Electrostatic Discharge Protection Garment

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

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.

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.

With reference now to the drawings, and in particular tothereof, a new anti-static garment embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeralwill be described.

As best illustrated in, the electrostatic discharge protection garmentgenerally comprises a shirtwith a body portionand a pair of sleeves. The body portionhas a bottom edge, and each of the sleeveshas a cuffand an elbow region. The shirtcomprises a fabricformed of a plurality of fiberswhich 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.

The plurality of fibersinclude a set of uncoated fibersand a set of coated fibers. The set of uncoated fibersis distributed across an entirety of the body portionand an entirety of each sleeve. Each uncoated fiberof the set of uncoated fiberscomprises a fiber materialand does not have an electrically conductive coatingsurrounding the fiber material. The set of coated fibersis embedded into the set of uncoated fibers, and each coated fiberof the set of coated fibersis in electrical communication with one or more uncoated fibersof the set of uncoated fibers. Each coated fiberof the set of coated fiberscomprises the fiber materialand a coatingwhich encloses the fiber material. The coatingof each coated fibercomprises silver but may comprise other electrically conductive materials. The set of coated fibersis configured to facilitate a dissipation of electrostatic charge from the set of uncoated fibersto an environment.

The fiber materialmay be any material suitable for forming textiles used in clothing. In particular, fiberswith 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 fabricis formed in a single layer but may include further layers in some embodiments. While the fabricis woven in the pictured embodiments, the fabricof other embodiments may be knitted or bonded through adhesives, thermal applications, felting, or the like.

In reference to, one embodiment includes the coated fibersbeing positioned in a plurality of zonesof the shirt. The plurality of zonesincludes a bottom band, a pair of cuff bands, and a pair of elbow portions. The bottom bandis positioned adjacent to and extends along an entirety of the bottom edgeof the body portionof the shirt. Each cuff bandof the pair of cuff bandsis positioned adjacent to and extends around the cuffof an associated one of the pair of sleeves. Each elbow portionof the pair of elbow portionsis positioned at the elbow regionof an associated one of the pair of sleeves. In reference to, another embodiment includes the coated fibersof the set of coated fibersare distributed across an entirety of the body portionand an entirety of each sleeveof the pair of sleeves.

In use, the user wears the shirt. Any electrostatic charge which is accumulated via the triboelectric effect or otherwise may be dissipated via the coatingof the coated fibersto the environment. This dissipation will typically occur more steadily and constantly than when the user wears another piece of clothing made of similar fiberswhich do not have the coatingdescribed. 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.