Importance

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Abstract

A puncture evident surgical glove having an integral indicator by which to visually and instantaneously alert the wearer of the need to re-glove should the structural integrity of the glove be compromised by a tear or puncture that could expose the wearer to a contagious and potentially life-threatening disease. Outer and inner membranes are spaced from one another around the finger area of the glove to define a hermetically sealed air inlet path. The indicator is a flexible, hemispherically shaped fluid reservoir (e.g. bulb) that is sandwiched between the outer and inner membranes and adapted to have either a relaxed, inflated condition at which the indicator bulb is filled with air or a compressed, evacuated condition at which air is expulsed from the indicator bulb to the atmosphere. The indicator bulb in the aforementioned compressed, evacuated condition is representative of the fact that the structural integrity of the surgical glove is intact and devoid of a compromising puncture wound or tear. However, should the finger area of the glove be punctured or torn whereby the air inlet path between the outer and inner membranes communicates with the atmosphere, the indicator bulb will automatically recover from the compressed, evacuated condition to the relaxed, inflated condition so as to warn the wearer of the need to remove and discard his glove.

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First Claim