GB2224634A

GB2224634A - Household and industrial gloves

Info

Publication number: GB2224634A
Application number: GB8826397A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Emily Mclaughlin
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1988-11-11
Filing date: 1988-11-11
Publication date: 1990-05-16
Also published as: GB8826397D0

Abstract

A household or industrial glove 10 of rubber, plastics, nitrile or other rubber-like material is provided with a pad or pads 16, 17, 18 of a flexible waterproof cleaning material, e.g. a double sided textile material with a raised loop pile on both sides, the or each pad being secured in the surface of one or more of the fingers 11, 12, 13, and possibly also in the palm 19 of the glove, by being bonded into the glove material without the use of an added adhesive. The gloves can be produced by a latex dip process by constructing a hand-shaped former with a recess or recesses (21, Figs. 4 to 8) extending over the ball and tip of one or more of its fingers 20, and possibly also in the palm, and locating in the or each recess a correspondingly shaped pad of the cleaning material, with its operative surface innermost, so that on completion of the dipping process and drying of the latex deposit and stripping of the deposit off the former, the glove has the pad bonded into the glove material with the operative surface of the pad on the outside. <IMAGE>

Description

HOUSEHOLD AND INDUSTRIAL GLOVES This invention relates to household and industrial gloves of rubber or plastics or similar rubber-like material, such as are widely used for washing up and other household tasks, as well as for industrial purposes.

It has previously been proposed, e.q. in US Patent No 3643386, to provide pads of abrasive material secured to the glove at effective working areas, e.a. extending over and around a finger or thumb. The provision of such pads facilitates the cleaning of awkward recesses and otherwise inaccessible areas of an article and makes for precision in operation with extra scrubbing power where it is most needed, at the finger tips, while increasing the life of the fingertips of the glove by protecting the rubber or plastics material from abrasion.

Previous proposals have suggested that the pads should be secured to the glove by adhesive, but this involves considerable difficulty in production. Rubber gloves are normally produced by dipping a hand-shaped former into a latex mix, withdrawing the former and drying the latex deposIted thereon. Usually the former is first dipped into a coagulant solution to ensure a thicker deposit of gelled latex on the former during the latex dip. The latex may be pre-vulcanised or the deposit may be vulcanised during the drying of the deposit. Finally the deposit is stripped off the former and turned inside out to produce the finished glove. The process is normally highly automated and it would be difficult to alter it to allow for application of spots of adhesive to the outer surface of the glove followed by application of pads of abrasive material in precisely determined positions.

According to the present invention, in a household or industrial glove of rubber or plastics or similar rubber-like material provided with a pad or pads of a flexible waterproof cleaning material secured to one or more of its fingers, the or each pad is secured in the surface of the finger by being bonded into the material of the finger without the use of an added adhesive.

The invention also resides in a method of making such a household or industrial glove of rubber or plastics or similar rubber-like material, comprising the steps of: (a) constructing a hand-shaped former with a recess extending over the ball and tip of at least one of its fingers, (b) locating in the recess a correspondingly shaped pad of flexible waterproof cleaning material, with its operative surface innermost, (c) dipping the former into a latex mix, (d) withdrawing the former from the latex mix, with a deposit of latex covering the former and impregnating the outermost surface of the pad, (e) drying the latex deposit, and (f) stripping the deposit off the former while turning it inside out, so as to produce a glove with the pad bonded into the material of the finger of the glove and with the operative surface of the pad on the outside of the finger.

Preferably the former is constructed with recesses extending over the ball and tip of the forefinger, middle finger and thumb, and correspondingly shaped pads of flexible waterproof cleaning material are located in each recess with their operative surfaces innermost, before dipping the former into the latex mix.

In this way, the pad or pads can be secured in a glove according to the invention in the course of the usual production process, without necessitating any further manual steps apart from the appropriate construction of the former with the recess or recesses.

