WO1994018861A1

WO1994018861A1 - A knee or elbow guard

Info

Publication number: WO1994018861A1
Application number: PCT/SE1994/000156
Authority: WO
Inventors: Matti Viio
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1993-02-26
Filing date: 1994-02-24
Publication date: 1994-09-01
Anticipated expiration: 1995-08-26
Also published as: SE9300656L; SE9300656D0

Abstract

The invention relates to a guard for protecting, for instance, the knees of a wearer who works in a kneeling position, comprising a rectangular, soft and at least relatively flexible guard body (10) which is intended to be inserted into a pocket provided in the user's clothing to this end. According to the invention, the guard body (10) includes a central part (13) which extends along the whole length of the guard body and which is delimited on both sides by grooves (14, 15) extending in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the guard body. Provided outside the grooves (14, 15) are mutually opposite side parts which extend preferably along the full length of the guard body (10).

Description

A KNEE OR ELBOW GUARD

The present invention relates to a guard for protect¬ ing a body joint, and then particularly, although not exclusively, the kneecap of people who work in a kneeling position, said guard comprising a relatively elongated soft and flexible guard body of appropriate thickness which is intended to be inserted into a pocket provided to this end in the user's clothing, preferably so that the guard body can be easily re¬ moved from the pocket.

Protective devices of this kind are well known to the art through their prior use and are normally referred to as knee guards, and are, of course, intended to protect or cushion the knees of people who work often in a kneeling position, for instance cleaning person¬ nel, craftsmen, industrial workers and so on.

As inferred in the introduction, the working trousers of such worker categories are normally provided with separate pockets into which the aforesaid guard can be inserted. Hitherto, knee guards of the kind that are intended for the aforesaid purpose are comprised of a rectangular piece of material of desired thickness. People who wear such knee guards do not wish to be impeded in their movements by a rigid guard which therewith restrict the thickness of the guard, and also require an active or supple guard to be held in place as they move about their work and that the guard will provide optimum support and conform closely to the contours of the knee. Neither shall it be possible to deform the guard plastically. Solely elastic defor¬ mation can be permitted.

The known knee guards are encumbered with a number of drawbacks. When in use, the material from which the knee guard is made tends to "flow" out, i.e. to be made thinner under the influence of the wearer's weight. Neither is the known knee guard sufficiently flexible when the knee is bent, causing discomfort to the wearer.

The object of the present invention is to eliminate essentially the aforesaid drawbacks and other draw¬ backs associated with the known knee guard.

This object is achieved with a device that has the characteristic features set forth in the characteriz¬ ing clause of Claim 1, said device also providing other advantages in comparison with the known tech¬ nique.

For instance, the guard regions located on both sides of the central part will embrace a part of the sides of the wearer's knee and also those parts of the wearer's leg which are located immediately beneath the knee when the guard is worn. As a result of the longi- tudinally extending channels or grooves, the central, and main part, of the guard will be automatically aligned and any tendency to sideways movement of the guard will be prevented by these side parts. When the wearer kneels down, the longitudinally directed grooves will close together, thereby optimally com¬ pressing the guard, i.e. the grooves pass from an open state, in which they provide a ventilating effect, to a closed state, in which they form a homogeneous guard which provides maximum support. Because the grooves close when the wearer moves into a kneeling position, the guard is felt to be a comfortable, homogeneous guard by the wearer. As the wearer moves to an up¬ standing position, the grooves will reopen and func¬ tion to lead-away any moisture that is generated during physical work, as the guard is pressed against knee/leg, for instance.

According to one embodiment of the improved protective device, at least one transverse groove is provided somewhere along the length of the material member. In this way, there is formed two parts which are mutually joined by a thin section and of which the uppermost part is intended to protect the knee and the lowermost part is intended to protect part of the leg immediate¬ ly beneath the knee. The laterally disposed, outer parts of the material member are intended to embrace part of the knee and part of the leg beneath the knee respectively.

With the intention of achieving optimal tightness and support, it is proposed in accordance with a further embodiment that the first groove which extends trans¬ versely to the longitudinal direction of the material member opens into a respective aperture or recess on respective sides of the guard body.

As a result, when in use, the guard will form a coher¬ ent structure which tightly embraces the wearer's knee and thus conform to the contours of the wearer's knee/leg. This feature shall be seen in the light of the described earlier known technique, in which the guard merely lies against the wearer's knee/leg in a punctiform fashion.

Further features of the invention will be apparent from subsidiary Claims 4-8 and also from the following description, which is made with reference to a pre¬ ferred embodiment of the invention and also with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

Fig. 1 illustrates the inventive guard from above; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken on the line shown by the arrows II-II in Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 illustrates schematically the configuration of the inventive guard when in use.

The inventive guard is comprised of an elongated, generally rectangular body shown generally at 10, which is made of polyethylene for instance, or some other soft and pliable material of desired thickness.

The body 10 has a generally smooth outer side 11 which is intended to face outwards when the guard is insert¬ ed into a pocket provided herefor in the wearer's clothing (not shown) . The other side 12 of the body 10 has the configuration illustrated in Fig. 1. As will be seen from the Figure, the body 10 has a central part 13 of predetermined width which is uniform along the full longitudinal axis of the guard and which is delimited laterally by vertical grooves 14, 15 which are roughly V-shaped in cross-section and the depth of which is slightly smaller than the total thickness of the body 10. Located on either side of the grooves 14 and 15 are side parts whose widths are slightly small¬ er than the width of the central part 13 in the case of the illustrated embodiment.

