PROTECTIVE WEAR FOR SPORT

This invention relates to protective wear for use in sports and more particularly to items of protective wear worn on a players limbs.

When participating in sporting activities such as for example football, rugby, hockey and many other different sports, it can be desirable to wear some form of protective wear to protect susceptible areas of a player's body from injury if heavy contact is expected to be received on that area of the body. Serious injuries can be caused by such contact to a player.

In order to minimise the risk of serious injury, it has become usual for players to utilise various forms of padded protective wear to minimise the likelihood of injury occurring as a result of heavy contact.

Thus for example, in sports such as football, rugby and hockey, it has become conventional to wear protective wear in the form of so-called "shin pads" which protect the shin area of the leg of the player. Conventional shin pads are usually separate items which are removably attached to a player's shin area inside of a player's sock. Generally speaking, the shin pad will cover the front shin area of the player's leg since this is considered to be the most likely place for injury to occur.

However, such arrangements of shin pads suffer from the problem that because they are removably fixed on a player's leg, they can move relative to their original starting position during a game and such movement can lead to exposure of the susceptible area, or at least a part thereof, which, in such circumstances is no longer protected, and can therefore be subject to serious injury. Furthermore, the protective pad itself will, in use, only offer protection

to the front area of the players shin and offers no protection to the rear or any other part of the player's limb.

It is an object of the present inve ntion to provide protective wear for sports in which the above mentioned problems are eliminated or at least minimised.

Thus and in accordance with the present invention there is provided protective wear for sports in the form of a sleeve, having protective elements provided on the sleeve, wherein the protective elements extend substantially around substantially the complete circumference of said sleeve and said elements are formed integrally with the sleeve.

With this arrangement it is possible to provide protective wear of the above mentioned kind in which the protective elements provide the necessary protection around the entire circumference of the sleeve and, due to being formed integrally with the sleeve, their position will not change relative to the player's leg. Furthermore, due to the fact that the protective elements extend around substantially the whole circumference of the sleeve, even if the sleeve rotates relative to the users limb, the protection afforded by the protective elements will not be compromised.

Preferably, the sleeve is formed from a flexible material for example, neoprene or another material having similar properties thereto.

Preferably the protective elements are in the form of a regular array of projections which may stand proud of a surface of the sleeve, t will, however, be appreciated that the protective elements can take any form as desired or as appropriate.

Preferably, the sleeve and/or protective elements can be adapted to permit ventilation and this adaptation can take the form of perforation or holes in the sleeve and/or protective elements. The adaptation can take alternatively any suitable form as appropriate or as desirable. Thus for example, the protective elements can comprise a number of continuous circumferential bands of protective material or may in fact be a single sheet of protective material not divided in any way.

Preferably the protective elements extend over a minimum of 50% of the area of the sleeve and advantageously cover approximately 70 to 75% of the area.

Where it is said that the protective elements are formed integrally with the sleeve itself, it is intended that "formed integrally" should also cover the possibility of the protective elements being non-removably attached to the sleeve structure. The sleeve itself can be formed integrally with a sock which is to be worn on the lower limb of a player.

The invention will now be described further by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying figures, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a side view of one embodiment of protective wear in

accordance with the present invention;

Fig.2 shows front and rear views of the protective wear of Fig. 1 ;

and

Fig.3 shows a perspective view from the front and rear respectively of the protective wear of Fig. 1.

Referring now to the Figures there is shown in Figures 1 to 3 an item of protective wear in the form of a flexible neoprene sleeve 10 having a number of protective elements 1 1 formed integrally therewith. In the Figures, the sleeve 10 is shown as extending from a players ankle to just below the players knee in the manner of a conventional sock but it will be appreciated that the sleeve 10 can extend a lesser or greater distance than that shown in the drawings. Further the sleeve 10 can be attached to another limb such as, for example an arm, if desired or if appropriate.

The sleeve 10 can be formed from any flexible material such as, for example neoprene or any other suitable material having the required properties of flexibility and strength.

An array of protective elements 1 1 is formed integrally with the sleeve 10 and those protective elements 1 1 are formed from a relatively strong resilient material such as, for example a rubber based material or a plastics material which are flexible to absorb the momentum of an impact with them and strong enough to withstand many contacts therewith. It will be appreciated that requirement for the material from which the protective elements 1 1 are formed is that it has these features of sufficient flexibility that upon impact therewith they absorb the momentum of the contact and dissipate this over the area of the sleeve thereby preventing serious injury. Furthermore, the material must also have sufficient strength to withstand many such contacts therewith.

In use, the sleeve 10 can be formed separately or can be integrally formed with a sock of the kind used during playing of a game and extends

completely around the players lower limb. Whilst in the embodiment shown in Figures 1 to 3 there is shown what is commonly referred to as a "shin pad" type of arrangement, it will be appreciated that the sleeve 10 can be utilised to protect other parts of the human body such as for example elbows or wrists or any part of the body around which the sleeve 10 can extend.

When contact is made with the sleeve 10 or sock incorporating the sleeve 10, such as for example due to a kick by another player, the protective elements 1 1 dissipate the momentum of the kick over the entire surface of the sleeve thereby protecting the limb under the sleeve 10 from serious injury. It will be appreciated that the arrangement of the present invention results in protective wear which is more effective than existing arrangements in that it is unlikely that the sleeve 10 will move relative to the part of the body it is protecting but, should that happen, the protection will not be compromised due to the fact that the protective elements 1 1 are provided substantially around the entire circumference of the sleeve 10. Furthermore, it is impossible for the sleeve to become disconnected from the limb unlike the conventional shin pads which are attached to a limb by virtue of releasable fasteners which can sometimes become undone.

It is therefore clear that the item of protective wear formed by the arrangement of the present invention offers better, and less likely to be compromised, protection to a user as compared with existing arrangements for the same purpose.

It will of course to be understood that the invention is not intended to be restricted to the details of the above embodiment which is described by way of example only.

Furthermore, it will be understood that protective wear made from a neoprene or similar material will not only as provide impact protection but will also offer support to the users limbs along with retaining warmth and therefore minimising strains or other muscular injuries.

Still further, additional ankle protection can be provided when used on a users lower limb to offer protection to a users lower limb.