Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
~37~
_ FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a football glove
intended to be primarily used by both offensive and defensive
linemen.
~ACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
_ ___
According to conventional practice, football line-
men,both of~ensive and defensive, generally tape their hands
to help reduce lnjuries. However, this taping is both time
consuming and uneconimical because the tape is not reuseable.
Furthermore, removing the tape is not pleasant whatsoever,
because it sticks directly to the skin and must be pulled or
torn off.
In addition, to the above drawbacks, hand taping is
not generally effective for fully protecting the hand while
permitting use of the hand, i.e., a tape job that is applied
well enough to protect the hand also limits the flexibility of
the hand and overly restricts use of the fingers and thumb.
Such restrictions present a problem because they limit the
- linesman's ability to either ward off or restrict the progress
of an opponent. Furthermore, even though a lineman does not
often get an opportunity to handle a football, he must have
freedom of movement of the hands on those few occasions where
there is an opportunity to recover a fumble and the li~e.
There is presently available, a relatively little
used alternativefor hand taping. This alternative is in the
form of a striking glove used in practise by boxers. Although,
these striking gloves do allow for greater hand movement than
a good tape ~ob, they do not provide adequate protection and
as such, have met with very limited success on the football
field. They simply cover the back surface of the hand and barely
-1 ~ .
~3~252
the flrst knuckle of the fingers and thumb so that essentially
the entirety of the fingers and all of the thumb, extend
beyond the end of the glove where they are exposed to damage.
In addition, with these boxing gloves, the thumb is totally
freely moveable, independently oE the fingers and therefore,
very easily dislocated or broken. These finyer tip boxer
striking gloves are held on the hand by drawstrings which are
pulled directly into tight contact with the player's wrist so
that they are extremely uncomfortable and often cut off the
circulation in the wrist, which can cause compression of the
median nerve.
The football glove of the present invention has been
designed to provide both the required protection and flexi-
bility to the hands of a football player. The glove which is
padded, includes both a wrist protecting portion and a hand
protecting portion. The hand protecting portion is provided
with finger and thumb pads which cover at least the first
phalange of the fingers and thumb. This reduces the exposure
of the fingers and thumb to damage and at the same time, allows
adequate exposure for using the hands in either dealing with
an opponent or grasping a free ball.
The thumb pad is connected to the finger pad by web
means which limits movement of the thumb pad and helps to pre-
vent serious dislocations to the thumb. Each of the finger and
- thumb pads is provided with individual elastic, downwardly
hanging finger and thumb receptacles which again permit use
of the fingers and thumb. Restraining means is provided to
restrain excessive stretching of the elastic Einger and thumb
receptacles for purposes of reducing injuries to the fingers
and thumbs.
--2--
~ 37Z~i;2
1 The glove is provided with a plurality of transverse
flexible joints along its length to permit flexing of the
overall glove. It additionally includes securing means at
¦ both the hand protecting portion and the wrist protectiny
portlon to secure the glove in position.
This securin~ means is in a form which is comfortable
to the user and will not cut off circulation to the hands.
BRIEF DISCUSSION OF THE DRAWINGS
The above, as well as other advantages and featurés
of the present invention will become more apparent according
to the preferred embodiments of the present invention wherein;
Figure 1 is a top perspective view of a preferred
embodiment of a football glove according to the present invention;
Figure 2 is a bottom perspective view of the glove of
Figure l;
Flgure 3 is a sectional view taken along the lines
3-3 of Figure 2;
Flgure ~ is a sectional view taken along the lines
4-4 of Figure 2;
DETAILED DESCRIPTION ACCORDING TO
THE PREFERRED EM~ODIMENTS OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
Referring first, to Figure 1, the football glove
comprises a hand protecting-portion generally indicated at 1
and a wrist protecting portion generally indicated at 3. When
the glove i5 fitted over the hand of the football player,
wrist portion 3 extends rearwardly from the hand over the wrist
of the player while portion 1 extends forwardly over the back
of the hand and along the fingers, to protect the metacarpal -
phaiange joints which are covered by pads 7 and 7a of the glove.
The glove shown in the drawings is dimensioned such that only
--3--
1~3~2~
1 the last phalange of the fingers extends byond the finger pad
portion 7a whereby the entirety of the back of the hand, the
back of the wrist and the fingers rearwardly from the last
phalange are protected via the glove.
