Apparel – Guard or protector – Leg
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-04
2001-01-16
Calvert, John J. (Department: 3741)
Apparel
Guard or protector
Leg
C002S046000, C002S242000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06173448
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
This invention relates to a protector for a person's leg for use when that person is utilizing a common grass trimming device. In such devices, a plastic cord extends from a spinning rotor and which is moved by the user into position to cut weeds, grass or other vegetation. In order to have sufficient speed and strength to cut fairly large weeds, the cord must be fairly substantial and the speed needs to be quite high. Typically, the rotor may be rotating at a high speed with the free end of the plastic cord extending outwardly from the rotor at least five or more inches and the plastic cord may have a diameter of about 0.095 of 0.080 inches in diameter. As such, the free end of the rotating plastic cord can be hazardous to the user in moving the unit about to trim the vegetation and often the user can experience a problem where the free end of the rotating cord actually strikes against the front of the users leg. The situation is aggravated, of course, where the user is on a short time schedule to finish the task and thus is hurrying to complete the trimming function as the last procedure in attending to a lawn.
As another source of injury, often the cord, rotating at such high speeds, can hit the ground and kick up debris, such as rocks, wood chips and the like that are then propelled by the cord against the leg of the user.
In many cases, the incident is painful to the user and in the case of professionals, the frequency of the occurrences can be more than annoying and can be considerably painful as the accidents can occur frequently in view of the rather lengthy periods of time that such users are employing the devices.
Obvious, the annoyance can be mitigated through the use of long trousers that are made of strong material, such as denim, however, since the activities of weed and grass trimming regularly occurs during the summer months, most users desire to wear shorts in view of the heat of the day. As such, therefore, the front of the users legs, from the upper surface of the foot to just below the knee is vulnerable to being cut by the plastic cord and can become infected to create a more serious health hazard. Also, the wounds from striking by the cord can leave scarring of the leg.
There are many different types of shin protectors used for various purposes, one of which is for baseball catchers to protect against being hit by a baseball, however such devices and protectors are generally made of relatively hard, inflexible plastic material in view of the speed at which the baseball is likely to hit the shin protector and are not well suited for use as protection against the plastic cord of weed trimmers. In addition, catchers shin guards are often quite cumbersome to attach and detach from the legs of the user and would not be convenient in the lawn care use.
Typical of such baseball shin protectors for catchers are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,474,157. There are also suitable protectors for batters as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,608,718 and which are heavily padded to guard against being injured by a pitched ball but such batter protectors do not extend upwardly to just below the knee and therefore would not be suitable for protection with the use of a weed trimmer. In addition, in U.S. Pat. No. Des. 306,921 that is an ankle and shin protector that is intended for protection for the side of an ankle and not the front of the ankle where damage from a weed trimmer is most likely to occur.
A still further type of protector for the lower leg is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,170,503 that comprises a protector against snake bites and which has no particular protection along the upper surface of the foot and is only intended to protect the lower portion of the leg where the likelihood of a snake bite is relatively high.
As such, while there are differing types of protectors for ankles, shins and the like as described, there are no protectors that are specifically adapted to be used as protection against the potential injury from weed trimmers of the type described.
Accordingly it would be advantageous to have a device to provide the needed protection to the user from potential injury from a weed trimmer.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The protector of the present invention provides safe protection against the possibility of cuts or abrasions incurred by the user of a weed trimmer and comprises a tough, flexible material that is formed in a generally cylindrical shape that is adapted to at least substantially encircle the lower leg of a person. The protector extends downwardly from just below the knee to the foot and additionally covers the upper surface of the foot of the user. Preferably, the material is of a thick planar leather material so that the protector can be easily molded to the shape of the lower leg as protection thereof but is sufficiently strong as to not be readily damaged by the multiple strikes or hits by the plastic cord of the weed trimmer.
In order to cover the upper surface of the users foot, a generally cylindrical shaped protector includes a truncated triangular portion formed centrally in the protector and which extends over the upper surface of the foot. Thus there is formed a front surface of the protector that surrounds the front of the lower leg of the user from just below the knee to the upper surface of the foot and has free ends that encircle the leg to be positioned at the back surface of the leg. A securing means is also provided to affix the protector to the users leg and to make the attaching and detaching of the protector to that leg to be easily facilitated. The securing means may comprise a strap affixed to one of the free ends with a VELCRO surface that adheres to the other free end of the protector. In the preferred embodiment, there are two straps since the protector is relatively long, that is, it extends from the upper surface of the foot to just below the knee and two straps are preferred to securely affix the protector to the leg of the user.
The foregoing and other advantages and features of the present invention will become readily apparent from the following description.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3153864 (1964-10-01), Brewer
patent: 5613250 (1997-03-01), Bell
patent: 5732411 (1998-03-01), Coleman et al.
patent: 5742938 (1998-04-01), Winningham et al.
patent: 5970525 (1999-10-01), Gallinot et al.
Calvert John J.
Patel Tejash
Rathbun Roger M.
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