Sports glove, in particular for goalies

A bonding substance curing only very slowly or not at all in air is applied directly or indirectly to the outside of the palm surface of a glove, in particular a goalie glove. The bonding substance may be coated (directly). However preferably the application shall be indirect in that the bonding substance is admixed to a latex-foam layer fully or partly covering the outside of the palm surface of the glove material. A sports glove, in particular a goalie glove so treated with a bonding substance, is characterized by high adhesion that otherwise cannot be achieved even approximately by mere coating with conventional latex foam. Catching and retaining objects, in particular those with rounded, smooth surfaces such as soccer or hand balls, can be signficantly improved as a result.

DESCRIPTION 
The invention concerns a sports glove, in particular for goalies. 
The point in making goalie gloves as a rule is to optimize the goalie's 
catching reliability by the highest possible friction between the glove 
palm material and the ball which must be caught. It is known in this 
respect to coat the outside of the palm surface of the goalie glove with a 
foamed latex material. At the same time such a coating of foam latex on 
the palm provides advantageous shock absorption of the ball impact on the 
goalie's hands ready for catching. 
However inherent limits are set by the materials on the adhesive effects 
which can be achieved by the steps of the state of the art. Moreover the 
life of conventional latex foams is limited when used on goalie, and 
thereby the life of the particular gloves will be similarly restricted. 
The mechanical stresses applied on the latex foam when making contact with 
the ball increasingly damage the foam surface as use continues. Moreover, 
because of high-frequency environmental radiation (in particular 
ultraviolet from sunlight), the foamed latex will increasingly cure and 
embrittle. Besides the already mentioned lowering of life, curing and 
embrittlement cause steady reduction of the adhesion, i.e. of the 
coefficient of friction between the latex foam and the ball surface that 
comes into contact with it. 
The object of the invention is to further improve the adhesion of the 
sports glove for an object to be seized, in particular a ball to be 
caught, while using comparatively simple means. 
This problem is solved by the invention for a sports glove, especially a 
goalie glove, in that a bonding substance curing not at all or only very 
slowly when exposed to air is applied, directly or indirectly to the 
outside of the palm surface. 
Claim 2 contains a preferred embodiment of the invention. It was found that 
by admixing suitable bonding substances, it is possible to improve the 
inner strength of the latex foam, whereby the known operationally 
conditioned damages to the latex will take place only at higher stresses 
and then remain confined to smaller areas. By admixing bonding substances 
to the palm surface of the glove material, the essential advantage 
therefore shall be achieved to delay the aging of the latex and to 
substantially lower the danger of wear damage as compared to conventional 
latices that lack bonding materials. In particular however the invention 
has made it possible to achieve significantly higher friction between the 
glove palm surface and the seized object, for instance a ball caught by 
the goalie, than was possible heretofore by the material (foamed latex) of 
the state of the art used to coat glove palm surfaces. The high adhesion 
achieved by the invention by adding a bonding substance to the latex foam 
does on the other hand decrease with time because of surface soiling that 
is the result of this high adhesion. However this adhesion always may be 
brought back to its high initial value by washing with water, or 
preferably with soap lather. This reactivation can be repeated. In this 
manner, the original adhesion achieved by admixing a bonding substance to 
the latex always can be reproduced, and this even beyond the ordinary life 
of a goalie glove. 
Whereas for conventional goalie gloves comparatively expensive natural 
latex foams were preferred, because of their better service life over the 
more economical synthetic latices otherwise equally applicable, now the 
admixture of the invention of suitable bonding substances allows extending 
the life so much that thereby even economical synthetic latex foams or 
mixtures of synthetic and natural latex foams are applicable to coating 
the palm surface of goalie gloves. 
Advantageous embodiments of the invention further are stated by claims 3 
and 4. 
Claim 5 contains a further embodiment variation of the invention. The latex 
base material itself remains free of bonding substance in this embodiment 
mode. As a result the pores of the foamed latex base material shall not 
bond shut. 
Obviously the thin cover coating of latex containing the bonding substance 
may form a closed layer on the foamed latex base material. However a 
preferred embodiment mode of the invention provides that the latex foam 
layer containing the bonding substance shall be embedded in the form of 
inlays or islands inside a preferably comparatively thick layer of latex 
foam free of bonding substance and directly covering the outside of the 
palm surface. In order to optimally protect against soiling or damage the 
latex foam mixed according to the invention a with bonding substance, 
further to lower the costs, these "inlays" or "islands" containing said 
bonding substance appropriately shall only be present in those zones of 
the palm surface of the glove material that meet the primary catching 
function. The remaining or surrounding zones of the glove palm surface on 
the other hand may consist of economical latex foam without bonding 
substance or of more abrasion-proof adhering foam of higher density. The 
operative zones (inlays or islands) may be projecting relative to the 
surrounding material for optimal operation. If the emphasis is placed on 
the optimal protection of the latex-foam inlays or islands containing the 
bonding substance, then on the other hand preferably said operative zones 
shall be recessed in or even flush with the surrounding material. 
Regarding the particular bonding substance to be used to implement the 
invention, basically this invention does not place narrow limits on the 
expert. Experiment has shown that some bonding substances are miscible 
with rubber. Illustratively such mixtures are used in making adhesive 
tapes. 
Advantageously the invention proposes that the bonding substances be 
pressure-sensitive adhesives preferably in the form of dispersions. Tests 
have shown that dispersions of pressure-sensitive adhesives of various 
chemical kinds can be uniformly worked into latex foams up to proportions 
of 50%. The invention will offer especially good results for latex foams 
admixed with bonding substances up to the maximum value of uniform 
miscibility. 
Especially advantageous bonding substances were found to be dispersions 
based on a venylacetate/maleinate copolymer, a verylacetate/ethylene 
copolymer, an acrylic-acid-ester copolymer or similar copolymers 
preferably admixed in proportions of 20-40% by weight. 
Besides the above illustration of applicable bonding substances, it is 
conceivable furthermore to use as bonding substances such tackifying 
resins based on resinic acid derivatives (based on natural resins), on 
terpene or petroleum (petroleum fractions) resins, which on account of 
their molecular structures are preferentially suited to mixing with 
natural latex, though being partly also suitable for mixing with synthetic 
latex. Illustratively resins with aromatic molecular structures are suited 
to be mixed into synthetic latices of aromatic structures such as based on 
styrene-butadiene, whereas aliphatic resins are quite miscible with 
natural latices evincing high-grade aliphatic structures. 
A further advantageous embodiment mode of the invention calls for covering 
the bonding substance or the latex-foam containing the bonding material 
with a protective covering to be removed before using the glove. This 
protective covering can be a thermoplastic foil or a cover of web or of 
paper permitting adhesion of dust and soil and stacking of the pertinent 
gloves during production and delivery without the individual gloves 
sticking together on account of the adhering latex foam covering the palm 
surfaces. 
Further embodiments shown in the drawing and discussed below shall be used 
to elucidate the invention.

