US3369258A - Glove with wrap-around fastening means - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 20, 1968 G. s. sMsTH 3,369,258

GLOVE WITH WRAPARGUND FASTENING MEANS Filed Aug. 5l, 1966 FIG. 4. 28

INVENTOR. GILBERT I. SMITH OLDHAM & OLDHAM ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,369,258 GLVTE Wl'lfH WRAP-AROUND FASTENHNG MEANS Gilbert li. Smith, 3096 47th Ave. N., St. Petersburg, Fla. 33714 Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 516,376, Bec. 27, 1%5'. This application Aug. 31, 1966, Ser. No. 576,376

6 Claims. (Cl. 2-159) ABSTRACT 014 THE DiSCLOSURE A iiexible strap having two pairs of wrap-around means or portions with fastening means thereon for securing the glove to the palm and wrist of a wearer.

This invention relates to a ilexible, stretchable, generally X-shaped, weighted strap adapted to be secured to a hand to act as a golf glove.

This is a continuation-in-part of my prior application Ser. No. 516,376, tiled Dec. 27, 1965, and now abandoned.

It is the general object of the invention to provide an improved, exible, stretchable, strap which can be easily applied to the wrist and hand so that the palm of the hand is protected by the strap to prevent a golf club or the like from blistering the hand, while at the same time not restricting the use of the hand, thumb, and fingers of the user so that a golf club can be better gripped.

It is another' object of the present invention to provide a thin, flexible, weighted section on the palm of the glove which absorbs the shock of a mis-hit golf shot and also gives a solid impact to the ball resulting in more distance for a golf shot. Further, the added weight to the golf glove forces the hands to come to a :better follow through after the golf swing.

Basically, the objects of the invention are accomplished by provding a generally X-shaped strap having a thumbhole cut therein at the joint of the two lower legs of the strap, an integral center portion of the strap being adapted to extend over the palm of the wearer, a thin layer of metal shot `which is adhesively secured to substantially all of the integral center portion of the strap, a cover piece which is sewed to the integral portion of the strap to cover the layer of shot and fastening means located on each upper leg and each lower leg of the strap whereby the upper legs are looped around the base of the fingers and secured to each other at the back Aof the hand by the fastening means located thereon and the lower legs of the strap are wrapped around the wrist and secured to each other at the back of the wrist by the fastening means located thereon.

For a better understanding of the apparatus of the invention, reference should be had to the following drawings wherein:

PIG. l is a plan view of the golf glove of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an elevation of a persons left hand showing how the golf glove of the invention is wrapped around the hand and secured thereto:

FIG. 3 is an enlarged vertical section taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary, greatly enlarged cross sectional view taken along line 4--4 of FIG. 1, particularly illustrating the weight pocket of the golf glove of the invention.

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With particular reference to the drawings, the numeral 10 generally indicates`a strap of suitable, exible, high strength, resilient fabric 12 such as vinyl Textileather, produced by General Tire & Rubber Co. Iof Akron, Ohio, which is coated on one side with a suitable plastic or other synthetic coating material 14 which imparts not only an attractive look but also a desired wear resistant nish to the outside surface of the strap. The fabric 12 is usually a knitted or woven textile s'tretchable in one direction (arrow 15), but having very little stretch in the other direction (arrow 16). The coating 141i is usually a polyvinyl chloride provided with a surface finish simulating leather and which has a surface friction assisting in gripping the golf club.

In the manufacturing process, the strap 1@ is cut out or blanked into the X-shape indicated in FIG. l. A keyhole-shaped Aopening 18, forming a thumbhole, is simultaneously cut in the strap and then the straight sides of the opening are overlapped and sewed, or otherwise attached together, with the sewing being indicated generally by the numeral 20. As the sides are sewed together to form the thumbhole 18, the fabric of the strap in the area 22 becomes tilted and the edge of the hole 1S is raised toward a vertical position and out of the plane of the strap, as best illustrated by FIG. 3. The purpose of such a tilt is to insure that the strap lays flat against the similarly tilted area of the hand between the thumb and index finger when the two lower legs 24 and 26 of the strap are wound around a wrist and then joined.

