Abstract:
A mitten is disclosed. The mitten is shaped such that the lateral sides at the bottom of the mitten where the hand is inserted are substantially parallel. Further, the bottom of the thumb side of the mitten extends directly up to meet the end of the thumb receiving part of the mitten. This creates an internal catch which makes it very simple to “find” the appropriate finger and thumb orientations in the mitten. Then, a cinch arrangement is used to draw in the oversized bottom portion at the wrist to secure it to the user&#39;s hand.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claim benefit of Provisional Application No. 60/910,263 filed on Apr. 5, 2007 the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The disclosures herein relate generally to the field of insulative apparel. More particularly, the disclosed embodiments pertain to mittens for children. 
         [0004]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0005]    As is well known, the conventional mitten has long comprised to receive the index through pinky fingers in a single large receiving portion, and to receive the thumb in a separate smaller elongated sleeve which has a closed end. The overall mitten shape is adapted to substantially conform the shape of the child&#39;s hand. So that the mitten is held on, most of these conventional designs use an elastic band to constrict the mitten about the child&#39;s wrist. 
         [0006]    An example of a conventional mitten is shown in  FIG. 1 . Referring to the figure, it can be seen that a prior art mitten  10  has a large finger-receiving area  12  in an upper portion of the mitten, and an enclosed smaller thumb receiving sleeve  14 . The thumb-receiving sleeve  14  extends out laterally from about the middle of the mitten at an upward angle. The lower portion of the mitten  16  becomes indented below the thumb-receiving sleeve  14 . This indentation causes an upper-thumb-side  18  of the mitten to be substantially aligned with a lower-thumb side  20  of the device as can be seen in the figure. 
         [0007]    Conventional designs like that shown in  FIG. 1 , however, have numerous drawbacks well known to any parent that has bundled a child up for an outdoor sojourn on a cold blustery day. When first inserting the child&#39;s hand, it is normally reasonably easy to insert the fingers in the larger receiving portion. Trouble arises, however, when it comes to inserting the thumb. It is oftentimes difficult for the child, or another person to insert the thumb into the thumb-receiving sleeve  14  portion because the opening to the sleeve is relatively small. Because of this size, it must be oriented exactly about the hand, or the child or parent helper will “miss.” Further complicating matters is that the opening is invisible to the user because it is occluded by the constricting elasticity about the wrist. Further, the downy insulation or liner materials used in most mittens can also interfere with the insertion process. And insertion can become almost impossible if the mittens have become wet, e.g., after a sledding adventure, or some other sloshy endeavor. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a mitten that is more easily adorned by the user, with or without the help of another. Moreover, there exists the problem of the thumb slipping from its thumb receiving sleeve and the wearer, particularly children, needing assistance to reposition the thumb back into the receiving sleeve. Therefore there also exists a need in the art for a mitten that will facilitate retaining the thumb in the retaining sleeve. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0008]    Embodiments of the disclosed invention include a hand-covering device for protecting a user&#39;s hand from cold temperatures. The device has an opening at the bottom. The opening is adapted to allow the user&#39;s hand to be inserted to protect the hand from cold weather. The user&#39;s fingers are received in a finger-receiving portion. The finger-receiving portion defining an upper thumb-side. The device also includes at least one thumb-receiving portion for receiving the user&#39;s thumb. Inside the thumb-receiving portion, an angled catch is defined. This catch will receive the thumb, and directs it into the thumb-receiving portion so that it is properly placed. Immediately below the tip of the thumb-receiving portion is a lower thumb-side, which continues all the way to the bottom opening of the mitten. From the tip downward, the width of the mitten remains substantially the same. The upper-thumb side and said lower-thumb side are offset relative to one another. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]    Illustrative embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, which are incorporated by reference herein and wherein: 
           [0010]      FIG. 1  shows a conventional mitten design; 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  shows the mitten design of the present invention before insertion of a hand; and 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  shows the mitten design of the present invention after a hand has been inserted and the securing steps of the disclosed methods have been executed. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0013]    The disclosed embodiment is shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 .  FIG. 2  shows a hand covering device which is adapted to prevent coldness and discomfort in and also protect the users hand from cold weather. In the disclosed embodiment, the hand covering device is a mitten  200 . But it should be understood that these same principles might also be applied to other kinds of hand wear. For example, the conventional glove has substantially the same thumb-side configuration as the mitten shown in  FIG. 1 . The typical glove has an upper thumb side (like side  16 ) that is indented below a thumb-receiving sleeve (like sleeve  14 ) and a lower thumb side (like side  20 ) which is substantially aligned. Because of this, it should be understood that gloves, as well as other hand adornments, are equally adaptable to incorporate the same principles disclosed herein with respect to mitten  10 . 
         [0014]      FIG. 2  shows the mitten before a user has inserted their hand into it.  FIG. 3  shows mitten  200  after the hand has been inserted and the mitten has then been secured. 
         [0015]    Referring first to  FIG. 2 , it can be seen that mitten  200  has an opening  202  at the bottom where the hand is inserted. It can also be seen that an upper portion of mitten  200  includes a relatively large and enclosed finger-receiving portion  204  which defines an insulated compartment for receiving the four fingers of one hand of a user. Portion  204  also defines opposing lateral sides  205  and  206 . Side  205  runs the length of the glove and is substantially parallel with the longitudinal axis of the mitten until it curves at a top portion  207 . Top portion  207  closes off the compartment for the fingers. Upper lateral side  206 , which is on the opposite side of the device, is also substantially parallel with the longitudinal axis of the mitten, as is side  205 . 
