U.S. patent application number 13/051658 was filed with the patent office on 2012-09-20 for calf muscle and tendon guard.
Invention is credited to Geoff Rhodenizer.
Application Number | 20120233735 13/051658 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 46827229 |
Filed Date | 2012-09-20 |
United States Patent
Application |
20120233735 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Rhodenizer; Geoff |
September 20, 2012 |
Calf Muscle and Tendon Guard
Abstract
A calf muscle and tendon guard for wearing on a user's leg to
cover and protect the user's calf muscles and achilles tendon
against begin severed from contact with a blade of an ice skate
includes a body which substantially surrounds the leg and ankle of
a user and a flexible guard comprised of a cut resistant material
substantially covering only the area of the calf muscle and the
achilles tendon, said flexible guard substantially flexing with
said body and conforming to the anatomy of the leg and ankle when
worn.
Inventors: |
Rhodenizer; Geoff;
(Lethbridge, CA) |
Family ID: |
46827229 |
Appl. No.: |
13/051658 |
Filed: |
March 18, 2011 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
2/22 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A41D 13/0543 20130101;
A63B 2209/02 20130101; A63B 2071/1275 20130101; A63B 2071/1266
20130101; A63B 2102/24 20151001; A63B 71/1225 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
2/22 |
International
Class: |
A41D 13/06 20060101
A41D013/06 |
Claims
1. A calf and tendon guard, comprising: a body which substantially
surrounds the leg and ankle of a user; a flexible guard comprised
of a cut resistant material substantially covering only the area of
the calf muscle and the Achilles tendon, said flexible guard
substantially flexing with said body and conforming to the anatomy
of the leg and ankle when worn.
2. The calf and tendon guard of claim 1, wherein said cut resistant
material is comprised Kevlar.
3. The calf and tendon guard of claim 1, wherein said cut resistant
material is substantially comprised of Kevlar.
4. The calf and tendon guard of claim 1, wherein said flexible
guard is attached to an exterior surface of said body.
5. The calf and tendon guard of claim 1, wherein said flexible
guard is attached to an interior surface of said body.
6. The calf and tendon guard of claim 1, wherein said flexible
guard is sewn into said body, and wherein said cut resistant
material is comprised of Kevlar.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates generally to protective
athletic apparel, and more particularly, a protective pad for use
in athletic activities protecting an ice hockey player's
gastrocnemius and soleus muscles (calf muscles), as well as the
calcanei (achilles tendon).
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Contact sports, including football; baseball; soccer; and
ice hockey; for example, often lead to physical impacts resulting
in injury. Many of these contact sports, therefore, require the
athletes to utilize protective equipment such as helmets, mouth
guards, shoulder pads, rib guards, hip pads, thigh pads, knee pads,
and shin-guards.
[0003] Ice hockey players, in particular, rely on hockey gloves,
shoulder pads, shin guards, elbow pads, helmets, pants and pant
shells, padded shirts, neck guards, mouth guards, and wrist guards
to protect them. Despite all of these forms of protective
equipment, there is a lack of protective equipment that
sufficiently protects an ice hockey player's gastrocnemius muscles,
soleus muscles, and calcanei.
[0004] Protection for an ice hockey player's gastrocnemius and
soleus muscles, as well as the calcanei is evidenced by the serious
injuries these athletes have sustained from being lacerated by
skate blades, or from having their calcaneal tendons severed when
they are inadvertently stepped on. Such injuries could keep ice
hockey players from playing for months to years, if not
permanently.
[0005] Other than the ice hockey athletes' own skates and socks,
which may include hockey socks and/or hockey skate socks which are
completely ineffectual in providing protection, there is currently
no means to protect the athletes' legs from such injuries.
[0006] Hockey socks typically run from the player's ankles to the
thighs; they are worn over protective gear and pulled down over the
outside heel of the skate. Hockey socks are different from hockey
skate socks, which are thin socks worn over the foot inside the
skate. To hold the hockey sock in place, ice hockey players
typically use athletic tape below the knee and sometimes at the
ankle. These articles provide virtually no protection between the
back of a player's leg and the blade of another player's
skates.
[0007] While there is currently no comparable protective athletic
apparel that adequately protects an ice hockey player's
gastrocnemius muscles, soleus muscles, and calcanei, several types
of protective athletic apparel have been developed to protect a
wearer's calcaneal tendons, or the Achilles tendons, as they are
more commonly referred.
