Gloves And The Manufacture Thereof

Abstract

A glove of a form typically, although not necessarily exclusively, provided for single or limited use purposes and discarded thereafter. The glove is to prevent contact between a product and a person's hand and to avoid contamination. The glove material includes components capable of detection by at least one form of noncontact detection apparatus which renders the glove or portion detectable if discarded and inadvertently becomes part of a manufacturing process or product. The components render the glove detectable by using metal detection apparatus and/or X-ray detection apparatus which may allow removal of the glove. The glove may also include an antimicrobial agent as part to prevent or reduced contamination on the surface of the glove. The glove can also be rendered biodegradable.

Claims

1. A glove, said glove formed so as to be located round a palm, back and fingers of a user's hand, said glove being formed of a sheet material which is sufficiently pliable to allow manipulation of the users hand without any substantial restriction, and wherein the sheet material includes therein one or more components to render the glove, or portions thereof, detectable by non-contact detection apparatus.

2. A glove according to claim 1, wherein the glove includes components therein to allow the glove to be detectable by non-contact apparatus in the form of X-ray detection apparatus and/or metal detection apparatus.

3. A glove according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the components is provided in the form of particles which are dispersed in the sheet material from which the glove is formed when in a liquid condition.

4. A glove according to claim 3, wherein the components which are detectable by X-ray apparatus and metal detection apparatus are provided in the form of particles added to other ingredients of the sheet material used to form the glove when in the liquid condition.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein, when provided, the components are provided in a powder form.

6. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein, when provided, one or both of the metal or X-ray detectable components is formed and provided as a liquid which is added to the sheet material from which the glove is formed when in a liquid condition.

7. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the component which is detectable by the metal detection apparatus is magnetically attractive metal or metal alloy.

8. A glove according to claim 1, wherein the components are substantially uniformly dispersed throughout the sheet material used to form the glove.

9. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein, when provided in a powder form, an average particle size is within a range of 1-200 microns.

10. A glove according to claim 9, wherein the average particle size is in a range of 50-200 microns.

11. A glove according to claim 10, wherein the average particle size is in a range of 50-100 microns.

12. A glove according to claim 2, wherein the electromagnetically detectable component is a ferrous material.

13. A glove according to claim 12, wherein the ferrous material is a ferrous oxide including YFe203.

14. Apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the electromagnetically detectable material includes a bronze alloy of copper with aluminium, manganese and/or beryllium.

15. A glove according to claim 2, wherein the X-ray detectable component is barium.

16. A glove according to claim 1, wherein portion or portions of the glove which are more susceptible to be detached from the glove during use of the glove are determined and the metal and/or X-ray detectable components are provided with a greater density at locations on the glove than at other portions of the glove.

17. A glove according to claim 16, wherein the greater density of the components is achieved by adding the components as a coating on the one or more portions of the glove.

18. Apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the coating is added in addition to the metal and/or X-ray detectable components already included within the sheet material from which the glove is manufactured.

19. A glove according to claim 1, wherein the glove includes an antimicrobial agent within walls of the glove and/or at a surface thereof.

20. A glove according to claim 19, wherein the antimicrobial agent is added as a powder along with other metal and/or X-ray detectable components to the sheet material in a liquid condition used to form the glove.

21. A glove according to claim 1, wherein the glove is biodegradable once the glove has been discarded after use.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0031] Specific embodiments of the invention are now described with reference to the accompanying drawings; wherein

[0032] FIG. 1 illustrates a glove formed in accordance with the invention;

[0033] FIG. 2 illustrates a cross section through the wall of the glove along line A-A; and

[0034] FIG. 3 illustrates the method steps for forming a glove in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0035] Electro-magnetic and/or X-ray inspection of products leaving a production line is typically undertaken as a matter of course in many industries. Such inspections enable metal-based foreign bodies present in otherwise non-metallic products to be detected. In this way, contaminated products can be selectively discarded. However, gloves worn by workers to protect the product from contamination are generally produced from a polymetric substance (e.g. a plastisol) or a nitrile rubber and so that the presence of the glove, or a fragment thereof, in a product such as a foodstuff, or pharmaceutical would not be detectable other than as a result of visual inspection of the product and, as such there is a significant risk of contamination.

[0036] The present invention therefore provides a glove for use by operatives on, for example, manufacturing production lines, and in order that the presence of the glove in the manufacturing process and/or in the manufactured product can be detected electro-magnetically and via X-ray or other non contact detection apparatus in the event that the glove, or a portion of the same, becomes inadvertently removed from the operative's hand and falls into or onto the products during the manufacturing process.

[0037] Referring to FIG. 3 the glove is produced from a plastic material such as a plastisol such as a natural latex, acrylonitrile-butadiene (nitrite) or polyvinylchloride (pvc). The liquid may also include various additives such as stabilisers, accelerators and fillers and an antimicrobial agent and preferably the end mixture of the materials is such as to be biodegradable. The material from which the glove walls are to be formed is initially held in a liquid form 2 and into which, in accordance with the invention, components in the form of electro-magnetic particles 4 are added and X-ray detectable components 6 are added. Typically, these components are added and mixed so as to be substantially uniformly dispersed in the liquid material and, if required, the mixing means can be provided to ensure that this occurs and is maintained whilst the material is waiting to be used to form the gloves.

[0038] The electro-magnetically and/or X-ray detectable components are preferably mixed with the liquid plastisol material to produce a relatively homogenous mix and the quantity of the components added preferably represents between 3% and 6% by volume of the mix. Typically, the quantity is of the order of 5%-10% by volume in total.

[0039] When the components are added in a powder form, the particle size of the majority of the powder is preferably below 200 microns and would usually be above 1 micron. More preferably the particle size of the majority of the powder is in the range 50 to 200 microns and most preferably is in the range 50 to 100 microns.

[0040] Typically, the gloves are produced by a process in which a glove-shaped former is immersed for a relatively short period of time in the liquid material and a quantity of the liquid material is then carried on the former and is allowed to cool and harden and removed from the former so that the hardened material forms the wall of the glove at step 10, and an example of which is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, with the glove having a relatively thin wall 14 which defines the outer surface 16 and inner surface 18 of the glove and the cavities 20 into which the user's fingers are placed.

[0041] When the glove is worn it is found that the presence of the electro-magnetically and/or X-ray detectable components 22 within the glove material is in a sufficient density so as to activate detection equipment on the production line of the products so that if a glove or even a relatively small portion of the glove is present in manufactured products leaving a production line then the same is detected by the detection apparatus, production can be stopped and steps taken to destroy contaminated products and retrieve the glove or glove portion.