U.S. patent application number 12/532472 was filed with the patent office on 2010-03-04 for glove with anti-roll down/anti-rucking cuff.
This patent application is currently assigned to REGENT MEDICAL LIMITED. Invention is credited to Jonathan Day.
Application Number | 20100050317 12/532472 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 38265291 |
Filed Date | 2010-03-04 |
United States Patent
Application |
20100050317 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Day; Jonathan |
March 4, 2010 |
GLOVE WITH ANTI-ROLL DOWN/ANTI-RUCKING CUFF
Abstract
A glove comprises a hand portion and a wrist portion extending
from the hand portion and terminates in a hand insertion opening.
The wrist portion includes anti-roll down/anti-rucking means in the
form of a band of friction enhancing material provided on a surface
which, in use, will form the inside of the glove, whereby, in use,
the friction enhancing portion contacts the sleeve of a garment
worn by the user so as to increase friction against the wrist
portion of the glove, thereby preventing roll-down/rucking of the
glove. The friction enhancing material is applied prior to any
finishing operation(s) which reduce(s) the residual tack of the
glove material and is selected from a group of materials whose tack
is substantially unaffected by the finishing operation.
Inventors: |
Day; Jonathan; (Chorley,
GB) |
Correspondence
Address: |
JOHN S. PRATT, ESQ;KILPATRICK STOCKTON, LLP
1100 PEACHTREE STREET, SUITE 2800
ATLANTA
GA
30309
US
|
Assignee: |
REGENT MEDICAL LIMITED
Irlam, Manchester
GB
|
Family ID: |
38265291 |
Appl. No.: |
12/532472 |
Filed: |
May 24, 2007 |
PCT Filed: |
May 24, 2007 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/GB07/01929 |
371 Date: |
September 22, 2009 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
2/114 ; 2/161.7;
2/162; 2/167; 2/169 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A41D 19/0089 20130101;
A61B 42/00 20160201; A61B 42/10 20160201 |
Class at
Publication: |
2/114 ; 2/161.7;
2/162; 2/167; 2/169 |
International
Class: |
A41D 13/12 20060101
A41D013/12; A41D 19/00 20060101 A41D019/00; A41D 19/02 20060101
A41D019/02 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Sep 5, 2006 |
GB |
0617447.8 |
Oct 19, 2006 |
GB |
0620851.6 |
Claims
1. A glove comprising a hand portion and a wrist portion extending
from the hand portion and terminating in a hand insertion opening,
the wrist portion including a region of friction enhancing material
applied to a surface of the wrist portion which, in use, will form
the inside of the glove, the friction enhancing material having a
degree of tack such that, in use, it will stick to the sleeve of a
gown to prevent roll-down/rucking of the glove, the degree of tack
of the friction enhancing material being substantially unaffected
by exposure to a finishing operation performed on the glove in
order to reduce its tackiness, whereby, in use, the friction
enhancing portion may contact the sleeve of a garment worn by the
user so as to adhere the wrist portion of the glove thereto,
thereby preventing roll-down/rucking of the glove.
2. A glove according to claim 1 which is a surgical glove.
3. A glove according to claim 1, wherein the region of friction
enhancing material is applied in a band having a width of 25-45 mm
which is 0-10 mm from the cuff opening of the glove.
4. A glove according to claim 1, wherein the region of friction
enhancing material extends entirely around the inner circumference
of the wrist portion of the glove.
5. A glove according to claim 1, wherein the friction enhancing
material is a pressure sensitive material which is activated, in
use, by application of pressure to the surface thereof.
6. A glove according to claim 1, wherein a strip of material, in
particular release material, overlies the region of friction
enhancing material so as to protect it from being polluted after
manufacturing but prior to use.
7. A glove according to claim 6, wherein the strip of overlay
material has elastomeric properties which are substantially the
same as the elastomeric properties of the materials of the glove
such that the strip of material stretches and contracts with the
underlying glove materials.
8. A glove according to claim 1, wherein a polymer coating is
applied over a majority of the surface of the glove which
facilitates easy donning of the glove, the polymer coating
extending up to the friction enhancing material, at least part of
the friction enhancing material being uncoated by the polymer
coating.
9. A glove according to claim 8, wherein the polymer coating
partially overlaps the friction enhancing material, by in
particular the first 1-10% of the width of the friction enhancing
material.