[0008] Previous protective apparel for the legs focused on
protecting the shins and calves by providing shin and calf guards
which were fastened together with straps, connected by Velcro
straps, or sewn to an elasticated material. However, these guards,
typically used in sports such as soccer and football, do not
provide ice hockey players with adequate protection from the
sharpness of ice skate blades, and the use of guards such as these
would only serve to restrict an ice hockey player's movements on
the ice, as they are not custom-fit to each individual athlete and
rather stiff.
[0009] It has also been proposed to use socks, where the socks have
additional padding sewn or knitted at the Achilles tendon, a pocket
with a pad insert made of viscoelastic material which covers the
Achilles tendon, or a protective plastisol layer located in the
Achilles sinew and ankle regions. While these socks may provide a
more convenient means of holding the protective portions over the
Achilles tendon, again, most of these socks are cumbersome, bulky,
and would merely restrict an ice hockey player's movements. In
addition, these socks only provide protection for the Achilles
tendons; are not flexible; and do not offer any protection for the
calcanei, which are also vulnerable to skate lacerations.
[0010] Previous protective equipment for the gastrocnemius muscles
and soleus muscles up to this point, therefore, have generally been
constructed of thick cotton or even leather over cotton, which are
clearly ineffective in providing adequate protection.
[0011] Cut resistant materials such as para-aramid synthetic
fibers, for example, Poly-paraphenylene terephtalamide-branded
Kevlar or p-phenylene terephtalamide-branded Twaron, have become
well-known components of personal armor such as combat helmets,
Ballistic face masks, and Ballistic vests. Such fibers are known to
be five times stronger than steel on an equal weight basis.
[0012] For example, Kevlar, when spun, results in a fiber having a
tensile strength due to the inter-chain bonds. Additional strength
is derived from aromatic stacking interactions between adjacent
strands. Kevlar's structure consists of relatively rigid molecules
which tend to form mostly planar sheet-like structures similar to
silk protein and has been used to manufacture articles of clothing
such as gloves, jackets, and chaps. Protective apparel made of
Kevlar is known for being lighter and thinner than apparel
equivalents which are made of more traditional materials.
[0013] Kevlar has been applied to several forms of sporting
equipment. For example, it has been used as an inner lining for
some bicycle tires to prevent punctures, in table tennis paddles to
increase bounce and reduce weight, in motorcycle safety clothing
particularly in the area of the shoulders and elbows, and in the
laces for the football boots.
[0014] Previous protective socks have also been proposed
incorporating Kevlar into the soles of socks for canoeing, or
providing socks with calf areas reinforced with Kevlar for use in
horse riding to reduce abrasion and damage on the rider's calves.
However, it has not been suggested to provide a protective pad or
sock for use in the sport of ice hockey to protect the player's
gastrocnemius muscles, soleus muscles, and the calcanei.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0015] The preferred embodiments of the present invention addresses
this need by providing a flexible protective guard of a cut
resistant material for the lower portion of a wearer's leg that
covers and shields the calf muscles and achilles tendon.
[0016] The preferred embodiments of the present invention also
provide a flexible protective guard that can be worn underneath an
over sock.
[0017] The preferred embodiments of the present invention further
provide a protective guard suitable for use in the sport of hockey
to prevent an ice skating blade from severing the wearer's calf
muscle and achilles tendon.
[0018] The preferred embodiments of the present invention further
provide a sock comprising a flexible protective guard of a cut
resistant material for the lower portion of a wearer's leg that
covers and shields the calf muscles and achilles tendon.
[0019] The preferred embodiments of the present invention further
provided an article of protective gear that can be easily
manufactured at lost cost.
[0020] To achieve these and other advantages, in general, in one
aspect a calf and tendon guard includes a body which substantially
surrounds the leg and ankle of a user and a flexible guard
comprised of a cut resistant material substantially covering only
the area of the calf muscle and the Achilles tendon, said flexible
guard substantially flexing with said body and conforming to the
anatomy of the leg and ankle when worn.
[0021] There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more
important features of the invention in order that the detailed
description thereof that follows may be better understood and in
order that the present contribution to the art may be better
appreciated.
[0022] Numerous objects, features and advantages of the present
invention will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in
the art upon a reading of the following detailed description of
presently preferred, but nonetheless illustrative, embodiments of
the present invention when taken in conjunction with the
accompanying drawings. The invention is capable of other
embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways.
Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology
employed herein are for the purpose of descriptions and should not
be regarded as limiting.
