Abstract:
A glove having a palm side portion for covering the palm and the palm side of the fingers and a back side portion for covering the back side of the hand and the back side of the fingers. The palm side portion is made of a first material and the back side portion is made of a second material that is more stretchable than the first material. A semi-stretchable material is selectively applied over parts of the outer surface of the back portion of the glove with at least a horizontal component to provide a snug fit over the wearer&#39;s hand.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application claims the priority of provisional application Ser. No. 60/791,571 filed in the United States Patent and Trademark Office on Apr. 12, 2006. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The invention is generally directed to an enhanced fit glove and, in particular, to a glove designed for close fitting on the palm, such as a golf glove, in which the palm portion of the glove has a leather or similar material designed to provide a close fit and the back surface is formed of a stretchable material such as Spandex®, which is restricted in its expansion through selective placement of a less stretchable material.  
         [0003]     Generally, if Spandex® or a similar two dimensional, stretchable material, is placed on the back surface of the glove, the hand&#39;s movement will tend to create a glove environment in which the palm portion of the glove will not maintain a positive and snug fit to the wearer&#39;s hand. In golf and other sports and active wear uses for gloves it is critical that the golfer or other user have a snug and wrinkle free feel of the glove through the palm portion of the glove, both in the palm region and in the fingers. However, when Spandex® or other highly stretchable materials are used on the back of the glove for comfort and fit, the material tends to stretch too much so that, when the golfer&#39;s or other wearer&#39;s hand moves in certain ways, the palm portion of the glove becomes loose and tends to gap and wrinkle, which undermines the quality of the fit and feel of the glove in its intended use. Accordingly, there is a need for an improved glove fitting system which utilizes a traditional palm portion of the glove, together with a stretchable back portion, which allows the glove to fit comfortably, snugly and without gapping or other improper fit.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004]     The invention is generally directed to a sport glove or other form fitting garments. In the case of a sports glove, the glove has a palm portion, a back portion formed of a different material, which is secured to the palm portion, either directly or through the use of fourchettes, wherein the back surface of the glove covering the back of the palm and the fingers is formed of a highly stretchable material and a restrictively stretchable material is applied to the back surface of the glove in selective locations to limit the degree of stretchability of the glove in desired locations so that a snug and comfortable fit on the palm portion of the glove is achieved.  
         [0005]     Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved glove fitting system in which the degree of stretchability of the back portion of the glove is controlled in specified areas.  
         [0006]     Still another object of the invention is to provide an improved golf glove in which the palm portion is formed of traditional construction and the back portion is formed in a light weight stretchable material which is augmented by a restrictively stretchable material which imparts increased stability and a snug fit to the palm portion of the glove.  
         [0007]     Still other objects and advantages of the invention will, in part, be obvious and will, in part, be apparent from the specification.  
         [0008]     The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangements of parts which will be exemplified in the construction as hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]     For a fuller understanding of the invention, reference is had to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:  
         [0010]      FIG. 1  is a top plan view of the back portion of a glove constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention;  
         [0011]      FIG. 2  is a top plan view of the palm portion of the glove of  FIG. 1  constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention;  
         [0012]      FIG. 3  shows a variation of the application of the semi-stretchable material on the back side portion of the glove;  
         [0013]      FIG. 4  shows another variation of the application of the semi-stretchable material on the back side portion of the glove;  
         [0014]      FIG. 5  shows yet another variation of the application of the semi-stretchable material on the back side portion of the glove;  
         [0015]      FIG. 6  shows still another variation of the application of the semi-stretchable material on the back side portion of the glove;  
         [0016]      FIG. 7  shows yet still another variation of the application of the semi-stretchable material on the back side portion of the glove; and  
         [0017]      FIG. 8  shows yet another variation of the application of the semi-stretchable material on the back side portion of the glove. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0018]     The invention can be applied to various types of form fitting garments. For ease in describing the present invention, the example of a sports glove is described. As shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , glove  100  is generally constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention. Glove  100  contains a palms side portion  50  and a back side portion  70 . Back side portion  70  covers the back of the hand and the back side of the fingers. The palm side portion  50  covers the palm and the palm side of the finger. The palm side portion  50  of the golf glove as shown in  FIG. 2  is formed in a traditional fashion with a leather palm including a leather thumb portion  62  of the palm side. The palm side portion  50  extends to the fingertips  51 ,  52 ,  53 ,  54 . The material utilized for palm side portion  50  may be a traditional leather used in golf gloves or an enhanced leather or synthetic leather augmented with phase change materials or other approaches either in the tanning or in applications to enhance the fit, feel and temperature responsiveness of the palm side portion of the glove.  
         [0019]     Generally, the palm side portion  50  of the glove and the back portion  70  of the glove  100  are connected to each other along the outer, pinky edge of the hand  61  and along the thumb  62  and outer edge of the index finger  63 . Fourchettes  170  are used between the palm portion and back portion of the glove in the surfaces between the index and middle finger, middle finger and ring finger, and ring finger and pinky.  
