Direct Molded Accents For Protective Gloves

Abstract

A protective sports glove having decorative accents coupled to the outer visible surface of back portions of the gloves. These accents are applied directly to the outer material layer of the protective sports gloves on one or more of the finger portions, the protective back, the wrist guard, the subcuff and / or the cuff portion. The decorative accents allow the visible outer portion of the back portion of the glove to include intricate features such as logos, numbers, shapes, or other contrasting features that customize the gloves in an infinite number of potential variations. The accents are durable and also add abrasion resistance to the gloves during usage, therein increasing their usable lives. The decorative accents could also be introduced to any other area of the glove, such as the palm, to improve durability, grip or abrasion resistance.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001]The present invention relates generally to a protective glove for use in contact sports such as hockey or lacrosse and, more particularly, to a protective glove having direct molded accents incorporated therein.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002]In contact sports, such as lacrosse or hockey, where sticks are essential elements of the game, a player's hands and wrists are especially vulnerable to injury when being checked by another player's stick. For this reason, players typically utilize padded gloves to protect their hands, wrists and lower forearms during play.[0003]Typical gloves for such contact sports generally comprise a hand portion coupled to a plurality of finger portions and a thumb portion. The hand portion, the finger portions, and the thumb portion each have a respective palm portion and a protective back portion having a plurality of pads disposed thereon. The gloves typically have a protective cuff that is coupled to a lower edge of the hand por...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0006]It is therefore an advantage of the present invention to provide a protective sports glove having its visible outer surface displayed in a virtually endless array of logos, numbers, shapes, or other contrasting features.

[0007]It is another advantage of the present invention to provide a protective sports glove with intricate designs formed thereon.

[0008]In accordance with the above and the other advantages of the present invention, a protective sports glove is provided. The glove includes decorative accents coupled to the outer material layer of the gloves. The decorative accents allow the outer visible surfaces to include intricate features such as logos, numbers, shapes, designs, or other contrasting features that allow the glove to be customized in an infinite number of potential variations. The accents are durable and also add abrasion resistance to the gloves during usage, therein increasing their usable lives.

[0009]The decorative accents may be applied in many different ways. According to one embodiment, high frequency welding such as radio frequency welding or dielectric welding is utilized to couple a thermoplastic material to an outer material layer. Ideally, the decorative accents are raised at least 0.2 mm outward from the outer material layer. While high frequency welding is one preferred method for coupling the thermoplastic material to the outer material layer, other preferred methods may alternatively be utilized, including injection molding, gluing, silk screening and heat welding.

[0010]The decorative accents can be applied to the outer material layer prior to the layer being coupled to the padding for the glove, or may be introduced to the outer material layer after it has been coupled to the padding of the glove.

[0011]The decorative accents may be formed on any visible outer portion of the glove, including the backside portion of the hand portion, the backside portion of at least one of the plurality of finger portions, the cuff portion, the wrist guard and the backside portion of the thumb portion, and any combinations thereof. The decorative accents may also be applied on a portion of the palm side of any of the finger portions, hand portion or thumb portion.

Problems solved by technology

In contact sports, such as lacrosse or hockey, where sticks are essential elements of the game, a player's hands and wrists are especially vulnerable to injury when being checked by another player's stick.

The decorative features of the glove are therefore limited to the color schemes available in the material panels and are further limited by the attachment configurations of these panels to the foam pads and to the inner material layer of the glove.

Thus, the customizability of the gloves is inherently limited by these considerations, especially in terms of adding intricate designs such as logos or other source identifiers that are highly desirable to the manufacturer or end user.

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