US2913729A - Perforated glove - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 24, 1959 R. D. WISENBURG 2,913,729

PERFORATED GLOVE Filed May 28, 1957 VIII @421;

Fig. 4

INVENTOR. RALPH D. W/SENBURG BY 6 /90/55 (MM/V ATTORNEYS PERFORATED GLOVE Ralph D. Wisenburg, Coshocton, Ohio, assignor to Edmont Manufacturing Company, a corporation of Ohio Application May 28, 1957, Serial No. 662,290

2 Claims. (Cl. 2-167) This invention relates to the art of making gloves and more particularly to an improved work glove.

In the manufacture of work gloves one of the principal problems to be met is size. Only one or a very few sizes are made. It is difficult to manufacture one glove which is comfortable on all adult human hands.

Another and related problem is that work gloves must be very inexpensive. To obtain a low cost glove with good wearing properties, plastic coated woven fabrics are often used. These materials form a glove which is somewhat stiif and uncomfortable to the wearer.

It has been discovered that if a plastic coated woven fabric is perforated, very desirable properties are obtained. One of these properties is that the material becomes softer and more flexible. It has been discovered that an entirely unexpected property is obtained. As a glove made from this perforated material is flexed, the perforations tend to distort around the knuckles and other areas of fiexure. This distortion permits the glove to stretch and conform to the wearers hand.

Accordingly, one of the principal objects of this invention is to provide a novel and improved glove made from a perforated plastic coated fabric which tends to flex and stretch when in use. This flexing and stretching provides a glove which better conforms to hands of various sizes and a glove which is comfortable to the wearer.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved glove which is cool to the wearer. Previously known plastic coated woven fabric work gloves have been very warm and uncomfortable when worn for work such as summer gardening and many industrial jobs. The perforations provide ventilation and thereby a cooling effect.

Perforations in a work glove present a serious problem. Dirt will tend to pass through the perforations and defeat one of the principal purposes for wearing a work glove. It has been discovered, however, that if the inner surface of the woven fabric is napped the nap fibers tend to cover the inner ends of the perforation and filter out dirt.

For these reasons, another object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved perforated plastic coated woven fabric Work glove which has inherent dirt filtering characteristics.

It has also been discovered that a perforated glove has improved grip characteristics. When lifting such objects as cardboard cartons the perforations increase the surface friction between the glove and the carton and therefore the grip characteristics of the glove.

For these reasons, a still further object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved work glove with superior gripping characteristics.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a process for making a strong and durable glove having all of the foregoing objectives.

Other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the following description and claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

United States PatentO Patented Nov. 24, 1959 Figure 1 is an elevational view of one of the improved gloves when flexed and in the position it assumes when a wearer closes his hand;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of one of the improved work gloves made in a slightly modified form with respect to Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary view of the portion of the glove seen from the location indicated by the line 3-3 of Figure 1 and on a materially enlarged scale with respect to Figure 1; and

Figure 4 is a sectional view of a portion of the glove as seen from the plane indicated by the line 44 of Figure 3.

In the drawings, a palm section is indicated by the numeral 10. The palm section 10 includes an index finger portion 11. The index finger portion 11 is cut so that part of it can be folded over and sewed together to form the entire covering for the wearers index finger.

The palm section 10 also has a second finger portion 12, a ring finger portion 13, and a fourth finger portion 14. In Figure 1 a part of each of these finger portions 12, 13, 14 is visible. The particular construction is not a part of the present invention. The construction provides a glove which is preferred for practicing this invention. In this preferred construction the entire face or inner section of the glove and the entire index finger are cut from a single piece of fabric which has been identified as the palm section 10. The well known Gunn" cut style patterns may also be used in which the palm section is cut so that the index finger portion 11 is only the inner part of the index finger.

A thumb section 15 is provided. The thumb section is sewed to the palm section 10 along a seam indicated by the numeral 16. A second finger section 18, a ring finger section 19, and a fourth finger section 263 are also provided. The index finger portion 11 and the finger sections 18, 19, 20 extend to the wrist to cover the back of a users hand. The second finger section 18 is sewed to the palm portion along the seam indicated at 22. The second and ring finger sections 18, 19 are sewed together at 23. Thering and fourth finger sections 19, 20 are sewed together along the seam indicated by the numeral 24. The seams 22, 23, 24 extend along the back of the glove. p

In the embodiment of Figure 1 a tape 28 is sewed along the wrist end of the glove. In the embodiment of Figure 2 a stretch wrist portion 29 is provided.

