Disposable Gloves

• What Are Gloves Made Of?
• Latex Allergies
• All About Glove Powder
• Food Gloves and Typhoid Mary
• Benefits of a Good Glove Fit
• Latex Allergy Symptoms
• Hygiene Tips for Food Service Gloves
• Student Lab Gloves
• Disposable Gloves and H1N1
• Disposable Gloves Manufacturing
• Guide for Choosing the Proper Glove
• Safety Tips for Tattoo Artists

Vinyl, nitrile and latex glove manufacturing remind the observer somewhat of the colonial candle stick making with its stages of dipping, dripping and drying

Typically, a disposable glove factory will be tooled with 10,000 or more of “formers” which are dummy hand shapes. They are first passed through a pure water rinse, then introduced to acid and alkaline baths for neutralizing the surfaces before a final brushing and rinsing.

The cleaned glove forms are then dipped into a coagulant tank containing calcium nitrate and calcium carbonate. This coating will allow the finished gloves to peel easily from the forms at the end of the manufacturing process.

Forms then spend two minutes in a warm oven before being dipped into a tank of either latex, vinyl or nitrile compounds. Then they are cooled to 85 degrees and are “dripped”, making for an even glove surface.

The gelling process, which is a curing stage, takes place next in a 210 to 250 degree oven.

The forms and their adhering gloves are then “leached” in warm water tanks for two minutes. This is in order to remove excess free latex proteins or compound residues. The glove cuffs are then rolled in a process called “beading” which serves to vulcanize the gloves, increasing their flexibility and durability. A second “leaching” follows the beading step.



If gloves are to be powdered, this is the stage where they are passed through a wet powder slurry and then dried.

All gloves are then rapidly and expertly removed from their forms in a process called “stripping”. Done entirely manually, plant employees remove about 12,000 gloves in 45 mintues. The product is now ready for testing and packaging.