Safety Glove with Hardened Fingertip Insert for Meat Skinning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Protective gloves in the meat packing industry often lack adequate protection in the fingertip region, particularly when workers use knives or operate machinery like deriding skinners, leading to potential hand injuries.
Innovation Solution
A protective glove design featuring a flexible first layer, a hardened second layer positioned between the flexible layers at the fingertip region, and an indicator layer to visually signal damage, providing enhanced abrasion resistance and protection while allowing finger flexibility and easy removal in emergencies.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a hardened protective layer is added to the fingertip region, then cut and abrasion resistance is improved, but finger flexibility and dexterity deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies a hardened protective layer specifically to the fingertip region (distal from interphalangeal joint lines) while leaving the rest of the glove flexible. This localized application of hardness provides cut and abrasion resistance exactly where needed (fingertips contacting blades) while preserving finger flexibility and dexterity in the knuckle and hand regions.
Solution Approach 2:
The glove is divided into distinct regions with different protective properties: a hardened protective layer at the fingertip and a flexible material in the rest of the glove. This segmentation allows each region to be optimized for its specific function - the fingertip for protection against cuts and abrasions, and the rest of the glove for flexibility and dexterity.
2Reliability
If a protective layer is positioned between flexible layers, then protection effectiveness is improved, but glove complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The hardened protective layer is positioned between the flexible outer and inner layers specifically in the fingertip region distal from interphalangeal joint lines. This localized sandwich structure provides enhanced protection effectiveness at the most vulnerable area (fingertips) while maintaining overall glove simplicity and avoiding complex multi-layer construction throughout the entire glove.
3Ease of operation
If the protective layer terminates distal from interphalangeal joint lines, then finger flexion capability is improved, but protection coverage is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The hardened protective layer is strategically positioned and terminated distal from interphalangeal joint lines, providing protection exactly at the fingertip contact point while allowing full finger flexion capability at the joints. This precise positioning ensures protection coverage is concentrated where it is most needed (the exposed fingertip) without compromising finger mobility.
Data Source
AI summary
A safety glove having a protective member or insert extending around the fingertip of the safety glove is provided. The protective member may be positioned along the outer surface or the inner surface of the glove. Alternatively, the protective member may be integrally formed between two layers of glove material. The protective member terminates distally from an interphalangeal joint line to enable finger flexion in order to grasp an item, such as a slab of meat to be deskinned in a skinning machine. The glove may include a rough outer surface formed from thrice dipping the glove and allowing the glove to cure. Additionally, the glove may have a width near the wrist that is wider than the width near the palm to enable the glove to be rapidly removed (i.e., doffed) in an emergency event of the glove getting caught in a rotating blade on the skinning machine.