METHOD

The present invention relates to an ambidextrous and flexible working glove which is suitable for working with building materials or operating tools and ma chines.

The invention also relates to a hand mold for coating such gloves. The working glove is knitted symmetrically on both sides of the broad surfaces of the glove, such that the glove is suitable for both hands of a person. The glove further comprises bending zones on the parts of the fingers of the glove, covering the knuckles of a human hand, and is coated with a wear-reducing material, such as a polymer, on both sides of the glove, up to the wrist.

Working gloves are essential to craftsmen, such as masons carrying coarse building materials such as bricks, tool operators, and machine operators etc. Working gloves provide several benefits, such as an improved grip on coarse or slippery materials and tools, and even protects the craftsmen’s and opera- tors’ hands against abrasive actions and low temperatures.

Today, some working gloves are fully coated with a polymer material to reduce wear on the knitted parts of the glove. W02016/141408 discloses a such working glove.

However, such coating reduces the flexibility of the working glove.

Other working gloves are coated with a wear-resistant material, such as a pol- ymer, and do comprise a more flexible material than the coating material, on the parts of the gloves that cover the knuckles, in order to overcome the prob lem with the reduced flexibility.

EP2487284 discloses a such glove.

However, the glove disclosed in the above mentioned EP document is only coated on one side of the glove, thereby rendering it unsuitable for being used on both hands, since the benefits of providing an improved grip, and resisting wear, only apply to one side of the glove, and since the glove thereby is more flexible on one side than on the other.

Furthermore, working gloves some times wear faster on one hand than on the other hand, e.g. when a worker uses his right hand more than his left hand. In such cases, the worker will have to pick up a new pair of working gloves, and leave the previous pair, even though only one of the two gloves is worn.

Therefore, an ambidextrous working glove is desirable, being suitable to be put on both human hands, since the worker then only needs to pick up one new working glove, if one of the pair of working gloves he is using, becomes worn.

Ambidextrous gloves are known, such as in FR1203433.

However, the above mentioned ambidextrous glove, is not suitable as a work ing glove, and would wear at a higher rate when working with coarse material, such as building material, than a working glove would.

It is therefore desirable to provide a working glove that is suitable for both hands of the person wearing it, that reduces mechanical wear on both sides of the glove, and that provides an improved flexibility for the person wearing it. A known hand mold for coating of a glove discloses a hand portion and a num ber of fingers. The hand mold is provided with a mounting flange for connection to an arm or connection piece for connecting the hand mold to a machinery for moving one or more hand molds through a coating application area. Here the coating is provided to the fingers and palm area of the glove. This known hand mold is shaped like a right hand or a left hand having a convex shape on its upper side (back side of the hand) and a concave shape on the palm side of the hand.

The object of the present invention is inter alia to provide a working glove and a hand mold for manufacturing such a working glove that accommodates the above mentioned desired features.

Summary

In view of this object, a working glove is provided, which is ambidextrous, and thus suitable for both human hands, is coated by a wear resisting material on both sides, and comprises elastic areas covering the knuckles of the human fingers.

According to the invention, a knitted ambidextrous glove, may be symmetric about a plane through the glove between the flat front side of the palm of the glove and the flat back side of the palm of the glove, wherein the glove may be knitted by a first material, wherein the knuckles of the glove covering the knuckles of a human hand, are knitted by a composition of the first material and a second material having a higher elasticity than the first material, or a composition of different materials, wherein the knuckles of the glove covering the knuckles of a human hand, are knitted by the composition of different ma terials comprising more of a material, having a higher elasticity, than a mate- rial, having the lowest elasticity, thereby defining a bending zone at the knuck les of the glove, wherein the fingers of the glove are coated by a coating ma terial, or the fingers and a part of the palm of the glove are coated by a coating material, or the glove up to the wrist of the glove is coated by a coating material, or the whole of the glove is coated by a coating material, on both sides of the plane.

Hereby, the desirable benefits of providing wear resistance, flexibility, and re duces discarding unworn working gloves, are accommodated.

The working glove according to the invention is further beneficial, since the working glove, when one side is of it is worn, may be flipped and put on again, thereby making use of the other side of the working glove which is not worn, thereby contributing even more to the reduction of discarding unworn working gloves.

In this document, the term “knuckle(s)” refers to the joints of the human finger, joining the parts of the human finger.

In this document, the terms “fingers of the glove”, “the palm of the glove”, and “the knuckles of the glove”, refer to the parts of the working glove covering the fingers, the palm, and the knuckles of the human hand, respectively.

In another embodiment according to the invention, each finger of the glove may comprise multiple bending zones, wherein one, some, or all knuckles of each finger of the glove may be covered by at least one of the bending zones.