An integral center portion 28 of the strap is adapted to extend over the palm of the wearer as the glove is worn. Secured to the integral portion 28 is a cover piece or weight pocket, generally indicated by the numeral 30. As is best illustrated by FIG. 1 and FIG. 4, the weight pocket 30 is formed from a fabric sheet 31 which is secured to the center portion 28 of the strap as by stitch ing 32, although any suitable securing means could be utilized. The fabric sheet 31 is formed from the same type of fabric as forms the strap 1G and also is coated on its outside surface with a plastic coating material similar to coating 14. The purpose of Weight pocket 30 is to cover a thin layer of metal shot 34 which has been secured to substantally all of the portion 28 of the strap 10 as by a soft and/or ilexible adhesive layer 36, for example, rubber cement. As is best illustrated by FIG. 4, the shot 3d partially embeds in the adhesive layer 36 and the shot 34 is of a suiciently small size, such as .010, so that the entire center portion of the strap is still quite llexible even though the weight pocket 3@ lhas been incorporated into the golf glove.. Preferably the shot are screened or otherwise checked to insure use of substantially uniform size shot particles. The purpose of the weight pocket is to give added weight to the center portion 28 of the golf glove since this portion of the glove is where the club will be gripped and the added weight of the shot 34 helps absorb the shock of a mishit shot. The added weight also is believed to give a solid impact resulting in more distance and improved follow through of the golf swing. Although only one layer of the shot 34 is illustrated two layers of the shot 34 preferably are used. Thus, the layer of a suitable `rubber cement adhesive 36 may be applied between the ultimately opposed faces of the center portion 28 and of a fabric sheet 31 with the shot particles ybeing uniformly distributed into the adhesive layer so that there are two layers of shot 34 with an adhesive layer 36 therebetween. Or, a mixture of the adhesive and shot may be made and be applied to the center portion 2S of the strap as a uniform layer to provide a deposit of shot normally about one or two shot particles thick.

FIG. 2 illustrates the way in which the golf glove is worn on the left hand of the golfer. The first step in putting on the golf glove is generally to slip the left thumb through the thumbhole 18 so that integral portion 2S and weigh pocket 3l) of the strap lay over and cover the palm. The integral portion 2S not only covers the palm of the hand, but as is best illustrated by FIG. 2, also extends to and covers a major portion of the lower finger joints. Since the golf club is usually gripped by cradling it in the palm and lower lingers, the integral portion 28 and weight pocket 3l) cover these portions of the hand when the golf club is grasped.

The two lower legs 24 and 26 of the strap are then looped around the wrist and pulled tight to the wrist and secured together by fastening means 38 and fill, fastening means 38 being located on the underside of the leg 24 and fastening means l0 being located about in the midpoint of the upper side of the leg 26. The fastening means 38 and t0 are generally of the hook and burr type which are sewn to the strap at the areas indicated. In this type of fastening means, the hook portion of the fastening means is adapted to engage tightly but releasably with the relatively soft fibrous section or burr section of the fastening means when the strap is snugly engaged with the wrist. Velcro fasteners, made by American Velcro, lne., of Manchester, Vt., are typical of such attachment means.

A pair of integral upper legs Li2 and 44textend laterally from the top of the strap lt), and fastening means 46 and 48, similar to the hook and burr type previously described, are secured to the strap at the ends of these legs 42 and 44. The purpose of such fastening means 46 and 48 is to permit the legs 42 and 44 to be wrapped around the back of the hand and to be releasably secured to each other by the fastening means on the back Iof the hand at the base of the lingers, as illustrated by FIG. 2, This securing of the legs 42 and 44 snugly holds the center portion 2S and the weight pocket 30 snugly in place on the palm and prevents it from liapping or slipping when the golf glove is used to aid in gripping and holding a golf club. lt should be pointed out that both the fastening means 38 and 4t?, and the fastening means 46 and t3 need not always engage with each other at precisely the same point, ibut by selectively adjusting where the fastening means engage with each other, one can regulate the desired looseness or tightness of the golf glove while it is secured to the hand, and the golf glove is also adapted to fit different size hands and wrists.

