MC200078A1 - Glove, for multiple use, encoded, in natural or synthetic polymers, with its physical washing device and its individual computer monitoring. - Google Patents

Description

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May 3, 2004

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DUPLICATE

PATENT FOR INVENTION

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MULTI-PURPOSE GLOVE, ENCODED, MADE OF NATURAL OR SYNTHETIC POLYMERS, WITH ITS PHYSICAL WASHING DEVICE AND INDIVIDUAL COMPUTER TRACKING.

The present invention relates in general

• a multi-purpose glove reinforced or not by a textile structure;

or in natural materials (latex) or in plastic polymer materials such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyurethane or even non-porous or microporous polymers with single or multiple layers,

o including a code printed or included with at least its individual serial number;

• its automated washing, rinsing, drying, inspection and packaging process, and

• its individual computer tracking and the counting of the number of uses to which it has been subjected, allowing the user to follow the evolution of information via the Internet

To date, glove manufacturers primarily produce single-use gloves or gloves lacking distinctive markings that would allow for quality monitoring by consumers and/or regulatory bodies. These gloves are used, among other sectors, in the healthcare industry and/or the food supply chain, and for quality reasons, traceability is essential. Even though single use is often the norm for these products, knowing the manufacturer and batch number is crucial for both consumers and quality control departments. Currently, the markings on gloves only allow users to determine their size and/or intended use (left or right hand).

Applicant: P.M.T.B. Company Inventor's name: Patrick Hampe

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and/or its manufacturer, but these markings do not allow for the identification of the glove's batch number, let alone its individual serial number. These markings are generally alphanumeric characters that are difficult for automated reading by specialized scanners. Furthermore, the gloves are manually packaged in boxes that display a batch number, but as soon as a glove is removed from its box, all trace of its belonging to a specific batch is lost, preventing tracking in case of a glove defect or reuse. Indeed, regulatory bodies require complete and accurate knowledge of the individual product's history.

Glove manufacturers who wish to wash their gloves as they come off the production line are forced to perform the various steps manually. The gloves, as they come off the production line, are manually transferred to industrial washing machines, then again manually to dryers, and finally, still manually, packaged. These processes are costly because they require significant labor at each stage.

15. The automatic washing devices currently on the market do not allow for complete washing of the glove surface because the glove gripping mechanisms are static and do not allow for washing of the glove surface trapped within the grippers. Furthermore, these grippers, which are generally mounted on laterally moving carriages, are perpendicular to their attachments, forcing the glove into a downward vertical movement at the end of the gripping action, thus preventing any real and complete washing or brushing of the entire glove surface.

Furthermore, the various controls required by international quality standards and regulatory bodies such as the FDA are also performed manually. The cost of these manual controls is significant, and consequently, only limited sampling of production (25) is carried out, guaranteeing only statistical evidence of production conformity, without ensuring complete control, which is only performed in a very small number of cases compared to the volume of different gloves produced.

In the case of automated machines for testing microholes in gloves, the gaseous microhole testing operations are performed without an even distribution of gas pressure within the glove. Indeed, when the glove is pressurized to check for leaks indicating the presence of microholes, the thinner upper part of the glove experiences a higher pressure than the area inside the fingers, resulting in a positive pressure differential in the upper part of the glove and generally preventing the gas from leaking into the fingers. This is detrimental to the reliability of the testing method because, statistically, microholes are generally found in the fingers.

The checks for stains produced during manufacturing or use are also visual and not automated, further increasing the impossibility of controlling all gloves produced.

All the disadvantages described above are also repeated indefinitely if the

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The object of the invention therefore consists of an assembly comprising inseparable elements forming a whole;

• - a glove, supported or not, made from one or more layers of natural polymer materials such as natural latex or synthetic materials, reusable and marked during its production with a printed or included code, in the case of microchips or electronic markers, containing the unique identity of the glove and other important information;

• an automatic and fully computer-controlled device incorporating a horizontally and vertically articulated conveyor chain whose links are hollow and within

Ten of these are inserted articulated fingers allowing for gripping the glove, turning the glove inside out, and not covering the part of the glove being treated, thus allowing treatment of the entire surface of the glove. The device's architecture allows the conveyor chain to move horizontally and vertically. The conveyor chain thus designed enables the following operations:

15 o to carry out the washing and rinsing of the reusable glove in tunnels equipped with brush and/or spray devices allowing the washing and/or rinsing of the glove on the exposed external surface.

o also to be inserted into the inner face, not being washed, held by the articulated clips, forming an opening at the level of the glove cuff, a detergent or disinfectant in order to increase the washing capacity of the device.

o to carry out the drying of the gloves on both sides in one or more tunnels equipped with gas blowing devices, and by blowing a flow of gas into the side awaiting drying, preparing the subsequent drying operation o to insert during the penultimate phase of turning the glove a dermatological solution 25 allowing the care of the hands of the subsequent user of the glove o to automatically check the glove for the presence of stains or microholes by means of cameras and gas flow sensors having achieved the equipressure inside the glove o to automatically reject gloves not meeting the quality criteria 30 arising from international standards o to automatically package the gloves according to size criteria.

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Computerized monitoring of all operational parameters:

o of machine operation,

■ the monitoring and computer recording of temperature parameters of the fluids and gases used,

■ the monitoring and computerized recording of the volume parameters of the fluids and detergents used, and concerning the washed gloves

■ the date of the operation, the time, the responsible operator,

■ recording of its serial number, the washing batch number, the number of times the glove has been washed,

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o visual and quality control, recording and processing of results o and communication with the machine's local database o and sending information to a central database via an internet connection

The object of the present invention, achieved by a combination of these new means, makes it possible to solve industrially, while respecting and exceeding the requirements of the standards for the reuse of medical devices, the needs of glove users who are currently facing problems of increased cost of use and cost of disposal in the environment.

Claims (1)