The working glove may be manufactured by providing a substrate, preferably a glove liner knitted of yarn, made of natural or synthetic fibres or a combina tion of natural or synthetic fibres. The glove liner is knitted into a shape corre sponding to the hand, i.e. having fingers for each finger of the hand and an elastic cuff, with a width of e.g. 4 to 7 cm, which is knitted together with the remaining part of the glove liner in order to attaching the glove to the under arm near the wrist during use. Examples of natural fibres are cotton, bamboo or mixtures thereof and examples of suitable synthetic fibres are e.g. of poly olefins, such as polyethylene (PE) or polypropylene (PP), polyester, i.e. poly ethylene terephthalate (PET), polyacrylics, i.e. polyacrylonitrile, polyamide (e.g. Nylon) or similar commonly used synthetic fibres used in garment indus try, and especially fibres used for making protective gloves or mixtures thereof. In addition mixtures of the above mentioned natural fibres and synthetic fibres may be used. Preferably, the fibres comprise minor amounts of a material which provides elastic properties to the glove liner, e.g. lycra™ or spandex, i.e. a polyurethane-polyurea copolymer, or similar elastic fibres commonly used as additional fibres for enhancing elasticity of fabrics, e.g. knitted fabrics.

The bending zones are knitted in the same material as the rest of the knitted glove, but with a higher content of the material in the composition, having a higher elasticity, than the material in the composition, having the lowest elas ticity.

In another embodiment according to the invention, the coating material may be a polymer material.

Examples of polymeric coatings are e.g. natural latex, polyurethane (PU), pol yvinyl chloride (PVC), nitrile butadiene rubber (nitrile rubber or NBR), neoprene (polychloroprene) polyvinylacetate (PVA) or mixtures thereof, in particular mix tures of nitrile rubber and PU. In addition, two or more layers of different poly meric coatings may be applied on top of each other. As an example, an inner PU layer and an outer layer of nitrile rubber may provide a waterproof protec tive coating. The polymeric material may be applied to the knitted glove as an aerated or foamed composition, which results in reduced use or elimination of use of or ganic solvents thereby providing a more environmental friendly protective glove which also provides reduced health risk for the user of the glove because it does not contain residues of an organic solvent.

Especially preferred are rubbers, e.g. PVC- rubbers, PU-rubbers or nitrile rub bers, as they provide a significantly improved grip for the user wearing the gloves. In addition, different resins and rubbers, e.g. nitrile rubber, provide some protection against water and/or certain chemicals, e.g. oils or lubricants.

The coating material also allows perspiration to escape and reduces heat buildup inside the glove, thus enabling an improved comfort for the user.

The coating is a protective coating resisting wear on the working glove, espe cially in the finger and palm area. Such coatings may be provided by mounting the glove on a hand-shaped mould and dipping the knitted glove into a liquid polymeric composition to ensure that the coating covers the relevant area of the glove as discussed above. If necessary, the dipped glove is cured.

In another embodiment, the glove according to the invention, may be a working glove, being suitable for working with building material.

Hence, the coating of the working glove reduces wear on the knitted part of the glove, improves the grip on loads to be carried, such as building bricks, tools, etc., and further is water-repellent.

In one embodiment, a method for producing a knitted ambidextrous glove ac cording to any of the above mentioned embodiments, may comprise the steps of knitting the glove such that the glove is symmetric about a plane through the glove between the flat front side of the palm and the flat back side of the palm of the glove, with a first material, knitting the knuckle of the glove covering the knuckles of a human hand with a composition of the first material and a second material, having a higher elasticity than the first material, or knitting the glove such that the glove is symmetric about a plane through the glove between the flat front side of the palm and the flat back side of the palm of the glove, with a composition of different materials, knitting the knuckles of the glove covering the knuckles of a human hand with a composition of the different materials comprising more of a material having a higher elasticity, than a material, having the lowest elasticity, thereby defining a bending zone at the knuckles of the glove, wherein the method further comprises the step of coating the fingers of the glove by a coating material, or coating the fingers and a part of the palm of the glove by a coating material, or coating the glove up to the wrist of the glove by a coating material, or coating the whole glove by a coating material, on both sides of the plane.

Hereby, a method is provided, for manufacturing a working glove accommo dating the desirable benefits of providing wear resistance, flexibility, and re duces discarding unworn working gloves.

In another embodiment, the method according to the invention, may comprise the step of knitting each finger of the glove to comprise multiple bending zones, wherein one, some, or all knuckles of each finger of the glove is/are covered by at least one of the bending zones.

In another embodiment of the method according to the invention, the coating material may be a polymer material.

In another embodiment of the method according to the invention, the glove may be a working glove, being suitable for working with building material. The object of the present invention is further achieved by a hand mold for coat ing of a glove, which hand mold comprises a shaped hand portion and fingers, which shape of said hand portion and fingers is mirrored around a plane through the hand mold, which plane is defined by the extent of the fingers.

In an embodiment, the hand portion comprises a first side and a second side, the first and second sides both having a convex outer shape.

The hand mold is formed on both sides of the hand, being the palm side as well as the back side of the hand as back sides. In other words, both sides of the hand mold id formed as if the hand is slightly swollen.

A hand mold is manufactured for an excact size or an exact range of sizes of gloves and the size of the hand mold is sized to be an oversize of the corre sponding glove size or range of sizes. Hereby the glove is slightly stretched when applied to the hand mold, securing the coating to adhere to the knit ma terial.

