The William Tompkins mitt of 1899

[mikesglove]

This clever design was invented by William Tompkins in 1899.

note the hook and eyelet back, crescent heel pad and sewn reinforcement in the pocket

I could not find any affiliation with a glove manufacturer. This mitt has a sewn perimeter and access to the padding was done through a laced opening in the palm of the mitt. My mitt below shows a somewhat later version with the adding of the buckle strap.

The mitt below from Bill Diebold's collection is a great example of the 1899 patent. I wanted this mitt badly and unfortunately it had already been spoken for.

An early mitt with the hook & eyelet back. The mitt has a fixed fastener between the thumb and body. It could be a riveted or a sewn connection. Some of these early mitts also had rigid laminated fiber band as an internal framework attached at the top of the mitt to hold the pocket in a fixed position. My research showed the use of cane as a rigid framework (both internal and external) in some early catchers mitts.

[Rickybulldog]

Very cool Mike T. Thanks for posting. The mitt in the patent doesn't have a thumb like a normal catcher's mitt which is pretty wild (all circular). I've seen one of those in person, but I don't remember if it had the lace up opening. It looks similar to those gloves boxing/MMA trainers use (Nowadays).

[mikesglove]

The rigid framework mentioned above is shown in this patent by Jason Draper (Draper & Maynard) in 1899. In fig. 2 the perimeter 1/2" band of material is rubber vulcanized with alternating layers of cloth. Fig. 3 shows a rivet connecting the thumb to the body of the mitt. All this as a means to keep a pocket formed.

note how the laminated band wraps around the thumb and body of the mitt and is held in place by rivets

[mikesglove]

thanks Ricky, I've seen some patents for boxing gloves along my research path for baseball gloves. I will check them out for similarities.
Mike