element 30 may be a built-up cloth element.

FIGS. 3, 4, 5 generally are cross sections from section line A′-A″ in FIG. 1. In FIG. 3, stop 30 is formed by a relatively solid unitary bar 36 within the interior cover 4 of glove 12. The stop extends between thenar 25 and hypothenar 23.

FIG. 4 diagrammatically illustrates that stop 30 and, more particularly stop insert 36, is a semi-compressible item. With the semi-compressible element, the stop can conform to the curvature of the user's hand between thenar 25 and hypothenar 23.

FIG. 5 shows that stop 30 includes a plurality of stop elements 40a, 40b. The plurality of stop elements 40a, 40b are laterally aligned. In FIG. 6, a pair of stops 42a, 42b are mounted within anterior glove cover such that stop 30 is a composite structure formed by laterally spaced raised ridges 30a and 30b. The stop elements 42a, 42b are sewn into the anterior glove cover by seam 34, 34a, 34b.

FIG. 7 shows the laterally spaced apart stops 30a, 30b, which are disposed substantially at the same lateral location across the hand. The stop elements (FIG. 7), may be a plurality (two or more) of ridges, compressible elements, raised lands, raised button-like mounds, raised rivets, incompressible stop elements or other structures raised above the anterior glove surface 4.

The claims appended hereto are meant to cover modifications and changes within the scope and spirit of the present invention.

Claims

1. A weight lifting glove with a barbell stop comprising:

a glove adopted to fit over a hand of a user, said hand having fingers extending from a main hand-body and having on its anterior palmar side a palmar fascia thenar region proximal a base of a thumb and a palmar fascia hypothenar region laterally opposite said thenar region, said glove having finger holes for said fingers and said glove having anterior and dorsal cover sections adopted to substantially cover said anterior side and a dorsal side of said user's hand;

a stop mounted on or within said anterior cover side of said glove substantially extending laterally across said glove from said hypothenar region to said thenar region, said stop elevated above a surface of said anterior cover side, said stop adopted to restrain a barbell grasped by the gloved hand of the user.

2. A weight lifting glove as claimed in claim 1 wherein said stop is sewn into said anterior cover.

3. A weight lifting glove as claimed in claim 2 wherein said stop is unitary bar laterally extending across said anterior cover of said glove.

4. A weight lifting glove as claimed in claim 2 wherein said stop is a plurality of aligned stops laterally extending across said anterior cover of said glove.

5. A weight lifting glove as claimed in claim 2 wherein said stop is a pair of stops, together forming a lateral bar extending across said anterior cover of said glove, said stops being laterally spaced apart.

6. A weight lifting glove as claimed in claim 3 wherein said bar is one of a rigid material or a compressible material and said bar forms at least a semi-cylindrical stop element.