Hand guard

Abstract

The hand guard can be attached to the batting glove, allowing the glove's tightening strap to be readjusted while the guard remains attached, and also providing protection up to the wrist. [Solution] The hand guard of the present invention comprises a protective plate 1 that covers the back of the user's hand to the outside of the wrist, and a locking band 2 that extends upward from the lower edge of the back surface of the protective plate 1 that faces the back of the user's hand. The protective plate 1 has a hook-and-loop fastener of one gender on its back surface 12, and the locking band 2 has a hook-and-loop fastener 2a of one gender that is provided on the inner surface of the protective plate 1 that faces the back surface, and a hook-and-loop fastener 2b of the other gender that is provided on the outer surface. The locking band 2 is used to sandwich the tightening belt G5 of the batting glove G and the locking band 1 is attached to the back surface 12 of the protective plate 1, thereby attaching the locking band 1 to the back surface 12 of the protective plate 1.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to protective gear for baseball and softball, and particularly to a wrist guard worn on the back of the hand during batting.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, in order to prevent injuries when a ball hits the back of the hand during batting by baseball players or the like, a wrist guard that covers the back of the hand with a plate-like member has been widely used.

[0003] For example, a conventional wrist guard 8 shown in FIG. 6 includes a protection plate 81 configured to cover from the back of the hand to the wrist, and a fixing belt 82 for fixing the protection plate 81 to the wrist. As shown in FIG. 6(c), the wrist guard 8 is worn from above a batting glove (hereinafter also simply referred to as a "glove") G, and the fixing belt 82 is wound from above the glove G and the protection plate 81 and fixed by snap fasteners 82a and 82b.

[0004] However, in recent years in Major League Baseball, a pitch clock system has been introduced to shorten the game start time. The pitcher is required to pitch within 15 seconds when there are no runners and within 18 seconds when there are runners after receiving the ball, and to pitch to the next batter within 30 seconds after the batter exits. The batter is also required to pay attention to the pitcher until 8 seconds before the end of the limited time imposed on the pitcher.

[0005] Then, for a type like the conventional wrist guard 8 that is worn from above a batting glove, for example, for each pitch of the pitcher, a batter who has to re-tighten the belt of the glove one by one has to remove the fixing belt 82 of the wrist guard 8, then remove and re-tighten the belt of the glove, and then re-tighten the fixing belt 82 of the wrist guard 8. As a result, there is a problem that the batter cannot pay attention to the pitcher within the limited time because many operations are required.

[0006] Furthermore, when a batter gets on base and becomes a runner, they are required to remove all elbow and leg protective gear, including the hand guard 8, and then put on base-running gloves. However, if it takes too long to remove the hand guard 8, the 30-second time limit mentioned above may expire, and the pitcher may throw to the next batter.

[0007] Therefore, Non-Patent Document 1 proposes a hand guard 9 that can be attached simply by inserting the hook-and-loop fastener 92, which extends from the protective plate 91 toward the wrist, into the hook-and-loop fasteners G21 and G51 on the belt of the batting glove G, as shown in Figure 7. With the hand guard 9, even if the tightening belt G5 of the glove is opened, the hook-and-loop fastener 92 is adhered to the hook-and-loop fastener G21 on the underside of the glove and will not fall off, so the tightening belt G5 of the glove G can be tightened again in the same way as when the hand guard 9 is not attached. Also, the hand guard 9 can be removed at the same time as the glove G is removed. [Prior art documents] [Non-patent literature]

[0008] [Non-Patent Document 1] Franklin Sports' "PRT™ Protective Hand Guard LT" page, searched on October 29, 2024.<https: / / franklinsports.com / prt-protective-hand-guard-lt#color=5461> [Overview of the project] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0009] However, the hand guard 9 in Non-Patent Document 1 (Figure 7) has the problem that it does not protect the wrist. The present invention was made to solve the above problems, and aims to provide a hand guard that allows the batting glove belt to be tightened in the same way as when the hand guard is not worn, can be removed integrally with the glove, and can protect the user's (batter's) wrist. [Means for solving the problem]

