Easy-On Thumb Section Mittens and Gloves

Abstract

A simple and streamlined easy-on thumb section mitten or glove apparatus provides efficient and effective mounting and dismounting on to a hand of a user. The apparatus not only provides continuous protection during any activity to the user, but also allows the user to effectively perform the activity with satisfying comfort by keeping the user's thumb in a natural position. The unique shape and configuration of the thumb section include a specifically designed palm to thumb hole and a tunnel which hooks the user's thumb into the thumb section pocket. The thumb section includes a substantially wide opening and a downward curved cut pocket from the top to the opening, thus grabbing and correctly mounting the user's thumb. Further, with the addition of a securing mechanism around the wrist the easy-on mitten apparatus becomes secure on the user's hand, yet very easy to put on and take off

Description

The current application is a 371 of international Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) application PCT/IB2019/058957 filed on Oct. 21, 2019.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to mittens and gloves. More specifically, the present invention relates to mittens and gloves with easy-on thumbs that enable a user, especially a young child, developmentally delayed person, disabled person, or elderly person with limited mobility, to efficiently and effectively put them on, keep them on, and remove them from the user's hands prior to, during, and after any activities.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Most parents know and experience the challenge of getting their young children dressed for winter activities, or sometimes a fight when the young children squeeze their fingers into a tight fist when putting on mittens. The ability of a child to enjoy outdoor activities in cold climates can be hampered by inappropriate and restrictive outerwear. Parents and caregivers put a great deal of effort and expense to ensure that the hands of the children stay warm and dry. Young children, such as preschoolers, toddlers, etc., need assistance of an adult to put mittens on their hands since these children have not yet mastered how to properly place the thumb of their hands into the thumb section of the mitten or do not possess sufficient dexterity due to young age. Most existing mittens have a thumb section that protrudes out of a palm section, which makes the mitten difficult for a young child to put the mitten on the hand of the young child. Often, this placement of thumb section on the mitten or glove causes the thumb of the young child ended up in the palm section of the mitten, with other fingers, making it very difficult and frustrating for the young child to hold an object such as a ski pole for an outdoor activity, or the like. The young children may tend to remove such mittens that are not properly secured to their hands causing danger of injury of their hands exposed in very cold weather. Additionally, many designs of conventional gloves/mittens try to solve this problem by adding a zipper or vent to the thumb section, or by putting the thumb in the center of the glove/mitten, which do not improve the efficiency and/or easiness of a user's access to the thumb section.

One type of existing mitten, knitted mitten, is easier than many other types of mitten to place on the hand of a young child due to the elastic nature of the knitted material and conformance to the shape of the hand. Knitted mittens, however, can easily be removed, either by the child, or by an object such as a sleeve of a coat or jacket. Additionally, knitted mittens tend to easily get wet when they come into contact with rain, ice, and/or wet snow, putting the hand of the young child at risk of freezing.

Another type of existing mittens trying to overcome the drawback of being easily slipped or fallen off the hands of the young children uses a tightly fitting to hold the mitten on by friction. For example, some mittens employ a thin plastic tie to encircle the thumb section and wrist portion. This type of mitten, however, is not suitable for young children, as it is restrictive around the thumb section area. Additionally, the protrusion of the plastic tie may accidentally catch onto objects, distract the young child or even poke the young child in the eye. Further, this type of mittens brings a reduced insulative effect and restriction of the user's thumb section and/or finger movement in the region of compression. Some mittens may be so tightly fitted that blood circulation in the fingers or hand is negatively restricted. Additionally, tightly fitting mittens tend to be difficult to mount on the hand of the young child, either by the child itself or by another person.

Typically, most mitten thumb section holes are made as a circle. In order for the young children, parents and/or caregivers of the young children to easily put the mittens on, the thumb section of some mittens are designed and made with a large size. This type of gloves/mittens are in the shape of a circle because a user has to have appropriate dexterity to fit the thumb directly into the circle, however, this is impossible for those users with limited mobility and dexterity as well as small children to use these gloves/mittens effectively. Many conventional gloves/mittens are made thick with many layers, thus causing difficulty for small children and those with cognitive or developmental delays, or individuals with limited dexterity, such as elderly or those with arthritis. Additionally, the mittens do not feel comfortable due to the large size of the thumbs and the design of unnatural thumb section shape. Further, the conventional mittens and gloves do not provide effective solutions to the users such as the developmentally delayed and disabled users, users from the geriatric community, who often have limited mobility in their fingers, users who are injured or weak, etc.