All of the material used in the embodiment of Figure 1 is perforated. In the case of the embodiment of Figure. 2 the second, ring, and. fourth finger sections 18, 19,20 are the only part of the glove made from perforated material. As will be apparent, various combinations of perforated and non-perforated material are possible according to the conditions and demands of any given application for which the glove is made. However, a glove made in accordance with this invention has perforations in areas of flexure, such as the knuckles.

When one of these gloves was made for the first time, it was feared that the glove might not be useable as a work glove because of the dirt problem. Only after one of these gloves was made and tested was it discovered that dirt in fact was not a problem if a napped material was used. It was also discovered that this glove has several other material advantages. The glove is flexible, it feels better and fits the wearers hand better than prior known plastic coated gloves.

The reasons for these phenomena are not fully understood. The explanation is believed to be presented in Figures 3 and 4. In those figures the perforations in the back of the stalls are indicated by the numeral 30. It will be noted that some of the perforations shown in Figure 3 are distorted. This is a pictorial attempt to disclose what actually happens when the glove is worn.

The glove stretches because the perforations distort. The result is a glove whichis comfortable to thewearer,

'In Figures 3 and 4 the size of the perforations have been greatly exaggerated for purposes ofillustration. The preferred diameter of the perforations'in theractual glovematerial is less than the diameter shown inFigL 1r es Sand 4. It has been-determinedthat an optimurnfbalance between dirt resistance and flexibility canjbe, ob- 'tained'if the perforations are about ,4 to inch in diameter and spaced about of an inch apart.

It should also be noted that perforations ,are arranged in uniformly spaced relationship and in straig'lrn'row s. These rows are each at an angle to'the axis ofthejfingers. The holes thus have an appearance of a diamondpattern. The reasons are not fully understood, but this diamond relationship is utilized.

'One of the further discoveries of 'the invention is,best

understood by reference to Figure 4. The inner surface of the-fabric material is napped. This nap is indicated by the numeral 33. The napped fibers are so arrangedas to extend around and usually across the perforations 30. The combination of the smallness ofthe perforations and the filters formed by these napped fibers 33 ghas prov'ed to be more than adequate as a 'dirt penetration inhibitor.

In making the glove a fabric, preferably woven cotton, has its inner surface 33 napped. A coating ofplastic is applied to the outer surface. Of presently known materials, polyvinyl chloride in a plastisol is the preferred coating material. A suitable formula employs polyvinyl chloride or polyvinyl chloride-polyvinyl acetate copolymers. The acetate in the copolymer is less than The formula is:

One method for forming the perforations is by punching the holes with a machine which is normally used for punching holes in sheet metal. After the holes are formed the various glove sections are cut to the shapes previously described. These sections are then sewedtogether to form the finished glove.

This plastisol is applied to the fabric with a knife-type spreader and cured at 350 F. After the plastic coating has-been applied to the fabric the perforations 30 are formed. It has been discovered that the plastic coating bonds the fibers together and prevents raveling. Further, the. plastic coating affords suflicient strength to the material'to make a very sturdy. and workable glove.

The preceding information discloses an improved inexpensive work glove which is both flexible, comfortable,

'di amond pattern appears to most fully. utilize the dis-.

cool, and dirt-free. A process for the manufacture of such a glove has also been disclosed.

Although the invention has been described in its preferred form with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure of the preferred form has been made only by way of example and that numerous changes in the details of construction and the combination and arrangement of. parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

I claim:

1. A glove comprising, fibrous fabric palm and back portions, fibrousfabric finger and thumb stalls, the glove having a plurality of areas of fiexure, the fabric being perforated in at least some of said fiexure areas, the fabric having inner and outer surfaces, the inner surface having napped fibers, some of the napped fibers being disposed across each of the perforations to formdirt filters, and a plastic coating on at least one surface of the fabric and adhered to at least some of the fibers ofthe fabric, and said coating being a reinforcement bond between said adhered to fibers.

2. Aglove comprising, fabric palm and back portions, fabric thumb and finger stalls, said fabric comprising a dimensionally stable and stretch resistant wovenlnatural fiber'materialhaving inner and outer surfaces and a reinforcement plastisol coating on the outer surface thereof, at least some of the fibers of the fabric being impregnated by the coating, said coating being a reinforcing bond betweensaid impregnated fibers, the inner surface of the material having napped fibers, said stalls includingfinger joint areas, the fabric having perforations formed in,at least some of the finger joint areas to provide stretchable joint areas, each of said perforations having an inner end and a filter across the inner end, saidfilters eachbeing comprised of a plurality of said napped fibers projecting over said innerends.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS OTHER REFERENCES Article in Rubber Age of December 1952, page 343, (Copy available in Division 25.)

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