Bistable glove

The present invention deals with a bi-stable glove. Such glove is made with of very thick membrane, equipped with mechanical characteristics that make its use easier. In particular, the invention can be used in the foodstuff field and for handling hot objects, such as containers for cooking foodstuffs.

The prior art deals with: gloves in general (A41D19/00: Gloves); instruments and accessories in the surgical field (A61B19/00: Instruments, implements or accessories for surgery or diagnosis); forming technique (B29C41/14: Shaping by coating a mould, core or other substrate); accessories for sports (A63B71: Games or sports accessories).

In the above categories, there is the ambidextrous glove, used for handling objects when cooking, freezing and storing foodstuffs, made of a very thick homogeneous material, partially or completely elastic.

The prior art, represented by document US-A-3148235, discloses both the shape of the glove with three fingers, and the use of an elastomer material (Adiprene made by Du Pont), Teflon, or silicone.

From the mechanical point of view, a glove with a very thick, homogeneous elastic material must also perform certain functions, remained unsolved depending on its structural and physical characteristics:

1. a) difficulty in articulating the fingers of a hand, due to the high thickness and stiffness of the membrane composing the glove;
2. b) formation of cumbersome membrane bending when pinching the objects.

The solution to one of these two problems is provided by a new glove, in particular a kitchen glove, that enables a safe handling of hot objects, doing without the precarious feeling of a tool that must operate in often dangerous and delicate conditions, in an ambient with a high temperature or in contact with hot or boiling substances.

According to US-A-5628069, in some sports, such as motorcycling and skiing, gloves of different material are used, reinforced with bi-stable steel plates, such plates being applied next to the finger joints of the hand, allowing to reach two stablepositions:

• straight finger: the steel plate, longitudinally extended, forms a concave surface with two bent edges 30 and 32 in fig. 1;
• bent finger: the steel plate flexes along the longitudinal axis; simultaneously, the two edges 30 and 32 are bent, forming the curved plate having a plate section 28 in fig. 2.

DE-C-664 015 discloses a rubber glove with inner longitudinal ribs.

Object of the present invention is providing an improved bi-stable glove, that, starting from the above described prior art, allows translating the bi-stability function to a glove made with a very thick elastic membrane, therefore free from invasive members, in particular of the type used in a kitchen, equipped with tubular recesses for containing the fingers of a hand, at least one of said tubular recesses having its cross section of an octagonal shape.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention, as will appear from the following description, are obtained with a bi-stable glove as claimed in Claim 1. Preferred embodiments and non-trivial variations of the present invention are the subject matter of the dependent claims.

The present invention will be better described by some preferred embodiments thereof, provided as a nonlimiting example, with reference to the enclosed drawings, in which:

• figures 1 and 2 have already been previously described;
• figure 3 is an axonometric view of a bi-stable glove;
• figure 4 is a plan view and related cross section of the bi-stable glove;
• figure 5 is an orthogonal projection view and a plan section of the bi-stable glove.

The glove 1 of the invention is delimited by an external surface, that is smooth or equipped with protuberances or micro-projections 4, necessary for enabling to grasp the objects, and by an internal surface, that is smooth or coated with a layer of protecting material for the hand skin. The glove 1 is made of an approximately elastic, approximately homogeneous, very thick material (about 3 - 5 mm) and is formed of: a tubular portion 3 in which palm and back of the hand are housed; different tubular recesses 2 closed at their ends, projecting from the tubular portion 3, in a number that is equal to the number of the fingers or a smaller number. A glove of the present invention provides the classic forms with two, three or five tubular recesses 2.

The intrados surface of at least one of said tubular recesses 2 is tapered by means of: a slanted edge 6A and a slanted edge 8A, both being connected by a plate edge 5A. The tapered intrados surface formed of the edges 6A, 8A and 5A is connected to the extrados glove surface through the walls 7 and 9.

In order to allow the ambidextrous use of the glove, the extrados surface is tapered in the same way described for the intrados surface, obtaining a section of the recess 2 with an approximately octagonal shape, the intrados surface being formed of the edges 6A, 8A and 5A, the extrados surface being formed of the edges 6B, 8B and 5B, the walls 7 and 9 connecting the two extrados and intrados tapered surfaces. In order to reach the prefixed object, it is however enough to form a single, extrados or intrados tapered surface, corresponding to the tubular recess with an hexagonal shape.

The tapered surfaces of at least one tubular recess 2 and/or the tubular portion 3 of the glove therefore reach the objective of realising a bi-stable glove behaviour in the following way:

• straight finger: the intrados surface of at least one closed tubular recess 3 or the portion of glove recess 2, longitudinally stretched, forms a concave surface with two bent edges 6A and 8A;
• bent finger: the above intrados surface flexes along its own longitudinal axis; simultaneously, the two edges 6A and 8A are bent forming the curved intrados surface and assuming the plate sectional form (not shown) similarly to section 28 in fig. 2.

The configuration with straight finger and bent finger can be reached both through the octagonally shaped section and through the hexagonally shaped section (not shown).

The bi-stable glove 1 is preferably made of an lastic deformable material, of the known type in the foodstuff field according to directives in force. In particular, reference is made to a thermoplastic material, silicone, elastomer; in this case: platinum silicone, particularly adapted for freezing at -50°C and cooking at 300°C; peroxide silicone; elastomer adapted for cooking at 300°C and freezing at -50°C.

The thermoplastic material or elastomers, containing thermo-colouring pigments, allow realising a bi-stable glove 1 capable of pointing out the temperature of the environment in which the glove is immersed or the temperature of the object with which it is in contact.

The thermoplastic material or elastomers, suitably treated in the vulcanising (dynamic vulcanising) step, capable of embedding and keeping air with the result of obtaining a light and insulating structure, allow realising a bi-stable glove 1 with better insulating and lightness characteristics.

The thermoplastic material or elastomers, worked in a plate and suitably preformed and assembled with a glass fabric, allow realising a bi-stable glove 1 with high mechanical characteristics for resisting to engraving with cutting objects.