Sports glove with asymmetrical thumb seam pattern

A sport glove thumb portion wherein the joining seam is asymmetrical and located above the tip and on the back of the thumb. A pattern and seam arrangement are also disclosed.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
The invention resides in the field of sports gloves and more particularly 
relates to thumb seam location in a gripping glove such as a golf glove. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Typically, gripping gloves for securely holding sports implements such as 
golf clubs are made of leather or leatherlike material and are designed to 
fit very snugly and conform perfectly to the shape of the wearer's hand. 
The intent is to create a second skin wherein the grip on the sports 
implement for example, a golf club, is substantially improved without 
interfering with the natural action of the user. 
Thumbs for such gloves have heretofore been cut from one piece of material 
in a symmetrical shape known as the Bolton pattern. In the finished 
product, the seam joining the two sides of the thumb portion is positioned 
at the tip of the thumb and thumbnail. 
As this is a contact point in the employment of a proper grip, particularly 
in the handling of golf clubs, this tip of the thumb seam position in 
prior art gloves can interfere with an optimum contact creating an 
annoyance in the wearer. 
The present invention is directed to the repositioning of the seam from the 
tip and side of tile thumb to the back of the thumbnail to eliminate this 
undesirable contact interference and thereby improve the performance of 
the user. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The invention may be summarized as an improvement in a sports glove, in 
which the thumb seam is positioned over the back of the thumbnail rather 
than the tip and side of the thumb as is the present case. This is 
accomplished utilizing a thumb pattern which is asymmetrical rather than 
symmetrical having a central palm portion and two opposed wing portions 
attached thereto. 
The palm portion is the shape of a full thumb including the sides and the 
wing portions are each the shape of a half of a back of a thumb and are 
sized such that when folded over and joined to each other with a central 
lateral seam and joined to the palm portion by a cross seam, the 
relocation of the thumb seam to the back of the thumbnail is achieved. 
In use the point of thumb contact in a standard golf club grip is therefore 
covered by just the material of which the glove is fabricated and is 
essentially seam free. 
These and other features and advantages of the invention will be more fully 
understood from the description of the preferred embodiment and drawings 
which follows.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring first to FIG. 1 there is shown a plan view of a glove thumb 
pattern of the prior art known as the Bolton pattern. Pattern 10, 
comprised of any suitable material for example, fabric or leather, is 
composed of two essentially symmetrical portions 12 and 14. In the 
fabrication of the glove, the pattern is folded over and sewn along line 
16 forming a seam as is showing in FIG. 3 which rests atop the thumb of 
the user. It will be understood that in the nomenclature of glove 
manufacturing the direction known as above is that away from the fingers 
and toward the wrist. 
FIG. 2 illustrates the pattern used to construct the thumb of the preferred 
embodiment of the invention. Pattern 18 consists of a central palm portion 
20 which is of sufficient size to wrap around and form the sides of the 
thumb. Two opposed wing portions 22 and 24 are attached to and integral 
with central portion 20 and are of sufficient size to each form one half 
the back of the thumb. 
Two separate stitches or seams are used to secure the above portions into a 
finished thumb. One is a lateral seam formed by attaching edges 26a and 
26b and the other is a cross seam formed by attaching edges 28a, 28b and 
28c. The resulting construction is shown in FIG. 4 where like numbers 
refer to like components of FIG. 2. As will be seen, seam 28 is above the 
apex 30 of the thumb on the hand of the user and rests on the back of the 
thumbnail rather than the tip as has heretofore been explained. 
As variations in the above described construction might be made in order to 
obtain the same resulting configuration the invention is hereby defined by 
the following claims.