Below is a hand glove showing the fourchettes.
The 19th century baseball glove below shows a one piece palm and one piece back joined by fourchettes. Note the finger seams on the front and back.
The "Plymouth" glove was developed in the Northeast in the early 1800's. The pattern features a one piece palm and finger segments on the back.
The design was wildly popular in its day and was the basis for many early baseball gloves. The main downside was the placement of the vulnerable finger seams toward the front of the glove.
Daniel Gunn had a solution to the finger seam problem of the Plymouth pattern with this 1888 patent. The back of the glove was one piece and the palm had a transverse seam across the middle two fingers. The finger stall seams were toward the back of the glove.
The reason for the transverse seam is evident in the patent drawing below. The first and pinky finger stalls were cut so full that there was no room to fit the middle two fingers in between and they had to be attached separately.
It is my belief that the Joseph Sauers patent glove of 1888 below was cut using the Gunn pattern.
In baseball terms, the down side to the Gunn pattern was the front transverse finger seam right near the pocket. The Sauer's design got around that by wrapping the front of the glove with chinchilla leather and padding. there were improvements to the Gunn patent through the years such as double stitching of the transverse seam. One novel idea came from George Gitt in 1908. His patent added a tongue or strap of leather to the transverse seam to better lock it in place.
below is an advertisment featuring his patent invention.
George Gitt was owner of The Hanover Glove Factory in Hanover PA. The company was established in 1848 and made all sorts of gloves, eventually even for sports. The Handball glove below was from a listing of the "http://www.antiqueathlete.com
The baseball glove below features the Gitt patent seam.
You can just make out the reinforcing strap poking out between the middle two fingers.
