Patent Publication Number: US-2022218054-A1

Title: Medical protective garment

Description:
FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     The present disclosure relates to a medical protective garment, and more particularly to a medical protective garment capable of blocking external liquid from entering into the medical protective garment. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     The joints between the headgear, the sleeves and the main body of the conventional medical protective garment are all achieved by stitching (overlock stitching). The passing of the sewing thread through the clothing material forms small pinholes, which easily affects the protective effect of the conventional medical protective garment. In order to solve this problem, the front side of the sewing thread, that is, the outer side of the clothing material, needs to be attached with a protective strip that has the protective effect. This type of strip can block out external liquid, which prevents the external liquid from entering into the interior of the protective garment from the gap between the stitches. However, attachment of the waterproof strip is not only manually performed and time consuming, but also increases the cost and the uncertainty of quality of the waterproof strips. 
     Furthermore, the conventional medical protective garment has stitching around the headgear and at the seams between the fabrics. Some stitching positions cannot be equipped with waterproof strips, which may lead to infiltration of external liquids, causing the effectiveness of the protective garment to be reduced. 
     In addition, gaps will also exist in the stitching between the front of the main body and the zipper of the conventional medical protective garment, and the material of the zipper fails to prevent the infiltration of external liquids into the protective garment. 
     Accordingly, how the protective effect of the medical protective garment can be improved through structural design to overcome the above-mentioned shortcomings has become an important issue in this technical field. 
     SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     In response to the above-referenced technical inadequacies, the present disclosure provides a medical protective garment with no stitches at the joints, which can reduce the number of small pinholes and increase protection performance. In addition, the number of waterproof strips can also be reduced, so as to reduce the time and cost associated with manual labor. 
     In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a medical protective garment including a pair of front fabric pieces, a pair of rear fabric pieces, a headgear fabric piece and a weldable zipper. Each of the pair of front fabric pieces includes an integral front body part, an integral front trouser and an integral front sleeve that are connected to each other. Each of the rear fabric pieces includes an integral rear body part, a rear trouser and a rear sleeve that are connected to each other. Heat welding lines are formed on joints of the headgear fabric piece, the pair of front fabric pieces and the rear fabric pieces. The weldable zipper includes a pair of zipper strips, a material of the pair of zipper strips being heat welded to any one of the pair of front fabric pieces, the pair of rear fabric pieces and the headgear fabric piece. 
     Therefore, one of the beneficial effects of the present disclosure is that the protective performance of the medical protective garment in the present disclosure is improved by heat welding all connections and cooperating with the structural features of the weldable zipper, while also reducing the number of waterproof strips, which in turn reduces the time and cost associated with manual labor. 
     These and other aspects of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description of the embodiment taken in conjunction with the following drawings and their captions, although variations and modifications therein may be affected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of the disclosure. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present disclosure will become more fully understood from the following detailed description and accompanying drawings. 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic view illustrating a cutting of a fabric piece of a medical protective garment according to the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is a front view of a medical protective garment according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  is a rear view of the medical protective garment according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  is schematic view of a heat welding of the medical protective garment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic view illustrating another way of cutting a fabric piece of a medical protective garment according to the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 6  is a schematic view of a joint of a weldable zipper being combined with a fabric of the medical protective garment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 7  is a front view of a medical protective garment according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 8  is a rear view of the medical protective garment according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 9  is a front view of a medical protective garment according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 10  is a rear view of the medical protective garment according to the third embodiment of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS 
     The present disclosure is more particularly described in the following examples that are intended as illustrative only since numerous modifications and variations therein will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Like numbers in the drawings indicate like components throughout the views. As used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, the meaning of “a”, “an”, and “the” includes plural reference, and the meaning of “in” includes “in” and “on”. Titles or subtitles can be used herein for the convenience of a reader, which shall have no influence on the scope of the present disclosure. 
     The terms used herein generally have their ordinary meanings in the art. In the case of conflict, the present document, including any definitions given herein, will prevail. The same thing can be expressed in more than one way. Alternative language and synonyms can be used for any term(s) discussed herein, and no special significance is to be placed upon whether a term is elaborated or discussed herein. A recital of one or more synonyms does not exclude the use of other synonyms. The use of examples anywhere in this specification including examples of any terms is illustrative only, and in no way limits the scope and meaning of the present disclosure or of any exemplified term. Likewise, the present disclosure is not limited to various embodiments given herein. Numbering terms such as “first”, “second” or “third” can be used to describe various components, signals or the like, which are for distinguishing one component/signal from another one only, and are not intended to, nor should be construed to impose any substantive limitations on the components, signals or the like. 
