Thumb construction for a glove

A glove having a back piece, a palm piece and a thumb construction where the palm piece has a substantially straight slit therein to form a button-hole like opening. The thumb construction is formed of two similarly shaped panels which are joined together and which extend through the slit with the bottom part of the thumb construction being jointed at the edges of the slit to the inwardly facing side of the palm piece.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Many forms of glove constructions have existed over the years which give a 
comfortable fit to the hands. Such constructions that have existed have 
required highly skilled labor to shape and assemble the various parts 
making up the glove in order to assure that the glove would have an 
accurate, comfortable fit when worn. These prior art constructions involve 
use of parts having complicated uneven patterns to make thumb 
constructions which in turn require complex stitching to join the parts 
together. Further the manufacturing and assembly process of prior glove 
constructions was complicated by the fact that thumb constructions for the 
same pair of gloves were not interchangeable, that is a thumb construction 
of a right-hand glove could not be used with a left-hand glove. 
An example of a prior art glove construction is the "Key-hole" thumb 
construction in which the palm piece of a glove has a key-hole shaped 
cutout in the general shape of a kidney bean to which base portions of a 
thumb construction are joined by stitching. The sewing control required to 
obtain the proper stitching is difficult to maintain due to the complex 
shape of the cutout. Further the thumb constructions of such gloves are 
not interchangeable. 
Another prior art glove construction is the "Wing-thumb" or continuous 
thumb construction wherein the palm piece has a part of the thumb 
construction integral therewith. This construction, in addition to a back 
piece, requires a separate side panel which forms a back part of the thumb 
construction and which must be joined by stitching to both the back and 
palm pieces. This construction, like the key-hole construction, lacks 
interchangeability of the thumb construction. 
A further glove construction is the "English-Thumb" construction and, like 
the key-hole construction, involves a palm piece having a complex shaped 
cutout to which must be joined a thumb portion made from a pattern having 
a complex shape which has to be precisely cut to conform to the edges of 
the cutout portion. The resulting stitch pattern necessary to join the 
thumb construction to the palm piece is difficult to control and 
interchangeability of the thumb construction is lacking. 
A still further glove construction is the "Gunn-Thumb" construction. This 
glove like the aforementioned wing-thumb construction involves the use of 
complexed shaped patterns where the inwardly facing side of the thumb 
portion is integral with the palm piece and where the outwardly facing 
side of the thumb portion comprises a separate panel which must be joined 
with both the palm and back pieces. Interchangeability of the thumb 
construction is lacking. 
It is therefore an object of my invention to provide for a glove which 
requires a minimal use of complex shaped patterns, where the thumb 
construction may be easily assembled, where there may be 
interchangeability of thumb constructions between right and left-hand 
gloves, where the stitching required to join the thumb construction to the 
palm piece is kept to a minimum and where such stitching as is required 
may be done "in-the-flat." 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
Generally my invention comprises making a glove from essentially three 
parts, namely a palm piece, a back piece and a thumb construction. The 
palm piece has a substantially straight slit cut therein through which the 
thumb construction extends. The thumb construction comprises two similarly 
shaped elongated panels which are united on one side and where each panel 
has an enlarged base portion, a rounded end opposite the base portion and 
a straight side opposite the united side. The straight sides and rounded 
ends of two panels are stitched together to form a thumb construction 
which is then inserted through the slit with the base portions of the two 
panels being joined to the inner facing surface of the palm piece adjacent 
the edges of the slit. The elongated panels are formed such that the 
longitudinal axis of the panels are inclined with respect to the edges of 
the slit and such that the thumb portion when assembled to the palm piece 
will conform to the thumb of the wearer. 
Preferably the two panels making up the thumb portion coincide with one 
another facilitating their being joined together by stitching. 
Alternatively the two panels may be cut from a single piece to form a 
butterfly shaped construction wherein the panels are united along a line 
opposite their straight sides. The two panels are then folded on the line 
and their rounded ends and straight sides are stitched together. Thumb 
constructions made from these panels are interchangeable between right and 
left-hand gloves. 
