GLOVE

BACKGROUND

Field of the Invention

This application relates to a glove. More particularly, this application relates to a modified glove design for improved warmth and flexibility in use.

Description of Related Art

In the area of glove design, there are literally thousands of different shapes and sizes for gloves. As a general note, gloves typically refer to the hand covering with individual coverings for each of the fingers independent of one another. The most common alternative is a mitten which does not individually articulate each of the fingers, but rather covers the fingers as a collective unit.

Gloves tend to provide the most dexterity to the wearer and thus are considered more favorable for general use. However, because of the increased surface area exposed to the elements, gloves have a drawback with respect to their insulation, namely they tend not to work over prolonged periods of time. For example, although on a short outing in low temperatures gloves usually are sufficient, on prolonged excursions, such as long hikes, hunting expeditions etc. . . . the fingers tend to get cold. The mitten option has much less surface area exposed to the elements and the fingers themselves remain in contact and help preserve their heat. However, as explained above, mittens do not provide the user with any finger dexterity.

In many cases, when a wearer is wearing gloves they sometimes pull their fingers out of the finger holes into the palm portion of the glove to warm their fingers. Although this allows the wearer to warm their fingers, it requires holding the fingers of the glove with the opposite hand usually removing one of the gloves to do this for both hands.

One option for correcting this situation is to provide gloves with improved or enhanced finger insulation. However, this results in thicker fingers which decreases flexibility and dexterity, somewhat defeating the purpose of wearing a glove instead of a mitten in the first place.

Another option to overcome this drawback is to provide a hybrid mitten and glove. Many such mitten/glove hybrids exist typically as a partial (finger exposed) or full (fingers covered) glove with an operable mitten flap that can either be folded back against the back of the hand when not in use, or folded over the fingers when in use. Although this provides the wearer with the flexibility to use their fingers when desired while also providing mitten like finger warmth, the designs suffer from several drawbacks. One drawback is that to open and dose the mitten flap, the wearer may have to clip or button the flap into its covered and/or retracted position, in some cases with the other glove hand. Even if certain designs do not require using the opposing hand or otherwise exposing either hand during the conversion, when the mitten portion is in the folding mitten portion this adds bulk to the overall design, particularly when folded in the open position. This makes it difficult for the wearer to place their hands in their pockets or tight locations when wearing such gloves.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY

The present arrangement is directed to a glove that makes it easier to retract fingers into the palm portion, for enhanced warmth. The present glove is likewise arranged so that the wearer's fingers can be placed back into the finger portions.

Thus a glove is provided with shortened finger portions and expanded palm area resulting in less exposed surface area to the elements and increased heat retention in the fingers. For example, in one embodiment, the finger regions of the glove may end between first and second knuckle from fingertip thus providing the warmth of a mitten and the dexterity of a glove without using inconvenient and bulky finger flaps. Because the finger portions are shortened and the bottom knuckle joints of the fingers are not enclosed, the wearer has an increased ability to retract their fingers into the glove palm portion without holding the finger portions of the glove with the opposing hand, allowing them to insert and remove their fingers from the finger portions at will.

As such, in accordance with one embodiment a glove is provided having a hand portion and finger portions, where the hand portion is configured to cover the palm of a wearer's hand as well as at least a portion of the bases of the wearer's fingers and the finger portions are configured to extend from the hand portion of the glove and cover only a limited portion of the tips of the wearer's fingers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention can be understood through the following description and accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an exemplary glove, in accordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 2 is the exemplary glove of FIG. 1 with a wearer's hand shown therein, in accordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 3 is an exemplary glove, in accordance with another embodiment; and

FIG. 4 is an exemplary glove, in accordance with another embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In one embodiment as shown in FIG. 1, a glove 10 is provided, having finger portions 12, a thumb 14, a palm portion 16 and a wrist portion 18. In the illustrated embodiment, glove 10 has independent finger portions for each of the four fingers, but it is contemplated that certain designs may have fewer finger portions 12, for example possibly combining the pinky and ring fingers into a single finger portion 12.

It is contemplated that glove 10 can be made from any normal glove material including but not limited to, cotton or wool fabrics, fleece, leather, suede, polyester, high performance insulation material, rubber, etc. . . . and may include any type of lining as desired.

As more clearly shown n FIG. 2, with the underlying hand visible, each of finger portions 12 join to an adjacent finger portion 12 at an intersection 30. However, such intersection 30 of glove 10 does not rest in the webbing of the fingers of the wearer but instead extends across at an approximate mid region of the wearer's finger in the area of the intermediate phalange. As a result, glove 10 exhibits finger portions 12 that do not cover the entire finger, with the proximal phalange covered primarily by an extended palm portion 16.

Because of the shortened finger portions 12 and extended palm region 16, a wearer may pull their fingers more easily out of finger portions 12 as the shortened amount of material does not excessively cling to the fingers. The fingers can be then kept warm, similar to a mitten, in the expanded palm portion.

In one exemplary embodiment finger portions 12, because they do not extend all the way down to the webbing of the fingers, cover approximately 50% of the length of the fingers. In another exemplary embodiment, finger portions 12 cover approximately 35%-65% of the length of the fingers. It is contemplated that the present glove arrangement may be constructed with larger or smaller finger portions 12 depending on the desired level of warmth. For example, an extreme cold model for glove 10 may have finger portions 12 have only approximately 35% coverage of the length of the fingers to minimize surface area exposed to cold and maximize the size of hand portion 16 for additional warmth. A mild weather model of glove 10 may have finger portions 12 that have approximately 65% coverage of the length of the fingers. In either arrangement finger portions 12 are still shorter than the underlying length of the wearer's fingers so that they can retract into the larger hand portion 16 for a mitten/warmth effect, while still having enough finger separation (in individual finger portions 12) to maintain some of the desired glove like finger dexterity.

In the design of glove 10, care is taken to ensure there is enough flexibility in the stitching of palm 16, finger portions 12 and intersections 30 to make it easier for the wearer to retract their fingers than would otherwise be possible in a basic glove.

It is understood that owing to the design, once a wearer's fingers are retracted within palm portion 16, they can just as easily re-insert their fingers into finger portions 12.

In another embodiment, FIGS. 3 and 4 show alternative versions of glove 10. In FIG. 3, glove 10 retains the same finger portions 12 except that on the index finger, there is a finger cut out 13 so that the index finger is exposed. Such an arrangement may be used for example for hunting to allow maximum dexterity to the wearer's trigger finger. In the other arrangement shown in FIG. 4, each of the four fingers has a finger cut out 13 for even more dexterity. In both cases, glove 10 retains the feature of the enlarged hand portion and shortened finger portions 12. Even on the finger or fingers that have finger cut outs 13 instead of full finger portions 12 there is still some fabric to provide additional warmth as best as possible when the fingers are extended for needed dexterity.

It is contemplated that the above design may incorporate any normal glove features, including but not limited to increased palm room for hand warmers, increased room to accommodate rings in finger portions 12, touch screen conductivity, extended or decorative designs for wrist portion 18,