Electrically conductive footwear

Claim 2

An article of manufacture which comprises footwear characterized by electrically conductive properties to prevent the accumulation of static charge on the footwear by the user thereof in a hazardous environment, which footwear includes as a bottom floor-contacting portion a thin, flexible, nonwoven, cellulosic fibrous sheet material containing from about 20% to 55% by weight of the sheet material of a polymeric nonskid binding agent for the fibers, and impregnated generally uniformly therethrough with an electrically conductive amount of from about 2% to 20% by weight of the sheet material of an electrically conductive particulate material.

Claim 3

The article of claim 1 wherein the conductive particulate material comprises finely-divided carbon-black particles, aluminum silicate particles, graphite fibers, metal particles, and combinations thereof.

Claim 4

The article of claim 1 wherein the nonwoven, sheet material comprises a nonwoven cellulosic paper sheet having a thickness of from about 1 to 12 mils in thickness.

Claim 5

The article of claim 1 wherein the binding agent for the fibrous sheet material comprises a natural or synthetic elastomeric material, thereby imparting nonskid properties to the thin, flexible sheet material.

Claim 6

The article of claim 1 wherein the thin, flexible sheet material is secured as a thin-strip sheet material to the bottom-floor-contacting portion of the footwear.

Claim 7

The article of claim 1 wherein the footwear is a disposable shoe cover adapted to be employed over the user's shoe for use in an operating room environment.

Claim 8

The article of claim 1 wherein the conductive particulate material has a particle size of less than about 40 millimicrons.

Claim 9

The article of claim 1 wherein the conductive particulate material is carbon black which has a nitrogen surface area of from about 100 to 1200 square meters/gram.

Claim 10

The article of claim 1 wherein the conductive particulate material comprises carbon black and the binding agent is a styrene-butadiene, acrylic or polyacrylonitrile polymer.

Claim 11

The article of claim 1 wherein the sheet material includes a polymeric coating to improve the oil resistance or conductivity of the article.

Claim 12

The article of claim 1 wherein the sheet material has been calendered after impregnation of the electrical conductive particulate material.

Claim 13

The article of claim 1 wherein the sheet material has a resistance of less than 30,000 ohms per inch.

Claim 14

A foot cover having antistatic and electrically conductive properties adapted to be worn in an environment, such as an operating room, over regular shoeware of a user, which foot cover comprises a shoe-encompassing portion and which has secured to the bottom-floor-contacting portion of the foot cover a thin, flexible layer of a nonwoven, paper sheet material, the fibers of the paper sheet bonded together with a polymeric binding agent, and which paper sheet material contains from about 2% to 20% by weight of a particulate carbon-black material having a particle size of from 25 to 35 millimicrons and a nitrogen surface area from 100 to 1200 square meters/gram, the carbon-black material generally uniformly distributed throughout the depth of the sheet material.

Claim 15

A foot cover having antistatic and electrically conductive properties adapted to be worn in an environment, such as an operating room, over regular shoeware of a user, which foot cover comprises a shoe-encompassing portion and which has secured to the bottom-floor-contacting portion of the foot cover a thin, flexible layer of a nonwoven, paper sheet material, the fibers of the paper sheet bonded together with a polymeric binding agent, and which paper sheet material contains from about 2% to 20% by weight of a particulate carbon-black material having a particle size of from 25 to 35 millimicrons and a nitrogen surface area from 100 to 1200 square meters/gram, the carbon-black material generally uniformly distributed throughout the depth of the sheet material.

Claim 16

The foot cover of claim 13 wherein the sheet material comprises from about 20% to 55% by weight of the sheet material of a natural or synthetic elastomeric, nonskid, oil-resistant, polymeric binding agent.

Claim 17

The foot cover of claim 13 which includes a polymeric electrically-conductive coating on the impregnated sheet material to improve the electrical conductivity of the sheet material.