Patent Publication Number: US-2019176014-A1

Title: Protective Glove for Athletes

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims the priority of Taiwanese patent application No. 106218417, filed on Dec. 12, 2017, which is incorporated herewith by reference. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to a hand glove protective structure, and more particular to a protective glove for athletes. 
     2. The Prior Arts 
     Traditional gloves have different functions from one another depending on their respective requirements. For instance, the glove for athletes generally is relatively thick in order to absorb the impact of a ball so as to reduce or prevent the hand from hurt during catching the ball. 
     Conventional protective gloves for athletes generally include a palm portion and a finger portion formed at a distal end of the palm portion while the other end opposite to the distal end of the palm portion defines an opening to permit access of the athlete&#39;s hand into the protective glove. 
     In general, the above protective gloves for athletes are stitched together from several pieces of non-slip protective cloth by stitching process. To be more specific, the stitching process includes many complicated steps, hence resulting in higher manufacturing cost. Also, the stitching process often requires high skilled worker to operate the stitching equipments. Due to lack of skillfulness or long time operation, the quality of the protective gloves cannot be kept at a required level, even the manufacturing time is prolonged and thus the production yield is lowered. 
     The applicant of the present application has noticed the above-stated disadvantages and feels that the conventional protective gloves for athletes need be further improved to get rid of the above-stated disadvantages. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A primary objective of the present invention is to provide a protective glove for athletes, which is simple in structure, convenient in operation, and low in manufacturing cost. A protective layer structure of the protective glove can entirely enclose the palm portions and the finger portions and/or the wrist of a hand and thus can protect the fingers, but will not affect the moving flexibility and the touching sensitivity of the fingers. 
     For achieving the foregoing objective, a protective glove for athletes according to the present invention includes: a glove body including a palm portion and a plurality of finger portions, wherein the glove body has an inner side defined as a palm side and an outer side opposite to the inner side defined as a back side; and at least one protective layer structure having one side surface disposed on the inner side of the glove body and the other side surface provided with an anti-slip buffer layer, wherein the protective layer structure is adhesively disposed on the palm portion and the plurality of finger portions of the glove body in such a manner to define the palm side as a buffer protective surface. 
     Preferably, the glove body is interwoven from a plurality of yarn threads, which external surfaces are encapsulated by an adhesive layer, in such a way that the glove body is formed with a plurality of elastic support elements therein. 
     Preferably, the protective layer structure includes at least one of the anti-slip buffer layer, at least one cloth layer and at least one bonding layer, wherein one side surface of the bonding layer is adhesively disposed on the inner side of the glove body while the other side surface of the bonding layer is adhesively disposed on the cloth layer and an outer side surface of the cloth layer is provided with the anti-slip buffer layer. the protective layer structure includes at least one of the anti-slip buffer layer, at least one cloth layer and at least one bonding layer, wherein one side surface of the bonding layer is adhesively disposed on the inner side of the glove body while the other side surface of the bonding layer is adhesively disposed on the cloth layer and an outer side surface of the cloth layer is provided with the anti-slip buffer layer. 
     Preferably, the anti-slip buffer layer is fabricated from foam latex material. 
     Preferably, the protective layer structure has a portion partially enclosing the plurality of finger portions corresponding to distal ends of the finger portions. 
     Preferably, a protective glove for athletes further comprises another protective layer structure disposed on the outer side of the glove body. 
     Preferably, a hermetically sealed portion is formed between the protective layer structures, so as to entirely enclose the plurality of finger portions. 
     Preferably, the protective layer structure includes an anti-slippery material coated on the anti-slip buffer layer corresponding to distal ends of the finger portions such that the anti-slip buffer layer is formed with anti-slip portions. 
     Preferably, the adhesive layer forms an anti-slippery surface on an internal side of the glove body. 
     Preferably, an extension sheet is disposed on an outer periphery of the protective layer structure, wherein the extension sheet has a density larger than that of an interior portion of the protective layer structure. 
     Preferably, the protective layer structure has a plurality of through holes at a back side thereof for exposing the finger portions of the glove body in such a manner that the glove body forms a plurality of flexible regions to provide the flexibility of the glove body. 