[0010] The invention made to solve the above problems is a hand guard to be attached to a batting glove. In detail, this batting glove comprises a wrist portion provided along a hand opening, a hook-and-loop fastener (male or female) provided on the outer surface of the outer wrist portion, which is on the back of the hand side of the wrist portion, and a tightening belt which has its base end connected to the wrist portion and has the other hook-and-loop fastener (male or female) on its inner surface, is provided so as to be able to wrap around the wrist portion in the circumferential direction, and is detachably attached to one of the hook-and-loop fasteners (male or female) of the wrist portion. Furthermore, the hand guard of the present invention comprises a protective plate that covers the back of the user's hand from the back of the hand to the outside of the wrist, and a locking band provided so as to extend upward from the lower edge of the back surface of the protective plate that faces the back of the user's hand, wherein the protective plate has a hook-and-loop fastener of the other, either male or female, on its back surface, and the locking band has a hook-and-loop fastener of the other, either male or female, provided on the inner surface of the protective plate that faces the back surface, and a hook-and-loop fastener of the other, either male or female, provided on the outer surface, and is attached to the batting glove by sandwiching the tightening belt of the batting glove with the locking band and attaching the locking band to the back surface of the protective plate.

[0011] In this invention, the hand guard is provided with a locking strap that extends upward from the lower edge of the back surface of the protective plate and is passed from below to the inner side of the tightening belt of the batting glove. This makes it possible to provide a protective plate that is large enough to cover up to the wrist.

[0012] Furthermore, in the hand guard of the present invention, the hook-and-loop fastener on the outer surface of the locking band attaches to the hook-and-loop fastener on the outer part of the wrist of the batting glove, and the hook-and-loop fastener on the inner surface of the locking band attaches to the hook-and-loop fastener on the inner surface of the tightening belt of the batting glove, and at the same time attaches to the hook-and-loop fastener on the back of the protective plate. Therefore, the tightening belt of the batting glove can be opened and closed while the hand guard is attached to the tightening belt of the batting glove.

[0013] Preferably, the protective plate includes a back-of-hand plate that covers the back of the hand, a wrist plate that covers the outside of the wrist, and a hinge portion that connects the back-of-hand plate and the wrist plate so that they can rotate relative to each other. This allows the wrist plate to swing together with the tightening belt of the batting glove, making it easier for the batter to bend their wrist and preventing the tightening belt of the batting glove from loosening.

[0014] The wrist plate preferably includes a side portion that covers the little finger side of the wrist. This allows for more effective protection of the batter's wrist.

[0015] When either the male or female component is male, it is preferable that the protective plate is covered on its back with mohair fabric, and that the mohair fabric constitutes the female hook-and-loop fastener. This eliminates the need to provide the female hook-and-loop fastener on the back of the protective plate. [Effects of the Invention]

[0016] As described above, the hand guard of the present invention allows the batting glove strap to be tightened as if the hand guard were not being worn, can be removed integrally with the glove, and protects the batter's wrist. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0017] [Figure 1] (a) a front view, (b) a rear view, (c) a front view of the core material, and (d) a schematic cross-sectional view showing the layer structure of a hand guard according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] Figure 1 shows (a) a left side view, (b) a top view, (c) a bottom view, and (d) a right side view of the hand guard. [Figure 3] Figure 1 shows the hand guard with the locking strap extended (a) front view and (b) rear view. [Figure 4]FIG. 1 is a front view showing a state in which the knuckle guard of FIG. 1 is attached to the batting glove and the tightening belt of the batting glove is open. [Figure 5] FIG. 3 is a front view seen from the back side of the state in which the knuckle guard of FIG. 1 is attached to the back of the user's hand from above the batting glove. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a front view (a), a rear view (b), and a front view showing a state attached to the back of the batter's hand of a conventional knuckle guard. [Figure 7] FIG. 9 is a front view (a) showing a state of attaching to the tightening belt of the batting glove and a rear view (b) of another conventional knuckle guard.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0018] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings as appropriate. However, the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments, and appropriate modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the invention.