     First Embodiment 
     Referring to  FIG. 1  to  FIG. 3 , a first embodiment of the present disclosure provides a medical protective garment  1   a , including a pair of front fabric pieces  10 , a pair of rear fabric pieces  20 , a headgear fabric piece  30  and a weldable zipper  50 . One of the key technical features of the present disclosure is that there is no stitching between fabric pieces and at a seam between the fabric piece and the zipper, and they are all connected by heat welding. In other words, heat welding lines are formed on the joints of the headgear fabric piece  30 , the pair of front fabric pieces  10  and the pair of rear fabric pieces  20  to avoid small pinholes caused by stitches, so as to increase the protective function of the medical protective garment  1   a . In addition, due to reduction of the number of small pinholes, the number of waterproof strips can also be reduced, which can reduce production costs. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a schematic view of a fabric piece cutting of a medical protective garment of the present disclosure is shown. One of the features of the present disclosure is the way that the fabric piece is cut, which allows the number of seams to be reduced. Each of the pair of front fabric pieces  10  includes an integral front body part  11 , an integral front trouser  12  and an integral front sleeve  13 , which are connected to each other. Each of the rear fabric pieces  20  includes an integral rear body part  21 , an integral rear trouser  22  and an integral rear sleeve  23 , which are connected to each other. The headgear fabric piece  30  is divided into two half headgear fabric pieces  32  as shown in  FIG. 1 . However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In the following embodiment, the headgear fabric piece  30  can also be a one-piece. 
       FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3  respectively represent a front view and a back view of the medical protective garment according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. The medical protective garment  1   a  in the present embodiment includes a weldable zipper  50  arranged on the front thereof, the weldable zipper  50  is arranged between the pair of front fabric pieces  10 , and a pair of zipper strips  51  and  52  of the weldable zipper  50  respectively are connected to an inner edge of the pair of front fabric pieces  10 . A front horizontal waterproof strip T 11  is attached to a lower end of the weldable zipper  50 . However, the present embodiment is not limited thereto; for example, either side of the weldable zipper  50  can also be attached with the waterproof strip. 
     Specifically, the back of the medical protective garment  1   a  has a rear central heat welding line S 21  ( FIG. 3 ) and a neck heat welding line S 13  ( FIG. 2 ). The rear central heat welding line S 21  is connected to an inner edge of the pair of rear fabric pieces  20 , which extends to the headgear fabric piece  30 . The neck heat welding line S 13  is connected to the headgear fabric piece  30  through the pair of rear fabric pieces  20 . Waterproof strips T 23  and T 24  that are arranged in a cross shape are attached to the junction of the rear central heat welding line S 21  and the neck heat welding line S 13 . 
       FIG. 4  represents a schematic view of a heat welding between fabric pieces of the present embodiment. A heat welding solid line S 111  and a heat welding broken line S 112  are included in a front central heat welding line S 11  to exemplarily exhibit manners in which each heat welding line can be formed. The heat welding broken line S 112  is parallel to the heat welding solid line S 111 . Each heat welding line can further include one heat welding solid line S 111  or one heat broken line S 112  so that each heat welding line can be formed in a solid line-broken line-solid line arrangement or a solid line-broken line-broken line arrangement. 
     One of the features of the present disclosure is that it includes a weldable zipper  50  which includes a pair of zipper strips  51  and  52 . The pair of zipper strips  51  and  52  can be heat welded to any one of the pair of front fabric pieces  10 , the pair of rear fabric pieces  20  or the headgear fabric piece  30 . The weldable zipper  50  can be, for example, a waterproof zipper, and both sides of the waterproof zipper are laminated with plastic films, such as PVC (polyvinyl chloride) or TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane). However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. The material of the zipper strips  51  and  52  can be, for example, PET plastic (polyethylene terephthalate), polypropylene (PP, polypropylene) or the like. 
     In addition, in order to strengthen the protective effect, a front waterproof strip T 10  can be attached to the weldable zipper  50  on the front of the medical protective garment  1   a  in the present embodiment. One side of the front waterproof strip T 10  is first attached to any one side of the weldable zipper  50 , and a release paper P is left on the other side of the front waterproof strip T 10 . After medical staff put on the medical protective garment  1   a , they can tear off the release paper P, cover the weldable zipper  50  with the front waterproof strip T 10 , and attach the one side of the weldable zipper  50  to the other side of the weldable zipper  50 . Therefore, the front of the weldable zipper  50  can be completely covered to achieve a good protective effect. In addition, as shown in  FIG. 2 , the medical protective garment of the present embodiment can further include a face shield  35 . The face shield  35  is made of a transparent material, and can also be connected to the headgear fabric piece  30  by heat welding, thereby improving the protective effect. 
     Second Embodiment 
       FIG. 5  is a schematic view of a fabric piece cutting by another mode of the medical protective garment of the present disclosure. The difference from the above-mentioned embodiment is that the number of the fabric pieces is less, and the headgear fabric piece  30   b  is a one-piece structure. 
     In addition, an improved feature of the present embodiment is that the weldable zipper  50  is arranged on the back of the medical protective garment  1   a , so as to be matched with the one-piece headgear fabric piece  30   b . Referring to  FIG. 5 ,  FIG. 7  and  FIG. 8 , the weldable zipper  50  is disposed between the pair of rear fabric pieces  20 , and the pair of zipper strips  51  and  52  of the weldable zipper  50  are respectively connected to an inner edge of the pair of rear fabric pieces  20 . Thereby, small pinholes on the front of the medical protective garment  1   a  of the present embodiment that may be caused by the seams are effectively reduced. In particular, the medical protective garment  1   a  of the present embodiment does not include a zipper on the front, which reduces the possibility of generating some small pinholes around the zipper and can strengthen the protective function. 
