Baseball glove

Details Baseball glove Baseball glove

2000-05-04

2001-09-18

Lindsey, Rodney M. (Department: 3765)

Apparel

Guard or protector

Hand or arm

Reexamination Certificate

active

06289516

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an implement to catch a baseball (hereinafter simply as “glove”), and more particularly to the structure of a thumb stall of a glove.
2. Description of the Background Art
As shown in
FIGS. 15A
to
15
D, a conventional baseball glove is formed by sewing together a ball receiving front leather
16
having five approximately finger-shaped portions, and a back leather
15
having a plurality of leather parts forming five finger stalls. The peripheries of ball receiving front leather
16
and back leather
15
are sewed except for the part to insert a hand such that both the grain sides form the inside, and then it is turned inside out so that the grain sides come outside. This forms the front member.
Then, a palm leather
18
having a smaller size than the front member and five approximately finger-shaped portions and a back leather
17
having a plurality of leather parts to form five finger stalls are sewed together except for the opening to insert a hand such that both grain sides also form the inside. This forms the back member.
At various crucial points of the front member, a padding of felt and other shock absorbers are inserted or wax is applied, followed by impregnation with oil, then the back member is inserted, and then the hand inserting openings of the front and back members are combined with leather laces.
Then, a separately formed ball receiving portion (web portion) is attached between the thumb stall and the index finger stall also with leather laces, and a baseball glove is completed.
When you catch a ball, you grab the ball held between the thumb and other fingers inserted in the stalls.
The opening of the thumb stall of the back member is large and slippery, and Japanese Utility Model Publication Nos.59-9668 and 6-1171 are directed to improvements to this state.
The documents disclose a ling shaped thumb stopper to secure a thumb at the inserting opening of the finger stalls of the back member. Thus, the force of the thumb can be relatively efficiently transmitted.
FIG. 16
shows an example of a conventional baseball glove having a thumb stopper
19
.
The baseball glove having thumb stopper
19
described above however suffers from the following disadvantage. Since the shape and length of fingers are different among players, and therefore the thumb stopper often does not fit the shape of a player's thumb. As a result, the player often finds the glove disagreeable.
In addition, for children with not so strong force and a weak grip, simply securing a thumb at the thumb stopper is not enough for them to flex the baseball glove, which impedes sure catching, because the baseball glove cannot be completely closed in catching.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to a solution to the above-described problem, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a baseball glove which enables sure catch, with which a player's thumb inserted in the thumb stall can be readily secured in the flexing direction of the glove, so that even a child with weak grip can completely close the glove in catching a ball without much changing the work involved in the manufacture from the conventional case.
A baseball glove according to the present invention includes a thumb stall to insert a thumb, and there is provided an incision (cut) at the back leather portion of the thumb stall to let the tip of the thumb stick out on the back leather as well as to cover the knuckle of the thumb with the back leather. What is referred to as baseball herein includes softball. The baseball glove herein includes a catcher mitt and a first mitt.
As described above, by providing an incision to let the tip portion of the thumb stick out from the back leather at the back leather portion of the thumb stall portion, the baseball glove can be closed with smaller force than the case of the conventional glove. The reason will be now described in conjunction with
FIGS. 13 and 14
. As shown, force applied to each finger when the baseball glove according to the present invention used (see particularly the three rightmost squares on in
FIG. 13
) is smaller than force applied on each finger using a conventional glove (see particularly the rightmost three squares in FIG.
14
). More specifically, according to the present invention, the baseball glove can be flexed with smaller force than the conventional glove.
The tip portion refers to a portion positioned on the tip side of the thumb through which force can be applied upon the back leather. The tip portion includes a part for example from the first joint to tip of the thumb.
The inventors found that the part from the first joint to the tip of the thumb is very much used when the glove according to the present invention is closed. Thus, by letting the part from the vicinity of the first joint to the tip stick out on the back leather, the tip portion of the thumb can be freely moved without the constraint of the thumb stall, and excess force is not necessary in order to apply force upon the thumb stall. As a result, the glove can be closed with smaller force.
The part closer to the knuckle side of the thumb rather than the first joint is preferably covered with the back leather.
Thus, the flexibility of the tip portion of the thumb can be secured while only the knuckle part of the thumb can be fixed at a desired position. As a result, stable force can be applied from the thumb to the thumb stall, so that the force from the thumb can be surely and effectively transmitted to the glove.
The above-described incision preferably has a large length. The length of the incision may be for example not less than the width of the central part along the lengthwise direction of the thumb stall and not more than the maximum width of the thumb stall.
When the glove is closed, a part of the back leather positioned closer to the tip side of the thumb stall with respect to the incision is pressed by the thumb to move toward the inner side of the glove. Meanwhile, a part of the back leather positioned closer to a hand inserting portion with respect to the incision does not move. Thus, if the length of the incision is large, a great step can be formed as shown in
FIG. 4
, for example, between the parts of the back leather positioned on the tip side and on the side of the hand inserting portion when the glove is closed. More specifically, the restricting force of the part of the back leather on the side of the hand inserting portion upon the part of the back leather on the tip side can be reduced when the glove is closed. Thus, resistance generated when the part of the back leather positioned on the tip side is moved inside can be reduced, so that the force necessary for closing the glove can be reduced.
If the length of the incision is thus extended, the glove can flexibly adapt to users with different hand sizes. More specifically, the thumb is freely allowed to stick out from any positions of the incision, so that force can be applied upon the back leather at a position adapted to the shape or size of the user's hand.
The incision preferably extends from the outer end of the thumb stall toward the inner side.
Thus, the length of the incision can be sufficiently long, and the above described effect can be provided.
A thumb protecting member to cover the tip portion sticking out on the back leather is preferably attached on the back leather.
The thumb on the back leather is covered by the thumb protection member, and therefore the thumb will not be injured by running into a runner. Also, the member virtually secures the thumb in a desired position such as a position easy for the user to apply force and restrains the thumb from move more than necessary, so that the force of the thumb is surely transmitted to the thumb stall.
The length of the above incision is preferably greater than the maximum width of the thumb protecting member.
Since the incision has sufficiently large length, in addition to the above described effect, the thumb can be readily inserte

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Baseball glove does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Baseball glove, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Baseball glove will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2456317