GB2311715A - Hand-protective pad - Google Patents

Abstract

A hand-protective pad comprises a pad portion (12) of compressible material (13)which has major dimensions (X,Y) and is shaped to over-lie at least part of the user's palm and fingers; an outer object grasping surface layer (14) that provides enhanced frictional contact, by to prevent an object from slipping from the users grasp; and loops (10,11) that encircle and embrace the wearer's fingers so as to hold the pad in close contact with the user's hand. During use, the compressible material (13) acts to spread the weight of the object being handled and thus reduce pain and damage to the users hand.

Description

HHand-Protective Pad(s\" This invention concerns hand-protective pads, primarily but not exclusively for use by athletes, and above all by weight-lifters.

As envisaged above, the hand-protective pad(s) of this invention may well find use in other athletic contexts, even perhaps elsewhere than in athletics - but the invention has been developed with the needs of weightlifters foremost in mind, and will now be described in that particular context.

Weight-lifting is a pasttime nowadays widely practised, and familiar not only to those that indulge in it for either competitive or body-building purposes but also to the far wider audience that it attracts as a spectator sport. Thus it hardly needs further explanation - but for present purposes it is convenient to note that any weight-lifter must with his or her two hands grasp a fairly-thin, relatively-light-weight and slightly-flexible bar at points intermediate the respective ends of that bar, at which ends there are interchangeably attached disc-shaped weights of any chosen magnitude. Having thus grasped the bar, as it is supported by the weights above and parallel to the floor, the weight-lifter must then raise the bar with the attached weights finally to full arm-stretch above his or her head, either with or without stopping momentarily at an intermediate rest point at or about shoulder level. And it will be self-evident that in performing this feat (to be carried out at or near the limit of the weight-lifter's strength) it is essential for reasons of both safety and dexterousness that the performer shall have a very firm and reliable grasp upon the bar and reliable control over it, despite the fact that the bar flexes and has some tendency to rotate as the assembly is raised from the floor to full arm-stretch above the head.

It is therefore conventional that the weight-lifter's hands shall be dusted beforehand with powdered chalk or the like so as to improve and maintain their grip upon the bar; and it is no wonder that devoted weight-lifters develop callouses upon those parts of their hands where the stress is greatest, especially the ball of the palm and above all the first and second finger-bone sections of the user's fingers. Weight-lifting is practised by both men and women, no-one likes calloused hands, and some like them even less than others. And even when one's hands are "protected" with callouses, the localized stressconcentrations where the bar bears down upon the flesh of the hand can cause bruising that gives pain and thereby limits the weight-lifter's ability to continue with the competition or other exercise.

These problems are of course very long-standing ones, as old as the sport of weight-lifting itself. There are some who have attempted to mitigate these problems by wearing gloves, but that is no panacea. Within my knowledge as an experienced weight-lifter, there are no gloves specially designed for use by weight-lifters. I am aware of people who have tried to use for weight-lifting the kind of fingerless gloves designed for use by gymnasts. However, in my own view, which I believe to be shared by virtually all serious weight-lifters, fingerless gymnasts' gloves of this kind are of virtually no use to weight-lifters because they make the hands sweaty, interfere with manual dexterity and thus control, and anyway offer only minimal protection and then mostly where it is least needed.

This serious problem thus still awaits a serious solution. I have however now devised a hand-protective pad which meets the needs of weight-lifters.

According to one aspect of this invention there is provided a hand-protective pad, primarily for use by weight-lifters, which comprises: - a pad portion, of a shape and size substantially to overlie at least the upper palm and the bottom finger-bone portions of an intended user's upturned hand but not to extend substantially beyond respectively the finger tips and the heel of the hand in the direction of the fingers and transversely thereto beyond the sides of the palm of the hand, said pad portion being formed of resiliently compressible elastomeric material; - an outer, object-grasping surface layer upon the pad portion which provides good frictional contact with anything to be grasped in an user's thus-padded hand; and - on the face-remote side of said pad one or more loop(s) secured thereto, said loop(s) being of such a nature as to be able to embrace only the bottom fingerbone portion of one or more of the three central fingers of that user's hand, and thereby removably retain the hand-protective pad in situ upon that user's hand during use.

The pad portion may be of any shape that meets the above-stated criteria, but in practice is likely to be of regular peripheral outline, e.g. oval, rectangular or hexagonal. If oval or rectangular in outline, it will have a major dimension which should normally be arranged to lie generally in the direction of the user's fingers; and its minor dimension at substantially right angles to the major dimension, will then lie transversely across the palm of the user's hand. If the pad is hexagonal in outline, the hexagon will desirably be somewhat elongated, so that again it will have an elongate major dimension arranged to lie in the direction of the user's fingers, while as before its minor dimension at right angles thereto will then lie transversely across the palm of the user's hand.

