Patent Publication Number: US-2007094766-A1

Title: Disposable glove cartridge

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION  
      1. Field of Invention  
      The present invention relates to disposable gloves, and more particularly, relates to a disposable glove cartridge, which enables a user easily and quickly retrieve individual glove from the cartridge with a handy and convenient manner.  
      2. Description of Related Arts  
      Nowadays, people living in the civilized world have been changed to be more and more environment and health concerned. Unsurprisingly, hygiene enforcement equipments, such as disposable gloves, became mandatory means in many occasions for accustoming a clean or sterile environment. Needless to say, there would be enormous requirements for disposal gloves in medical industry and food industry. This is due to the fact that the disposable gloves are capable of minimizing the spread of viruses and other contaminants among individuals. The likelihood of the dirty means transmission between personnel&#39; hands and foods to be served will be significantly reduced.  
      Moreover, the food handlers are required to frequently replace the gloves under certain circumstances. For instance, in foodservice industry, a food-dispatching employee would have to handle a variety of items at the same time, wherein different items are probably not permitted to contact with each other. As a result, the food service personnel are willing to wear an easily replaceable glove from time to time. That is to say, every time he touched one item of the food, he would discard the used or contaminated glove immediately, and then don another new glove in a prompted manner to touch another item.  
      To satisfy such special requirements in the food industry and medical industry, many types of cheaper and reliable thermoplastic disposable gloves have been introduced into the market. The disposable gloves are interposed together with an overlapped manner to form a multi-layer structure. As a result, the food service personnel are able to frequently replace the gloves by carrying on such multi-layer disposable gloves.  
      Commonly, such multi-layer gloves could be sold in a dispenser having a slot defined thereon, and the user are able to retrieve the gloves from the slot of the dispenser one by one in routine application. In other words, such kind of disposable glove is just defined like a paper tissue removed from a tissue dispenser.  
      Unfortunately, the disposable gloves are different with the tissue paper in physical properties and functional characteristics. The disposable gloves are made of plastic materials and prepared to have an opening for insertion into a human hand. When the gloves are removed from the dispenser, the thermoplastic gloves are susceptible to be creased or deformed in shape. It would be troublesome for food service personnel to straighten out the plastic gloves first and then figure out where is the opening to insert his hand. In other words, the disposable gloves retrieved from such gloves dispenser would be difficult to be instantly serviceable.  
      What is more, since the food service personnel always change the gloves under a flurry time-saving circumstance. Inadvertent removal of more than one glove would be inevitable thus causing unnecessary wastes of such disposable gloves. It is desirable to develop an improved disposable gloves dispensing arrangement for overcoming above-mentioned problems of the conventional disposable gloves.  
     SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION  
      A primary object of the present invention is to provide a disposable glove cartridge, which is easily carried by a user for ensuring a reliable and efficient glove dispensing procedure.  
      Another object of the present invention is to provide a disposable glove cartridge, wherein a human hand could be easily and quickly inserted into each individual glove so as to release the disposable glove from the cartridge, as a result, a user is able to simultaneously retrieve the glove and insert his hand into the glove for achieving a timesaving serviceable purpose.  
      Another object of the present invention is to provide a disposable glove cartridge, wherein no complicated enclosure or dispenser would be required for supporting the glove cartridge in position; that is to say, the disposable glove cartridge is capable of being carried by the user in a handy manner or detachably attached to a nearby object.  
      Another object of the present invention is to provide a disposable glove cartridge having a plurality of disposable gloves, wherein frequent and regular retrieval of a new glove would not affect the reuse function of the glove cartridge; in other words, the glove cartridge would be maintain a ready-to-use condition after a repetitious removal of the disposable gloves, the outermost glove of the disposable glove cartridge is always ready to be serviceable.  
      Another object of the present invention is to provide a disposable glove cartridge, wherein each glove of the cartridge could be removed safely and efficiently, that is to say, whenever a user is willing to retrieve a glove, there is no possibility that more than one gloves shelled off from the cartridge at the same time.  
      Accordingly, to achieve above mentioned objects, the present invention provides a hanging disposable gloves cartridge, comprising:  
      a plurality of disposable gloves alignedly overlapped with each other to form a glove stack, wherein each of the disposable gloves has a transverse perforated tear line spanned thereon for dividing the disposable glove into a waist portion and a hand portion; and  
      a clamp holder, which comprises a pair of mounting wings for substantially sandwiching the glove stack there between at a position above the tear lines of the disposable gloves, and means for attaching the clamp holder to an object so as to enable the disposable gloves supported by the object with an individually suspended manner;  
      wherein each of the hand portions has a first layer bordered the perforated tear line and a second layer having a peripheral edge seamed with the first layer so as to form a hand cavity between the first layer and the second layer for receiving a human hand, and automatically leave an elongated opening adjacent to the perforated tear line for permitting the human hand slipped into the hand cavity to peel off the hand portion of an outermost disposable glove of the glove stack from the cartridge.  