Preferably the recess or recesses has or have sides substantially at right angles to the adjacent surface of the former, with a chamfer at the mouth of the recess or recesses. Although in the preferred configuration an angle of roughly 90 is used, this does not preclude any feasible angle between 1 -179 .

The former is preferably dipped into a solution of â coagulant before being dipped into the latex mix.

If the latex mix is not a pre-vulcanised mix, it will of course be vulcanised during the stage of drying the latex deposit.

The flexible waterproof cleaning material used for the pad or pads may be a textile material with a raised pile, preferably a double-sided textile material with a loop pile on both sides such as that sold under the registered Trade Mark VELCRO as "special loop type 4". Other materials which may be used include the textile material incorporating particles of an abrasive mineral material sold under the registered Trade Mark SCOTCHBRITE. Alternatively a sponge-like material, or a material with upstanding brush bristles may be used.

A specific embodiment of the invention will now be described in more detail by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is an elevation of a glove according to the invention, from the palm side, Figure 2 is a similar view of the top side of the glove of Figure 1, Figure 3 is a cross-section on line III-III of Figure 2, to a larger scale, showing a user's finger inside the forefinger of the glove, Figure 4 is a top view (to a larger scale than Figure 1) of one finger of a former used for producing a glove according to the invention, Figures 5, 6 and 7 are respectively side, underneath and end views of the finger of Figure 4, Figure 8 is a cross-section on line Vill-Vill of Figure 5, and Figure 9 is a cross-section through the finger of a glove produced on the former of Figures 4 to 8, after stripping and turning inside out.

Referring to Figure 1, the glove 10 is moulded of a rubber latex material with a thumb 11, forefinger 12, middle finger 13, fourth finger 14 and little finger 15.

Pads of a flexible waterproof cleaning textile material with a raised looped pile on both sides, e.s. the material solo under the registered Trade Mark VELCRO under the name "specL1 loop type 4", are attached as shown to the thumb 11, forefinger 12 and middle finger 13. The forefinger 12 has pad 17 with a wide portion 171 extending over the ball of the finger, a narrower portion 172 extending around the tip of the finger, and a second wide portion 173 extending for a short distance over the top of the finger 12. Similarly the middle finger 13 has a pad 18 extending over the ball, tip and top of the finger 13, and the thumb 11 has a pad 16 extending over the ball, tip and top of the thumb.If desired, a further pad or p-ads (not shown) may be secured to the palm 19 of the glove.

Figures 2 to 7 illustrate an appropriate construction of a finger 20 of a former which enables the pads 16,17,18 to be bonded into the material of the finger of the glove without the use of an added adhesive. It will be understood that the finger 20 constitutes part of a hand-shaped former which is used to produce gloves by the conventional latex dip process outlined above, in which the former is dipped first into a coagulant solution, then into a latex mix, and is then withdrawn from the latex mix, with a deposit of latex covering the former. The latex deposit is dried and, if necessary, vulcanised, and is then stripped off the former while being turned inside out so as to produce the finished glove.

In the process according to the present invention, each finger 20 of the former which is to produce a pad-carrying finger in the finished glove is formed with a recess 21 extending over the ball 22, the tip 23 and the top 24 of the finger 20. The ball portion of the recess 21 is wider and longer than the top portion of the recess, and both are wider than the portion of the recess 21 which extends around the tip 23 of the finger.

The recess 21 is shown as being undercut, but in practice it is found preferable that its sides 25 should be substantIally at right angles to the adjacent parts of the surface of the finger 20, with a slight chamfer at the mouth of the recess.

A pad of the flexible waterproof cleaning material of substantially dumbbell shape, corresponding to the developed shape of the recess 21, is located in the recess prior to the dipping of the former into the coagulant solution and subsequently into the latex mix. On withdrawing the former from the latex mix, a deposit of latex covers the former and impregnates the outermost surface of the pad. On subsequent drying of the latex deposit, and vulcanising if necessary, the pad is thus bonded into the material of the finger of the glove, and on stripping the deposit off the former, the finished glove is produced with the operative surface of the pad on the outside of the finger, as can be seen in Figure 9.

