Cooling or warming cuff

Technical Field

The present invention refers to a cooling or warming cuff. More particularly, the present invention refers to a cooling or warming cuff substantially formed by a covering made of flexible/elastic material and preferably, at least partly, of natural material with which a muff, that is put around the wrists or around other body parts in order to ensure comfort and an adequate body thermoregulation to the user, is formed.

The cuff of the present invention is suitable for being employed by the user especially, but not critically, as cooling element during all the sports/competitive activities or anyway in all the cases of activities requiring a high physical effort. Anyway the use of the cuff as warming element is not excluded.

In the above-mentioned cases, in particular in case of use of the cuff as cooling element, the sportsman or who is involved in physical activities, because of the effort in which he is involved, is subjected to a rapid body warming which requires refreshment. Background Art

It is well-known by medical/scientific researches that the man can keep the body temperature almost constant, presenting low variations thereof referring to the variations of the environmental temperature. Actually the cutaneous temperature changes according to the surrounding environment, according to the seasons, during

the day, and it is different in the various body areas. The human body temperature varies from 36.4 ° C and 37.2 ⁰ C. This is the range of temperature wherein the mechanisms regulating the cellular functions can work properly. With the term "thermoregulation" is meant all the functional expressions with which the human body can defend itself both against the warmth and the cold.

The thermoregulation is ensured by the concomitant action of the cutaneous vessels and of the sudoriferous glands. The impressive plexus of muscle-cutaneous arteries and veins interconnected with one another, together with the capillary vessels, the arterio-venous connections and the post-capillary veins, has an essential role in maintaining the body temperature. The blood present in the skin is mainly contained in the venous plexus wherein it slowly flows nearby the surface so as to facilitate the loss of heat. The blood flow which passes through the skin is 10-20 times greater than the one requested to provide the metabolites and the oxygen necessary to its feeding. This surplus of blood supplying explains how the thermoregulation is one of the main tasks committed to the skin. In usual conditions about 8.5% of the cardiac output pass through the skin, basically under control of the sympathetic nervous system. The blood flow can increase till 3.5 litres per minute in warm environment during exercise, ensuring the loss of great deals of heat.

It is clear that the thermoregulating activity of the skin is strictly bound to the proper working of the cardiovascular apparatus. In fact in case of high environmental temperature (and therefore of maximum skin vasodilatation) in order to maintain constant the blood pressure, the cardiac output (amount of blood ejected by the heart) shall sensibly increase and old people, with a reduced cardiac reserve, can develop a high output heart failure together with an enormous body heat loss with strong sudden changes of temperature and shivers. The naked skin exchanges directly warmth with the surrounding environment thanks to convection and irradiation mechanisms, whereas the dressed skin exchange initially thanks to conduction mechanism and then, from the surface of the clothes, thanks to the convection and the irradiation mechanisms. The warmth is transmitted by the naked body through the layer corresponding to the worn clothes where it reaches the outer temperature of the clothes and from here it is dissipated. It is therefore understood that it can happen that some body areas are inhibited to any exchange with the outside: there develops the typical "sweat spot". It is ultimately clear that the most favourable areas for the mechanisms of thermal dissipation, in case of excessive heat or cold, are the ones which are not covered by the clothes. Among these areas, the ones of the wrists have some features particularly favourable for this purpose.

In fact in these areas tracts of big arterial vessels (the ulnar and radial arteries) and very developed venous plexuses pass immediately under the skin and therefore very close to the surface. Therefore there is a considerable blood passage in an area which is not usually covered by clothes. The consolidated habit of putting the wrists under running water in case of excessive warmth is due to this physiological reason. Unfortunately this solution is often hardly feasible since there is not always fresh water to get wet. Furthermore it is always a temporary solution because the water used to get wet after the contact with the hot body parts quickly evaporates and its cooling effect ceases. Description

An object of the present invention is to provide a cooling or warming device which can supply the user with prolonged and constant refreshment or warming.

More particularly, the object of the present invention is to provide a cooling or warming cuff which can be worn or taken off in a very easy way. A further object of the present invention is to provide the user with a cooling or warming device which can be easily worked and with limited weight and size.

Another object of the present invention is to provide the above- mentioned cooling or warming cuff at low costs. These and other objects are achieved by the cuff according to the present invention.

The above-mentioned cooling or warming cuff comprises some thermoregulating reservoirs, a fastening device and, preferably, two different coating layers made of flexible/elastic material. Brief Description of Drawings The functional and constructive features of the cooling or warming cuff can be better understood by the following description wherein reference is made to the enclosed drawings which represent a preferred embodiment only reported as a non-restrictive example, wherein: Figure 1 represents a schematic upper view of the cooling or warming cuff of the present invention, shown in its opening position; Figure 2 represents a schematic side view of the cuff of Figure 1, in the fastening step. Disclosure of Invention With reference to the above-mentioned drawings, the structure of the cuff according to the present invention, indicated with 10 in figure 1, comprises one or more thermoregulating reservoirs 12, a fastening device 14 and at least one coating layer, preferably two different coating layers, an outer one and an inner one, made of flexible/elastic material, respectively the inner coating 16 and the outer coating 18.