      These and other objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a hanging disposable glove cartridge according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the disposable glove cartridge according to above preferred embodiment of the present invention showing an outermost glove is torn off from the cartridge by a human hand.  
       FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the disposable glove cartridge according to the preferred embodiment showing an alternative mode of the clamping holder for suspendedly supporting the disposable gloves in position. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
      Referring to the  FIG. 1  to  FIG. 3 , a hanging disposable glove cartridge according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention is illustrated. The hanging disposable glove cartridge  1  comprises a plurality of disposable gloves  10  alignedly overlapped with each other to form a glove stack  101 , wherein each of the disposable gloves  10  has a transverse perforated tear line  110  for dividing the disposable glove  10  into a waist portion  11  and a hand portion  12 .  
      That is to say, the hand portion  12  is integrally extended from the waist portion  11  to conform a human hand shape. Furthermore, the disposable glove cartridge  1  comprises a clamp holder  20 , which comprises a pair of mounting wings  21  for substantially sandwiching the glove stack  101  there-between at a position above the tear line  110  of the disposable gloves, and means  22  for attaching the clamp holder  20  to an object so as to enable the disposable gloves  10  attached onto the object with an individually suspended manner. Here, the mounting wings  21  are respectively provided at either side of the glove stack  101  for retaining the plurality of waist portions  11  in position so as to suspend the glove stack  101  as shown in  FIG. 2 .  
      What is more, each of the hand portions  12  has a first layer  121  bordered with the perforated tear line  110  and a second layer  122  having a peripheral edge  123  seamed with the first layer  121  along an human hand shape so as to form a hand cavity  30  between the first layer  121  and the second layer  122  for receiving a human hand and automatically define an elongated opening  31  adjacent to the tear line  110  for allowing the human hand slipped into the hand cavity  30  to peel off the hand portion  12  of an outermost dispose glove  10  from the cartridge  1 .  
      Preferably, the glove stack  101  of the disposable gloves cartridge  1  is prepared by generally overlaying a plurality of identical disposable gloves  10 . In the present invention, the disposable gloves  10  are made of low cost thermoplastic materials, such as Polypropylene or polyethylene. This is due to the fact that such thermoplastic materials are of pliable property to be easily deformed for facilitating a better maneuverability and manageability. And more importantly, such plastic materials are inert to a wide range of chemicals and adapted to be applied over a remarkable scope of temperatures. It is noted that the thermoplastic materials is selected from a group consisting of polypropylene, polybutylene, polyamides, ethylene/vinyl-acetate copolymer, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidine chloride, and so on.  
      The perforated tear line  110  is purposely arranged onto each individual disposable glove  10  for dividing the disposable glove  10  into a waist portion  11  and a hand portion  12 , wherein the waist portion  11  could be superposed with other waist portions  11  and be reinforced or strengthened by two mounting wings  21  of the clamp holder  20  to form a rigid hanging holder with respect to the downwardly suspended pliable hand portions  12 . Preferably, the perforated tear line  110  is arranged at a position adjacent to the lower edges of the mounting wings  21 . It is noted that the perforated tear line  110  could be applied as a grooved weaken line for easier manufacture in case of the glove material is thick.  
      According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the clamp holder  20  is a rigid plastic strap bisectionally folded to generate a pair of symmetrical mounting wings  21  respectively wrapped up onto both sides of the glove stack  101  for retaining the waist portions  11  of the glove stack  101  in position. On the other hand, the waist portions  11  of the plurality of disposable gloves  10  are be reinforced or stiffened by thematically fusing the waist portions  11  into an integrated holding part  102  while the hand portions  12  of all disposable gloves  10  are downwardly suspended thereof, wherein the tear line  110  are markedly exposed from the integrated holding part  102  for gradually and subsequently peeling off the outermost disposable glove  10  in convenience. In other words, the waist portions  11  of the glove stack  101  could be formed as a rigid strap for supporting the dangling gloves in purposes.  
      In other words, the clamp holder  20  enable the waist portions  11  and the hand portions  12  stand in sharp contrast, wherein the stiffened waist portions  11  are retained and reinforced by the mounting wings  21  of the clamp holder  20 , whereas the hand portions  12  of the disposable gloves  10  are extended from the clamp holder  20  with a suspended manner.  