     In the protective glove for athletes of the present invention, the protective layer structure is disposed on the palm portion and the finger portions of the glove body in such a manner to define the palm side as a buffer protective surface, and the protective layer structure further includes the anti-slip buffer layer, the cloth layer, and the bonding layer assembled together, thereby being capable of absorbing the impact of a ball and thus stably and firmly catching the ball. The protective glove for athletes of the present invention is simple in structure, convenient in operation, and relatively low in manufacturing cost. The protective layer structure of the protective glove can entirely enclose the palm portions and the finger portions and/or the wrist of a hand and thus can protect the fingers, but will not affect the moving flexibility and the touching sensitivity of the fingers. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reading the following detailed description of preferred embodiments thereof, with reference to the attached drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a protective glove for athletes according to a first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded perspective view of the protective glove for athletes according to the first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of the protective glove for athletes according to the first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is an enlarged view illustrating that a glove body is interwoven from a plurality of yarn threads in the protective glove for athletes according to the first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  is an enlarged view illustrating the yarn threads employed in the protective glove for athletes according to the first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 6  is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of a protective glove for athletes according to a second embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 7  is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of a protective glove for athletes according to a third embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 8  is a perspective view illustrating a palm side of a protective glove for athletes according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 9  is a perspective view illustrating a back side of a protective glove for athletes according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 10  is a perspective view illustrating a palm side of the protective glove for athletes according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1-5 , wherein  FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a protective glove for athletes according to a first embodiment of the present invention;  FIG. 2  is an exploded perspective view of the protective glove for athletes according to the first embodiment of the present invention;  FIG. 3  is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of the protective glove for athletes according to the first embodiment of the present invention;  FIG. 4  is an enlarged view illustrating that a glove body is interwoven from a plurality of yarn threads in the protective glove for athletes according to the first embodiment of the present invention; and  FIG. 5  is an enlarged view illustrating the yarn threads employed in the protective glove for athletes according to the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown, a protective glove  100  for athletes according to the present invention includes a glove body  10  having a palm portion  11  and a plurality of finger portions  12 , wherein the glove body  10  has an inner side defined as a palm side and an outer side opposite to the inner side defined as a back side. In this embodiment, the glove body  10  is interwoven from a plurality of yarn threads  13 , which external surfaces are encapsulated by an adhesive layer  14 , in such a way that the glove body  10  is formed with a plurality of elastic support elements  141  therein. The elastic support elements  141  allows the glove body  10  to have a certain degree of support strength, but have less flexible when compared with a conventional hand glove. In addition, the adhesive layer  14  forms an anti-slippery surface  142  on an internal side of the glove body  10 . 
     A protective layer structure  20  has one side surface disposed on the inner side of the glove body  10  and the other side surface provided with an anti-slip buffer layer  21 . In this embodiment, the protective layer structure  20  preferably includes at least one anti-slip buffer layer  21 , at least one cloth layer  22  and at least one bonding layer  23 , wherein one side surface of the bonding layer  23  is adhesively disposed on the inner side of the glove body  10  while the other side surface of the bonding layer  23  is adhesively disposed on the cloth layer  22  and an outer side surface of the cloth layer  22  is provided with the anti-slip buffer layer  21 . The anti-slip buffer layer  21  is fabricated from anti-slippery materials with high elasticity and high friction coefficient. Preferably, the anti-slippery materials can be selected from a group consisting of rubber, silicon, plastics and foam latex. In this embodiment, foam latex is used for fabrication of the anti-slip buffer layer  21 . Preferably, the protective layer structure  20  may have a portion partially enclosing the plurality of finger portions  12  corresponding to distal ends of the finger portions. 
     To further understand the spirit of the present invention, some embodiments are given in the following paragraphs. 
     As shown in  FIGS. 1-5 , the protective layer structure  20  has one side surface disposed on the palm portion  11  and the plurality of finger portions  12  of the glove body  10  in such a manner to form a buffer protective surface in the palm side of the glove body  10 . Preferably, the protective layer structure  20  includes the anti-slip buffer layer  21 , the cloth layer  22  and the bonding layer  23  such that when a user is catching a ball, the protective glove  100  can absorb the impact of the ball and thus can stably catch the ball. 
