Bowler's glove and wrist support

Abstract

A bowling glove and wrist support having a palm plate and back plate for engaging, respectively, the front and back portions of the hand, wrist and forearm. An adjustable palm prop overlies a digital end portion of the palm plate to engage a bowling ball. Adjustable strap means are provided on the bowling glove and wrist support for fastening the glove to different sizes and shapes of hands wrists and forearms.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The sport of bowling has experienced substantial improvements during the last few decades and has become one of the most popular indoor sports. For example, electro-mechanical equipment such as automatic pin setters, ball returns and electronic scoreboards have been developed and attention has also been directed to improving a participant's performance. An essential factor in improving a person's bowling game is developing a controlled delivery of the bowling ball. The delivery or release is controlled by the position and movement of various parts of the body with particular focus on the relative position of the hand, wrist and forearm.

As the ball is released, various motions are imparted to the ball which define its path of travel. A first component results from the planar motion defined by the swing of the arm, wrist, hand and ball toward the bowling pins. A second component results from a spinning motion imparted to the ball as it is released from the hand. After the ball is released, an initial sliding motion and rotational motion are imparted to the ball. After the sliding motion has been reduced by friction, only the rotational motion imparts a directional character to the ball. When the rotational directions resulting from the first component (a planar motion defined by the swing of the arm, hand, ball, etc.) and second component (a spinning motion imparted to the ball as it is released) do not coincide, the ball travels in a curved path. In attempting to regulate the degree of curvature, various types of bowling delivery have been developed in which the hand is positioned at different relative positions with respect to the ball as it is released. However, regardless of the type of delivery chosen, it is important to maintain a proper relationship between the forearm, wrist and hand as the ball is delivered, with particular focus on the tendency of the wrist to turn or twist.

Maintaining a proper relationship between the hand, wrist and forearm is especially difficult in view of the complexity of the muscular and skeletal structure of the human hand and wrist. For example, the wrist is composed of eight carpal bones arranged in two rows of four each. The set of carpal bones is connected to five metacarpal bones, which largely define the palmar region of the hand, and to the bones of the forearm, which include the ulna and the radius. The radius is attached to the thumb side or thenar side of the wrist and the ulna is attached to the "little finger" side or hypothenar side of the wrist, with the lower end of the ulna partially defined by a projection designated the styloid process, which is clearly visible at the base of the wrist on the back or posterior side of the forearm. Connected to the five metacarpal bones of the hand are the phalanges which define the four fingers, each including a distal, middle and proximate phalanx, and the thumb, which includes a distal and proximate phalanx. The bones of the hand are connected together with various ligaments, muscles and tendons through which complicated patterns of nerves and blood vessels are located. Therefore, for a person to develop a consistent delivery it is necessary to maintain the various forearm, hand and wrist bones in a proper controlled relationship with respect to each other and to the bowling ball. The muscles, ligaments and tendons are the tissues which control this functional relationship.

The gripping and releasing of the bowling ball, or relative movement of the fingers and thumb, is also important for proper control of the bowling ball. The movements of the fingers (flexion and extension, abduction and adduction) are well known. However, because the thumb has its palmar or flexor surface, in the resting position, at right angles to the palmar surface of the remainder of the hand, its movement planes are generally at right angles to those of the fingers. Thus, flexion of the thumb is bending it across the palm of the hand towards the ulna, extension is a movement in the opposite direction, abduction is moving the thumb away from the index perpendicular to the palmar plane and adduction is returning it towards the palmar plane. The thumb movement of opposition, characteristic of the grasping of objects such as a bowling ball, is a combination of flexion, internal rotation and adduction that brings the palmar surface of the thumb in contact with the palmar surfaces of the fingers. Reposition, the movement away from opposition, would be characteristic of releasing a grip on an object and would involve a combination of abduction, extension and external rotation of the thumb. The rounded contour formed by the muscles of the thumb on the palmar surface is the thenar eminence. For a proper delivery and release of the bowling ball it is necessary that the movement of these muscles, which help to control the movement of the thumb, should not be restricted. The muscular contour formed by the little-finger muscles on the ulnar side of the palmar surface is the hypothenar eminence. The central palmar compartment located between the thenar and hypothenar compartments is often designated the palmar arch. The various types of bowling deliveries and grips, such as conventional, semi-finger-tip, and finger-tip, would involve relative movements of these palmar regions.

