Fluid-Filled Exercise Glove Mitigating Impact Injuries
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Solution Overview
Problem
Boxers training with heavy bags often experience shoulder and hand injuries due to high-velocity impact, which existing equipment fails to adequately mitigate.
Innovation Solution
A fluid-filled exercise glove with an inner and outer mitten portion attached in a sealed manner, creating a fluid-tight cavity with channels from the wrist to the finger, allowing fluid to flow and providing resistance through sloshing and turbulence effects, mimicking the impact of heavy bag training without actual impact.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If boxers train punching a heavy bag, then they can get an effective resistance workout, but they experience shoulder and hand injuries due to high velocity impact
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary substance (fluid such as water) between the hand and the external environment. The fluid-filled cavity acts as a mediator that absorbs and distributes impact forces through hydraulic pressure, preventing direct transmission of high-velocity impact to the hand and shoulder structures while still providing resistance training benefits
Solution Approach 2:
The glove is pre-filled with fluid before use, creating a cushioning effect in advance. The fluid cavity is designed to compress and redistribute forces before they can cause injury, providing protective cushioning that is already in place when impact occurs
2Object-affected harmful factors
If traditional boxing gloves are used, then impact protection is provided, but resistance training effectiveness is reduced compared to heavy bag training
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies hydraulic principles by filling the glove cavity with fluid. The fluid provides resistance through its incompressibility and viscosity, creating hydraulic resistance that mimics the feel of punching a heavy bag. The fluid moves and pressurizes in response to punching motions, providing dynamic resistance training while maintaining impact protection
3Productivity
If the fluid cavity is made larger to maximize resistance, then workout effectiveness increases, but the glove becomes bulkier and less comfortable
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a nested structure with an inner mitten portion containing the fluid cavity, which is itself nested within an outer mitten portion. This nested doll approach allows the fluid cavity to be positioned close to the hand (maximizing resistance effectiveness) while the outer portion provides a streamlined exterior shape that minimizes bulkiness and improves comfort
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The glove offers an effective resistance workout reducing the risk of injuries by providing proportional resistance to hand weights, enhancing strength, speed, and endurance while preventing shoulder injuries by eliminating the need for direct impact with a heavy bag.
Implementation Method 1
providing resistance through sloshing and turbulence effects
Implementation Method 2
providing resistance through sloshing and turbulence effects
Implementation Method 3
The fluid cavity in the wrist portion can have an enlarged gap between the inner and outer mitten portions that extends around at least a majority of the inner mitten portion
Data Source
AI summary
An exercise device including an outer portion and an inner portion positioned within the outer portion. The inner and outer portions are attached together at a wrist portion in a fluid sealed manner to form a fluid tight cavity between the inner and outer portions. The inner and outer portions are be shaped and sized to provide at least one fluid flow channel or path extending from the wrist portion to a finger portion to allow fluid to flow from the wrist portion to the finger portion and back again, when a user is conducting reciprocating exercises and the fluid cavity is at least partially filled with fluid.