For the gloves shown, the so-called palm surface is denoted by 10 and the 
back of the glove (the so-called upper hand) by 11. The references 12 
denotes a textile base material essentially serving as a support. The 
textile base material 12 is covered in the area of the "upper hand" 11 
with a layer 13 consisting of a suitable material with illustratively 
reinforcing, water-repelling and/or shock-absorbing properties. 
In the region of the palm surface 10, the textile base material 12 
comprises a comparatively thick layer 14 of a foam material, which 
preferably is a latex foam (natural or synthetic or a mixture of both). 
The dashed lines 15 indicate seams joining the various glove materials. 
As regards the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2, a continuous covering layer 16 
also made of latex foam is mounted in the region of the palm surface 10 on 
the outside of the latex base material 14. Compared to the latex base 
layer 14, the cover layer 16 is thin and contains a uniformly admixed 
bonding substance. As a result the outside of the glove palm surface 10 is 
endowed with adhesiveness which is advantageous when catching or holding 
certain objects, for instance balls. 
The embodiment of FIG. 2 differs merely from that of FIG. 1 in that the 
latex cover layer 16 containing a bonding substance is covered by a 
protective layer 17 for instance in the form of a foil. The protective 
layer 17 is removed before the glove will be used. 
In the embodiment mode shown by FIG. 3, the base layer 14 consisting of a 
conventional latex foam, that is a latex foam lacking any bonding 
addition, is coated with a cover layer of a latex foam mixed with a 
bonding substance. However, contrary to the case of the embodiment modes 
of FIGS. 1 and 2, this cover layer is not in the form of a continuous 
coating, but instead in the form of individual, insular operational zones 
denoted in FIG. 3 by 18-22. For that purpose the latex-foam base layer 14 
is embossed to be lower, for instance at 23, whereby the latex-foam 
operational zones 18-22 always are embedded in the manner of inlays into 
the latex-foam base material 14. The operational zones 18-22 may be 
deposited in particular as follows: the initially still unvulcanized latex 
substance containing the bonding substances is spread over the latex-foam 
base material 14 into the specifically provided pressing zones 23 in such 
a way that the spread latex remains in the recess 23 while being removed 
from the unembossed areas of the latex-foam base material 14. Thereupon 
the latex operational zones 18-22 containing the bonding substance are 
made to foam. 
As regards the embodiment mode of FIG. 4, deep embossings 23 also are 
present in the individual operational zones within the latex-foam base 
material 14. However this embodiment differs from that disclosed in FIG. 3 
in that molded parts already foamed and consisting of a latex with admixed 
bonding substance are inserted into the embossed recesses 23. These 
finished-foamed molded or operational parts each rest on a textile support 
24 and, similarly to the corresponding operational components of FIG. 3, 
are denoted by 18a-22a. FIG. 4 further shows that the adhesive operational 
parts 18a-22a each are flush with the outside of the latex-foam base 
material 14.