10. A glove according to claim 8, wherein none of the friction
enhancing material is coated by the polymer coating.
11. A glove and gown assembly comprising a gown having an arm
portion terminating in a cuff and a glove according to claim 1,
whereby, in use, the friction enhancing portion may contact the
sleeve of the gown so as to adhere the wrist portion of the glove
thereto, thereby preventing preventing roll-down/rucking of the
glove.
12. A method of manufacture of a surgical glove according to claim
1 comprising the steps of coating a former with material to form
the glove, applying a friction enhancing material to the surface of
the glove in the region of a wrist portion thereof, and carrying
out a finishing operation to the whole of the glove to reduce its
tackiness, the friction enhancing characteristic of the friction
enhancing material being unaffected by exposure to the finishing
operation.
13. A method according to claim 12, wherein the finishing operation
is a chemical treatment process used to control and modify the
surface grip of the glove.
14. A method according to claim 13, wherein the finishing operation
comprises applying a non-powdered coating to the surface of the
glove.
15. A method according to claim 12, including the further step of
partially coating the glove in a polymer that enables easy-donning
prior to carrying out the finishing operation.
16. A method according to claim 15, wherein the partial coating is
carried out after application of the friction enhancing material,
at least part of the friction enhancing material not being coated
by the polymer.
17. A method according to claim 15, wherein the partial coating is
carried out prior to application of the friction material, the
polymer material extending all the way to the friction enhancing
material.
18. A method according to claim 12, comprising the further step of
applying a removable piece of liner material over the friction
enhancing material to protect the friction enhancing material from
pollution until ready for use.
Description
[0001] The present invention relates to surgical gloves and the
like and in particular to such gloves including anti roll down
anti-rucking measures provided on the cuff of the glove.
[0002] Surgical gloves are designed with a smooth/slippery inner
surface with the aim of making it easier for the wearer to don the
glove. The gloves are designed to be worn over surgical gowns which
were typically cotton based, but recently there have been
significant advancements in the material for such gowns, including
improvement in the impermeability of the materials achieved by
treating the material with a hydrophobic moiety that improves the
moisture repellent characteristics of the material. The materials
from which surgical gloves are typically made have a tacky,
adhesive quality, and in order to facilitate the fitting and
removal of the gloves onto and from the hands of the user, the
formed glove is treated or coated with a material which reduces the
tack of or detackifies the surface thereof. However, an ongoing
problem with existing glove and these newer gown designs is that
the slippery surfaces of the gloves can give rise to a tendency for
the cuff of the glove to move down the gown during use, exposing
the woven cuff of the gown and hence presenting a risk of strike
through of potentially infectious material.
[0003] In order to overcome this problem, gloves have been designed
having textured wrist portions which are moulded into the material
of the glove during the glove moulding process. For example, U.S.
Pat. No. 4,095,293 discloses a moulded glove having a plurality of
longitudinal channels moulded around the circumference of the wrist
portion of the glove together with a plurality of circumferential
grooves in the region of the mouth of the glove which is intended
to operate to prevent roll down. However, this arrangement has the
problem that the moulding of the grooves into the glove can cause a
thinning of material around the wrist and cuff.
[0004] Applicants own earlier non-pre-published British patent
application no. 0603438.3 discloses the use of masking material
applied to an unfinished region of a glove cuff in order to mask
the underlying material from the finishing operation and therefore
maintain the tacky nature thereof. Subsequent removal of the
masking material exposes the underlying tacky glove material which
can then provide enhanced friction in contact with the sleeve of a
gown.
[0005] According to the present invention there is provided a
glove, in particular a surgical glove, comprising a hand portion
and a cuff portion extending from the hand portion and terminating
in a hand insertion opening, the cuff portion including a region of
friction enhancing material applied to a surface of the cuff
portion which, in use, will form the inside of the glove, the
friction enhancing material having a degree of tack such that, in
use, an increase in both the static and dynamic coefficient of
friction at the glove-gown interface takes place, thereby
preventing roll-down or rucking of the glove, the degree of tack
being substantially unaffected by any finishing operations
performed on the glove in order to reduce its tackiness, whereby,
in use, the enhanced friction portion is contactable with the
sleeve of a garment worn by the user so as to prevent roll-down or
rucking of the glove.
