What does Graham Nash, the legendary rock musician, have to do with gloves?

The answer is rather simple and goes back to his days when he also pioneered digital print formats based on his passion for photography. Those were the days when digital format began to overtake conventional photographic processing.

I should also mention that this is not a typical post about glove suggestions or solutions but a bit more about some of my personal history with gloves and our ESD Anti-Static Gloves that I mentioned in my previous post. However, for those of you who enjoy a bit of nostalgia, then you will enjoy learning more about my introduction with Graham. I do fun posts like this on my Blog relating to my history with gloves about twice a year and I know my subscribers enjoy these stories based on the replies I receive.

Legendary rockers Crobsy, Stills, Nash & Young perform Tuesday, March 7, 2000, at Reunion Arena in Dallas. Band members are, from left, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, Neil Young and David Crosby. (AP Photo/Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Samuel Morales)

As most everyone in the world knows, Graham Nash is famously known as one of the founders of the popular UK rock group “The Hollies” in the 60’s and later came to fame as one of the founders of the famous rock group, “Crosby, Stills and Nash” later named “Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young” when Neil Young joined the group. He also produced some music as a solo artist which clearly exhibited his unique style and originality. For instance, I recall visiting an old dear friend of mine, Carlos Santarelli, at Lafayette University in Pennsylvania in the 70’s, over a very “fun” weekend and he was playing some new songs in his dorm room and I asked…. “Who was that playing… it’s nice”? He said, “Graham Nash, you know him, right?”  I said yes and was surprised to learn that Graham ventured out on his own at the time.

I met Graham during a PMA photographic imaging trade show in 1991 in New York City while we were exhibiting our popular photo lab and special anti-static gloves. Those were the days when photographic processing was routinely done in photo labs, but that process was rapidly transforming to digital processing.

As I learned, Graham was there lecturing on his pioneering technology of large-scale digital graphics image printing. He is also the founder of Nash Editions, which is still a leading digital print company located in Southern California. As a matter of fact, his first digital printer and one of its first published works – Nash’s 1969 portrait of David Crosby – have been in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

After he introduced himself and his business partner, Mac Holbert, to me, which was a bit of a shock at first, he was intrigued by our ESD Anti-Static Gloves. I provided him with the technical aspects, and he was also fascinated by our imitation hand glove prop that featured someone wearing our ESD Anti-Static glove.

He was a very congenial man which was nice to experience, and he asked me if he could borrow my gloved hand prop for a photo exhibit he was entering. I agreed if he returned it as soon as he was finished with his project.

He personally returned the glove prop and thanked me. I learned the next day that the image he made of our glove prop was prominently featured in a special event during the trade show and I believe he even won an award for the image.

As a matter of fact, his photo image even made the cover of the DIGIT magazine, which was one of the first magazines to pioneer the new digital age in photography. He was even quoted by the editor about the glove pop as someone was setting up the shoot for an advertisement and he asked them, “Can you lend me a hand?” Hence, our gloves were the backdrop for the use of his technology.

His image of our glove prop which was featured on the cover of this magazine is the image in this post. I also have a signed copy of the actual image in our offices. His company also became a customer of our special gloves.

I had the pleasure to meet Graham again after this show since he often attended some subsequent photo imaging shows and he would always stop by our exhibit to say hello.

Thank you for subscribing,

Joe McGarry

The Glove Guru

All-Day ESD High Performance (Anti-Static) Static Dissipative Gloves

These high performance Anti-Static gloves were one of my first patented glove inventions going back to 1991. In November of 1991, I proclaimed when we introduced these new ESD gloves “that we will change static control procedures at the stroke of a hand”. This claim eventually became true.

FYI: ESD stands for electrostatic discharge.

Our ESD Gloves were also made famous by the legendary rock musician Graham Nash. See footnote.

The basis of the concept was initiated by an unusual question from one of my photo glove dealers from England during a trade show in Las Vegas at a photo industry trade show.