Usually about 4 oz. of the shot is present in the pocket, which shot and its flexible positioning adhesive facilitate the gripping of a club by a wearer of the glove. Neoprene contact adhesives are one type of adhesive for use in the invention.

While a certain representative embodiment and details have been shown for the purpose of illustrating the invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in this art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

l. A glove comprising a generally X-shaped strap having a pair of upper legs and a pair of lower legs, the strap having a thumbhole cut therein at the joint of the two lower legs of the strap, an integral center portion thereof adapted to extend over the palm of the wearer and to cover the major portion of the lower linger joints of the wearer,

weight pocket means secured to and covering substantantially all of the center portion of said strap,

metal shot contained within said weight pocket means,

fastening means located on each upper leg wherein the integral portion of the strap is adapted to be held in position over the palm as the pair of upper legs are looped around the base of the lingers and secured to each other at the back of the hand by said fastening means located on each upper leg and second fastening means located on each lower leg of the strap whereby the two lower legs of the strap are Wrapped around the wrist and secured to each other at the back of the wrist by said second fastening means located on each lower leg.

2. The combination according to claim 1 wherein the material of the strap forming the thumbhole is tilted to raise one edge of the thumbhole out of the plane of the strap and to flatly engage the hand between the thumb and the index finger as the strap is worn.

3. The combination according to claim l wherein one of the lower legs of the X-shaped strap is formed shorter than the other with the second fastening means being located on the end of the short lower leg and the middle of the long lower leg whereby a thumb is inserted in the thumbhole and the long lower leg of the strap is wrapped over the wrist and to the back of the hand, and the short lower leg of the strap is wrapped over the wrist to the back of the hand and into engagement with the fastening means on the middle of the long lower leg of the strap.

4. The combination according to claim l wherein said metal shot contained within said weight pocket means is of small substantially uniform size and is adhesively secured to adhesive layers coated to the central portion of the glove and the underside of the weight pocket means.

5. A glove comprising,

a generally X-shaped strap, having a pair of upper legs and a pair of lower legs substantially wider than said pair of upper legs, one of said lower legs being shorter than the other, said strap having a thumbhole therein intermediate the two lower legs of the strap, an integral portion of said strap being adapted to extend over the palm of the wearer and to cover the major portion of the lower linger joints of the wearer, the material of the strap forming the thumbhole being tiltable to raise one edge of the thumbhole out of the plane of the strap and to atly engage the hand between the thumb and the index lingers as the strap is worn,

fastening means located on each upper leg wherein the integral portion of the strap is adapted t-o be held in position over the palm as the pair of upper legs are looped around the base of the fingers and secured to each other at the back of the hand by said fastening means located on each upper leg, and

second fastening means located on the end of the short lower leg and substantially at the middle of the long lower leg whereby when a thumb is inserted in the thumbhole and the long lower leg of the strap is wrapped over the wrist and onto the back of the wrist, and the short lower leg of the strap is wrapped over the wrist to the back of the wrist, said second fastening means is brought into engagement.

6. A glove comprising a flexible glove means including a generally X-shaped strap having a thumbhole therein and an integral center portion adapted to extend over the palm of the wearer and the lower sections of the lingers of the wearer, one set -of two legs of said strap being adapted to extend around the wrist of the wearer and the other set of two legs being adapted to be wrapped around the backs of the lingers of the wearer,

means for securing the legs of said sets of legs together to attach the glove to the wearers hand,

pocket forming means secured to and covering substantially all of the center portion of said glove means to form a flat pocket therewith, and

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 11/ 1916 Hockenhuil 2-20 X 3/1921 Hinze 2-20 6 2,270,882 1/1942 Link 2-159 3,108,285 10/1963 Turnidge et a1. 2-16l FOREIGN PATENTS 19,5 83 11/ 1900 Great Britain.

JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

G. V. LARKIN, Examiner.

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