It is an objective of the present invention to provide a solution to the aforementioned problems, drawbacks, and issues of mittens and gloves for young children, developmentally delayed person, disabled person, or elderly person with limited mobility, an athlete playing sports such as football, hockey, baseball, lacrosse, boxing and other users. The present invention offers an easy-on thumb section mitten or glove that is simple and streamlined for efficient and effective mounting and dismounting on to a hand of a user in cold weather. Additionally, the easy-on thumb section can be used for any other finger on a mitten and/or glove. Further, the easy-on thumb section mitten or glove not only provides the hand of the user continuous protection during any activity, but also allows the user to effectively perform the activity with satisfying comfort due to the natural position the thumb of the user staying inside the mitten or glove of the present invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An easy-on thumb section mitten or glove is a simple and streamlined apparatus for efficient and effective mounting and dismounting on to a hand of a user, especially a young child user, a developmentally delayed and disabled user, a user from the geriatric community, who often have limited mobility in their fingers, a user who is injured or paralyzed, etc. The easy-on thumb section mitten or glove not only provides continuous protection to the user's hand during any activity, but also allows the user to effectively perform the activity with satisfying comfort by keeping the user's thumb in a natural position, thus keeping the thumb and the hand of the user staying inside the mitten or glove. Additionally, the easy-on thumb section mitten or glove is intended to serve as a new way of making mittens that solves the problem of how to easily put them on the user.

The unique shape and configuration of the thumb section include a specifically designed palm to thumb hole and a tunnel which hooks the user's thumb into the thumb section pocket. The palm to thumb hole provides smooth transition for the user's thumb when entering the thumb section. The narrowing top portion of the thumb section pocket puts the user's thumb back into its natural position and holds the user's thumb in place. Thus, the user's thumb remains in its natural and comfortable position inside the present invention. Further, the inside opening of the thumb section is substantially wide, and the thumb section pocket extends about the entire length of the back of the mitten or glove. Additionally, the thumb section pocket comprises a downward curved cut from the top to the opening, thus grabbing the user's thumb and correctly mounting on the user's thumb.

Further, with the addition of a securing mechanism around the wrist adjacent the bottom of the thumb section and palm section, the easy-on thumb section mitten or glove securely attaches on the user's hand, yet very easy to put on and take off. The goal of the new thumb section is to provide a wide opening at the base of the thumb section, so it is easier for the user than most of conventional mittens and gloves to put the glove on. Additionally, the easy-on thumb section can be used as any other finger on a mitten and/or glove.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a right-side perspective view of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a back view of the present invention indicating the direction of section cut A.

FIG. 4 is a magnified sectional view of a thumb section of the present invention taken along line A-A in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a front view of the interior of a thumb section pocket of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a front view of an alternative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a front view of the alternative embodiment of the present invention in FIG. 6 with the thumb section removed to illustrate the thumb to palm connection hole.

FIG. 8 is a front view of an existing thumb section pocket of a conventional mitten or glove.

FIG. 9 is a top view of the interior of a conventional thumb section of a typical glove/mitten.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the conventional thumb section of a typical glove/mitten, wherein a straight cylinder structure of a thumb section pocket of the conventional thumb section is pulled out and exposed.

FIG. 11 is a top view of the thumb section of the present invention, wherein the interior of the thumb section is a curved and attenuating pocket.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of the thumb section of the present invention, wherein the interior curved and attenuating pocket of the thumb section pocket is pulled out and exposed.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of the thumb section of the present invention, wherein the interior of the thumb section pocket is pulled out and exposed, and wherein the thumb section pocket comprises a plurality of layers.

FIG. 14 is a top view of the thumb section of the present invention, wherein the thumb section pocket comprises the plurality of layers.

DETAIL DESCRIPTIONS OF THE INVENTION

All illustrations of the drawings are for the purpose of describing selected versions of the present invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.

The present invention comprises an easy-on thumb section mitten or glove that is simple and streamlined for efficient and effective mounting and dismounting thereof on to a hand of a user, especially a young child user. The easy-on thumb section mitten or glove of the present invention not only provides to the user's hand continuous protection during any activity, but also allows the user to effectively perform the activity with satisfying comfort with the user's thumb being kept in a natural position, thus keeping the thumb section and the hand of the user staying inside the mitten or glove of the present invention. Additionally, the easy-on thumb section mitten or glove of the present invention is intended to serve as a new way of making mittens that solves the problem of how to easily put them on the user, especially a young child user, developmentally delayed person, disabled person, or elderly person with limited mobility. The unique shape and configuration of the thumb section include a specifically designed palm to thumb hole and a tunnel which hooks the user's thumb into the thumb section pocket. The palm to thumb hole provides smooth transition for the user's thumb when entering the thumb section. The narrowing top portion of the thumb section puts the user's thumb back into its natural position and holds the user's thumb in place. Thus, the user's thumb remains in its natural and comfortable position inside the present invention. Further, the inside opening of the thumb section is substantially wide, and the pocket extends about the entire length of the back of the mitten or glove. Additionally, the thumb section pocket comprises a downward curved cut from the top to the opening, thus grabbing the user's thumb and correctly mounting on the user's thumb. Further, with the addition of a securing mechanism around the wrist adjacent the bottom of the thumb section and palm section of the mitten or glove, the present invention securely attaches to the user's hand, yet very easy to put on and take off. The goal of the new thumb section is to provide a wide opening at the base of the thumb section so it is easier for the user to put on the mitten and/or glove on than most conventional mittens and gloves.

