PLAIN SILICONE PRINTED GLOVES HAVING CONSISTANT GRIPPING ABILITY IN VARIOUS MOISTURE CONDITIONS

Abstract: An athletic glove having consistant gripping ability in various moisture conditions is disclosed generally comprising a palm piece and a back piece joined together to fit the human hand. A palm piece is made of impregnated polyurethane artificial leather having a silicone printing on it. In this case, printed silicone elastomeric sealant preferably done by silk-printing on the impregnated polyurethane artificial leather in repeated patterns of lines of narrow width, tiny dots, small letters, various tiny shapes, the combination of the above, or etc. with a considerable bare leather fabric surface not having silicone printing, makes the gloves not only have more improved gripping ability than bare impregnated polyurethane leather, but also have consistant gripping ability in various moisture conditions without losing its original good, soft and supple feel, finger motion, tactile response of original impregnated polyurethane artificial leather, when the silicone elastomeric sealant is penetrated properly into and bonded firmly with the fibers of the polyurethane artificial leather as not to be embossed but to be a plain impregnated surface after curing. Even the flowing water on the surface of this plain silicone printing is expelled easily as to prevent thin water film effects because water contents on the silicone surface are squeezed and absorbed easily by the capillary absorption phenomenon of the bare artificial leather fibers adjacent to the silicone surface at the same level. In order to embody the present invention, on the impregnated polyurethane artificial leather, the silicone elastomeric sealant is silk-printed preferably with two type silicone elastomeric sealant which requires more than a day to cure at room temperature, but cures in a minute or two at 130-170 DEG C and provides consistant and improved gripping ability which does not change in various moisture conditions.

Description: PLAIN SILICONE PRINTED GLOVES HAVING CONSISTANT GRIPPING ABILITY IN VARIOUS MOISTURE CONDITIONS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improved anti-slip glove and more particuarly, to an athletic glove especially for use in conjunction with various athletic activities, such as golf, batting, and etc., having a durable and consistant gripping ability in various moisture conditions on the palm side thereof. Description of the prior art As is well known, gloves are widely used for various kinds of sports, such as golf, batting, football, racquetball, and etc. to protect the human hand from injury, cold weather, and etc. Athletic gloves used in these various sports are generally made of a very thin, supple, material, such as natural leather, or polyurethane artificial leather generally having thickness of 0.4-0.8mm range. Though these gloves are mainly for protection of the wearer's hand from injury and cold weather, many athletes believe that properly designed gloves are essential to enhance their athletic performance. One of the most essential characteristics of an athletic glove is the gripping ability, and presently, lots of the existing leather gloves can provide a very soft and supple feel, finger motion, protection, and tactile response, but the gripping ability of these gloves is generally inferior to the bare human hand. "Tackified" leather gloves are significantly improved gloves in the enhancement of gripping ability in conventional leather gloves, but the tackified material leaves a somewhat wet, oily, tacky feel, and tacky residue objectionable to the skin of the hand, and its succeeding invention makes its inner surface detackified with a solution containing nitrocellulose and sealant resins so that its inside surface do not have this tacky residue. (U.S PAT# 4,689,832) Another category of gloves are gloves having the palm piece and the back piece, or at least the palm piece, made out of polyurethane artificial leather, which generally provides good, soft and supple feel, finger motion, protection, and tactile response. Moreover, lots of woven or non-woven polyurethane artificial leathers are much more durable than a natural leather or tackified leather but have generally poorer gripping ability due to its lower friction force than the natural leather. And to improve the gripping ability the palm portion of the glove is made out of a sheet of leather or synthetic suede leather prepared by a chrome tanning process with a reduced oil content and a continuous, thin layer of silicone bonded to a substantial portion of the palm piece as the layer of sealant to be penetrated partially into the upper sheet of leather or synthetic leather. These gloves provide an excellent gripping ability by the thin, uniform layer of silicone sealant material forming a continuous coating covering the palm piece. But this continuous silicone coating regardless of the degree of penetration whether partial or thorough, inhibits good soft and supple feel, finger motion, and tactile response considerably when it is used on a thin leather of a thickness of 0.4-0.8mm range. Moreover, it gets very slippery when there is water on the continuous silicone sealant coating regardless of the degree of penetration whether partial or thorough, by thin water film effects. (U.S PAT.