      Furthermore, the clamp holder  20  has means  22  for detachably attaching such clamp holder  20  onto an ambient object, such as a hook, a belt, a rod, and so on. In the preferred embodiment, the attaching means  22  are two through holes penetrating the mounting wings  21  at an upper position, as shown in  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 . As a result, the user is able to freely hang the clamp holder  20  at his or her belt, a wall hook, or any other nearby objects. By the way, the attaching means  22  could be embodied as snaps, buttons, screws, Velcro fastener, as well as zippers for detachably attaching the clamp holder onto nearby objects. Preferably, the hanging disposable glove cartridge  1  of the present invention is supposed to detachably attached onto the user&#39; belt, such that a user could carry such glove cartridge on his two sides during operating procedure.  
      As shown in  FIG. 2 , each of the hand portions  12  has a first layer  121  bordered with the perforated tear line  110  and a second layer  122  having a peripheral edge  123  seamed with the first layer  121 . In other words, each of the hand portions  122  is formed of two layers of thermoplastic film, namely the first layer  121  and the second layer  122 , which are seamlessly sealed along the peripheral edge. Here, the first layer  121  and the second layer  122  could be shaped to form a human hand shape, such as a five-finger glove or a thumb/multi-finger mitten. Since the second layer  122  is welded onto the first layer  121  along the human hand shape peripheral edge, the elongated opening  31  would be automatically formed transversely spanning on two lateral edges of the hand portion  12 . Since the disposable glove cartridge  1  of the present invention is detachably attached to a nearby object, the glove stack  101  would be supported in a suspended manner. As a result, the elongated opening  31  would be upwardly orientated, such that a user is able to quickly and easily slip his or her hand into such elongated opening  31  without further effort. What is more, the weight of the second layer  122  would more or less downwardly deform the elongated opening  31  for facilitating such hand-insertion movement.  
      Moreover, it is noted that the thermoplastic first layer  121  and second layer  122  provide excellent touch sensitivity and seamlessly sealed intact for provide a waterproof function. Accordingly, hand portion  12  is grease and oil resistant, and impervious to water based solutions.  
      In short, a primary goal of the present invention is to provide a hanging disposable glove cartridge  1 , such that a user is able to conveniently carry such cartridge to constantly and subsequently retrieve new gloves in a handy manner. For example, the glove cartridge  1  could be attached onto the user&#39;s utility belt at a position adjacent to user&#39;s hand, such that the user is able to naturally extend his or her hand into each individual glove without any intended maneuver. And more importantly, the elongated opening  31  would ensure the human hand slip into the hand cavity without any undesirable hassles. That is to say, the elongated opening  31  would substantially reduce the likelihood of two layers  121 ,  122  stick together.  
      Alternatively, the clamp holder  20  could be applied as a clipper  20 ′ having two mounting wings  21 ′ directly clamping the glove stack  101  in position as shown in  FIG. 3 . As a result, the clamp holder  20  would have a degree of rigidity significantly greater than the disposable gloves  10  and extend across the wrist portion  12  of the outermost one of the glove stack  101  for sandwiching the glove stack  101  in position. It is worth to mention that the clipper  20 ′ is engaged onto the waist portion  11  well above the tear line  110 . Therefore, the clamp holder  20  could be embodied as conventional clippers made of wood, rigid plastics as well as metals. Such clippers could be shifted between an open position and a close position.  
      When the clipper  20 ′ is folded into the open position, the plurality of disposable gloves  10  are stacked with an aligned manner to form the glove stack  101  for a quick operation. Since each disposable glove  10  includes a perforated tear line  110  across the glove for dividing the disposable glove  10  into the waist portion  11  and the hand portion  12 . Afterwards, the waist portions  12  of the glove stack is disposed between two mounting wings  21 ′ of the clipper  20 ′. On the other hand, in the closed position, the pair of mounting wings  21 ′ is inwardly folded for clamping the glove stacks  101  as shown in  FIG. 4 . Commonly, each of the mounting wings  21  has a straight edge, which is purposely positioned adjacent to the tear line  110  with a parallel manner. It is noted that such clipper  20  further comprises a click-on element  22 ′ integrally from the clipper  20  for assisting the clipper  20 ′ detachably attached onto user&#39;s belt as shown in  FIG. 3 .  
      One skilled in the art will understand that the embodiment of the present invention as shown in the drawings and described above is exemplary only and not intended to be limiting.  
      It will thus be seen that the objects of the present invention have been fully and effectively accomplished. It embodiments have been shown and described for the purposes of illustrating the functional and structural principles of the present invention and is subject to change without departure form such principles. Therefore, this invention includes all modifications encompassed within the spirit and scope of the following claims.