[0019] FIG. 1 shows a knuckle guard 100 for baseball and softball according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The knuckle guard 100 is attached to the back of the hand by the batter (user) and is used to prevent injury when the ball hits the back of the hand. As shown in FIG., the knuckle guard 100 is configured to be attached to the worn batting glove G.

[0020] (Batting glove) As shown in Figure 4, the batting glove G targeted by the hand guard 100 of this embodiment has a wrist portion G6 around the periphery of an insertion opening G1 for inserting the hand, which includes an outer wrist portion G2 that covers the back of the wrist, an inner wrist portion G3 that covers the inside of the wrist, a slit G4 that cuts in from the insertion opening G1 to separate the outer wrist portion G2 and the inner wrist portion G3, and a tightening belt G5 that extends from the end edge of the slit G4 on the inner wrist portion G3 side. One type of hook-and-loop fastener (male hook-and-loop fastener in the example of Figure 4) G21 is attached to the outer surface of the outer wrist portion G2, and the other type of hook-and-loop fastener (female hook-and-loop fastener in the example of Figure 4) G51 is attached to the inner surface of the tightening belt G5. However, the glove to which the hand guard of the present invention is attached may be a type of glove in which the wrist portion G5 is continuous in an endless ring in the circumferential direction and does not have a slit G4.

[0021] (Gauntlet guard) As shown in Figures 1(a) and 1(b), the hand guard 100 includes a protective plate 1 that covers from the back of the hand to the outside of the wrist, a locking band 2 that extends upward from the lower edge on the back surface of the protective plate 1, and finger loops 3 for the middle and ring fingers.

[0022] The protective plate 1 is formed into a bag shape by sandwiching and sewing the edges of the outer fabric 11 and the inner fabric 12 with cloth tape 13 that has been folded in half in the width direction, and a core material 14 as shown in Figure 1(c) is housed inside.

[0023] The outer fabric 11 of the hand guard 100 is made of a so-called Russell fabric formed by warp knitting polyester yarn, and has numerous perforations in a mesh-like manner. The inner fabric 12 is made of polyester mohair fabric, and the cloth tape 13 is made of warp knitted fabric woven from polypropylene or nylon yarn. However, it goes without saying that known fabrics can be used as appropriate for the outer fabric 11, inner fabric 12, and cloth tape 13.

[0024] As shown in Figure 1(c), the core material 14 is formed by injection molding of rigid resins such as polyethylene to form bone materials 15a and 15b, and then attaching a cushioning material 16 made of foamed resin such as EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate) to the back surface. Bone material 15a is arranged separately above and below the protective plate 1 so as to cover the back of the hand, and bone material 15b is arranged so as to cover the wrist. A hinge portion 17 consisting of outer fabric 11, inner fabric 12, and cushioning material 16 is formed between bone materials 15a and 15b. The back of the hand plate 151 consists of outer fabric 11, bone material 15a, cushioning material 16, and inner fabric 12, and the wrist plate 152 consists of outer fabric 11, bone material 15b, cushioning material 16, and inner fabric 12.

[0025] The locking band 2 is made of a strip-shaped member, and as shown in Figure 1(a), its lower end is sandwiched between the outer fabric 11 and the inner fabric 12 by the cloth tape 13 and sewn to the lower end of the back surface of the protective plate 1, extending upward from there, and is also provided so as to be able to be folded back downward as shown in Figure 3. The locking band 2 has one type of hook-and-loop fastener (male hook-and-loop fastener in the example of Figure 3(b)) 2a attached to the entire inner surface (the surface of the protective plate 1 facing the inner fabric 12), and the other type of hook-and-loop fastener (female hook-and-loop fastener in the examples of Figures 1(b) and 3(a)) 2b attached to the outer surface over a range of about two-thirds from the base end. In the illustrated example, the male hook-and-loop fastener 2a of the locking band 2 is detachably attached to the inner fabric 12, which is made of mohair fabric, of the protective plate 1, using it as the female hook-and-loop fastener. However, a hook-and-loop fastener that engages with the hook-and-loop fastener 2a may be provided on top of the inner fabric 12.

