Apparel – Guard or protector – Hand or arm
Patent
1995-10-24
1998-05-05
Neas, Michael A.
Apparel
Guard or protector
Hand or arm
21611, A41D 1900
Patent
active
057459169
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention is directed to a protective glove for ice hockey and similar sports.
It is known that in sports such as ice hockey, lacrosse, roller hockey, etc. the player's hands are exposed during play to considerable impact forces from the stick of an opponent. For this reason, it is customary to protect the player's hands and forearms with padded protective gloves having a shaft or shank for protecting the forearm. These protective gloves also protect the player's hands from injury due to falls on the ice or the ground.
Ice hockey gloves of the kind mostly used and manufactured at present are known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,027,339 (Brucker), U.S. Pat. No. 4,677,698 (Angas), U.S. Pat. No. 4,815,147 (Gazzano), and U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,162 (Cote). These gloves are substantially formed of padding elements having a thickness of approximately 2 cm for protecting the backs of the hands and a padding element for the index, middle, ring and little fingers, respectively. The padding elements have notches in forms which vary from one model to the other in order to achieve the required flexibility for gripping the stick. The thumb protection is usually formed by a relatively hard plastic shell with internal padding. A padded shank part adjoins the padding for the back of the hand and protects the foremost part of the forearm. The inner surface or palm of this known ice hockey glove is stitched securely to the protective parts of the back hand surface, finger and shank. This palm is made of leather or a material similar to leather and is often constructed in two layers in some regions of the inner hand.
One problem in this known ice hockey glove consists in that the padding of the index finger presses against the thumb protection when the hand grips the shaft of the stick. Accordingly, an unencumbered, comfortable grip is impossible and the stick cannot be gripped in an optimum manner. Further, a certain expenditure of force is required in gripping the shaft of the stick since, in so doing, the padding of the individual fingers and the lateral protection of the index finger, as well, impose a resistance against an embracing grasping of the shaft of the stick. This is particularly true of newly manufactured gloves which are not yet "broken in". For this reason, ice hockey players--particularly professional players--are very reluctant to use new gloves.
A striking illustration that conventional ice hockey gloves do not enable a free, unimpaired gripping of the shaft of the stick is indicated by the fact that many players hold their index finger away when holding the shaft of the stick--that is, they do not use the index finger for gripping. The reason for this is that the parts protecting the thumb and index finger are not adapted to one another in shape.
A further drawback of conventional ice hockey gloves lies in the fixed stitching of the palm. This palm is exposed to very substantial wear owing to constant gripping of the stick. Accordingly, the useful life of the entire glove is determined chiefly by the durability of the palm. This means that a worn palm renders the gloves useless although the remaining parts are still in good condition and would have twice or three times the useful life. Although it is possible to cut out the damaged palm and stitch in a new one, this would very rarely be done as it is very labor-intensive and requires special machinery. Another possibility to increase the useful life of the glove would be to increase the size, i.e., the thickness, of the palm. However, this would result in the decided disadvantage that an ice hockey player with such a glove would have considerably less feeling for holding and guiding the stick which could result in game-deciding disadvantages for the player and his teammates.
A satisfactory compromise cannot be reached. If a thick palm is used, the useful life is increased, but at the expense of a substantially diminished feel for holding the stick. Use of a thin palm results in a more sensitive feel for holding the stick, but it become
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