The fastening device 14 is advantageously a Velcro- type fastening device hence, it is made from the coupling of a male Velcro 14' and a female Velcro 14". The male Velcro 14' and the female Velcro 14",

once they are properly coupled, allow the carrying out of an efficient and effective fastening device of the cooling cuff 10. Moreover, the said fastening device 14 allows to obtain an adequate adjustment of the size of the cuff itself so as to make it adaptable to various and different wrist sizes.

However, in the alternative embodiments of the present invention, not reported in the enclosed drawings, can be used other fastening devices, in any case suitable for the purpose as, for instance, snap fasteners, slide fasteners, fastening devices with buckles and so on. The termoregulating watertight reservoirs 12, are formed by one or more pockets 12' made of plastics or similar materials containing a liquid or gel substance 12" suitable for storing warmth or cold and consequently achieving a cooling or warming effect. The liquid or gel substance 12", which forms the thermoregulating reservoirs 12 and which is inserted in the pockets 12', comprises, for instance, glycols and water; preferably said substance 12' comprises glycols and water in substantially equal quantities, with prevalence of water in case. The above-mentioned reservoirs 12, shown in Fig. 1 with a substantially rectangular shape, can have any shape or size. Furthermore, even if the arrangement provided in the drawings is the one presenting the connection of the reservoirs 12 adjacent to one another along to the long sides of the rectangular pockets, it is possible to provide other kind of arrangements without modifying the objects of the present invention. The above-mentioned reservoirs

could be arranged, for instance, adjacent to one another along the short sides of the rectangular pockets.

Alternatively, instead of more rectangular reservoirs, it could be provided only a reservoir with oval section or more longitudinally arranged reservoirs with round or elliptical section, not shown in the drawings.

The inner coating 16 is made of thermoinsulating material such as sponge or cotton formed for instance by more layers arranged one upon the other in order to avoid an excessive cooling or warming of the body part directly in contact with the cuff itself, especially in the early moments when the cooling or warming cuff 10 is worn. Indeed the outer coating 18 is advantageously formed by light material, for instance cotton or other material suitable for providing a thermal insulation and is provided so as to cover the above- mentioned reservoirs 12 in their part which is not in contact with the inner coating 16.

According to the drawings of the present invention the thermoregulating reservoirs 12 are for instance arranged between the inner coating 16 and the outer coating 18 in a steady way. Anyway, it could be provided, without modifying the objects of the present invention, the embodiment according to which the thermoregulating reservoirs 12 can be taken out of the covering formed by the outer coating 18 and the inner coating 16 and then inserted again. This second embodiment, which is not represented in the drawings, is provided in order to allow the washing of the cuff

after the use. The above-mentioned embodiment involves the creation, by means of the outer coating 18, of proper containing pockets endowed with well-known fastening devices or of the connection between the inner coating 16 and the outer coating 18 which is made so as to the said coatings are separable from each other along at least a long side. The use of the cuff is the following.

The person who intends to use the cooling or warming cuff 10, shall introduce the cuff 10 or alternatively the individual thermoregulating reservoirs, in the hypothesis that they can be taken out of the cuff structure, into a cooling or warming apparatus as, for instance, a common home refrigerator or into a microwave oven. After a stated period the person takes off the cuff 10 from the cooling or warming apparatus and wear it on the wrist so as to, preferably and in the early moments, the inner coating 16 made of thermoinsulating material is in direct contact with the skin. As it has been said before, this solution is useful for not creating an excessive and sometimes irritating cooling or warming for the user especially in the overture of use of the cuff 10. After a stated period of use, which depends on the user's needs, the cuff can be taken off and worn again because of its reversibility keeping now the less insulating outer coating 18 in contact with the skin. Instead of taking off the cuff 10 in order to wear it again, the user could make it slip along the wrist so as to the outer coating is in contact with the skin.

In this way the cooling or warming cuff 10, according to the present invention, ensures a constant release of refrigerating units or calories for the user.

It can be easily understood that a person, in case of need, can also wear more cuffs on the arm or on both the arms, or cuffs with different sizes so as to be also applied in different parts of the body as for instance the calves, the ankles, the temples. Because of the well-known beneficial virtues of the cold for instance in case of traumas or contusions in general, the above-mentioned cuff can also be used in order to confer benefit on the person who, after having suffered a contusion or a distortion, has to cool the injured area to relieve even temporarily the pain and avoid the swelling. Even if the invention has been described above particularly with reference to an embodiment given as a non-restrictive example, several changes and variations will be clear to a person skilled in the art considering the above description. For this reason the present invention intends to embrace all the changes and variations which are part of the spirit and of the subject matter protected in the following claims.