As to size, again the pad portion will be satisfactory in use if it meets the previously-stated criteria, but with some degree of possible latitude it should normally extend laterally across the whole palm from substantially one side to the other without significantly projecting therebeyond, while at rightangles thereto in the finger direction it must extend at least from mid-palm to beyond the first knuckle bone, conversely should not extend further than from the heel of the hand to (and preferably somewhat short of) the fingertips, and most desirably will run from adjacent the root of the thumb to a point at least mid-way along but not beyond the second finger-bone portion of the user's upturned hand.

In setting the absolute dimensions it must not however be forgotten that the hand-protective pad of this invention will no doubt need to be manufactured in at least 3 different sizes, thus large, medium and small for use respectively by men, women and children.

The pad portion must be formed of a resilientlycompressible elastomeric material, so that it will cushion and thus spread the stress otherwise applied to the user's hand. The elastomeric material may be of natural and/or synthetic origin. A slightly-foamed, suitably vulcanized or otherwise polymerized natural and/or synthetic rubber is at present preferred, e.g. that sold under the name Neoprene.

The outer surface layer of the pad must of course provide good frictional contact with anything to be grasped in an user's thus-padded hand. If the nature of the elastomeric material of the pad is chosen with this requirement in mind that alone may possibly be enough to ensure adequate frictional contact with the grasped object. It is however certainly preferable to provide the pad with a micro-contoured outer surface layer that will serve to increase the coefficient of friction between the pad and the grasped object. This may be achieved perhaps by merely roughening the surface of the pad proper, but more surely by indenting, embossing or otherwise microcontouring it.

There is however a further consideration which recommends a more elaborate arrangement. The pad proper is formed of an elastomeric material which of course possesses good compressive strength, but such materials seldom possess the good abrasion-resistance and tensile strength needed successfully to resist abrasive and other tensile stresses which are likely to be encountered when the hand-protective pad is in use.

It is therefore a much-preferred feature of the pad(s) of this invention that the pad proper should include a notionally-separate although integral outer surface layer which simultaneously provides good tensile strength and thus abrasion resistance across the objectgrasping face of the pad and also provides the microcontouring which tends to enhance the coefficient of friction between the hand-protective pad and any object grasped thereby.

For this purpose the outer face layer of the pad may advantageously be formed of a woven, knitted or otherwise constructed filamentary textile-type material, made of natural and/or man-made fibres, or it can alternatively be formed of thin, flexible synthetic resin sheet, having good tensile strength and resistance to abrasion, at least its outer surface being micro-contoured by indentation or embossing, e.g. to yield a so-called satin" finish.

When, as is preferred, the outer surface layer of the pad is such a notionally-separate textile or other sheet it must however be adhered to the pad proper or otherwise made integral with it - and this may desirably be achieved by vulcanizing or otherwise polymerizing the elastomeric material of the pad proper in situ upon the textile or other surface sheet.

As to the loop(s) on the back of the hand-protective pad of this invention, it is not impossible to have a single, 3-finger-size loop which will serve simultaneously to embrace all three central fingers on one hand. The more fingers there are embraced by a single loop the less firm however is the attachment between hand and pad. What is most comfortable, convenient and effective is to some extent a subjective matter, and perhaps others may take a different view from mine - but my own experiments have convinced me that it is highly preferable, from the standpoint of comfort, convenience and general effectiveness of the hand-protective pad(s) when in use by a weight-lifter, for any loop(s) to embrace no more than 2-fingers, and preferably only one.

More than that, I have experienced the most satisfactory results in use when the loop(s) embrace no more than 2 fingers in all; and above all when 2 separate loops each encircle only one finger. Quite the best arrangement from every viewpoint in my own experience, and which therefore I highly recommend, is one in which the hand-protective pad is provided with 2 single-finger-size separate loops, so arranged upon the back of the pad as separately to encircle the adjacent middle finger and ring finger respectively of one hand.

As previously mentioned, one can envisage the handprotective pads of this invention finding use in quite a wide variety of not only sporting but also other activities, and in some of these it may perhaps be adequate to provide protection for just one of the user's hands. Where (as in the preferred, 2 single-finger-size loops construction described immediately above) the positioning of the finger-embracing loops upon the back of the pad is not entirely symmetrical, it is however then desirable to provide alternative pads to suit either a right-handed or a left-handed user.

