PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT
Personal protective equipment configured to reduce the discomfort of the protruding joint of the conventional personal protective equipment includes a sleeve, at least one adhesive membrane, and at least one thin film. The sleeve is formed by curving an elastic fabric and joining two opposite joining edges of the elastic fabric in a butting manner. The adhesive membrane has an adhesive side adhesively attached to a surface of the sleeve over an area where the two opposite joining edges of the sleeve extend. The thin film covers and is adhesively attached to another adhesive side of the adhesive membrane. The personal protective equipment, therefore, has a flat joint and is spared those prior art drawbacks attributable to the protuberance of a hemmed border or overlap seam, such as an uncomfortable sensation and a lack of conformity to the contour of the body part being protected.
The present invention relates to the structure of personal protective equipment. More particularly, the invention relates to personal protective equipment that has a flat seam and can therefore be comfortably worn and conform to the contour of the body part being protected.
2. Description of Related ArtPersonal protective equipment such as elbow braces and knee pads are generally used to provide protection during sports or for rehabilitation purposes. Typically, such protective equipment includes a constrictive sleeve to be worn tightly around a joint of the human body (e.g., an elbow, wrist, or knee) so as to prevent undesirable displacement of the joint and/or protect the muscles around the joint from straining. When padded, such protective equipment can further cushion the impact of an external force on the protected body part.
The aforesaid personal protective equipment can be formed in many ways, one of which resembles the manufacturing process of a sock and is carried as follows. Yarns incorporated with elastic strips are woven in a circular manner to form a tubular sleeve. The sleeve is then cut to the desired length, before the cut edges are hemmed, i.e., folded back and sewn in place. While the sleeve-type personal protective equipment can be called seamless, the hemming forms a thick border at each end of the sleeve. Therefore, in addition to the roughness of the borders, a wearer may feel that the sleeve does not conform to the contour of the body part being protected. Another method of forming the foregoing personal protective equipment involves cutting an elastic fabric to an appropriate width and sewing the two lateral edges of the fabric together in an overlapping manner to form a sleeve. As the overlap seam must form a protuberance, the resulting protective equipment will not conform perfectly to the contour of the body part being protected.
Referring to
The foregoing personal protective equipment is also disadvantaged by the fact that it is typically worn around a joint and therefore tends to be moved out of its intended position when the wearer moves the joint frequently (e.g., while running or during a ball game). The wearer has to pull the personal protective equipment back to its original position each time the protective equipment is displaced, which causes inconvenience of use.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn view of the aforementioned drawbacks of the conventional personal protective equipment, the inventor of the present invention provides personal protective equipment that includes a sleeve, at least one adhesive membrane, and at least one thin film. The sleeve is formed by curving an elastic fabric and butt-joining the two opposite joining edges of the elastic fabric. The adhesive membrane has an adhesive side adhesively attached to a surface of the sleeve over an area where the butt joint extends. The thin film covers and is adhesively attached to another adhesive side of the plastic membrane.
Preferably, the adhesive membrane and the thin film are adhesively attached to each of the inner and outer surfaces of the sleeve over an area where the butt joint extends.
Preferably, the personal protective equipment further includes a pad provided on the outer surface of the sleeve.
Preferably, the pad covers the butt joint of the sleeve completely.
Preferably, the pad includes a plurality of protruding blocks on the surface.
Preferably, some of the protruding blocks have a greater height than the others.
Preferably, the pad forms a pattern or design so as to support or protect the body part to which the personal protective equipment is applied.
Preferably, the pad includes a main body and a strip-like pad extending from an edge of the main body.
Preferably, the main body of the pad and the strip-like pad extending therefrom are each provided with a plurality of protruding blocks.
Preferably, the inner surface of the sleeve is provided with an anti-slip or massaging feature, and the anti-slip or massaging feature is preferably strip-like, mesh-like, or dot-shaped projections.