     To be more specific, the protective glove of the present invention can solve the prior disadvantages, and the protective glove of the present invention is simple in structure, convenient in operation, and low in manufacturing cost. Since the protective layer structure can entirely enclose the plurality of fingers, the palm and the wrist of a user&#39;s hand, the moving flexibility of the fingers and the touching sensitivity will not be adversely affected while the advantageous effect of protecting the fingers can be achieved. 
       FIG. 6  is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of a protective glove for athletes according to a second embodiment of the present invention, which is similar to the first embodiment, except that the second embodiment further includes another protective layer structure  20  disposed on the outer side of the glove body  10 . To be more specific, the palm side and the back side of the glove body  10  are respectively provided with the protective layer structures  20 . When compared with the first embodiment, the second embodiment has better protection. 
       FIG. 7  is a fragmentary cross-sectional view illustrating the finger portions  12  of a protective glove for athletes according to a third embodiment of the present invention. Compared with the second embodiment, the difference therebetween resides in that the two protective layer structures  20  form a hermetically sealed portion  24  therebetween entirely enclosing the plurality of finger portions  12 . The hermetically sealed portion  24  can prevent the two protective layer structures  20  from disengagement from the finger portions  12  even after the glove body  10  has been used for a long period of time. 
       FIG. 8  is a perspective view of a protective glove for athletes according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention, which has the structure similar to the first embodiment, except that the protective layer structure  20  of the fourth embodiment includes an anti-slippery material coated on the anti-slip buffer layer  21  corresponding to distal ends of the finger portions  12  such that the anti-slip buffer layer  21  is formed with anti-slip portions  121 . In other words, the anti-slip portions  121  can effectively reduce the rotation of a ball during catching the ball, so that the ball can be stably and firmly caught in addition to the advantageous effect of the first embodiment. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 9 and 10 , wherein  FIG. 9  is a perspective view illustrating a back side of a protective glove for athletes according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention; and  FIG. 10  is a perspective view illustrating a palm side of the protective glove for athletes according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention. Compared with the first embodiment, the difference therebetween resides in that the protective layer structure  20  have some portions not enclosing the plurality of finger portions  12 . Outer periphery of the protective layer structure  20  is formed with an extension sheet  25 , and the protective layer structure  20  is formed with a plurality of through holes  26  at a back side thereof (see  FIG. 9 ) by forming, pre-heating and cutting methods. The plurality of through holes  26  expose the finger portions  12  of the glove body  10  in such a manner that the glove body  10  forms a plurality of flexible regions  15  to provide the flexibility of the glove body  10 . It is noted that the extension sheet  25  have a density larger than that of an interior portion of the protective layer structure  20 . To be more specific, since the extension sheet  25  has a larger density and thus larger strength than the interior portion of the protective layer structure  20 , the extension sheet  25  can withstand impact or friction from a ball and thus the service life of the protective glove of the present invention can be prolonged. 
     Moreover, the plurality of flexible regions  15  of the glove body  10  are located at positions corresponding to the finger joints of a user to provide comfortability in use or during the operation of catching a ball. 
     In addition, the fifth embodiment of the present invention can also provide the similar functions and/or effects to the first embodiment. 
     It should be noted that the protective layer structure  20  of the present invention is directly disposed on the glove body  10  without using an adhesive layer. 
     The features of the protective glove of the present invention and the advantageous effects thereof are summarized as follows: 
     In the protective glove  100  of the present invention, the protective layer structure  20  is disposed on the palm portion  11  and the finger portions  12  of the glove body  10  in such a manner to define the palm side as a buffer protective surface, and the protective layer structure  20  further includes the anti-slip buffer layer  21 , the cloth layer  22 , and the bonding layer  13  assembled together, thereby being capable of absorbing the impact of a ball and thus stably and firmly catching the ball. 
     According to one aspect of the present invention, the protective glove for athletes of the present invention is simple in structure, convenient in operation, and relatively low in manufacturing cost. Since the protective glove of the present invention can entirely enclose the palm, the fingers and/or the wrist of a hand, in addition to protecting the fingers, the moving flexibility and the touching sensitivity of the fingers will not be adversely affected. 
     According to another aspect of the present invention, since the protective layer structure provides a better enclosing effect, while a user is catching a ball, the protective layer structure can absorb the impact of the ball, thereby preventing the fingers from hurt. 
     Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that a variety of modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention which is intended to be defined by the appended claims.