Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
  • A01N—PRESERVATION OF BODIES OF HUMANS OR ANIMALS OR PLANTS OR PARTS THEREOF; BIOCIDES, e.g. AS DISINFECTANTS, AS PESTICIDES OR AS HERBICIDES; PEST REPELLANTS OR ATTRACTANTS; PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS
  • A01N25/00—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators, characterised by their forms, or by their non-active ingredients or by their methods of application, e.g. seed treatment or sequential application; Substances for reducing the noxious effect of the active ingredients to organisms other than pests
  • A01N25/34—Shaped forms, e.g. sheets, not provided for in any other sub-group of this main group
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
  • A01N—PRESERVATION OF BODIES OF HUMANS OR ANIMALS OR PLANTS OR PARTS THEREOF; BIOCIDES, e.g. AS DISINFECTANTS, AS PESTICIDES OR AS HERBICIDES; PEST REPELLANTS OR ATTRACTANTS; PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS
  • A01N31/00—Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing organic oxygen or sulfur compounds
  • A01N31/08—Oxygen or sulfur directly attached to an aromatic ring system
  • A01N31/16—Oxygen or sulfur directly attached to an aromatic ring system with two or more oxygen or sulfur atoms directly attached to the same aromatic ring system
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A41—WEARING APPAREL
  • A41D—OUTERWEAR; PROTECTIVE GARMENTS; ACCESSORIES
  • A41D19/00—Gloves
  • A41D19/0055—Plastic or rubber gloves
  • A41D19/0058—Three-dimensional gloves

Definitions

• the present invention relates to sanitary food-handling gloves and a method of manufacturing such gloves, and more particularly to food-handling gloves that prevent microbial transfer and methods for making such gloves.
• the food industry has long been concerned about bacterial contamination to consumers through the handling of food by food industry workers. Workers in the food industry are frequently required to wear gloves to reduce the likelihood that the bacteria from their hands is transferred to consumers. However, even gloves may pick up contaminating bacteria from food or work surfaces, thereby significantly reducing the effectiveness of the gloves the longer they are worn. A solution, albeit a costly one, is to have the workers change or disinfect their gloves frequently. The food industry would prefer a more workable and cost effective solution.
• the food industry generally uses gloves made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) , polyethylene (PE) , and Acrylonitrile-butadeine (Nitrile) . These gloves must meet federal standards for thickness, strength, elasticity, deformation, etc. Gloves of other materials have been tried, but they either do not meet the federal standards or are not acceptable to the food industry ⁇ e .g . . , high cost, weak seams, difficult to don and remove, uncomfortable to wear, etc.) .
• PVC polyvinyl chloride
• PE polyethylene
• Nirile Acrylonitrile-butadeine
• a releasable chemical such as an antimicrobial agent
• gloves for providing bacterial protection
• the chemical when the glove is in use, the chemical is released from the glove to other surfaces including the food under preparation; thereby the chemical becomes an additive to the food being prepared for serving.
• This chemical additive may affect the taste of the food, may cause allergic reactions, may cause a negative psychological response (i.e . . , opposition or repulsion to the addition of an antimicrobial chemical to the food) , may cause health concerns about eating nonorganic foods, and may cause negative health consequences to consumers due to the cumulative or long term consumption of the chemical.
• antimicrobial agents are generally not known to be edible.
• the nature of the natural rubber latex prevents the antimicrobial agent from migrating to the exposed surface of the latex from its interior. This limitation may be acceptable where the article makes a single contaminating contact, but is not acceptable for gloves that will have numerous contacts with diverse potential contaminants .
• PVC polyvinyl styrene
• an antimicrobial agent may be added to a plastic or polymeric film material, such as PE, that is used to make a surgical drape sheet .
• PE plastic or polymeric film material
• the structure of the PE allows some antimicrobial agents to migrate to the exposed surface of the drape from the interior thereof when the agent has been removed from the surface (see U.S. Patent No. 5,069,907 issued December 3, 1991 to Mixon, e_t a_l.) .
• the process and apparatus used therewith does not suggest adding an antimicrobial agent to plastic or polymeric film gloves for food handling. Antimicrobial agents are generally not known to be safe for oral consumption.
• Antimicrobial protection may be provided to consumers with protective gloves by mixing an antimicrobial agent with the glove material before manufacturing the glove, the agent and material being selected so that the antimicrobial agent migrates to the exposed surfaces of the gloves when the agent at the glove surface has been depleted.
• the antimicrobial agent is preferably triclosan and the glove material preferably includes a polymer, such as PVC, polyethylene (PE) , or nitrile.
• the glove material preferably includes 96 to 98.4% polymer by weight and 0.3 to.1.0% triclosan by weight.
• Triclosan (2 , 4 , 4 ' -trichloro-2 ' -hydroxydiphenyl ether) is a broad spectrum antimicrobial agent that is commercially available under the name MicrobanTM (Clinitex Corp.) and is suitable for use in the food industry.
• Antimicrobial gloves suitable for use in the food industry may be manufactured using a heat cutting process with a material that includes the following weight percentages of (a) a polyethylene resin, 36 to 98.4%, (b) ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) resin, 1.0 to 2.0%, (c) an antistatic agent (such as polyethylene glycol) , 0.3 to 1.0%, and (d) triclosan, 0.3 to 1.0%.
• a material that includes the following weight percentages of (a) a polyethylene resin, 36 to 98.4%, (b) ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) resin, 1.0 to 2.0%, (c) an antistatic agent (such as polyethylene glycol) , 0.3 to 1.0%, and (d) triclosan, 0.3 to 1.0%.
• EVA ethylene vinyl acetate
• the antistatic agent may be any suitable product that has been approved for use in the food industry, such as polyethylene glycol .
• the glove material includes 97.5% PE resin (weight percentage), 1.5% EVA resin, 0.7% antistatic agent, and 0.3% triclosan.
• the gloves may be formed using a conventional heat cutting process, such as described in Plastics Engineering Handbook, page 784-786 (Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc., 1976). The process is also known as heat bonding or heat seal stamping.
• a film is formed by a film blowing extrusion technique.
• a blow film type extruder having a circular die is used to produce a film having a thickness of less than 76.1 microns (0.003 inches) and greater than 38.1 microns (.0015 inches). Preferably, the thickness is 63.5 microns (0.0025 inches) to 76.2 microns (.003 inches) .
• This technique involves extrusion of polymeric compound fed through the circular die, followed by expansion, cooling, and collapsing of the blown bubble.
• the blown film is extruded through guiding devices into a set of pinch rolls which flatten it.
• the gloves are formed by heat cutting and thereby bonding two films of the glove material with a high speed roller/cutter.
• the preferred speed setting of the roller/cutter is selected based on the type of film material being used, the required seam strength of the glove, and the thickness of the film.
• the polymer is polyethylene (PE) .
• PE polyethylene
• a conventional heat cutting process for manufacturing gloves provides an inexpensive and high volume method of manufacturing PE gloves having an antimicrobial agent throughout .
• the heat cutting process with PE as the polymer results in a glove which meets industry requirements in a cost effective way.
• the gloves provide effective antimicrobial protection, meeting all applicable federal regulations. During use, as the antimicrobial agent at the surface of the material wears off, the agent in the material migrates to the surface to provide continued- protection.

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• 1998
  • 1998-04-15 US US09/060,053 patent/US5993839A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
• 1999
  • 1999-04-15 WO PCT/US1999/008284 patent/WO1999052362A1/en active Application Filing
  • 1999-04-15 AU AU36461/99A patent/AU3646199A/en not_active Abandoned

Patent Citations (2)

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