In Figure 9, reference 27 indicates the wall of the finger of the glove, 28 is the portion of the pad lying over the ball portion of the finger and 29 is the portion of the pad lying over the top of the finger; As a result of the turning inside out of the finger of the glove on stripping from the finger of the former, the operative surface of the pad will be seen to be on the outside of the finger 27 of the glove.

It will be appreciated that various modifications may be made in the gloves and in the method of making them, without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, the pads may be varied in shape and in number and position.

Various materials may be used for the pads, as mentioned above. The glove may be made of various rubber-like materials, such as nitrile rubber, which can be formed into â latex for use in the dip process.

Claims

1. A household or industrial glove of rubber or plastics or similar rubber-like material provided with five fingers and a pad or pads of a flexible waterproof cleaning material secured to one or more of said fingers, wherein the or each pad is secured in the surface of the finger by being bonded into the material of the finger without the use of an added adhesive.

2. A glove according to claim 1 wherein the pads are provided on the forefinger, middle finger and thumb of the glove.

3. A glove according to claim 2 wherein the pads extend over the ball, tip and top of both the forefinger, middle finger and thumb.

4. A glove according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the flexible waterproof cleaning material is a textile material with a raised pile.

5. A glove according to claim 4 wherein the textile material is double-sided with a loop pile on both sides.

6. A glove according to claim 4 wherein the textile material incorporates particles of an abrasive mineral material.

7. A glove according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the flexible waterproof cleaning material is a sponge-like material.

8. A glove according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the flexible waterproof cleaning material has upstanding brush bristles.

9. A glove according to any one of the preceding claims wherein a further pad or pads is or are secured to the palm of the glove.

10. A method of making a household or industrial glove of rubber or plastics or similar rubber-like material, comprising the steps of: (a) constructing a hand-shaped former with five fingers and with a recess extending over a part of at least one of said fingers, (b) locating in the recess a correspondingly shaped pad of flexible waterproof cleaning material, with its operative surface innermost, (c) dipping the former into a latex mix, (d) withdrawing the former from the latex mix, with a deposit of latex covering the former and impregnating the outermost surface of the pad, (e) drying the latex deposit, and (f) stripping the deposit off the former while turning it inside out, so as to produce a glove with five fingers and with the pad bonded into the material of the finger of the glove corresponding to said one finger of the former and with the operative surface of the pad on the outside of the said one finger of the glove.

11. A method according to claim 10, wherein the former is constructed with the recess extending over at least the ball and tip of the finger of the former.

12. A method according to claim 11 wherein the former is constructed with three recesses, each of which extend over the ball, tip and top of the forefinger, the middle finger and the thumb, respectively, and correspondingly shaped pads of flexible waterproof cleaning material are located in each recess with their operative surfaces innermost, before dipping the former into the latex mix.

13. A method according to any one of claims 10 to 12, wherein the former is constructed with a further recess extending over a part of the palm of the hand-shaped former, and a further pad of flexible waterproof cleaning material is located in said further recess with its operative surface innermost, before dipping the former into the latex mix.

14. A method according to any one of claims 10 to 13, wherein the recess or recesses is or are formed with sides substantially at right angles to the adjacent surface of the former.

15. A method according to claim 14, wherein the sides of the recess or recesses are formed with a chamfer at the mouth of the recess or recesses.

16. A method according to any one of claims 10 to 15 wherein the former is dipped into a solution of a coagulant before being dipped into the latex mix.

17. A household or industrial glove of rubber or plastics or similar rubber-like material, produced by the method of any one of claims 10 to 16.

18. A household or industrial glove substantially as hereinbefore described and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

19. A method of making a household or industrial glove substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.