DEMANDS 1. Reusable glove made of natural or synthetic material, coded by marking or inclusion, its conveying and washing device and database ensuring its computer tracking. 2. Glove according to claim 1 characterized in that its physical resistance properties allow use, or reuse after washing, greater than or equal to 10 uses. 20 3. Glove according to claims 1 and 2 characterized in that it is manufactured with or without textile support, at least by soaking in one or more different baths of natural or synthetic polymeric materials, or at least a combination of the two types of materials taken separately or in mixture. 25 4. Glove according to claims 1, and/or 2, and/or 3 characterized in that it is marked during manufacture at least by a code, more particularly a matrix code or by an inclusion of a flexible microchip, containing at least its manufacturing serial number, the manufacturer's identification, its size, its intended use (left hand or right hand). 30 5. Glove according to claims 1, 2, 3 and 4 in that it is characterized by at least two marks, on the top of its cuff, diametrically opposed and readable by means of vision or electronic recognition using a camera, a sensor, or a robot. 35 6. Conveyor chain according to claim 1 in that it is characterized by a set of n pairs of two links attached to each other by a horizontal axis and attached to the next pair by a sliding vertical axis allowing a rotation of the pairs of links, of 180 degrees or more, horizontally and of 90 degrees or more, vertically. 40 7. Conveyor chain according to claims 1 and 6 in that it is characterized by a subset of n hollow links in the shape of an elongated c, links which, taken individually, form half of the pair of n links which together form the chain. Conveyor chain according to claims 1, 6 and 7 in that it is characterized that within the hollow links are fixed horizontally at a distance of at least 6 centimeters, two clamps, each formed of two fingers used to pinch or hold the glove corresponding to claims 2, 3, 4 and 5. Conveying chain according to claim 1, 6, 7, and 8 in that it is characterized that the clamps mounted within the hollow links are articulated around an axis terminated at the ends by notching, allowing a rotation of 180 degrees or more from bottom to top and/or vice versa. Conveying chain according to claims 1, 6, 7, 8 and 9 in that it is characterized in that the rotation of the clamps, within the hollow links, is ensured by the linear or rotary drive of the notches located at the ends of their axes. Conveyor chain according to claims 1, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 in that it is characterized that the fingers forming the grippers arranged within the hollow links are articulated around a flexible axis, acting as an opening or closing spring, and are individually and independently capable of a rotation of 20 degrees or more, from bottom to top and/or from top to bottom. Conveying chain according to claims 1 and 6 to 11 inclusive, in that it is characterized by a linear path, followed by vertical and/or horizontal reversals driven by wheels whose protrusions, in the shape of a u or a v, located every 60 or 45 degrees, drive all the links by the grip within the protrusions of the vertical or horizontal axes linking the links together. Conveyor chain, according to claims 1 and 6 to 12 inclusive, in that it is characterized by a continuous path which may include a stop of 2 to 10 seconds every 2 to 10 seconds. Conveyor chain, according to claims 1 and 6 to 13 inclusive, in that it is characterized when stopped, by the introduction within the hollow links and between the clamps, of one or more rectangular heads provided at their penetrating end with an inflatable flexible polymer piece and/or one or more spray devices connected to tanks of gas and/or detergent and/or disinfectant and/or dermatological product. Conveyor chain, according to claims 1 and 6 to 14 inclusive, in that it is characterized by a linear path within different closed parallelepiped chambers, formed in the upper part by a guide rail, in the lateral parts by walls containing sprays (of round, triangular or oblong shapes) connected to reservoirs (of gas and/or solvent and/or detergent and/or disinfectant) and finally in the lower part by a sloping wall 6 16. Conveying chain, according to claims 1 and 6 to 15 inclusive, in that it is characterized that within the chambers 1 to 10 axes can be arranged longitudinally, equipped with rotating brushes along the entire length. 5 17. Conveying chain, according to claims 1 and 6 to 16 inclusive, in that it is characterized when stopped, by the introduction within the hollow links and at the center of the clamps, of one or more rectangular heads provided at their penetrating end with an inflatable flexible polymer piece and/or one or more blowing devices. 10 18. Conveying chain, according to claims 1 and 6 to 17 inclusive, in that it is characterized in that the blowing devices of the penetrating heads are controlled by valves connected to gas tanks connected to one or more pressure sensors and flow meters of a sensitivity equal to or greater than 0.003 cubic millimeters per second. 15 19. Conveyor chain, according to claims 1 and 6 to 18 inclusive, in that it is characterized when stopped, by the closure of one or more jaws of the height of the glove according to claims 2, 3, 4 and 5, which when closed form a parallelepiped enclosing the glove and whose upper parts of the parallelepiped close at the lower end of the clamps holding the glove. 20 20. Conveyor chain, according to claims 1 and 6 to 19 inclusive, in that it is characterized by a path facing one or more mono and/or polychrome sensors or cameras recording the glove code data and/or the visual cleanliness characteristics of the glove. 25 21. Conveying chain, according to claims 1 and 6 to 20 inclusive, in that it is characterized, when stopped, by the apprehension of one or more gloves by means of one or more parallelepiped-shaped devices in depression which transport the glove(s) to and into its packaging container(s). 30 22. Conveyor chain according to claim 1 and 6 to 21 inclusive, in that it is characterized by computer control of its path and functions, comprising a computer equipped with communication cards, including at least one input/output card and at least one image acquisition card, and at least one magnetic medium within which is 35 includes at least one database, and at least equipped with a modem or network card. 23. Database, according to claim 1 characterized in that it records, by means of input/output cards, the events of the conveyor chain, according to the information 40 received (movements, flow, image capture) from the sensors and/or cameras, which are arranged along the path of the conveyor chain characterized according to claims 6 to 22 inclusive. 5 25. 10 26. 15 27. Database, according to claims 1 and 23 characterized in that it processes information received by sensors and/or cameras, of movement, flow, image capture arranged along the path of the conveyor chain characterized according to claims 6 to 22 inclusive, Database, according to claims 1, 23 and 24, characterized in that the processing of the acquired data is split into two different sections, one of the sections recording the data resulting from the functional information of the conveyor chain and the other section recording the data resulting from the information relating to the glove characterized according to claims 2 to 5 inclusive. Database, according to claims 1, 22, 23, 24, and 25 characterized in that, according to the information received, it communicates by means of input/output cards and it stops or not the conveyor chain and rejects or not the glove(s) being processed. Database, according to claim 1, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26, characterized in that it communicates all of its data to a database centralizing and compiling the data of the other conveyor chains and the other gloves responding together or separately to claims 1 to 26 inclusive.