The butt joint of the personal protective equipment described above is flat and therefore free of the drawbacks associated with the protuberance of the hemmed borders or overlap seams of the conventional personal protective equipment, e.g., an uncomfortable sensation and a lack of conformity to the contour of the body part being protected. In addition, the pad on the outer surface of the personal protective equipment provides anti-impact and anti-muscle strain protection to the body part to which the personal protective equipment is applied. Also, the anti-slip or massaging feature on the inner surface of the personal protective equipment prevents the personal protective equipment from sliding during use and serves to massage the protected area so as to reduce the uncomfortable sensation of long-term constriction by the personal protective equipment.
At least one embodiment of the present invention is described below with reference to the accompanying drawings to expound the contents of, and a preferred mode of implementing, the invention. It should be pointed out that implementation of the invention is by no means limited to the details set forth and shown in the following description and the drawings. The invention can be carried out in many different ways in various applications. Besides, it is understood that the wording and terms used herein serve explicatory purposes only and should not be construed as limiting.
Referring to
The personal protective equipment shown in
Referring to
The pad 20 may have a uniform thickness or, as shown in
Aside from having the protruding blocks 22, the pad 20 itself may be configured for protection. For example, the pad 20 may form a pattern or design that allows the pad 20 to support or protect the body part to which the personal protective equipment is applied. For example, the pad 20 may have a strip-like configuration for securing, tightening up, or pressurizing the muscles or fasciae in the body part to which the personal protective equipment is applied, with a view to reinforcing the muscles or fasciae.
As a variant of the pad configurations described above, the pad 20 may include a pattern or design as well as a plurality of protruding blocks. In
Referring to
The embodiments described above are only some preferred ones of the present invention and are not intended to be restrictive of the scope of the invention. Based on the present disclosure, a person of ordinary skill in the art may change or modify the disclosed embodiments without departing from the technical spirit of the invention. The scope of patent protection sought by the applicant is defined by the appended claims.
Claims
1. Personal protective equipment, comprising:
- a sleeve formed by curving an elastic fabric and joining two opposite joining edges of the elastic fabric in a butting manner;
- at least one adhesive membrane having an adhesive side adhesively attached to a surface of the sleeve over an area where the two opposite joining edges extend; and
- at least one thin film covering and adhesively attached to another adhesive side of the adhesive membrane.
2. The personal protective equipment of claim 1, wherein the sleeve has an inner surface and an outer surface, a said adhesive membrane and a said thin film are adhesively attached to the inner surface of the sleeve over an area where the two opposite joining edges extend, and another said adhesive membrane and another said thin film are adhesively attached to the outer surface of the sleeve over an area where the two opposite joining edges extend.
3. The personal protective equipment of claim 1, further comprising a pad provided on an outer surface of the sleeve.
4. The personal protective equipment of claim 3, wherein the pad covers the two opposite joining edges of the sleeve completely.
5. The personal protective equipment of claim 3, wherein the pad has a surface provided with a plurality of protruding blocks.
6. The personal protective equipment of claim 5, wherein some of the protruding blocks are higher than the other protruding blocks.
7. The personal protective equipment of claim 3, wherein the pad forms a pattern or design configured for supporting or protecting a human body part to which the personal protective equipment is applied.
8. The personal protective equipment of claim 3, wherein the pad comprises a main body and a strip-like pad extending from an edge of the main body.
9. The personal protective equipment of claim 8, wherein the main body of the pad and the strip-like pad extending therefrom are each provided with a plurality of protruding blocks.
10. The personal protective equipment of claim 1, wherein the sleeve has an inner surface provided with an anti-slip or massaging feature, and the anti-slip or massaging feature is strip-like, mesh-like, or dot-shaped projections.
Type: Application
Filed: Jul 15, 2019
Publication Date: Jul 23, 2020
Inventor: CHUN-KAI HUANG (TAICHUNG CITY)
Application Number: 16/511,193