For those of you who enjoy a bit of nostalgia, at this time we were largest manufacturer and supplier in the world of special lint-free knit glove liners that photographic professionals and photo labs used in handling photo films and prints. I’m sure many of you remember the days of those one-hour photo mini-labs that dotted the landscape and local pharmacies around the world. We still sell these gloves today but to a limited number of users that deal with handing delicate photographic prints and precious artwork since the world has since gone digital.

Being a large dealer in the UK and EU markets with our photo gloves and knowledgeable about photographic processing pitfalls, my dealer mentioned that he wished I could make an anti-static glove model to remove static charges from films to help eliminate the films from attracting dust and lint due to the high build-up of static on the films during the drying process. This was because the dust and lint particles left white specs on the finished photo images and prints.  The only other option at the time was to use special and very expensive anti-static brushes. However, having a glove like our photo liners that protected processors from leaving fingerprints and hand oils on the photographic negatives as well as remove the static build-up at the same time would be extremely useful and practical.

To make a long story short and due to my creative instincts, I set out to the local university engineering libraries to learn what I could about static and how to deal with it. The fortunate issue was that I live in an area of the country that hosts many computer manufacturing companies that must deal with static problems with static sensitive computer chips and computer boards.

My biggest challenge was to find a company that could make me a semi-conductive fiber that I could knit into a thin 13-gauge glove. I originally found a fiber made in Pennsylvania made with a carbon compound that was effective, but the fiber broke down quickly due to flexibility when knit into a glove making them useless over time.

My next prototypes were made using a silver coated fiber but they were too expensive and too conductive for the type of static control flow that I was seeking.

After extensive research, I eventually found a company in Asia that could coat my thin nylon 6/6 fibers with a special copper semi-conductive solution and the rest is history.

Today, we sell our ESD Gloves world-wide, and we help many manufactures and users with the following applications:

Our ESD Gloves are ideal for handling delicate static sensitive parts, films, electronic instruments, circuit boards and components. Assembly and repair work in electronics, telecommunications, precision instrumentation and optics, etc. Video film handling and motion picture industry. They are also a vital component used in the Electrostatic painting, powder coating, and petrochemical industry.

For those of you looking for a superior Anti-Static ESD glove that meets your criteria see the points below.

Unique Electro-Static Properties

  • Patented continuous filament fiber
  • Greater static dissipation
  • Contains no carbon compound fibers
  • No surface chemical finishes or treatments
  • Reduces static build-up by corona discharge
  • Complete uniform resistivity throughout entire glove
  • Built-in writs strap properties

Unequaled Comfort and Design

  • Ultra-thin, lightweight and close fit
  • More resilient and flexible than cotton
  • Eliminates finger prints and scratches
  • Comfortable to wear all day
  • Reduces clamminess, perspiration and sweating
  • Ends allergic reactions and rashes from latex
  • Can also be used as a glove liner
  • Universal size – One size fits all
  • Ambidextrous
  • Offers natural sensitivity, flexibility, dexterity and less bulk
  • Dust free, continuous filament yarn (not spun)
  • Breathable knit and seam-free construction

Economical

  • Built-in writs strap properties
  • Durable
  • Universal size
  • Reusable/Washable
  • Wear all day

Typical Specifications

  • Average surface resistivity: <104 Ohms/Sq.
  • ASTM D 257 specification, Class I – Category A
  • Static decay: 5 KV to 0 V = <0.1 sec.

I hope that this synopsis has been helpful to learn more about the evolution of these superior anti-static ESD gloves and provides the technical information you need to help select the proper ESD glove for your particular use.

As a footnote, I will soon be posting a brief about what the legendary rock musician, Graham Nash, has to do with our All-Day ESD Anti-Static gloves. Stay tuned, it’s an interesting story.  

Link to: All-Day ESD Antistatic Gloves

Thank you for subscribing,

Joe McGarry

That Glove-Guru