A groove 16 which opens into a respective side aper¬ ture or recess 17 and 18 extends across the body 10 at a predetermined distance from the top of the body. The apertures 17 and 18 are identical to one another and are shaped geometrically so as to form an acute angle α between mutually opposing edge parts of the aperture or recess. As a result of the cross-grooves 16, the body 10 can be said to be divided into an upper part, referenced A in Fig. 1, and a lower part referenced B in said Figure. The upper part A is intended mainly to protect the wearer's knee, while the bottom part B is intended to lie against the wearer's leg immediately beneath the knee.

With the intention of enabling the guard to conform to the wearer's anatomy in use, i.e. to conform to the contours of the wearer's leg/knee, the part A is provided with a horizontal groove 19 which opens into corresponding apertures or recesses 20, 21 and which is configured identically to the groove 16 and the apertures 17, 18, although in spaced relationship with the last-mentioned groove.

The upper region A of the body 10 is thus comprised of two mutually identical portions A' and A" which are generally of the same size and which are hinged to¬ gether by the horizontal groove 19. The regions A and B are hinged together by the groove 16.

Both the portion A' and the portion A" of the upper body part A and the body part B include mutually separated side parts 22, 22', 23, 23', 24, 24' which are each hinged in generally a vertical centre plane by vertical grooves 25 and 26 respectively.

It will be seen that the central part 13 of the body 10 forms the main active guard abutment surface against a supportive surface, while the side parts 22, 22', 23, 23', 24, 24' are mainly intended to embrace the knee and leg respectively of the wearer while, at the same time, functioning as guide means for holding the guard in place as the wearer moves about his/her work.

A guard which is configured in the aforedescribed manner will obtain a shape roughly similar to the shape shown in Fig. 3, when the guard is worn. Because the guard body 10 will conform to the shape of the wearer's knee/leg when the guard is enclosed in said pocket, the mutually opposing wall parts of the aper¬ tures 16, 17; 19, 20 will close together and therewith form a homogeneous structure and ensure that the intended function is realized. It should also be men¬ tioned in this regard that when the guard is worn, the groove that is disposed outermost in the portion A' of the body 10 will lie essentially in line with corre¬ sponding grooves in the portion A' and the part B of the guard body and therewith function as ventilation channels. It will be obvious from the aforegoing that the longi¬ tudinally extending grooves fulfil at least three separate important functions, which when taken togeth¬ er bestow a novel and surprising effect on the pro- duct. The grooves, whose cross-sectional shapes may be given a form different to that shown in the illus¬ trated embodiment, thus provide a fold-weakening which enables the guard to conform more readily to the anatomical shape of the wearer. Furthermore, when the mutually opposing longitudinally extending sides of the grooves are pressed together as the wearer takes a kneeling position, the grooves provide the guard with a maximal compression capacity, maximum homogeneity and support. The grooves also function as ventilating means, i.e. to conduct away any moisture that may be present.

In the case of the embodiment illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, the guard body 10 also includes a bottom part C, which is also provided with transverse grooves, not referenced. The part C is provided so as to enable the total length of the body 10 to be shortened when necessary, by cutting along one of the transverse grooves in said part C.

Although the illustrated and described embodiment is intended to serve as a knee guard, it will be obvious that it can also be used as an elbow guard, for in¬ stance.

Claims

1. A guard for protecting body joints, and then par¬ ticularly, but not exclusively, the knee caps of people who work in kneeling positions, comprising a relatively elongated, soft and flexible body of appro¬ priate thickness which is intended to be inserted, preferably removably, in a pocket provided in the trouser leg of the wearer to this end, characterized in that the guard body includes a central part which extends throughout the full longitudinal dimension of the guard body and which is intended to form a first part for protecting the wearer's knee and part of the wearer's shin; in that the central part is delimited on both sides thereof by respective longitudinally extending grooves which form fold-weakenings; and in that mutually opposite side parts which extend prefer¬ ably along the full length of the body are disposed outwardly of said grooves.

2. A guard according to Claim 1, characterized in that the guard body is provided somewhere along its length with a first transverse groove which extends transversely to the longitudinal direction of said guard body and which forms a fold-weakening and which divides the body into two mutually joined parts, namely an upper first part and a lower second part, each of which include both first and second portions.

3. A guard according to Claim 2, characterized in that the first transverse groove extending transverse¬ ly to the longitudinal axis of the guard body opens on both sides into a respective aperture or recess whose bottom defining surface is formed by the uppermost surface of the lower body part and whose top is de¬ fined by the lowermost surface of the upper body part.

4. A guard according to Claim 3, characterized in that the recesses or apertures are mutually identical and include an acute angle ( ) between the bottom body part and the upper body part.

5. A guard according to Claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the two apertures include at least one oblique surface.

6. A guard according to Claim 2, characterized in that the guard body includes a further groove which extends transversely to the longitudinal axis of the guard body and which functions as a fold-weakening and which divides the upper part of the material body into two mutually identical portions.

7. A guard according to Claim 1, characterized in that the second parts located on respective sides of the central body part include longitudinally extending grooves.

8. A guard according to one more of the preceding

Claims, characterized in that the guard body includes a lower region having at least two mutually spaced transversal grooves which enable the total length of the guard body to be shortened if desired.

9. A guard according to one or more of the preceding Claims, characterized in that the vertical and hori¬ zontal grooves in the guard body have a generally V- shaped cross-section.