# 5,117,509) Silicone is used in the art of seamless gloves made as one whole piece by dipping the solid hand shape mandrel in the active silicone or non- silicone fluid for the formation of a thin hand shaped glove shell on the mandrel and removing that shell after curing, and then the glove is suitable for surgery but as it is so tight and its inner surface is so tacky, it has lots of problems when people wear it or take it off as to hurt the hand skin sometimes, and the new glove was made by the dispersion of a novel one or two type silicone with silica particles embedded at the final dipping process to formate the textured inner surface having less friction and being easier to put on or take off, but it has no relation at all to the gripping ability of the glove outer surface required for the sporting glove. (U.S PAT# 5,620,773) Another category of glove is the winter sporting glove, to the palm area of which a patch of an additional synthetic leather layer is secured by sewing, and on that patch the elastomer is applied in a continuous, embossed pattern with a plurality of openings through the elastomeric polymer. These kinds of gloves are especially useful for skiing, snowmobiling, and etc. Though this kind of independent additional tackified layer patch of glove helps lot in the gripping ability in the case of winter sporting gloves such as skiing, snowmobiling, and etc., it is not possible to have good soft and supple feel, finger motion, and tactile response when wearing this kind of glove because of its thicker lining, insulations, paddings, and etc. regardless of the addition of an independent tackified layer, and it is not practical for the gloves of very sensative sports, such as golf, batting, and etc., because the additional independent tackified layer inhibits good soft and supple feel, finger motion, tactile response and etc. considerably, when applied to this kind of glove. And it also becomes very slippery when there is water on elstomeric polymer by thin water film effects which is a quite unallowable condition to the wearers of the golf or batting gloves. (U.S. PAT# 5,625,900) All the other present gloves have extremely poor gripping ability when they are dampened, and when fully saturated with water, which happens happens often in the summer by sweating or by rain, and gripping ability changes under moisture conditions, which makes the wearers of the gloves feel the changing of gripping ability and lose their grip of golf clubs or bats, or grip too firmly with excessive gripping force as to make the whole body more rigid than desirable and to ruin the hitting, swinging, and etc. Accordingly there is a substantial need in the art of athletic gloves having better gripping ability which does not change in variois moisture conditions without losing good, soft and supple feel, finger motion, tactile response. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is a palm piece of a thickness of 0.4-0.8mm impregnated polyurethane artificial leather on which the silicone elastomeric sealant being printed and properly penetrated in repeated patterns of very tiny lines, dots, shapes, letters, or combination of the above, and etc., provides consistant and improved gripping ability which does not change in various moisture conditions. The golve generally comprises a palm piece and back piece. The palm piece is preferred to be made of impregnated polyurethane artificial leather whether woven or non-woven and is silk-printed preferably with two type silicone elastomeric sealant which requires more than a day to cure at room temperature but cures in a minute or two at 130- 170 °C and it is quite important in the process of this invention that the printed silicone elastomeric sealant is properly and adequately penetrated into the fibers of the impregnated polyurethans artificial leather, as not to be embossed but to have a plain surface when heat cured. The golves of the present invention are especially useful for golf golves, batting gloves, recquetball gloves, and etc. which require good, soft and supple feel, finger motion, tactile reponse, and good gripping ability consistant even in various moisture conditions on the palm surface of the gloves by sweating, or rain to the wearers of the gloves. Though the silicone elastomeric sealant is soft and supple but very much bulkier and harder than the bare impregnated polyurethane artificial leather when it is applied on the polyurethane artificial leather as embossed, or in a partially penetrated continuous manner and inhibits good, soft and supple feel, finger motion, and tactile response, despite a more improved gripping ability when wearing gloves than the gloves of bare impregnated polyurethane artificial leather and moreover its gripping ability drops badly when wet or saturated with water by the thin water film effects in the case of any referenced above. But when the silicone elastomeric sealant is applied in the repeated patterns of tiny lines, dots, shapes, letters, the combination of the above, or etc. in a manner as it covers the surface minimally and is properly penetrated into the fibers of the impregnated polyurethane artificial leather before curing by heat treatment, the gripping ability is improved much more than the bare impregnated polyurethane artficial leather without losing its original good, soft and supple feel, finger motion, and tactile response, and moreover it never changes in various moisture conditions unlikely as the embossed tacky elastomeric polymer, the bare impregnated polyurethane artificial leather, tackified leather, or the partially penetrated continuous thin layer of silicone sealant, and the others known until now. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herebelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus, are not limitative of the present invention and wherein ; FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an athletic glove disclosing the present invention, particularly illustration the palm portion thereof ; FIG. 2 is an enlarged top plan view of a hexagonal patterned silicone sealant which has penetrated into the fibers of an artificial leather according to the present invention ; FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of a hexagonal patterned silicone sealant which has penetrated into the fibers of an artificial leather according to the present invention ; FIG. 4(A) is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the present invention showing the hexagonal patterned silicone sealant which has penetrated into the main portion of the palm of the glove according to the present invention ; FIG. 4(B) is an enlarged sectional view of FIG. 4(A), taken along line 4(B) - 4(B) ; FIG. 5(A) is a perspective view of a third embodiment of the present invention showing the hexagonal patterned silicone sealant penetrated into the patches of artificial leather which is attached by sewing to the main portions of the palm of the glove according to the present invention ; and FIG. 5(B) is an enlarged sectional view of FIG. 5(A), taken along line 5(B) - 5(B) FIG. 5(B) is an enlarged sectional drawing showing the silicone printed patches attached. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawings wherein the depictions are for purposes of illustration a preferred embodiment of the present invention only and not for the purpose of limiting the same, FIG. 1 illustrates the glove "A" of the present invention. Glove "A" is generally comprised a palm piece and a back piece. Glove "A" is preferred to snugly fit the human hand. The palm piece and back piece are preferably joined by sewing the side edges of the glove palm piece and back piece and etc. in a conventional, substantially continuous manner. Particularly suitable material for the palm piece of glove "A" is this, soft, and supple mpregnated polyurethane artificial leather, but the back piece may be of the same material or different materials depending on the user's preference and the usage of the glove. ; (golf, batting, recquetball, football, and etc.), and upon the outside temperature varying to the seasons of the year, and ect. Importantly, the palm piece and thumb inside piece of glove "A" must be printed preferably by a silk-printing method of preferably two-type silicone elastomeric sealant 20 and left in the air as the printed silicone elastomeric sealant to be penetrated into and bonded properly with the impregnated polurethane artificial leather fibers 10b before its curing at 130-170 °C for a minute or two. One of the preferred two -type silicone elastomeric sealants 20 is KE-1300T and hardening agent CAT- 1300 of Japanese Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. 10-30% volume of hardening agent CAT- 1300 is added on the KE-1300T silicone main part and thoroughly mixed before application and a somewhat coarser silk-printing plate is utilized for silicone printing as its lower flowing ability than the usual printing ink and minimal volume of silicone elastomeric sealant 20 should be applied on the impregnated polyurethane artificial leather. It is quite clear in FIGS. 2 and 3 that the gripping ability is derived partly from the exposed silicone elastomeric sealant upper suface 20a, the other part 20b of which is penetrated into the polyurethane fiber 10b, and partly from the bare impregnated polyurethane atrificial leather surface 10a, and these two different parts, 10a and 20a, of the suface, preserving the original plain surface of the initial impregnated polyurethane artificial leather, are the core parts of the present invention defferent from those of the embossed or partially penetrated continuous silicone printing. It has better gripping ability than bare polyurethane impregnated artificial leather wliich never changes in various mositure conditions unlike the other conventional, patented, or all the other gloves known until now for the sake of the superior charactaristics of the plain combinational surface of the bare polyurethane 10a and the partly printed silicone 20a. Because at the minimal area 20a( generally 20-40% of the whole surface) silicone being printed and properly penetrated, it has its original characteristics of good soft and supple feel, finger motion, tactile response, and etc. as the bare polyurethane impregnated artificial leather but just has got improved gripping ability, which does not change in various moisture conditions and even when fully saturated with water. When the silicone elastomeric sealant 20 being printed on the impregnated polyurethane artificial leather it is preferred to be properly penetrated into and bonded with the fibers 10b of the impregnated tiny lines in FIGS. 1-5. The other applications are the cases in which silicone elastomeric sealant being printed partly on the main parts only as in FIGS. 4(A) and 4(B), or patched on by sewing of same method silicone printing leather patches 30 as in FIG. 5(A) and 5(B). To embody the present invention, firstly make a silk-print with the properly mixed two-part silicone elastomeric sealant 20 in the repeated patterns of very tiny lines, dots, shapes, letters, the combination of the above, and etc., on the piece of 0,4-0.8mm thick impregnated polyurethane artificial leather 10 comprising the palm piece, and then leave it at room temperature preferably at 10-30 "C until it is properly penetrated into the fibers 10b of the impregnated polyurethane artificial leather 10 and the upper surface 20a of the printed silicone levels with the initial surface 10a of the impregnated polyurethane artificial leather, and finally let it cure for a minute or two at 130-170 ° C. It is quite important in the process of this invention