     Specifically, the front of the medical protective garment  1   b  includes a front central heat welding line S 11  and a neck heat welding line S 13 . The front central heat welding line S 11  is connected to an inner edge of the pair of front fabric pieces  10 , and the neck heat welding line S 13  is connected to the headgear fabric piece  30  through the pair of front fabric pieces  10  and the pair of rear fabric pieces  20 . A headgear heat welding line S 32  is formed on the headgear fabric piece  30 . Peripheral heat welding lines S 12  and S 14  are formed between the front fabric pieces  10  and the rear fabric pieces  20 , including both sides of the sleeves, both sides of the body part and both sides of the trousers. The openings of the sleeves and trousers can be folded and elasticated, which can be achieved by stitching, since protective gloves or the like are often worn by the wearer. 
     In the present embodiment, the pair of zipper strips  51  and  52  of the weldable zipper  50  are further connected to the headgear fabric piece  30  through the neck heat welding line S 13 . This arrangement provides more space for the wearer, which can increase the wearing convenience. 
     In order to strengthen the protective function, the front of the medical protective garment  1   b  of the present embodiment may further include a front horizontal waterproof strip T 11  and a front vertical waterproof strip T 12 , which respectively are attached to the junction of the front central heat welding line S 11  and the neck heat welding line S 13  to form a shape of the letter “T”. 
     In addition, the back of the medical protective garment  1   b  may further include a pair of rear horizontal waterproof strips T 21  and a pair of rear vertical waterproof strips T 22 . The pair of rear horizontal waterproof strips T 21  are attached to an upper end and a lower end of the weldable zipper  50 , respectively. The pair of rear vertical waterproof strips T 22  are attached to both sides of the weldable zipper  50 , respectively. 
     In order to make the medical protective garment  1   b  of the present embodiment more convenient to wear, a zipper pull  55  of the weldable zipper  50  can also be connected to a drawstring L. The drawstring L allows the wearer to pull the zipper pull  55  upward to close the weldable zipper  50 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 6 , the weldable zipper  50  in the present embodiment can be a ziplock zipper. The pair of zipper strips  51  and  52  of the weldable zipper  50  includes a sheet  511  and  521 , respectively, wherein a convex rib  510  is formed on the sheet  511  and a clamping strip  520  is formed on the sheet  521 , and the clamping strip  520  clamps the convex rib  510 . In the present embodiment, in order to enable the weldable zipper  50  to be more conveniently and straightly connected to the fabric piece, the sheets  511  and  521  of the zipper strips  51  and  52  further includes a guiding protrusion  512  and  522 , respectively. The guiding protrusions  512  and  522  can guide the rollers of the hot melt machine, so that the zipper strips  51  and  52  can be connected straightly to the fabric pieces of the medical protective garment. 
     Third Embodiment 
       FIG. 9  and  FIG. 10  respectively represent a front and a back view of a medical protective garment according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure. The difference from the above-mentioned embodiment is that the position of the waterproof strip is arranged on the back. Since the position of the weldable zipper  50  has been changed to the back of a medical protective garment  1   c  in the present embodiment, all the connections are made by heat welding. In addition, the weldable zipper  50  and the pair of rear fabric pieces  20  are combined by heat welding, so that the two sides of the weldable zipper  50  can provide a considerable degree of protection by the zipper heat welding line S 50 . The protection level required for the back of the medical protective garment  1   c  is not the same as the protection level required for the front. The medical protective garment  1   c  of the present embodiment includes a pair of rear horizontal waterproof strips T 21 , which are attached to the upper end (hidden and omitted in the figure) and the lower end  53  of the weldable zipper  50 , respectively. In other words, compared with the previous embodiment, the present embodiment omits the waterproof strips on both sides of the weldable zipper  50 . 
     In addition, in order to strengthen the protective effect, a back waterproof strip T 20  can be attached to the weldable zipper  50  on the back of the medical protective garment  1   c  in the present embodiment. One side of the back waterproof strip T 20  is first attached to any one side of the weldable zipper  50 , and a release paper P is left on the other side of the back waterproof strip T 20 . After the medical staff put on the medical protective garment  1   c , they can tear off the release paper P, and cover the weldable zipper  50  with the back waterproof strip T 20 , and attach it to the other side of the weldable zipper  50 . Therefore, the weldable zipper  50  can be completely covered to achieve a good protective effect. 
     Beneficial Effects of the Embodiments 
     In conclusion, one of the beneficial effects of the present disclosure is that the protective performance of the medical protective garment in the present disclosure is improved by heat welding all connections and cooperating with the structural features of the weldable zipper. It can also reduce the number of waterproof strips, which can reduce the time and cost associated with manual labor. 
     The foregoing description of the exemplary embodiments of the disclosure has been presented only for the purposes of illustration and description and is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. 
     The embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the disclosure and their practical application so as to enable others skilled in the art to utilize the disclosure and various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. Alternative embodiments will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which the present disclosure pertains without departing from its spirit and scope.