Exposed Edge Stitched Baseball Glove Manufacturing
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Solution Overview
Problem
The manufacturing process of baseball gloves is labor-intensive and requires turning, which limits the use of materials, increases the skill required for stitching, and hides the stitching seams, making it difficult to detect mistakes and use exotic or delicate leathers.
Innovation Solution
The method of manufacturing a baseball glove with exposed edge stitching, where the shell and liner pieces are die-cut as flat pieces and stitched together without turning, allowing the edges to remain exposed and eliminating the need for welting and piping, enabling the use of unique leathers and reducing the complexity of the stitching process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the glove is turned right-side-out after stitching, then the stitching seams are hidden, but the manufacturing process becomes more complex and requires additional steps
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates the turning operation from the traditional glove manufacturing process. By stitching the glove shell right-side-out and leaving edges exposed, the complex turning step is removed entirely, simplifying the manufacturing process while maintaining structural integrity through exposed edge stitching techniques
2Manufacturing precision
If traditional turning is used, then stitching mistakes are hidden, but detecting and measuring stitching quality becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of hiding seams by turning the glove inside-out, the patent inverts the approach by keeping the glove right-side-out with exposed edges. This makes stitching seams visible and accessible for quality inspection, allowing workers to detect and measure stitching precision directly without the complexity of turning operations
3Strength
If welting and piping are used to cover edges, then the glove structure is reinforced, but the manufacturing process becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates the need for separate welting and piping components. By using exposed edge stitching directly on the glove shell, the structural reinforcement function is achieved without adding the complexity of multiple fabric layers and stitching steps required for traditional welting and piping
4Adaptability or versatility
If the glove is made with traditional turning, then material selection is limited, but using exotic or delicate leathers becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the turning operation that previously constrained material selection. By eliminating turning and using exposed edge stitching, the process can accommodate exotic and delicate leathers that would be damaged or difficult to work with during traditional turning operations, thereby expanding material versatility
Data Source
AI summary
A ball glove engineered with exposed edge stitching, as opposed to turned leather, whereby the front (palm) and back are joined with one another in the same orientation as they are die cut. The resulting mating of front and back without welting exposes the edge of the leather (or other material) constituting the ball glove with joint lines on the back of the finger(s). Without turning the ball glove, other improvements may be seen such as the use of painted edge, exotic material types, and hard embellishments.