[0026] The finger loop 3 is made of elastic cord and is attached to the upper edge of the back surface of the protective plate 1 by inserting both ends between the backing fabric 12 of the cloth tape 13.

[0027] (How to use) When using the hand guard 100, as shown in Figure 4, peel the locking strap 2 from the lining fabric 12 of the protective plate 1 and insert the tightening belt G5 of the glove G between the locking strap 2 and the lining fabric 12 of the protective plate 1. At this time, the female hook-and-loop fastener G51 of the tightening belt G5 of the glove G is attached to the male hook-and-loop fastener 2a on the inner surface of the locking strap 2. Also, thread the finger loops 3 through the middle and ring fingers of the glove G. With the glove G in this state, put the glove G on your hand and attach the tightening belt G5 to the outer part G2 of the wrist. The protective plate 1 of the hand guard 100 turns inside out together with the tightening belt G5 to cover and protect the back of the batter's hand.

[0028] When tightening the tightening belt G5 of glove G, remove the tightening belt G5 from the outer part of the wrist G2 without removing the hand guard 100, and then tighten it again.

[0029] Thus, with the hand guard 100, the tightening belt G5 of the glove G can be readjusted as if it were not being worn, it can be removed integrally with the glove G, and it can also protect the batter's wrist.

[0030] As described above, the hand guard of the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and may not be separated into a hand plate that covers the back of the hand and a wrist plate that covers the wrist, but may be formed as a single piece. It may also not have side portions that cover the sides of the wrist. [Explanation of symbols]

[0031] 100 Gauntlet Guards 1. Protective plate 12. Reverse side (the other side of the hook-and-loop fastener, either male or female) 151 Hand plate 152 Wrist plate 152a Side part 17. Hinge section 2. Mooring band 2b A hook-and-loop fastener consisting of either a male or female part. 2a A hook-and-loop fastener consisting of either a male or female part. G Batting Gloves G1 Glove G Insertion Port G2 Outer part of the wrist G21 hook-and-loop fastener (male or female) G3 Inner wrist area G4 Slit G5 tightening belt G51 Male or female hook-and-loop fastener G6 wrist part

Claims

1. A hand guard to be attached to a batting glove, comprising a wrist portion provided along a hand insertion opening, a male or female hook-and-loop fastener provided on the outer surface of the outer wrist portion on the back of the hand side of the wrist portion, and a tightening belt attached to the wrist portion at its base end, which is provided so as to be able to wrap around the wrist portion in the circumferential direction and has the other male or female hook-and-loop fastener on its inner surface, and which is detachably attached to the male or female hook-and-loop fastener of the wrist portion, A protective plate that covers the back of the user's hand to the outside of the wrist, A locking band is provided extending upward from the lower edge of the back surface of the protective plate, which is the surface facing the back of the user's hand. Equipped with, The protective plate has a male or female hook-and-loop fastener on its back surface. The locking band has a hook-and-loop fastener consisting of either a male or female part provided on the inner surface facing the back surface of the protective plate, and a hook-and-loop fastener consisting of the other male or female part provided on the outer surface. A hand guard characterized by being attached to the batting glove by sandwiching the tightening belt of the batting glove with the locking band and attaching the locking band to the back surface of the protective plate.

2. The hand guard according to claim 1, wherein the protective plate comprises a hand back plate that covers the back of the hand, a wrist plate that covers the outside of the wrist, and a hinge portion that connects the hand back plate and the wrist plate so that they can rotate relative to each other.

3. The wrist plate is further comprising a side portion that covers the side of the wrist on the little finger side, according to claim 2.

4. If one of the aforementioned males or females is male, The hand guard according to claim 1, wherein the protective plate has a mohair fabric on its back surface, and the mohair fabric constitutes a female hook-and-loop fastener.

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