Patents

Puncture Evident Glove

World’s first puncture evident surgical glove with an ingenious, patented hidden indicator that pops out to alert the surgeon of any compromise in the latex, such as due to a slip of the scalpel or any other puncture.  Studies show that immediately removing and scrubbing down after detecting a tear in the surgical glove reduces by up to 70% the chance of contagion from any blood borne pathogens.  The Habley glove costs just 15% more than the average premium surgical glove.  Available in all materials, including latex and nitrile.

Habley Medical Technology Corporation, a world leader in innovative medical devices, has developed the Puncture-Evident Surgical Glove, a revolutionary new patented glove technology to alert doctors instantly to punctures, holes, leaks and tears in gloves. The ingenious design of the Habley Puncture-Evident Surgical Glove does not involve any electronics, wires, liquid or non-standard materials. Instead, a section of the glove itself located on the back of the hand, called the Alert™ balloons out immediately if there is a leak or tear anywhere in the glove. The Alert™ is immediately obvious both to the surgeon wearing the glove and to anyone else in the operating theatre.

NOTE: The Habley Puncture-Evident glove technology is adaptable to any type of glove, latex or non-latex.

The Habley Puncture-Evident Surgical Glove works wet or dry. The Alert™ works whether or not the glove is on the hand, so the surgeon can check the Alertª to see if the glove has been compromised before even putting it on. There is no delay between tear and alert: the Alert™ balloons out immediately. Most importantly, the Alert™ is located in a single place on the glove, prominently on the back of the hand. No matter where on the glove a tear or pinhole occurs under the palm, on a fingertip, back under the wrist the Alert™ instantaneously balloons out, warning the wearer and everyone else.

NOTE: The indicator bulb is purposely made LARGER for purposes of this prototype model. In actual production gloves the bulb can be made very, very small, but large enough for quick and easy visual detection of a compromise in the glove integrity.

The Habley Puncture-Evident Surgical Glove looks and wears normally. There is no tightness or loss of tactile feel. There are no special or unusual materials.

If the glove is uncompromised (leak-free), the Alert™ is designed to lie flat. The glove is safe to use.

If the glove integrity is compromised, by a tear of any sort, caused by a needle, scalpel or anything else, the Alert™ balloons out.

If the glove is compromised (leak, hole or tear), the Alert™ instantaneously balloons out. No matter where on the glove the leak or tear occurs, the Alert™ balloons out, warning the wearer instantly.

The change is obvious to everyone.

The process by which the puncture evident glove is manufactured is neither labor intensive nor expensive, and is easily adaptable to any glove manufacturing process, for both latex and non-latex gloves. The end cost of a puncture evident glove is only approximately 15% higher than a standard premium glove.

The Habley Puncture evident glove is covered by three United States patents, with corresponding patent protection worldwide:

Each patent link will take you to the full patent on the official USPTO site.  To return to the Habley website, just click BACK on your browser.

U.S. Patent # 6,145,130
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U.S. Patent # 5,911,848
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U.S. Patent #5,619,752
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