US2323136A - Mitten - Google Patents

Description

J. M. JOHANSON MITTEN Filed Nov.

June 29, 1943.

//v VEN TOR.

Patented June 29, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MITTEN Johanna. M. Johanson, Concord, Mass Application November 22, 1941, Serial No. 420,071

3 Claims.

This invention relates to mittens, gloves, and the like. It aims to devise an article of this character which will be particularly useful to soldiers, hunters, sailors, teamsters, and others. More specifically, the invention aims to devise an article of this character which will keep the wearers hands warm while still permitting exceptional individual freedom of movement of the fingers when necessary in order to handle things with more facility and precision than otherwise would be possible.

It has been proposed heretofore to make a mitten with a transverse slot across the fingers at the front or palm side thereof so that one or more fingers can be extended through said slot when desired for any reason. Such a construction is useful for soldiers and hunters since it affords opportunity for the quick use of the bare trigger finger, but it also has the disadvantage of sacrificing much of the warmth which the mitten otherwise would afford. It has also been proposed to make a mitten with separate enclosures for the fore finger and thumb, the mitten thus enclosing three fingers in a group and affording the advantages of a glove so far as the thumb and fore finger are concerned. This construction also is very useful, but it does not protect the fore finger from the cold nearly as much as does a mitten of the common form in which all four fingers are encased in a common enclosure.

It is an important object of this invention to devise a mitten which will give the wearer the individual freedom of movement of the thumb and fore finger afforded by a glove, while still possessing substantially the same degree of protection from cold which a mitten customarily provides and which, in addition, will give added freedom to certain of the fingers normally enclosed in the mitten.

The nature of the invention will be readily understood from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawing, and the novel features will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawing,

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a mitten constructed in accordance with this invention;

Fig. 2 is a similar view illustrating the utility of one feature of the invention;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation showing one way in which the mitten may be used;

Fig. 4 is an edge view, partly in section, illustrating certain details of construction of the mitten; and

Fig. 5 is a rear view of the mitten.

Referring first to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, it will be observed that the mitten there shown comprises a body portion of a common form but equipped with independent enclosures 2 and 3 for the thumb and fore finger, respctively. In some cases it may be found advisable to provide an additional independent enclosure for one of the other fingers, but usually this is not necessary for reasons that will appear hereinafter. A hood section 4, preferably joined to the outer edge of the mitten substantially along the entire outline or edge of that portion of the mitten enclosing the fingers, can be folded over the front or palm side of the mitten, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, or it can be folded backwardly where it covers the corresponding rearward portion of the mitten at the backs of the fingers, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The line on which this folding action takes place is the line of union of the hood to the main body of the mitten, and this line, as above indicated, extends up along the outer edge of the little finger, across the tips of the fingers and down along the edge of the part of the mitten normally occupied by the middle finger. For convenience this line of junction or fold will sometimes be referred to hereinafter as the finger line. When the hood section of the mitten is in the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2 it doubles the thickness of material protecting the fingers at the palm or front surfaces thereof, and thus provides greater protection for this portion of the hand than does a mitten of the ordinary construction. However, the fore finger 3 of the glove can readily be released from the pocket in which it is enclosed at this time simply by lifting the lower edge of the hood with the thumb and bending the fore finger forwardly until it passes below the edge of the hood. Also, it can be returned to this position almost instantly by a reversal of these operations. Thus the wearers fingers are insulated from a gun, handle, or implement held in the hand, more effectively than with the ordinary mitten, while the fore finger can be freed instantly from this protection, if desired for any reason.

Preferably the extreme outer end of the mitten is left open, as indicated at 1, for a distance long enough to permit the passage therethrough of the ends of the middle and ring fingers, as shown in Fig. 3. Normally this opening is closed by the hood, but when the hood 4 is folded backwardly, then the wearer can use either or both of these bare fingers with the covered fore finger and thumb in picking up .or handling articles of any kind, the manipulation of which would be diflicult without the use of these additional fingers. In the event that this opening is not desired, the corresponding portion of the mitten may be closed in the usual manner. The hood 4, however, is still useful, both for the reason above described and also in adding to the protection of the backs of the fingers at times when such additional protection is desired for this part of the hand.

At the front or palm side of the wrist of the mitten a transverse slot 5 is formed, as shown in Fig. 2, for the passage therethrough of the bare hand when it is desired to use the latter unencumbered by the mitten. At the same time the body portion of the mitten can be pushed up the sleeve or allowed to hang but, in any event, it is still fastened to the wearer by its wrist portion. A flap 6 joined to the mitten at the forward edge of the slot closes the latter'when the mitten is worn in the usual manner. Preferably the mitten is made by knitting in the usual fashion, the entire wrist section of the mitten and the body portion thereof up to the neighborhood of the thumb being ribbed so as to give this section increased stretch and elasticity. For the same reason the extreme tip of the mitten adjacent to the aperture 1, Fig. 4, may be ribbed, as well as the margin of the hood 4. The ribbing on the latter section is best illustrated in Fig. 5, and it is of value in contracting the. lower edge of the pocket formed between the flap or hood 4 and the main body of the mitten.

While I have herein shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention, ,it will be evident that the invention is not limited to embodiment in the precise form shown.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to claim as new is:

1. A mitten having individual enclosures for one or more of the fingers, a body portion to which said enclosures are integrally united, and a hood section integrally joined at its edge to said body portion along the finger line thereof and cooperating therewith to provide a pocket extending backwardly toward the Wrist from the outer extremity of the mitten to approximately the base of the fingers, the fore finger of the mitten having suflicient freedom to be removable from said pocket or insertable therein while the mitten remains on the hand.

2. A mitten including a body portion having a ,slot at the palm side thereof for the passage therethrough of one or more fingers and a hood section joined to the outer end margin of said body portion along substantially the finger line and adapted to be folded over the parts of the mitten enclosing the fingers at either the palm side or the rearward side of the mitten, said hood covering said slot when it is folded over upon "thepalm'side of the body portion of the mitten.

3. A mitten having a body portion and individual enclosures for the thumb and fore finger integral with said body portion, and a hood section integral with said body portion, joined thereto at the finger line of saidbody portion, and extendingbackwardly to approximately the base of the fingers, said hood section beingadapted to be folded back along said finger line into a position at the rearward side of the mitten, and the end of said body portion at the palm side thereof being open to expose the tips of certain of said fingers when said hood is so folded backwardly, the hood, however, covering said-opening and protecting the latter fingerswhen in its normal position at the palm sideof the mitten.

JOHANNA M. JOHANSON.

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