[0023] As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the
conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be
utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods
and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present
invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded
as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not
depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
[0024] For a better understanding of the invention, its operating
advantages and the specific objects attained by its uses, reference
should be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter
in which there are illustrated preferred embodiments of the
invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0025] The following drawings illustrate by way of example and are
included to provide further understanding of the invention for the
purpose of illustrative discussion of the embodiments of the
invention. No attempt is made to show structural details of the
embodiments in more detail than is necessary for a fundamental
understanding of the invention, the description taken with the
drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the
several forms of the invention may be embodied in practice.
Identical reference numerals do not necessarily indicate an
identical structure. Rather, the same reference numeral may be used
to indicate a similar feature of a feature with similar
functionality. In the drawings:
[0026] FIG. 1 is a front elevation view of a protective pad
constructed in accordance with the principles of the present
invention;
[0027] FIG. 2 is a side cross-sectional view of the protective pad
taken generally along line 2-2 in FIG. 1, showing or illustrating a
flexible cut resistant material affixed to a cushioning
material;
[0028] FIG. 3 is a front perspective view of the protective pad,
showing or illustrating the protective pad positioned on a
wearer;
[0029] FIG. 4 is a side elevation view of the protective pad,
showing or illustrating the protective pad positioned on a
wearer;
[0030] FIG. 5 is a side elevation view of the protective pad
constructed in accordance with the principles of the present
invention incorporated with a sock;
[0031] FIG. 6 is a front perspective view of the protective pad,
showing or illustrating the protective pad positioned on a wearer
attached to a sock;
[0032] FIG. 7 is a side cross-sectional view of the protective pad
generally taken along line 7-7 in FIG. 6, showing or illustrating a
flexible cut resistant material affixed to a cushioning material
attached to a sock.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0033] As a preliminary matter, it should be noted that in this
document (including the claims) directional terms, such as "above",
"below", "upper", "lower", etc., are used for convenience in
referring to the accompanying drawings. Additionally, it is to be
understood that the various embodiments of the invention described
herein may be utilized in various orientations, such as inclined,
inverted, horizontal, vertical, etc., without departing from the
principles of the invention.
[0034] In FIGS. 1 through 4, there is representatively illustrated
a specially designed protective guard 10 for protecting the calf
muscle and achilles tendon of the wearing from being severed from
contact with the blade of an ice skate. The guard 10 is comprised
of a body 12 constructed from a flexible material such that the
body 12 conforms to anatomical shape of the wear's leg when worn.
In an embodiment, the body 12 is constructed from a base textile
material including Kevlar to provide a cut resistant and flexible
body. In other embodiments, the body 12 may have an outer cut
resistant layer 14 fabricated of a cut resistant material and an
inner padding layer 16.
[0035] As depicted, the body 12 includes an upper edge 18, a lower
edge 20, left and right side edges 22 and 24 and an interior
portion 26. The body 12 is dimensioned such that when worn, the
upper edge 18 is positioned above or adjacent to the upper portion
of the wearer's calf muscle, the lower edge 20 is positioned below
or adjacent to the lower portion of the achilles tendon, the left
and right side edges 22 and 24 are positioned forwardly of
respective laterally extending sides of the calf muscle, and with
the interior portion 26 extending therebetween and wrapped around
the lower leg 30 from the rearward thereof and substantially
covering the calf muscle and achilles tendon.
[0036] In use, the wearer would position the body 12 of the guard
10 such that it is positioned as described above, and then would
put a sock on or sleeve (not shown) over the guard such that the
sock or sleeve serves to hold the guard in place covering the calf
muscle and the achilles tendon.
[0037] In FIGS. 5 through 7 there is representatively illustrated a
second embodiment of the present invention, wherein the guard 10 as
described above is incorporated into the construction of a sock 32
or is otherwise attached to the sock such that the sock and guard
are unitary. The unitary construction of the guard 10 and sock 32
is such that when the sock is worn, the upper edge 18 is positioned
above or adjacent to the upper portion of the wearer's calf muscle,
the lower edge 20 is positioned below or adjacent to the lower
portion of the achilles tendon, the left and right side edges 22
and 24 are positioned forwardly of respective laterally extending
sides of the calf muscle, and with the interior portion 26
extending therebetween and wrapped around the lower leg 30 from the
rearward thereof and substantially covering the calf muscle and
achilles tendon.
[0038] A number of embodiments of the present invention have been
described. Nevertheless, it will be understood that various
modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and
scope of the invention. Accordingly, other embodiments are within
the scope of the following claims.
* * * * *