Abstract:
Protective air cushion gloves include hollow 3D straight air cushions for finger backs and a hand back disposed in regular rows inside the glove. Each straight air cushion has sections connected with extensible tubes and inflated with inner pressure to permit the glove to have good flexibility and an air buffer function for protecting every part of a hand, including the joints.

Description:
This application is a continuation of 08/876,491 filed on Jun. 16, 1997 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,065,150. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Common sports protective gloves such as those for hockey include a layer of foam rubber disposed in a back portion of the gloves for protecting the back of a hand, and protecting arm and fingers by means of a foam rubber layer. However, the thickness of the foam rubber layer is limited, and also its elasticity is limited, hardly effective to prevent harm or injury if the striking force is large. If the striking point is on the part where there is no foam rubber, the injury will be very serious. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Protective air cushion gloves according to the present invention have been devised with the following objects. 
     1. To offer protective gloves having air cushions functioning as buffer shock-absorbing means. 
     2. To offer protective gloves having excellent flexibility, a natural curvature for air cushions disposed in the gloves, with light weight and ease of handling. 
     3. To offer protective gloves having wholeness of air cushions disposed in the gloves, and extensible tubes added in each air cushion to permit the gloves to be very flexible to bend. 
     4. To offer protective gloves having buffer air cushions with flexible joints for completely protecting a hand. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     This invention will be better understood by referring to the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
     FIG. 1 is an elevational view of straight air cushions for finger backs arranged in rows for protective air cushion gloves according to the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is an elevational view of a straight air cushion for a finger; 
     FIG. 3 is a right side view of FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line  4 — 4  in FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 5 is an elevational view of an air cushion for the back of a hand back; 
     FIG. 6 is a right side view of FIG. 5; 
     FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line  7 — 7  in FIG. 5; 
     FIG. 8 is an elevational view of the straight air cushion of FIG. 2, additionally provided with extensible tubes; 
     FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along line  9 — 9  in FIG. 8; 
     FIG. 10 is an elevational view of the air cushion for the back of a hand in FIG. 5, additionally provided with extensible tubes; 
     FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view taken along line  11 — 11  in FIG. 10; 
     FIG. 12 is an elevational view of a straight air cushion provided with recessed holes in two surfaces according to the present invention; 
     FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view taken along line  13 — 13  in FIG. 12; 
     FIG. 14 is an elevational view of a straight air cushion provided with through holes according to the present invention; 
     FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view taken along line  15 — 15  in FIG. 14; 
     FIG. 16 is an elevational view of a first preferred embodiment of a single integral air cushion according to the present invention; 
     FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional view taken along line  17 — 17  in FIG. 16; 
     FIG. 18 is an elevational view of a second preferred embodiment of a single integral air cushion according to the present invention; and, 
     FIG. 19 is a cross-sectional view taken along line  19 — 19  in FIG.  18 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring to FIGS. 1 and 16, hollow 3D air cushions disposed in protective air cushion gloves in the present invention are located in regular rows as shown in FIG. 1, or may be directly formed into single integral air cushion shown in FIG. 16 in a protective air cushion glove. Hollow 3D straight air cushions are divided into first straight air cushions  1  for protecting finger backs and second straight air cushions  10  for the back of a hand. The first straight air cushions  1  for finger backs have elongate grooves  11  in an upper surface or the upper surface and two sides, is providing the first straight air cushions  1  with flexibility. FIG. 4 shows its cross-sectional view. 
     The second straight air cushions  10  for a hand back are also provided with elongate grooves  101  in the upper surface, or the upper surface and two sides, or the upper surface, a lower surface and the two sides, permitting the second straight air cushions  10  to have flexibility. Its cross-section is shown in FIG.  7 . 
     Further, the lower end of each first hollow 3D straight air cushion  1  for a finger back may be provided with a sloped surface  12 , which can be utilized to face and hide an aperture when the lower end of a first straight air cushion  1  abuts a second straight air cushion  10  for a hand back. 
     Referring to FIGS. 8 and 10, the elongate grooves  11 ,  101  shown in FIGS. 2 and 5 form extensible tubes  11 ,  101  so as to obtain flexibility in various directions. 
     Referring to FIGS. 12 and 13, recessed holes  12  are additionally provided vertically in an upper surface and a lower surface or on two—left and right—sides of the first air cushions  1  for finger backs and the second air cushions  10  for a hand back shown in FIGS. 2 and 5. Then the first air cushions  1  and the second air cushions  10  are provided with a structure formed by the elongate grooves  11  and  101  and the recessed holes  12  functioning as post-shaped ribs so that comparatively high inner pressure may be filled inside. Besides, the recessed holes  12  and  102  may be formed only in one surface half through or wholly through as shown in FIGS. 14 and 15. 
     FIGS. 16 and 18 show that the first air cushion  1  and the second air cushions  10  are not disposed in a completely straight line. The extensible tubes  3  used to connect sections of each first air cushion  1  and sections of each second air cushion  10  with a common interior completely through, and not separated. Consequently, the single integrated air cushion has excellent flexibility owing to the extensible tubes  3 . 
     The single integrated air cushion shown in FIG. 18 has the extensible tubes  3  connecting sections of each first air cushion  1  and each second air cushion  10 , and in addition has recessed holes  12  and  102  in one surface or two surfaces, permitting the whole air cushions have flexibility and shape-memorable structure. 
     As to the extensible tubes  11 ′,  101 ′ and  3 , they can provide not only flexibility for bending, but also can be connected without apertures in the first and the second straight air cushions  1  and  10  so as to furnish complete protection. 
     Each straight air cushion  1  or  10  can be filled a gas, a fluid, a semi-fluid, a liquid, or a low-percolating large particle gas such as SF 6 , C 2 F 6 , etc. 
     In general, the protective air cushion gloves according to the present invention not only have better resilience than traditional ones made of sponge, or foam rubber, but also have an excellent shape-memorable structure obtained from the recessed holes and the elongate grooves so that the first and the second straight air cushions can be inflated to high inner pressure, and are not liable to disfigure. In addition, the recessed holes and the elongate grooves function as ribs so as to furnish the protective air cushion gloves with excellent flexibility, and shock-absorbing effect. 
     While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been described above, it will be recognized and understood that various modifications may be made therein and the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications which may fall within the spirit and scope of the invention.