When the glove is positioned on the mold and thereby stretched, the mold with the glove is immersed into a bath of coating material until the mold with glove is in a substantially vertical position with the fingers pointing downwards.

Hereby it is possible to apply coating to both sides of the glove. When the mold is dipped into the coating, a distace of travel of the mold into the coating deter mines how much of the glove should be coated. If the mold enters the coating material until the wrist, the glove will be coated on both sides up to the wrist.

When the glove after curing of the coating is removed from the mold, the knit material contracts due to the mold no longer stretches the material and the coating now forms a dense layer on the glove, which layer can be a layer pre venting liquid to come in contact with a hand, of a wearer of the glove. Brief description of the drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic front view of the working glove without a coating.

Fig. 2 is a schematic front view of the working glove shown in Fig. 1 , being partly coated.

Fig. 3 is a schematic front view of the working glove shown in Fig. 1 , being fully coated.

Fig. 4 is a schematic side view of the working glove shown in Fig. 1 .

Fig. 5 shows a hand mold for coating gloves; and

Fig. 6 shows the hand mold from a thumb side of the mold.

Detailed description

The invention will now be explained in more details below by reference to the figures.

Figure 1 shows schematically an embodiment of the ambidextrous working glove 1 , comprising a palm 2, fingers 3, knuckles 4, bending zones 5, which are areas having a higher elasticity than the rest of the glove as described above, and a wrist 7, in a condition before being coated with a coating material 6 (shown in Figs. 2 and 3). In an embodiment, the bending zones 5 can also be distributed across the palm and the backside of the glove from the knuckles 4 to the wrist 7 or any thing therebetween (not shown).

Fig. 2 shows schematically the ambidextrous working glove 1 from Fig. 1 ac cording to an embodiment of the invention, after being partly coated with a coating material 6. In this embodiment, the fingers 3 and a part of the palm 2, have been coated, on both sides of the plane 8, shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 3 shows schematically the ambidextrous working glove 1 from Fig. 1 , ac cording to an embodiment of the invention, after being fully coated with a coat ing material 6. In this embodiment, the whole of the glove has been fully coated with the coating material 6.

Fig. 4 shows schematically a side view of the ambidextrous working 1 from Fig. 1 . The figure shows a plane 8, indicating symmetry between the flat front side 2a and the flat back side 2b of the palm 2. The figure shows that the working glove is knitted symmetrically about this plane 8.

In the disclosed embodiments, the working glove is coated on both sides of this plane 8.

Fig. 5 shows a hand mold 9 for coating of a glove 1 and having a hand portion 10 and a number of fingers 11. The hand mold 9 is provided with a mounting flange 12 for connection to an arm or connection piece (not shown) for con necting the hand mold to a machinery (not shown) for moving one or more hand molds 9 through a coating application area. The coating 6 may be applied to the glove 1 on the hand mold 9 in any desired manner as by dipping, spray ing, etc., but a preferred method is to deposit a coating by dipping the hand molds 9 in a dispersion or solution of the coating composition 6. When dipping the hand mold 9 into the dispersion or solution, the hand mold 9 is in a sub stantial vertical position with the fingers 11 pointing downwards. Fig. 6 shows that the hand mold 9 comprises a shaped hand portion 10 and fingers 11, which shape of said hand portion 10 and fingers 11 is mirrored around a plane 8a through the hand mold 9, which plane 8a is defined by the extent of the fingers 11. The plane could also be named as a symmetry plane through the hand mold 9.

The hand mold 9 is formed with the hand portion 10 comprising a first side 10a and a second side 10b of a hand. The hand mold 9 is developed for ambidex- trous gloves 1 , therefore the first side 10a can represent the palm side as well as the back side of the hand as well as the second side 10b can represent the palm side as well as the back side of the hand.

The first side 10a as well as the second side 10b of the hand mold 9 is formed as back sides of the hand. This shape gives the hand mold 9 a convex form on both sides. In other words, both sides of the hand mold 9 is formed as if the hand is slightly swollen.

A hand mold 9 is manufactured for an excact size or an exact range of sizes of gloves 1 and the size of the hand mold 9 is sized to be an oversize of the corresponding glove size or range of sizes. Hereby the glove 1 is slightly stretched when applied to the hand mold 9, securing the coating 6 to adhere to the knit material. With the glove 1 positioned on the mold and thereby stretched, the mold 9 and glove 1 is immersed into a bath of coating material 6 until the mold 9 with glove 1 is in a substantially vertical position with the fingers 11 pointing downwards.

Hereby it is possible to apply coating to both sides of the glove 1. When the mold 9 is dipped into the coating, a vertical distace of travel of the mold 9 into the coating 6 determines how much of the glove 1 should be coated. If the mold 9 enters the coating material 6 until the wrist 7, the glove 1 will be coated on both sides up to the wrist 7.

When the glove 1 after curing of the coating 6 is removed from the mold 9, the knit material contracts due to the mold 9 no longer stretches the material and the coating 6 now forms a dense layer on the glove 1 , which layer can be a layer preventing liquid to come in contact with a hand, of a wearer of the glove 1.