Pair of sporting gloves

Abstract

A pair of hockey gloves is asymmetrically constructed to accommodate for variances in material wearing during routine use. The pair includes a top hand hockey glove that is provided with a region of reinforcement that is not similarly provided in the bottom hand hockey glove. The top hand hockey glove includes an outer sheet and an inner sheet that are joined together so as to define a hand-receiving cavity. In one embodiment, the inner sheet includes a plurality of relatively rigid reinforcement pads that is secured to the exterior surface of a base layer in a designated pattern. The inclusion of the reinforcement pads causes the stick gripping region of the top hand hockey glove to have both a greater resistance to tearing as well as a higher coefficient of friction than the stick gripping region of the bottom hand hockey glove.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates generally to athletic equipment and more particularly to sporting gloves.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Sporting gloves are commonly worn by participants in a wide variety of athletic activities. In particular, participants of stick-related sports, such as hockey and lacrosse, typically wear padded sporting gloves to protect the hands of the user from potentially injurious contact when engaging in the sport.[0003]Padded sporting gloves, such as traditional hockey gloves, typically include an inner sheet of material and an outer sheet of material that are sewn or otherwise joined together about the majority of their peripheries so as to define an interior cavity dimensioned to receive the hand and the wrist of the wearer. Because the back of the hand is primarily exposed for injurious contact when holding a stick, the majority of the padding for such a glove is typically secured to the outer sheet of material.[0004]The paddi...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention provides a pair of sporting gloves that are durable and well-made. These gloves can be used for a long time and will fit you perfectly. They are also designed with minimal parts, making them cheaper to manufacture.

Problems solved by technology

Nonetheless, most types of hockey gloves currently available in the marketplace do not differentiate each glove for use as either a top hand glove or a bottom hand glove.

Because traditional hockey gloves are constructed symmetrically and therefore do not typically account for the significantly different range of movement and activity of each hand, it has been found that traditional hockey gloves tend to wear unevenly.

In particular, it has been found that the glove worn on the dominant, or top, hand of the participant experiences a considerable degree of friction within the region that directly grips the stick due to (i) the relative thinness of inner sheet of material, which often becomes saturated with moisture, (ii) the constant contact with the enlarged stick end, which is often wrapped in abrasive tape to facilitate handling, and (iii) the substantial friction created as the stick pivots within the palm region.

As a consequence, the gripping region on the glove worn on the dominant hand tends to abrade and tear quicker than the opposite glove.

When wearing out of the palm region of the dominant hand glove becomes significant and limits proper operability, the user is typically required to purchase an entirely new pair of gloves.

Hockey gloves of the type described above, which have been specifically designed to either improve the durability or allow for the replacement of the primary stick contact region, have been found to suffer from a notable drawback.

Because the integration of such a tear-resistant feature often renders each glove relatively rigid and unwieldy, it has been found that the non-dominant, or bottom, hand, which typically requires a very precise level of touch and dexterity, is substantially impaired in both functionality and / or comfort, which is highly undesirable.

Furthermore, it should be noted that, by incorporating a tear-resistant feature into each glove, the overall cost of manufacturing the pair of gloves is substantially increased, which is highly undesirable.

Because the bottom hand glove only experiences limited frictional forces during routine use, the excess manufacturing costs associated with the manufacture of the non-dominant hand glove is wasteful and unnecessary.

Asymmetrical gloves do not currently recognize and / or resolve either (i) the issue of uneven wearing between gloves, which is the primary factor in determining the durability and effective life of a pair of hockey gloves, or (ii) the different functional requirements within the palm region of each glove (i.e., the lower glove hand requires a greater degree of suppleness as well as lower frictional characteristics to allow it to slide easily up and down along the stick shaft, whereas the top glove hand has the opposite requirements since it largely remains in contact with the stick at a fixed position).

Images