Another factor which affects the degree of consistency or control of the delivery is that the bowling ball causes the various muscles, tendons and tissues to be stressed differentially which causes some of them to become fatigued more easily than others.

Various devices have been developed in recent years which attempt to control the relative degree of movement of the hand, wrist and forearm.

Recent patents have been issued which attempt to provide support and control of the bowling ball by combining the features of a palm prop and an insert which covers various portions of the hand and wrist. For example, patents issued to C. Fowler (U.S. Pat. No. 3,564,613), R. Krzewinski (U.S. Pat. No. 3,704,994), Y. Hashimoto (U.S. Pat. No. 3,790,168) and J. Andolino (3,728,738) disclose bowling gloves which incorporate a palm prop and a stiffener insert for the back of the hand.

The present invention relates to a bowling glove which combines the features of an adjustable palm prop with an underlying support plate which is contoured to fit portions of the forearm, wrist and palmar regions of the hand. The palm plate accomplishes the desired results of providing a stable relationship between the forearm, wrist and hand and a support for the palm prop which rests on a distal end of said plate. Another feature of the invention is a back plate which is contoured to support the back of the forearm, wrist and hand. In accomplishing this result, the back plate is designed to avoid contact with various parts of hand, wrist and forearm, such as the styloid process of the ulna. A further feature of the invention is the incorporation of positionable fastening means which allows the glove to fit different relative sizes and shapes of forearms, wrists and hands.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a bowling glove and wrist support which will help to control the relative relationship between the forearm, wrist and hand while bowling.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a device which will help stabilize the palmar arch region of the hand while not interfering with the movements of the muscles and tendons of the thenar and/or the hypothenar regions of the hand.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a bowling glove and wrist support with a firm but yeildably resilient palm prop disposed in overlying relation to the palm plate which will help to support the bowling ball and to distribute the stresses applied to the forearm, wrist and hand while bowling.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a bowling glove and wrist support with a back plate to act in cooperation with a palm support and a prop carried in overlying relation to the palm support, wherein such supports will help the bowler achieve a more controlled delivery.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a bowling glove and wrist support with hand attachable means which will position a palm plate in the palmar arch of the hand and a back plate across the back of the hand and wrist.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a bowling glove and wristlet, which encircles the wrist and styloid processes of the radius and ulna, with strap means for adapting the device to fit different sizes and shapes of wrists and hands.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of this invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims: The invention itself, however, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following description taken in combination with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a right hand glove according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a front plan view of the glove of FIG. 1 wrapped around the palm of the right hand;

FIG. 3 is a back plan view of the glove of FIG. 1 wrapped around the back of the right hand;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4--4 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the palm plate insert;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the back plate insert;

FIG. 7 is a side view of the palm prop of FIG. 1FIG. 8 illustrates the glove 1 being worn on the user's hand 51 and forearm 52 having an elongated axis 53 disposed rearwardly of the center 54 of bowling ball 55. Accordingly, the back of the hand, being restricted by the substantially flat back plate 21, shown in FIG. 6, maintains the back of the hand in substantial alignment with the back of the forearm in the same manner as the hand may loosely dangle from the arm when the upper arm and forearm are at the side of a user.

While the invention has been described with respect to a certain specific embodiment, it will be appreciated that many modifications and changes may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is intended, therefore, by the appended claims to cover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

1. In a bowling glove and wrist support, a palm plate having a first end portion and a second end portion, hand-attachable means carrying said plate for disposing said plate with its said first end portion in and bridging extending across the palmar arch of a wearer and terminating adjacently below the palm knuckle of the middle finger and with its between the head line and the heart line of the palm, said second end portion of said plate extending across the inner surface of the wrist spanning the wrist joint, and a prop carried by said means in a position overlying said first end portion for providing said prop with support by said plate.

