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HAND-ARM
VIBRATION SYNDROME |
Development
of the AntiVib Air Bladder
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| An idea for an antivibration glove is born |
| The idea for the AntiVib air
bladder was born in April 1993. Dr.'s Douglas Reynolds and Thomas Jetzer were USA
delegates to the ISO TC 108/SC 4 meeting in London, England. ISO/DIS 10819 on
antivibration gloves was one of the agenda items at the meeting. Dr.'s Reynolds and Jetzer
discussed issues related to anti- vibration gloves during one of their lunch
breaks. They postulated that if it were possible to place a thin layer of air in a glove
between the hand and a vibrating tool handle, the glove could be designed and constructed
to meet the ISO and ergonomic requirements for a comfortable fitting antivibration glove. |
Dr.'s Douglas Reynolds (l) and Thomas Jetzer (r) at the Lucky
Spot Restaurant in London, England, where the idea for the AntiVib air bladder was born. |
| Concepts for a vibration-reducing air bladder are
formulated |
| After returning to the US
from the ISO meeting, Dr.'s Reynolds and Jetzer formed a business partnership in June 1993
to begin development of the air bladder technology that would ultimately become the
AntiVib air bladder. They continued their initial analyses of the ergonomic, medical, and
engineering issues associated with developing an antivibration glove that used an air
bladder as its vibration-damping element. They developed the basic concepts for a vibration-reducing air bladder and filed their
first patent application in December 1994. ErgoAir, Inc. opened its doors in Las Vegas,
Nevada, in December 1994 as a Nevada corporation, and their second patent application was
filed in December 1995. |
| New business relationships are established |
| ErgoAir, Inc. looked for business partners that could help
them to transform the concepts associated with a vibration-reducing
bladder into a glove that would meet the requirements of ISO
Standard 10819 to be classified as an antivibration glove. Two business
partners joined the team. The first partner was Dielectrics
Industries of Chicopee, Massachusetts, USA. Dielectrics Industries is a
developer of air bladder technology and a manufacturer of air bladder products.
Dielectrics had the ability to design and develop the precision tooling that would be
necessary to manufacture an air bladder that could be used in an antivibration glove. The
second partner was Impacto Protective Products
of Belleville, Ontario, Canada. Impacto Protective Products is a manufacturer of
ergonomically designed industrial safety products. Impacto had already completed some work
on the design and manufacturing of a vibration-reducing glove with an air-impregnated
polymer rubber material. |
| The AntiVib air bladder is developed |
Air bladder with weld points and weld lines |
The
development of an air bladder for use in antivibration gloves and its related technology
began in earnest with the establishment of the business relationships between ErgoAir,
Dielectrics, and Impacto. A flexible, thin-film, thermoplastic air bladder with parallel
tubular cells was first tried. This configuration was abandoned because the bladder curled
up when it was inflated. The configuration that was finally adopted was a flexible,
thin-film, thermo-plastic air bladder with a quilted pattern of weld points and with weld
lines that corresponded to the flex lines of the hand. This bladder remained flat in the
areas of the weld points when inflated, while bending at the flex lines of the hand. |
| A glove with the AntiVib air bladder is tested |
| The development of the AntiVib® air bladder and related technology
continued from the beginning of 1995 through the fall of 1997. Finally, in late fall 1997,
the ImpactoTM Air GloveTM
with the AntiVib® air bladder
was ready to be tested per the procedures specified in ISO Standard 10819 for
certification as an antivibration glove. The Air Glove was first tested in October 1997 at
the Center for Mechanical & Environmental Systems Technology (CMEST) at the University
of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA. It passed. It was
then tested for European CEN certification as an antivibration glove in November 1997 at
Delta Acoustics & Vibration (Delta) in Lyngby, Denmark. It
passed. Finally, the Air Glove was tested in April 1998 at the
Berufsgenossenschaftliches Institut fur Arbeitssicherheit (BIA) in Sankt Augustin,
Germany. It passed. BIA is the European
laboratory at which the test procedures in ISO Standard 10819 were developed. To date, the
Air Glove is the only antivibration glove that has been tested at BIA that has met the
requirements of ISO Standard 10819 to be certified as an antivibration glove. |
Vibration testing of the Air Glove at CMEST in the US |
Vibration testing of the Air Glove at Delta in Denmark |
Vibration testing of the Air Glove at BIA in Germany |
| Antivibration Gloves with the AntiVib air bladder are
manufactured and marketed |
| After the Air Glove with the AntiVib® air bladder had passed the ISO
test for CEN certification as an antivibration glove, it was ready to go to market. In
April 1998, the first production run of AntiVib®
air bladders was completed at Dielectrics Industires. The bladders were then shipped to
Impacto Protective Products where production and marketing of gloves with the AntiVib® air bladder was ready to begin. Gloves
with the AntiVib® air bladder are marketed by
ErgoAir under the AntiVib® trade name and by
Impacto Protective Products under the Air Glove trade name. |
ErgoAir®, Inc. Hand-arm Vibration Technical Information
Copyright © 1998, ErgoAir®, Inc
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