ELECTROSTATIC DISCHARGE PROTECTION GARMENT

Description

(b) CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not Applicable

(c) STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

(d) THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT

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(e) INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM

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(f) STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR

Not Applicable

(g) BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(1) Field of the Invention

The disclosure relates to anti-static garments and more particularly pertains to a new anti-static garment for preventing sudden discharges of static electricity.

(2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98

The prior art discloses myriad anti-static garments but fails to describe an anti-static garment in which electrically conductive fibers are situated in particular regions of a garment to dissipate a static charge held by the garment to an environment.

(h) BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a shirt made of a fabric formed of a plurality of fibers. The plurality of fibers includes a set of uncoated fibers and a set of coated fibers. The set of uncoated fibers is distributed across an entirety of the shirt. Each uncoated fiber of the set of uncoated fibers comprises a fiber material and does not have an electrically conductive coating surrounding the fiber material. The set of coated fibers is embedded into the set of uncoated fibers and is in electrical communication with one or more uncoated fibers of the set of uncoated fibers. Each coated fiber of the set of coated fibers comprises the fiber material and a coating which encloses the fiber material. The coating comprises an electrically conductive material which is configured to facilitate a dissipation of electrostatic charge from the set of uncoated fibers to an environment.

There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.

The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.

(i) BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of an electrostatic discharge protection garment according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a front view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a back view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 2 of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of the disclosure.

(j) DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to FIGS. 1 through 5 thereof, a new anti-static garment embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral 10 will be described.

As best illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 5, the electrostatic discharge protection garment 10 generally comprises a shirt 12 with a body portion 14 and a pair of sleeves 18. The body portion 14 has a bottom edge 16, and each of the sleeves 18 has a cuff 20 and an elbow region 22. The shirt 12 comprises a fabric 24 formed of a plurality of fibers 26 which are woven together. For the purposes of this specification, the term “shirt” is defined as clothing which is worn on a torso of a user and includes jackets and similar outerwear. Some embodiments may not include sleeves 18.

The plurality of fibers 26 include a set of uncoated fibers 28 and a set of coated fibers 30. The set of uncoated fibers 28 is distributed across an entirety of the body portion 14 and an entirety of each sleeve 18. Each uncoated fiber 28 of the set of uncoated fibers 28 comprises a fiber material 32 and does not have an electrically conductive coating 36 surrounding the fiber material 32. The set of coated fibers 30 is embedded into the set of uncoated fibers 28, and each coated fiber 30 of the set of coated fibers 30 is in electrical communication with one or more uncoated fibers 28 of the set of uncoated fibers 28. Each coated fiber 30 of the set of coated fibers 30 comprises the fiber material 32 and a coating 36 which encloses the fiber material 32. The coating 36 of each coated fiber 30 comprises silver but may comprise other electrically conductive materials. The set of coated fibers 30 is configured to facilitate a dissipation of electrostatic charge from the set of uncoated fibers 28 to an environment.

The fiber material 32 may be any material suitable for forming textiles used in clothing. In particular, fibers 26 with a high capacitance are well suited to the benefits of the present invention, especially those which are susceptible to holding a higher electrostatic charge due to the triboelectric effect than other materials. Such materials include nylon, wool, silk, polyester, rayon, polyurethane, and the like. These materials are often selected for their thermal resistivity and various economic criteria but may cause discomfort to the user due to the sudden discharge of an electrostatic charge.

The fabric 24 is formed in a single layer but may include further layers in some embodiments. While the fabric 24 is woven in the pictured embodiments, the fabric 24 of other embodiments may be knitted or bonded through adhesives, thermal applications, felting, or the like.

In reference to FIGS. 1 through 4, one embodiment includes the coated fibers 30 being positioned in a plurality of zones 38 of the shirt 12. The plurality of zones 38 includes a bottom band 40, a pair of cuff bands 42, and a pair of elbow portions 44. The bottom band 40 is positioned adjacent to and extends along an entirety of the bottom edge 16 of the body portion 14 of the shirt 12. Each cuff band 42 of the pair of cuff bands 42 is positioned adjacent to and extends around the cuff 20 of an associated one of the pair of sleeves 18. Each elbow portion 44 of the pair of elbow portions 44 is positioned at the elbow region 22 of an associated one of the pair of sleeves 18. In reference to FIG. 5, another embodiment includes the coated fibers 30 of the set of coated fibers 30 are distributed across an entirety of the body portion 14 and an entirety of each sleeve 18 of the pair of sleeves 18.

In use, the user wears the shirt 12. Any electrostatic charge which is accumulated via the triboelectric effect or otherwise may be dissipated via the coating 36 of the coated fibers 30 to the environment. This dissipation will typically occur more steadily and constantly than when the user wears another piece of clothing made of similar fibers 26 which do not have the coating 36 described. In those situations, electrostatic charge is often accumulated steadily through the triboelectric effect when the clothing rubs against other materials, then the electrostatic charge is released suddenly through the user's body when the user touches an electrically conductive object such as a doorknob. The sudden flow of electricity causes discomfort to the user and is avoided by steady dissipation of the electrostatic charge of the present invention.

With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.

Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.