This particular glove is adapted for use by offensive
linemen who re~uire only minimal finger exposure. However,
defensive linemen may require somewhat more use of the hands
and in the case of a defensive lineman glove, the last two
phalanges extend beyond the finger pads such that only the
first phalange is covered which still provides adequate pro-
tection for the fingers and thumb.
The finger pad portion of the glove is formed by
portions 7 and 7a which are provided with hanging loop finger
receptacles 9 and 9a respectively. These finger loops are made
from two-way stretch material so that they not only accommodate
various sizes of fingers, but at the same time, permit flexing
and use of the fingers once they are inserted into the loops.
However, in order to prevent unlimited stretching of the finger
loops which could result in injuries to the fingers, restraining
strips of inelastic material 11 and lla are provided to limit
the amount of stretching of loops 9 and 9a. Each of these
restraining straps is secured slackly across an entire row of
finger loops as shown in Figure 4, such that it is common to
adjacent loops. As is also shown in Figures 2 and 4, the
restraining strap is secured for example, by sewing it to the
central portion of each of the loops. Each of the restraining
straps permits adequate stretching of the finger loops to allow
a desired amount of movement -to each of the fingers. However,
the straps prevent stretching beyond an unacceptable limit at
which the fingers could be damaged.
--4--
- ~L37z~
1 The hand protecting portion of the glove is secured
to the wrist protecting portion via a flexible joint 6 which
permits flexing of the hand relative to the wrist. A second
flexible joint 8 is provided directly in the hand protecting
portion between finger pad sections 7 and 7a. Joint 8 permits
bending Oe the main knuckles in the fingers to further enhance
the 1exibility of the glove.
Also provided on the hand protecting portion is a
thumb pad which also flexes at joint 6. Provided on the under-
side of the thumb pad is a thumb receptacle 15 which is;madefrom the same two-way stretch material as the finger loops.
The thumb receptacle`or loop 15 is restrained against excessive
stretching via restraining strap 17 which is secured slackly
across the thumb loop. Restraining strap 17 performs the same
function as straps 11 and lla in that it permits stretching
of the thumb loop only to the extent that the thumb is useable
to assist the fingers in grabbing a free football or warding
off an opponent but prevents unlimited movement of the thumb
which could cause injuries.
One of the most commonly found injuries to the hand
is thumb dislocation which is caused when the thumb is excess-
ively separated from the fingers. The glove, according to the
present invention is provided with web means interconnecting
the-thumb pad with the finger pad to prevent just such an
injury. This web means is in the form of leather webbing
portions 19 and 19a, secured to the upper and lower surfaces
respectively, of the thumb pad. The leather webbing is again,
slack when the hand is in a normal position to allow movement
of the thumb independently of the fingers. However, the webbing
prevents undue separation of the thumb pad from the finger pad
--5--
z
1 to substantially eliminate thumb dis,locations.
For purposes of securing the glove in position, both
the hand covering portion And -the wrist covering portion are
provided with lower covers or lips 21 and 27 respectively.
Lower cover 21 is provlded with ~ plurality of tie-string
receiving openings 23 which are rei.nforced by metal eyelets 24.
Cover 27 extending downwardly from the wrist pad is also
provided with tie-string receiving openings indicated at 29 and
reinforced by metal eyelets 31. Covers 21 and 27 are arranged
such that a tie-string 25 is first fitted through the openings
in protective cover 21 and then through the opening in cover 27
so that it is common to both the hand protecting portion and the
wrist protecting portion of the glove. The glove is held
securely in position on the hand oE the football player by
drawing the common tie-string 25 in tightly, at both the hand
and the wrist. An interior protective cover 35 lying directly
against the skin beneath the tie-string permits substantial
tightening of the string without cutting off circulation to
elther the wrist or the hand by isolating the string from
direct contact with the hand or wrist inserted into the glove.
Therefore, the glove can be held both comfortably and securely
in place on the hand while playing.
As will now be well understood from the description
above, the football glove of the present invention has been
designed to meet both the flexibility and the protective
requirements of'an offensive or defensive lineman. Furthermore,
although various preferred embodiments of the invention have
been described herein in detaiI, it will be apparent to one
skilled in the art that variations may be made thereto, without
departing from the spirit of the inventlon or the scope of the
appended claims.
--6
