Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Methods – Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
Reexamination Certificate
2002-04-23
2004-06-01
Gray, Linda L (Department: 1734)
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Methods
Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
C156S300000, C156S301000, C156S299000, C156S512000, C156S560000, C156S308200, C156S259000, C156S271000, C428S141000, C428S304400
Reexamination Certificate
active
06743325
ABSTRACT:
RELATED U.S. APPLICATIONS
Not applicable.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
Not applicable.
REFERENCE TO MICROFICHE APPENDIX
Not applicable.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a flexible material suitable, primarily, for use as a flexible protective material to protect for human and animal bodies.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Protective material and protective wear is currently used by persons to protect themselves from knocks, abrasions and other injury. Protective wear is used during sport, rugby for example and equestrian sports and other activities where a person runs a risk of injury, for example building and other trades.
Conventional protective wear may form an integral part of an item of clothing, for example a shoulder pad, or be provided separately, for example a shin pad.
One existing arrangement comprises a moulded foam article shaped to fit a particular part of the body. There are, however, a number of problems with this arrangement. The article must be produced in different sizes to fit different people. Provision of different sizes can be expensive or inconvenient. Also, closely fitting articles can restrict movement of the wearer, especially when worn on or near joints.
In DE 43 41 722 is disclosed a cushioning material for the treatment of lymphostatic fibroses in which a plurality of foam elements with an enlarged base are disposed side-by-side with their bases touching on a foundation layer to which they are affixed. The troughs defined between the side walls of the elements enable the material to be flexed to form a pressure bandage. However, the foram elements of the bandage touch one another at their base, which restricts the stretchability of the material as a whole and is also designed to be worn with the elements in contact with the skin, which would restrict movement.
A moulded foam article can only correctly fit a joint when in one position. When the joint moves, the article will no longer fit correctly. This may reduce the protection it affords.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,285,768 is disclosed a fabric coated with a surface deformed foam which is manufactured either by grooving or slashing a sheet of foam to a portion of its depth and then laminating it to the fabric or by laminating a foam sheet to a fabric and then grooving or slashing the form layer. However, neither of these methods enables the foam to be cut to define a plurality of spaced, separate elements, which is preferred if the fabric is to be used in protective wear for ,sports persons when considerable freedom of movement by the wearer is required in addition to comfort.
Another existing arrangement comprises a quilted material including lengths of foam sewn into pockets formed between two layers of fabric. Such materials are time consuming to produce. Also, such materials can generally only easily be flexed in a direction perpendicular to that of the strips of foam. Flexing the material in a direction along the length of the strips involves flexing the strips themselves which, depending on the type of foam used, can be difficult. A similar type of garment is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,551,082 which describes an athletic garment in which strategically placed rib-shaped gel, air or foam padding is contained in envelopes that are individually affixed to an elasticized fabric shell.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to overcome, or at least reduce, the problems associated with the manufacture of conventional protective material and with protective wear made therefrom.
According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of manufacturing a flexible material comprising the steps of providing a sheet of a resilient material; cutting the sheet into a plurality of spaced, separate elements using a cutter which is pressed into the sheet to cut therethrough; making one side of the spaced elements to stand proud of the surface of a jig provided to hold the elements in place; and bonding a flexible, resiliently stretchable substrate to one side of the separate elements by heating the substrate either to active an adhesive applied between said one side of the separate elements and the substrate or to weld the elements to the substrate.
The separate elements are preferably bonded to the substrate with a hot melt adhesive, although they can be welded thereto using heat to fuse the elements to the substrate.
According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a flexible material comprising a layer of separate resilient elements joined to a flexible, resiliently stretchable substrate and manufactured according to the method of the first aspect of the present invention.
Such a flexible material can confirm more easily to the body of the wearer than conventional materials, as it is flexible in all three dimensions. It is therefore more comfortable to wear and can accommodate movement better than conventional materials. When used as a protective material or to form protective wear a single size, or a reduced number of sizes, can fit many different sized bodies.
As the elements are separate and spaced apart; this facilitates flexing of the substrate to form a curved surface and enables the material to flex in all directions without “locking up” or preventing movement in a particular direction. This is a particular advantage the flexible material of the present invention has over prior art arrangements which tend not to exhibit universal flexibility.
The elements preferably comprise a resilient foam material, for example a closed cell polyethylene, and could comprise a number of different types of foam or other materials to give desired properties, for example layers of foam of different densities.
The elements may be substantially identical, alternatively they can be of different size and shape, for example to fit comfortably part of a wearer's body, or some other article.
The elements preferably take the form of blocks. They can be of regular or irregular shape, for example hexagonal or octagonal in cross-section. The elements are preferably evenly distributed on the substrate with a density of between 100 and 8000 elements/m
2
, more preferably between 250 and 8000 elements/m
2
, and still more preferably between 4000 and 6000 elements/m
2
. In one embodiment, the elements comprise cubes of side 12 mm spaced apart by 2 mm. This gives a density of about 5000 cubes/m
2
. This allows the material to flex easily along all directions, an improvement over known quilted protective materials. Also, one type of material can be cut to many different sizes, for example to form protective wear of different sizes, without significantly affecting its ability to flex. This is in contrast to known quilted protective materials wherein due to the size of the foam strips, the size of each strip must be changed to form an article of different size without reducing flexibility.
The substrate is resiliently stretchable or elastic and preferably comprises a fabric, although a resiliently stretchable film or sheet could be used. This enables the material to adopt a greater range of configurations. Suitable fabrics include knitted nylon and polyester fabrics and more particularly those materials comprising elastane.
A second layer of a flexible substrate material is preferably bonded over the elements so that they are sandwiched between two layers. In this case, as the first substrate layer is resiliently stretchable or elastic, this helps to prevent puckering of one side of the material when it is flexed. Advantageously, both substrate layers are resiliently stretchable. However, in cases where only a single stretchable substrate layer is provided and the material is to be used in a curved configuration the material is preferably arranged so that the stretchable layer lies on the outside surface of the curve.
The material may be comprised in clothing or other wear. It is particularly suitable for incorporation into protective clothing and wear, for example shoulder pads,
Gray Linda L
Harrison & Egbert
Stirling Moulded Composites Limited
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