2. A bowling glove and wrist support according to claim 1, wherein further comprising adjustable connecting means are provided on said hand-attachable means and on said prop for attaching said prop in adjustable position positions.

3. A bowling glove and wrist support according to claim 1, including a back plate carried by said hand-attachable means extending along the back of the hand and the back of the wrist and spanning the wrist joint.

4. A bowling glove and wrist support according to claim 1, wherein said first end portion terminates between the thenar eminence and adjacently below the palm knuckle of the middle finger.

5. The combination according to claim 1 wherein said plate includes a side edge adjacent the thumb of a wearer and another side edge spaced therefrom, said other side edge being in general alignment with the side of the middle finger of a wearer adjacent the fourth finger.

6. A unitary bowling glove and wristlet for covering the palm and back of the hand and encircling the wrist and the styloid processes of the radius and ulna of a wearer, comprising a palm plate having a first end portion and a second end portion, a an elongated back plate having a first end portion and a second end portion and being generally flat between its said end portions, said glove and wristlet including means for retaining said palm plate with its first end portion in extending across the palmar arch of a wearer and terminating adjacent the palm knuckle of the middle finger and with its second end portion disposed across the inner surface of the wrist spanning the wrist joint, said plate having a side edge generally avoiding partially overlapping the thenar eminence adjacent the wrist joint and another side edge generally aligned with the side of the middle finger of a wearer adjacent the fourth finger thereby supporting the overlapped portion of the thenar eminence and a partially overlapped heel portion of the palm adjacent the thenar eminence, and means for retaining said back plate with its first end portion along the back of the hand and its second end portion on the back of the wrist spanning the wrist joint to maintain the back of the hand in substantial alignment with the back of the forearm.

7. The combination according to claim 6, wherein said glove and wristlet is a wrap-on assembly having opposite side edges and having strap means extending between said edges.

8. The combination according to claim 7, wherein said glove and wristlet assembly comprises a patch of loop pile fabric disposed adjacent one of said edges and at least two straps extending from said other edge and each provided with a hook pile fabric patch to mesh with said loop pile fabric, the area of said first patch being larger than the combined areas of said hook pile patches to permit adjustable angular positions of attachment of said straps.

9. The combination according to claim 6, wherein said first end portion terminates between the thenar eminence and adjacently below the palm knuckle of the middle finger.

10. The combination according to claim 6 further comprising a prop carried by said glove in a position to overlie said palm plate first end portion.

11. In a bowling glove and wrist support, a palm plate having a first end portion, a second end portion and an intermediate portion extending therebetween, attachment means carrying said plate for disposing said plate with said first end portion in extending across the palmar arch and aligned toward and terminating adjacently short of the palm knuckle of the middle finger, with said intermediate portion extending across the base of the palm partially over the thenar eminence and partially over the heel portion adjacent thereto and with said second end portion extending across the inner surface of and spanning the wrist joint of a wearer, said plate being formed to fit against the wrist, the base of the palm and upwardly along the palm of the palmar arch of the wearer, and a prop attached to said attachment means disposed in overlying relation to said first end portion and being supported by said first end portion of said plate.

12. A bowling glove and wrist support according to claim 11, wherein said palm plate is made of a rigid malleable metal.

13. The combination according to claim 11 and a back plate carried by said means for disposition thereby glove and disposed along the back of the hand and the back of the wrist and spanning the wrist joint of the wearer.

14. A bowling glove and wrist support according to claim 13, wherein said plates are made of a rigid malleable metal.

15. A bowling glove and wrist support according to claim 13 wherein said back plate is generally flat to maintain the back of the hand in substantial alignment with the back of the forearm. 16. A bowling glove and wrist support according to claim 3 wherein said back plate is elongated and generally flat between its end portions, said back plate maintaining the back of the hand in substantial alignment with the forearm so that the center of a bowling ball will be offset inwardly away from the palm and offset from the elongated axis of the forearm. 17. A bowling glove and wrist support according to claim 6 wherein said palm plate and back plate restricting the movement of the wrist and positioning the center of a bowling ball offset inwardly away from the palm and offset from the elongated axis of the forearm.