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14/07/2009
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Tom Shelley reports on prize winning health and safety innovations that rely upon advanced materials
 Gloves made of steel fabric, wipe down glass keyboards and plastic neck supports were amongst products winning awards for their developers at the recent Safety and Health Expo at Birmingham.
The gloves were the overall winner of the British Safety Industry Federation's Awards. Developed in London by Polyco, the gloves can resist cutting by the sharpest edges, but feel like conventional fabric to wear. Sarah Bridge, Polyco's deputy managing director, said development of the 'Metallica' gloves had taken six years.
John Lambeth, Polyco's industrial technical manager, noted the gloves resist a cutting force of 130N applied by a 'razor sharp' blade in an ISO cut test. This test involves measuring the force required to make a 20mm long cut in the test sample.
While the steel – an unidentified high tensile alloy steel – is important, Bridge noted: "It's not just the material, it has to do with the construction of the fabric." The company also makes protective gloves using other materials, including Kevlar aramid fibre and Dyneema, a polyethylene based fibre. But Bridge said: "Metallica is a definite order of magnitude better than Dyneema."
A range of applications is seen for the gloves -- including industrial blade replacement – but Bridge said the company is looking to incorporate the fabric into items of personal protective equipment and is exploring other possible applications.
The glass keyboard is notable not only for its robustness and the way it can can be wiped down for maximum hygiene, but also for its accurate response to light finger touch. An audible click is emitted when keys are touched.
It has an integrated track pad and, since the legends are printed on the underside of the glass, there is no possibility of the legends being erased. Measuring 368 x 149 x 16mm thick the keyboard has a USB interface and draws 400mA at 5V.
Meanwhile, Necprotech, engineered in ABS plastic, provides support to the back of the head for workers who have to look up constantly. The neck support has a ratchet system whose sides are squeezed together when it is necessary to release the ratchet and push the support down. It is available in the UK from JSP.
Design Pointers
* The cut proof gloves depend on the properties of high tensile steel in very fine wire form, knitted into a fabric
* The wipe down keyboards depend on the engineering properties of glass
* The neck protector depends on the properties of an engineering plastic.
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Author
Tom Shelley
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