As can be seen in FIG. 1 to FIG. 14, the easy-on thumb section mitten or glove of the present invention comprises a thumb section 10, a palm section 20, and a wrist adjustment mechanism 30. The thumb section 10 comprises a base 11, a top 12, an opening 13, and a thumb section pocket 15. The thumb section pocket 15 is interiorly positioned across the thumb section 10 and interiorly traversing the thumb section 10 from the top 12 to the opening 13. Additionally, the thumb section pocket 15 comprises a curved pocket 16 extending from the interior surface of the top 12 to the opening 13. Further, the palm section 20 comprises a body 21 and a bottom 22. The thumb section 10 is attached to the body 21 of the palm section 20 adjacent the bottom 22.

As can be seen in FIG. 3 to FIG. 4, the thumb section pocket 15 comprises an attenuating pocket 17 from the opening 13 to the top 12 so that the thumb section pocket 15 includes a narrowing tunnel from the opening 13 to the top 12 of the thumb section 10 to enclose the user's thumb efficiently and effectively. Additionally, the thumb section pocket 15 comprises a flexible knuckle 18, which is positioned on about middle point of the thumb section 10. The flexible knuckle 18 coincides with the turning point of the thumb section pocket 15. With this unique construction, the flexible knuckle 18 not only provides the user with a naturally shaped pocket to place the user's thumb, but also allows the user's thumb to effectively move and perform during any activity.

The interior three-dimensional structure of the thumb section 10 comprises the unique feature of the present invention and allows the user to efficiently and effectively put on any glove that includes the thumb section 10. As can be seen in FIG. 9 and FIG. 10, a conventional thumb section 90 of many existing gloves and/or mittens comprises a base surround 93, a cylindrical body 91 or cylinder body 91 with a dip 92 on the top of the cylindrical body 91. The base surround 93 is normally positioned on the bottom and exterior of the conventional thumb section 90. The interior structure of this type of convention thumb section 90 renders the existing gloves and/or mittens significantly difficult for the user to access to the narrow shape of the convention thumb section 90 than the thumb section 10 of the present invention, as can be seen in FIG. 11 and FIG. 12. Thus, the unique and innovative structure and shape of the thumb section 10 of the present invention guides the thumb of the user with easiness, and hooking the rest of the user's hand into place. Thus, the present invention provides comfort and warmth to the hand of the user, and keeps the user's hand in the glove comfortably and firmly without getting loose or even dislodged. Further, as can be seen in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, the exterior shape of the thumb section 10 of the present invention may include, but not limited to, straight cylindrical shape, curved shape, and/or any other suitable shape. Additionally, the exterior shape of the thumb section 10 of the present invention may appear to be the same as or similar to conventional gloves/mittens. The interior three-dimensional shape and structure of the thumb section 10 of the present invention, however, is unique and innovative that can enable the present invention to not only differentiate the present invention from the conventional gloves/mittens, but also provide significant easiness, efficiency, and effectiveness to small children and those users with cognitive or developmental delays, or individuals with limited dexterity, such as elderly or those with arthritis.

As can be seen in FIG. 13 to FIG. 14, the thumb section pocket 15 of the thumb section 10 comprises a plurality of layers 51. Specifically, the plurality of layers 51 comprises an outer layer 52, at least one insulation layer 53, at least one waterproof layer 54, and an inner thumb layer 55. The inner thumb layer 55 is interiorly positioned on the thumb section pocket 15 and is the innermost layer that is formed to provide the unique three-dimensional structure and shape of the thumb section 10 of the present invention. The inner thumb layer 55 may include, but is not limited to, fleece layer, synthetic fabric, any suitable fabric, polyester, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), or any other synthetic fibers, etc. The outer layer 52 is exteriorly positioned on the thumb section pocket 15 and functions as a shell of the thumb section pocket 15. The outer layer 52 may include, but is not limited to, leather, fabric, synthetic fabric, polyester, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), or any other synthetic fibers, etc. Interiorly located on the thumb section pocket 15 between the outer layer 52 and the inner thumb layer 55 are the at least one insulation layer 53 and/or at least one waterproof layer 54, or a combination thereof.