And in activities involving the use of both hands, as in weight-lifting with which I am here primarily concerned, obviously with any non-symmetrical construction of pad it will be essentially necessary - and it is a much preferred feature of this invention - to provide a pair of these hand-protective pads, one of that pair being adapted for use upon the user's right hand and the other for use upon his or her left hand.

In order that the invention may be well understood it will now be described in further detail, though only by way of illustration, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a top-plan, perspective view of a weightlifter's two hands, in the palm-down position, as they prepare to grasp the weights and interconnecting bar of the apparatus; Figure 2 is a view, essentially similar to that of Figure 1 but of only the weight-lifter's hands, and now in the palm-up position; Figure 3 is an enlarged view of one of the hands in Figure 2, showing a hand-protective pad in accordance with this invention in position across the appropriate part of the palm of the hand; Figure 4 is a view of the same hand and handprotective pad as in Figure 3, but now in the palm-down position; Figure 5 is a perspective view of the hand-protective pad, as already shown in Figures 3-4 but now on its own, not worn on the weight-lifter's hand; Figure 6 is a semi-diagrammatic cross-sectional view through the hand-protective pad of Figure 5, taken on the line VI-VI therethrough; and Figures 7 and 8 are plan views, from the back, of modified versions of the hand-protective pad having outlines somewhat different from those shown in the previous Figures of the drawings.

Referring first to Figure 1, it will be seen that the apparatus to be lifted comprises an assembly of interchangeable disc-like weights la and 1 interconnected by a bar 2, and the weight-lifter's hands 3a and 3b are disposed palm-downwards and thumbs-inward as they prepare to grasp the bar 2.

When the weight-lifter's hands are inverted and in the palm-upwards position as shown in Figure 2, it will be appreciated that the bar has to be grasped and supported somewhere within the broad band lying between lines 4 and 5. In fact the point at which the weight-lifter's hands bear the greatest concentration of stress though always within that broad band 4,5 will however shift according to what exactly the weight-lifter is doing.

Thus when using the so-called "hook grip" (which is a hold used for hanging and/or holding, where control is not necessary) the highest stresses are encountered around the area of the second finger bone (between the second and third knuckles) on all fingers; whereas when using the socalled "power grip" (which is a controlling hold, i.e.

like a hook grip but with added flexion of the metacarpals or first knuckles) the highest stress levels are encountered around the area of the first finger bone (between the first and second knuckles) on all fingers, and to some extent the ball of the palm of the hand. Thus the highest total strain/stress level is always (thus whether using the hook grip or the power grip) encountered in the area indicated by the broad band 4,5. However, when using the power grip the highest stress level is in fact to be found in the narrower band 4,6 while when using the hook grip it is to be found in the other, narrower band 5,6.

Referring now to Figure 3, the protective hand-pad of this invention is generally indicated 7, and it will be seen that it is of oval shape with its longest dimension x lying in the same general direction as the user's fingers, and indeed substantially coincident with the user's middle finger. The minor dimension y of the oval lies transverse to the user's palm, and extends substantially fully across but not beyond the palm, while the major dimension x extends from the heel of the user's hand to about the level of the second knuckle on the user's middle finger.

Figure 4 is in effect the same combination of hand and hand-protective pad as in Figure 3, but now in the palm-downwards position, and there it can be seen that the protective pad 7 is worn on the user's hand by insertion of the user's middle finger 8 and ring finger 9 through respective single-finger loops 10 and 11, which retain the pad in situ upon the user's palm but virtually without any restriction of the full-manipulability of any of the user's thumb and other fingers.

This can be understood perhaps better from Figure 5, which shows a perspective view of the back of the handprotective pad, in the same palm-downwards position as in Figure 4, with the two single-finger-size finger-mounting loops 10 and 11 clearly visible. This one is intended for an user's right-hand, and it will be seen that the single-finger-size loop 10, intended for the user's middle finger, is orientated with its axis slightly displaced above but parallel to and essentially co-incident with the major dimension x of the pad, while the other singlefinger-size loop 11 is similarly orientated but off-set in the upper-right quadrant 12 of the pad.

In the case of a hand-protective pad of this kind which however is intended for an user's left-hand, while the middle-finger loop 10 remains in the same position and orientation the ring-finger loop 11 is shifted onto the other side thereof, thus into the upper-left quadrant.

The attachment of loops 10 and 11 to the rest of pad 7 can also more clearly be seen from Figure 6. It is possible (as here exaggeratedly shown) for the loop 10 which has to accomodate the user's middle finger to be of slightly larger size than loop 11 which only has to accommodate the user's ring finger - but this is a refinement which is not always necessary.