[0006] A glove in accordance with the invention has the advantage
that it provides an effective and reliable system for preventing
roll down or rucking of the cuff portion of surgical gloves in a
manner which also provides an additional barrier to prevent the
ingress of matter between the cuff portion of the glove and the
outer surface of the surgical gown.
[0007] Preferably, though not essentially, the friction enhancing
material extends around the inner circumference of the cuff portion
of the glove which may be in a band, so as, in use, to secure the
glove to the sleeve of the garment around the entire periphery
thereof. This has the advantage of anchoring the glove to the
garment in a particularly secure and effective manner. However, the
friction material may extend only partially around the cuff portion
or may be applied as a discontinuous or broken band around the cuff
portion.
[0008] The friction enhancing material may alternatively be a
pressure sensitive material that displays a surface of moderate
tack or no tack prior to its activation. Stimuli that result in
activation of the material may include, albeit not exclusively,
heat, gamma irradiation, specific wavelengths of light or exposure
to certain chemicals which are present in the form of a gas. The
material may also be microencapsulated. Once the glove is donned
over the gown, the user applies pressure around the cuff area,
which causes activation of the material, thereby rendering the cuff
area tacky to an extent that the static and dynamic coefficient of
friction at the glove-gown interface is increased i.e. providing
friction enhancement with the gown.
[0009] Preferably, the friction enhancing material is
polychloroprene, but other materials are also possible.
[0010] Additionally if required the friction enhancing material
itself may be overlaid with a specific liner or release material,
following the finishing operation, which protects the friction
enhancing material, preventing it from sticking until required and
from becoming polluted with dust, dirt etc, which might otherwise
diminish its effectiveness, until ready for use whilst having a low
adhesion to the friction enhancing material so as to be easily
removable therefrom. The liner is then removed by the user once the
glove has been fitted so as to expose the friction enhancing
material for fastening to the sleeve of the gown. The liner
material advantageously has identical or similar elastomeric
properties to those of the glove so that it expands and contracts
with the glove when stretched.
[0011] The friction enhancing material strip is formed of material
which is separate from the glove material and applied to the
surface of the glove at a suitable point after it has been formed,
and possibly after a coating process whereby a suitable slip
coating is applied to the glove before or after it has been fully
dried or cured on line. The glove may or may not be then subjected
to a finishing process with a suitable finishing material. The
friction enhancing material may optionally be applied as either a
solution, a gel, or in the molten state, with liner material or the
like applied thereover as required to protect the friction
enhancing material until ready for use.
[0012] In a particularly preferred embodiment, the friction
enhancing material is spray applied using techniques familiar to
those skilled in the art, and is of such formulation and suitable
viscosity such that it is not destabilised and does not coagulate
during spray application.
[0013] The present invention further provides a glove and gown
assembly comprising a glove, in particular a surgical glove,
comprising a hand portion and a cuff portion extending from the
hand portion and terminating in a hand insertion opening, and a
gown having an arm portion terminating in a sleeve, wherein the
cuff portion of the glove has a region of friction enhancing
material applied to a surface thereof which, in use, will form the
inside of the glove, the friction enhancing material having a
degree of tack such that, in use, it will stick to the sleeve of
the gown to prevent roll-down/rucking of the glove, the degree of
tack being substantially unaffected by a finishing operation
performed on the glove in order to reduce its tackiness, whereby,
in use, the friction enhancing material portion is contactable with
the sleeve of gown so as to adhere the cuff portion of the glove
thereto, thereby preventing roll-down/rucking of the glove.
[0014] The present invention still further provides a method of
manufacture of a surgical glove comprising the steps of coating a
former with material to form the glove, applying a friction
enhancing material to the surface of the glove in the region of a
cuff portion thereof, and carrying out a finishing operation on the
glove which produces a smooth surface thereof whilst maintaining
the tacky characteristic of the friction enhancing material.
[0015] Application of the friction enhancing material preferably
takes place onto the wrist portion of the glove that has not been
subjected to a finishing operation that produces a smooth surface
thereof.
[0016] The method may also include the step of using of a `mask` to
control and confine the application of friction enhancing material
to discrete areas of the glove surface, with the masking material
being optionally a suitably absorbent material so as to minimise
the opportunity for the friction enhancing material spray to
re-bound and disturb the air flow/fluid flow from the spray
gun.