As can be seen in FIG. 5, in an alternative embodiment, the thumb section 10 of the present invention comprises a substantially enlarged portion of the thumb section pocket 15 between the flexible knuckle 18 and the opening 13 at the base 11 of the thumb section 10. This enlarged portion not only efficiently allows the thumb section 10 to attach to the palm section 20, but also enable the user to securely put on the present invention. Additionally, the thumb section pocket 15 comprises the curved pocket 16 with substantive curvature and the attenuating pocket 17 with substantial attenuation from the base 11 to the top 12 of the thumb section 10, which further improves the effectiveness of the present invention to keep the user's thumb in a natural position once being inserted to the thumb section pocket 15, comparing with an existing thumb section of a conventional mitten or glove as seen in FIG. 8.

As can be seen in FIG. 1 to FIG. 2, the thumb section 10 of the present invention comprises a crease 14, which is exteriorly positioned across the base 11 of the thumb section 10. Additionally, the wrist adjustment mechanism 30 is mounted to the body 21 of the palm section 20 and positioned opposite the thumb section 10 along the body 21 of the palm section 20. The crease 14 and the wrist adjustment mechanism 30 work together to allow the user to adjust the tightness of the present invention once being put on the user's hand so that a desired comfort can be achieved. Further, the crease 14 and the wrist adjustment mechanism 30 can keep the user's thumb comfortably inside the thumb section pocket 15 during any activity and the ensure the present invention not to slip or fall off the user's hand. In some embodiments of the present invention, the wrist adjustment mechanism 30 includes, but is not limited to, an adjustable belt, an adjustable fastener, an adjustable band, etc.

As can be seen in FIG. 7, the palm section 10 of the present invention comprises a palm thumb hole 23, which is positioned on the body 21 of the palm 20 adjacent the bottom 22. Specifically, the palm thumb hole 23 provides not only a specially designed connection between the palm 20 and the thumb section 10, but also a smooth transition for the user's thumb when entering the thumb section 10.

Although the invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

Claims

1. A handwear with an easy-on thumb section comprising:

a thumb section;

a palm section;

the thumb section comprising a base, a top, an opening, and a thumb section pocket;

the opening being terminally positioned at the base;

the thumb section pocket being interiorly positioned on the thumb section;

the thumb section pocket interiorly traversing the thumb section;

wherein the thumb section pocket comprises a curved pocket extending from the interior surface of the top to the opening;

the palm section comprising a body and a bottom; and

the thumb section being attached to the body of the palm section adjacent the bottom.

2. The handwear with an easy-on thumb section as claimed in claim 1, wherein the thumb section pocket comprising an attenuating pocket from the opening to the top.

3. The handwear with an easy-on thumb section as claimed in claim 1 comprising:

the thumb section pocket comprising a flexible knuckle; and

the flexible knuckle being positioned on about middle point of the thumb section.

4. The handwear with an easy-on thumb section as claimed in claim 3, wherein the flexible knuckle coincides with the turning point of the thumb section pocket.

5. The handwear with an easy-on thumb section as claimed in claim 1 comprising:

the thumb section comprising a crease; and

the crease being exteriorly positioned across the base of the thumb section.

6. The handwear with an easy-on thumb section as claimed in claim 1 comprising:

a wrist adjustment mechanism; and

the wrist adjustment mechanism being mounted to the body of the palm section; and

the wrist adjustment mechanism being positioned opposite the thumb section along the body of the palm section.

7. The handwear with an easy-on thumb section as claimed in claim 6, wherein the wrist adjustment mechanism is an adjustable belt.

8. The handwear with an easy-on thumb section as claimed in claim 6, wherein the wrist adjustment mechanism is an adjustable fastener.

9. The handwear with an easy-on thumb section as claimed in claim 6, wherein the wrist adjustment mechanism is an adjustable band.

10. The handwear with an easy-on thumb section as claimed in claim 1 comprising:

a palm thumb hole; and

the palm thumb hole being positioned on the body of the palm adjacent the bottom.

11. The handwear with an easy-on thumb section as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

the thumb section pocket comprises a plurality of layers;

wherein the plurality of layers comprises an inner thumb layer and an outer layer;

wherein the inner thumb layer is interiorly positioned on the thumb section pocket; and

wherein the outer layer is exteriorly positioned on the thumb section pocket.

12. The handwear with an easy-on thumb section as claimed in claim 11, wherein:

wherein the plurality of layers comprises at least one insulation layer; and

wherein the at least one insulation layer is interiorly positioned on the thumb section pocket between the inner thumb layer and the outer layer.

13. The handwear with an easy-on thumb section as claimed in claim 11, wherein:

wherein the plurality of layers comprises at least one waterproof layer; and

wherein the at least one waterproof layer is interiorly positioned on the thumb section pocket between the inner thumb layer and the outer layer.