The single-finger-size loops 10 and 11 are each separately integrated (by either adhesive or by integral moulding) with the pad proper 13, formed conveniently of say 2 mm-thick slightly-foamed Neoprene sheet. The herelowermost, object-gripping outer surface 14 can be formed of a woven filamentary material, e.g. nylon cloth, having good tensile strength and abrasion-resistance, or alternatively (as here shown, very schematically) of an indented/embossed sheet of high tensile strength synthetic resin sheet material.

The hand-protective pad shown in all of Figures 1-6 is of the currently-preferred oval outline, but alternative outlines are of course possible, for instance the elongate rectangular outline (with rounded corners) of the left-hand pad of Figure 7, or the elongate hexagonal outline (with rounded corners) of the right-hand pad shown in Figure 8.

It will of course be appreciated that various other outlines and small modifications can readily be made to any of the embodiments herein illustrated and described, while in all cases the actual dimensions of the handprotective pad may be suitably adjusted to be appropriate for the hands of men, women or children.

Claims (16)

1. A hand-protective pad, primarily for use by weightlifters, which comprises: - a pad portion, of a shape and size substantially to overlie at least the upper palm and the bottom finger-bone portions of an intended user's upturned hand but not to extend beyond respectively the finger tips and the heel of the hand in the direction of the fingers and transversely thereto beyond the sides of the palm of the hand, said pad portion being formed of resiliently-compressible elastomeric material; - an outer, object-grasping surface layer upon the pad portion which provides good frictional contact with anything to be grasped in an user's thus-padded hand; and - on the face-remote side of said pad one or more loop(s) secured thereto, said loop(s) being of such a nature as to be able to embrace only the bottom fingerbone portion of one or more of the three central fingers of that user's hand, and thereby removably retain the hand-protective pad in situ upon that user's hand during use.

2. A pad as claimed in claim 1, in which the pad-portion is of regular oval, rectangular or hexagonal peripheral outline.

3. A pad as claimed in claim 2, in which the regular outline of said pad portion has a major and a minor dimension, substantially at right angles to each other, and the major dimension thereof is disposed in use to lie in substantially the direction of the intended user's fingers while its minor dimension is disposed transverse thereto across the palm of the user's hand.

4. A pad as claimed in any of the preceding claims, in which the pad-portion extends substantially across the palm of an intended user's hand but not significantly therebeyond, while it extends in the direction of such user's fingers at most from the heel of the user's hand to substantially the level of the user's second knuckle bone.

5. A pad as claimed in claim 4, in which the pad-portion extends in the direction of the fingers substantially from adjacent the root of the intended user's thumb to a point at least mid-way along but not beyond the second fingerbone portion of said user's upturned hand.

6. A pad as claimed in any of the preceding claims, in which the elastomeric pad-portion is formed of slightlyfoamed, suitably vulcanized or otherwise polymerized natural and/or synthetic rubber.

7. A pad as claimed in any of the preceding claims, in which the outer, object-grasping surface of said padportion is micro-contoured to increase the coefficient of friction between the pad and the grasped object.

8. A pad as claimed in any of claims 1 to 7, in which the hand-remote, object-grasping surface upon said pad portion is provided by a woven, filamentary textile-type sheet material or by a micro-contoured, thin, flexible synthetic resin sheet material, said sheet material(s) being of greater tensile strength and abrasion resistance than the pad proper, and either integrally moulded with, adhered to or otherwise integrated into the adjacent pad proper.

9. A pad as claimed in any of the preceding claims, in which no loop will simultaneously embrace more than 2 fingers of an intended user's hand.

10. A pad as claimed in any of the preceding claims, in which all the loop(s) is or are single-finger-size loops, each adapted to encircle only one of the user's three central fingers.

11. A pad as claimed in claim 10 in which there are only 2 single-finger-size loops.

12. A pad as claimed in claim 11, in which the two single-finger-size loops are positioned upon the back of the pad portion so as to be able to encircle the user's middle and ring fingers respectively.

13. A pad as claimed in claim 12 insofar as dependent directly or indirectly upon claim 3, in which the loop so positioned as to encircle the user's middle finger is arranged to coincide in location and orientation with the major dimension of said pad, and the loop so positioned as to encircle the user's ring finger is similarly orientated but located off-set to one side of said first loop in either the upper-right quadrant of a right-hand pad or the upper left quadrant of a left-hand pad.

14. A hand-protective pad, whether unhanded or either right-handed or left-handed, as claimed in any of the preceding claims and substantially as herein described.

15. A hand-protective pad, either right-handed or lefthanded, substantially as herein described and shown in any of Figures 3 to 8 of the accompanying drawings.

16. A pair of hand-protective pads, each as claimed in any of the preceding claims, one of said pair being a right-handed pad and the other a left-handed pad.