[0017] In a further advantageous development the friction enhancing
material is chilled prior to application to avoid evaporation and
the formation of a surface film prior to application.
[0018] In order that the invention may be well understood, there
will now be described some embodiments thereof.
[0019] A surgical glove according to the invention comprises
integrally formed hand and cuff portions, the cuff portion
terminating in a hand opening by means of which a user may insert a
hand into the glove. The glove is manufactured according to normal
procedures familiar to those experienced in the art using a former
or mould on outer surface of which is formed a film of elastomeric
material, such as latex, by straight or coagulant dipping, that is
by dipping the former into a solution, after which the former is
subsequently dipped into natural or synthetic latices, causing a
reaction which results in coagulation of the material, forming a
film on the former surface. The film is then dried before being
peeled from the mould.
[0020] Provided on the cuff portion of the glove is a thin band of
friction enhancing material, preferably polychloroprene
(Neoprene-RTM), which extends around the circumference of the cuff,
substantially parallel and proximate to the hand opening. Some, but
not complete drying of the material, which is preferably latex,
takes place before application of the polychloroprene, which is
preferably applied using a specialised spray process. The
polychloroprene applied by the spray process may form a film that
is continuous or discontinuous in nature. The polychloroprene is
preferably applied in a band of width of 25-45 mm which is 0-10 mm
from the cuff opening (bead) of the glove. However, it is possible
that the polychloroprene could be applied over a much larger area
and could be sprayed over the entirety of the glove at this
stage.
[0021] The polychloroprene is separate to the material(s) of the
glove and has a tacky quality, at least with respect to the
material(s) of a sleeve of a gown with which it is intended to be
used, that tacky quality being substantially unaffected by any
finishing operations applied to the material of the glove for any
purpose, eg to reduce its level of tackiness.
[0022] Following application of the polychloroprene, a drying
process may be used to dry the polychloroprene, after which the
former may be dipped into a polymer coating that facilitates
`easy-donning` of the glove during use. More particularly, the
glove may be dipped so that a region of the glove extending from
the cuff opening is left un-coated by the polymer. More
particularly, the glove may be dipped so that the polymer coating
overlaps the polychloroprene material to a small degree, in
particular only about the first 1-10% of the area of the band of
polychloroprene material, the effective area of the polychloroprene
material being left uncoated. This is the only stage in the
manufacturing process where care is taken to ensure that the area
on the glove to which polychloroprene has been applied remains, to
a greater extent, uncoated or untreated.
[0023] The glove may be then subjected to manufacturing processes
which are known to those skilled in the art, that is drying via
heat treatment and subsequent leaching operations. The glove is
then removed from the former before further processing may be
performed on the glove eg chemical treatment processes to both
control and modify the surface grip of the film, to modify the
donning characteristics and to reduce residual chemical and
particulate levels in or on the resultant glove. These finishing
operations are performed on the whole glove, and include a suitable
slip coating being applied to the whole glove, the surfaces of the
glove being treated, for example chemically and/or with a non
powdered material the result of which produces a smooth finish
thereon. The adhesiveness of the friction enhancing material
(polychloroprene) is, however, unaffected by this finishing
operation so that its adhesion to the sleeve of a gown is
maintained.
[0024] Following the finishing operation, the friction enhancing
material may if required be overlaid with a release material so as
to protect it from dust and dirt or the like until it is ready for
use.
[0025] When the glove is ready for use, the user fits the glove
onto the hand with the friction enhancing material on the inner
surface and the cuff portion positioned to overlap the outer
surface of the sleeve of the gown worn by the user. The friction
enhancing material in the cuff region then acts so as to increase
the static and dynamic coefficient of friction at the interface
between the glove and gown. This results in the cuff of the glove
being secured on the outer surface of the sleeve of the gown in a
manner that prevents roll-down/rucking thereof.
[0026] In an alternative embodiment, the polychloroprene may be
applied at a later stage in the manufacturing process than in the
previous embodiment, in particular following dipping in the polymer
that enables `easy-donning`, rather than prior to dipping in this
polymer. This would result in there being no overlap between the
polychloroprene coating and the donning aid polymer.
[0027] In an alternative solution to the problems addressed by the
present invention, the adhesive material may be applied after the
finishing operation rather than prior to it. In this embodiment, it
is less important that the adhesive material be unaffected by the
finishing operation.
* * * * *