that the printed silicone elastomeric sealant is properly and enoughly penetrated into and bonded with the fibers of the impregnated polyurethane artificial leather, as not to be embossed when heat cured. The gloves of the present invention are especially useful for golf gloves, batting gloves, racquetball gloves, and etc. requiring the best, soft and supple feel, finger motion, tactile response, and good gripping ability unchanged in various moisture conditions with dampening of the gloves by sweating, or rain to the wearers of the gloves. Though the silicone elastomeric sealant is soft and supple but very much bulkier and harder than the bare impregnated polyurethane artificial leather when it is applied as embossed, or in a partially penetrated continuous manner, and inhibits good, soft and supple feel, finger motion, and tactile response considerably, despite of improved gripping ability when wearing the gloves comprised of the artificial leather treated as above unlike the gloves of bare impregnated polyurethane artificial leather and moreover gripping ability drops badly when wet or saturated with water in the case of any referenced above. But when the silicone elastomeric sealant is applied in the repeated patterns of tiny lines, dots, shapes, letters, the combination of the above, or etc. in a manner as it covers the surface in minimal and is properly penetrated into and bonded with the fibers of the imprenated polyurethane artificial leather before heat curing and remain plain surface, the gripping ability becomes improved than the bare impregnated polyurethane artificial leather without losing its good, soft, and supple feel, finger motion, and tactile response, and moreover it never changes in various moisture conditions unlike the embossed tacky elastomeric polymer, the bare impregnated polyurethane artificial leather, tackified leather, or the partially penetrated continuous this layer of silicone sealant, and the others known until now. It expels easily the water contents from the upper surface of the printed silicone 20a to the filbers of the bare impregnated polyurethane artificial leather 10a adjacent to d e upper surface of the printed silicone 20a at the same level by prompt carpillary phenomenon when gripping the golf club, bat, and etc. and prevents thin water film effects differently from the embossed or partially penetrated continuous silicone sealant printing, but provides good gripping ability as under usual conditions. Additional modifications and improvements of the invention may also be apparent to those skilled in the art. Thus, the particular combination of parts described and illustrated herein is intended to represent only one embodiement of the invention, and is not intended to serve as limitations of alternative devices within the spirit and scope of the invention. Further, those skilled in the art will recognize that the sports glove defined and claimed herein is additionally applicable for other non- sports, special use endeavors requiring improved gripping ability such as aviation flight gloves and the like and for the purposes of this application the term sports gloves shall be defined to encompass such broader meaning.

Claims: WHAT IS CLAIMED IS ; 1. An athletic glove "A" comprising ; a palm piece and a back piece including a seperately cut thumb inside piece and a thumb back piece joined together by sewing to fit human hands wherein said palm piece and thumb inside piece comprise impregnated polyurethane artificial leather 10 on which two type silicone elastomeric sealants (20)(20a)(20b) being printed in a certain pattern and penetrated enough into the fibers of the artificial leather 10b as to formate plain surface after heat curing a minute or two at 130- 170 °C provides consistant and improved gripping ability which does not change at moisture condition. 2. The glove of claim 1 wherein the said two type silicone elastomeric sealant (20)(20a)(20b) being printed on the polyurethane artificial leather 10 palm piece and/or on the thumb inside piece in the repeated patterns of lines of narrow width, of tiny dots, of small letters, of variour tiny shapes, or of the combination of those with considerable portions of impregnated polyurethane artificial leather 10a (generally 80-60% of the whole surface not applied with silicone elastomeric sealant) preferably by silk-printing having more improved gripping ability than bare impregnated polyurethane leather, having an average thickness of 0.4-0.8mm, having improved gripping ability consistant in various moisture conditions or even when fully saturated with water, by prompt carpillary absorbtion phenomenon, without losing good soft and supple feel, finger motions, tactile response of original impregnated polyurethane artificial leather. 3. The glove of claim 1 wherein the said silicone elastomeric sealants (20)(20a)(20b) are partly printed on the polyurethane artificial leather 10 palm piece and/or on the thumb inside piece, or wherein the leather patches 30 of the said silicone elastomeric sealants (20)(20a)(20b) are partly attached on the major parts on the palm and has improved gripping ability consistant in various moisture conditions. 4. The glove of claims 1, 2, and 3 wherein the upper surface 20a of silicone elastomeric sealant printing slightly extruded than the upper surface 10a of the artificial leather within the range not to lose the prompt carpillary absorbtion phenomenon and as not to cause thin water film effect.

Inventors: KANG HYE-SOOK, KANG, HYE-SOOK
Applicants: HANYOUNG KANGAROO CO LTD, HANYOUNG KANGAROO CO., LTD.
Application year: 1998
Main classification: A41D19
IPC codes: A41D19, A63B71