         [0020]     The back side portion  70  of the glove  100  is formed in a preferred embodiment of a Spandex® material. An application of a layer of a semi-stretchable material  90  is selectively applied to the back side portion  70  of the glove  100  on the outside of the Spandex® material, preferably by a silk screening process. Alternately, it can be placed on the inside surface of the back side portion  70 . The semi-stretchable material is preferably made of a polyurethane rubber, polyvinyl carbonate or silicon material. The pattern of the semi stretchable material is altered depending on the use of the glove and the desired fit and stretchability. In a preferred embodiment shown in  FIG. 1 , the silk screen pattern extends both along the length of the fingers  110 , across the width of the back side portion of the fingers in a generally diamond shaped pattern  91 , which tends to restrict the spreading of the back portion  70  or the fingers at different places, generally on either side of the knuckle joints, though it may also be placed at the knuckle joints in other preferred embodiments. Also, there are horizontal bands  120 ,  130  of the semi stretchable material which run across the width of the hand below the knuckles on the back of the hand  70  to provide additional tightness across the lower portion of the palm  50  of the glove. Similarly, a further semi-stretchable portion  142  with additional silicone is found across the back of the glove proximate the outer gauntlet portion of the glove  140 , which closes. The configuration allows the glove to fit even better around the palm below the thumb.  
         [0021]      FIGS. 3-9  show variations of the patterned layer of semi-stretchable material on the backs of the glove  70 . For example, the patterned layer can include horizontal lines  210  and vertical lines  220  ( FIG. 3 ), a series of circular shapes  230  ( FIG. 4 ), a series of diamond shapes  240  ( FIG. 5 ), a series of arced horizontal  250  and vertical  260  lines ( FIG. 6 ), semi-stretchable material only on a portion  270  of the back of the glove ( FIG. 7 ), a combination of any of the above designs, for example a mix of horizontal, vertical and arced lines, or a mesh-like pattern  280  ( FIG. 8 ). In another embodiment, the semi-stretchable material can contain a reflective coating which can be used for example, by the police or by cyclists.  
         [0022]     The use of the combination of the Spandex® or other two- or one-way stretchable material on the back portion of the glove, together with the semi-stretchable material to restrict the degree of stretchability of the stretchable material in key spots where the gloves are likely to otherwise be too loose and, thus, slip or gap on the palm portion, is prevented by the combination of the stretchable and semi-stretchable material. The screen printing is done on the outside of the back portion of the glove (or in other preferred embodiments, on the inside). This creates an exoskeleton elastic system that allows each stretch area of the glove to be controlled differently. The semi-stretchable material can be applied to the entire back of the glove or only in certain areas, like one finger, some fingers, across the back of the glove etc. As seen in  FIGS. 3-9 , the semi-stretchable material can be applied with different widths and thicknesses as well as vertically and horizontally across the glove. This will all affect the give and stretchability of the glove. With different widths of the semi-stretchable material variable degrees of stretch are achieved. In a preferred embodiment, there is at least one application of a horizontal band of the semi-stretchable material applied to the back of the glove. The horizontal format helps maintain the fit of the glove around the width of the hand.  
         [0023]     In many of the embodiments shown the selectively stretchable material applied to the back of the glove is not orthogonal to the axes of the glove (i.e., the length of the glove from the fingertips to the open end of the glove (“vertical” direction) or directly across the width of the hand (“horizontal” direction). In these cases the applied selectively stretchable material can be said to have a horizontal component and a vertical component. These components tend to reduce movement of the fit of the glove in the corresponding horizontal and vertical directions of the glove. In one preferred embodiment of the invention there are purely horizontal components of the selectively stretchable material. In other preferred embodiments there are both vertical components and horizontal components of the selectively stretchable material. Horizontal components in the finger region control the fit in the fingers. Horizontal components on the lower palm facing back of the glove control the fit on the palm.  
         [0024]     The present invention can be used to improve the fit of various types of gloves, such as golf gloves, batting gloves, hunting gloves, fishing gloves, working gloves, motorcycle gloves, gardening gloves, bicycle gloves, horse back riding gloves, fitness gloves, work gloves, safety gloves, snug fit and military gloves. It can also be used with socks where a snug fit for the bottom of the foot is created with a looser, stretchable top portion with controlled stretching in accordance with the invention. It can also be applied to other garments or even to multi-surface skins for movable objects where there is a need for a snug fit on one surface and an enhanced stretchability and flexibility on the opposing surface, but a need to control the stretchability on the opposed surface to assure a consistent, reliable fit on the first surface.  
         [0025]     Accordingly, an improved and enhanced fitting system for gloves such as golf gloves is achieved by the use of a light-weight back surface of a glove, which is stretchable but which is controlled in its stretching to enhance the fit by selective application of a restrictively stretchable material, such as silicone.  
         [0026]     It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent in the preceding description, are efficiently obtained and, since certain changes may be made in the above constructions without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative, and not in a limiting sense.  
         [0027]     It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention, herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.