The thumb construction may be joined to the edges of the slit by a variety 
of stitches. For example the base portion of the thumb construction may be 
joined directly to the inner facing surface of the palm piece adjacent the 
edges of a slit by conventional stitching, or the edges of the slit may be 
folded over to form a lap seam which is then joined by stitching to the 
base portions of the panels.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Referring to FIG. 1 there is illustrated a glove 1 having a palm piece 2 
joined to a back piece 3. As shown the palm piece 2 has a slit 4 cut 
therein having substantially straight sides and through which a thumb 
construction is adapted to extend. 
Referring to FIG. 2 there is illustrated a panel 5 having a rounded end 6, 
an enlarged base portion 7 and a first straight side 8 as well as a second 
straight side 9. As shown in FIG. 3 the panel 5 is joined with an 
identically shaped panel by stitching along the straight edges 8 and 9 and 
rounded end 6 to form a thumb construction 10. If desired the thumb 
construction may then be turned inside out so that the outer edges of the 
thumb construction will have an inseam construction. 
The thumb construction 10 is then inserted through the slit 4 as shown in 
FIGS. 6 and 7 after which the base 7 of each panel is folded so as to form 
a lap seam with the inner facing surface 11 of the palm piece. The base 7 
and the palm piece 2 are joined by conventional stitching 12. 
The elongated panels 5 each have a longitudinal axis 15 which is inclined 
with respect to the base 7. The result is that when the thumb construction 
10 made up of the panels is joined to the palm piece 2, the thumb 
construction will be inclined with respect to the slit 4 as shown in FIG. 
6 whereby the thumb portion will fit the thumb of the glove wearer. The 
palm piece 2 and the glove of FIG. 6 are for the right hand. 
It is apparent that the thumb construction 10 shown in FIG. 3 could be used 
with a left-hand glove merely by turning the thumb construction over. The 
left-hand glove would have the slit 4 in a palm piece extending in 
approximately an 11 o'clock position rather than the 1 o'clock position as 
shown in FIG. 1 or approximately 30.degree. with respect to the 
longitudinal axis of the palm portion. Interchangeability of the thumb 
construction facilitates easy assembly of parts making up the glove and 
reduces expense in that the same parts may be used for both right and 
left-hand gloves and wherein the parts making up the thumb construction 
may be cut using the same pattern for both the back and front panels 
covering the thumb. 
Further the construction as shown in FIG. 6 allows sewing of the parts 
"in-the-flat" while at the same time minimizing the number of seams 
required. This results in a glove having less bulk in the palm area and 
reduction of seam stress resulting from movement of the hand and thumb. 
Referring to FIG. 4 a modified form of a thumb construction 20 is shown in 
which panels 21 and 22 are united and integral with each other along a 
line 23 which is opposite the straight side 24 of each panel. To form a 
thumb construction, the panels are folded along the line 23 and the 
rounded ends 25 as well as the straight sides 24 are sewn together as 
shown in FIG. 5. The thumb construction 20 is then assembled into a palm 
piece in the same manner as the thumb construction 10 of FIG. 3. 
If desired a portion 30 of the edges of the slit 4 may be turned back as 
shown in FIG. 8 to form a slit edge fold. This fold is then sewn to the 
base portion 7 in the same manner as shown in FIG. 7. 
If desired a second stitch line may be included as shown in FIG. 9 wherein 
the assembly is slightly different than that in FIG. 8. In FIG. 9, the 
base 7 would be initially stitched to the palm piece 2 to form a lap seam 
prior to the portion 30 being turned back to form the slit edge fold 31. 
After the initial stitching, the portion 30 would be folded over and the 
second stitch line completed as in FIG. 8. 
Preferably the thumb construction is joined to the palm piece prior to the 
back piece being joined to the palm piece in order to facilitate assembly. 
It is clear however that in some instances it may be desirable to insert 
and join the thumb construction to the palm piece after the palm piece has 
been joined to the back piece. 
A glove constructed according to my invention is applicable for use with 
sporting gloves, dress gloves or work gloves, it being apparent that the 
particular thumb construction combined with the substantially straight 
slit in the palm piece is adaptable for use with many different kinds of 
gloves.