         [0016]    The mitten also includes a thumb-receiving portion  208  for receiving the user&#39;s thumb. Unlike the conventional mittens, the insides of thumb-receiving portion  208  define an angled catch  210 . Angled catch  210  is designed so that it will easily receive the thumb when a user, e.g., a child, inserts their hand. The way the thumb side arrangement of device  200  improves the thumb insertion process can be understood by comparing the adornment processes of the conventional mitten to those of the conventional oven mitt. It is well known that it is very easy to adorn an oven mitt. One reason for this is that the hand receiving opening is made much wider. Although device  200  is much different than the typical oven mitt, it provides a similar advantage in that its hand-receiving opening is very wide. This enables easy entry of the hand and catching of the thumb into its proper compartment. 
         [0017]    Elsewhere on the mitten, an angularly upwardly extending margin  214  above the thumb compartment  208  leads up and away from the bottom of the upper lateral side  206 , and terminates at a tip  216  which encloses the sleeve for the thumb. From tip  216 , a lower lateral side portion  212  of mitten  200  extends directly downward. Like with upper lateral side portion  206 , lower lateral side  218  is substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the mitten. Thus, lower side  218  is outwardly offset from, but parallel to upper side  206 . Further, because lower side  218  and the reciprocating lower portions of opposite side  205  run substantially parallel, the width of the mitten from tip  216  to the bottom of the mitten is maintained at a substantially constant value. 
         [0018]    The substantially constant width defined between sides  205  and  218  at the bottom of the mitten enables the user to easily slide the hand in. Then, because an internal catch  210  is provided to help the user properly locate the thumb in the proper mitten compartment, there is no wrangling required to get everything in the proper orientation and the internal catch  210  also serves to retain the thumb in the thumb receiving portion and thereby avoid adult involvement to reposition the thumb into the thumb receiving portion of the mitten. The cinching of the mitten, as will be discussed below further secures the thumb in position so that the potential for slippage out of the thumb receiving portion is greatly reduced. Another positive aspect created by the constant width and large hand-receiving opening is that the bottom portion of the mitten is able to be folded up from the inside out. Thus, when the bottom of the mitten is folded up, the child or helper is able to clearly see the thumb hole. This makes the thumb very easy to insert, and then the mitten can be unfolded. 
         [0019]    Once the hand is properly inserted, the mitten is cinched around the hand as shown in  FIG. 3 . The cinching arrangement, in the preferred embodiment, includes a slotted plastic loop  222  which is fixed (strapped to, or sewn) onto the outside of the mitten. The arrangement also includes a strap  224 , one end of which is sewn or otherwise fixed onto the back side (not shown) of the mitten, and an other free end  225  is capable of being threaded and pulled through loop  222 . Once pulled through, strap  224  will cinch the wrist area of the mitten so that it appears as shown in  FIG. 3 . The strap  224 , once pulled through, is able to be secured because it has a swatch of VELCRO™ (not shown) on its underside which engages a corresponding female swatch of VELCRO™ 226 which has been sewn onto the mitten in a known manner. It should be understood that many alternative cinch means (e.g., a strap and buckle, or other constrictable arrangements) could be used instead and still fall within the scope of the disclosed embodiments. Thus, unless expressly claimed, the disclosed embodiments should not be limited to any particular cinch mechanism. Once the mitten has been cinched as shown in  FIG. 3 , it will be securely held on the hand, and therefore, is very unlikely to fall off when the wearer engages in activity. 
         [0020]    In order for the mitten to be removed, the user need only detach strap  224  from swatch  226 , uncinch the device to loosen it about the wrist, and slide the mitten off the hand. 
         [0021]    It should be understood that these technologies, as discussed already above, could be employed for use with a glove arrangement, although not shown. Even though gloves have individual compartments for each finger, the same principles employed for the mitten described above—maintaining an oversized bottom opening which defines a larger passageway into the finger and thumb compartments, and, providing a thumb catch. With a glove, the catch would be defined between the thumb and index finger compartments. The only difference from the  FIG. 2  embodiment is that the glove embodiment would substitute four individual finger compartments for the common compartment  204  for all the fingers. The rest of the device could remain the same. 
         [0022]    Another possible variation involves the extension of the bottom of the mitten (or glove) such that it is able to be securable around the outer surfaces of a coat sleeve. This extended cuff would prevent snow (or other substances) from contacting the wearer&#39;s skin in the wrist area or other locations. 
         [0023]    Many different arrangements of the various components depicted, as well as components not shown, are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Embodiments of the present invention have been described with the intent to be illustrative rather than restrictive. Alternative embodiments will become apparent to those skilled in the art that do not depart from its scope. A skilled artisan may develop alternative means of implementing the aforementioned improvements without departing from the scope of the present invention. 
         [0024]    It will be understood that certain features and subcombinations are of utility and may be employed without reference to other features and subcombinations and are contemplated within the scope of the claims. Not all steps listed in the various figures need be carried out in the specific order described.