WO1982003181A1

WO1982003181A1 - Face guard mount for helmets

Info

Publication number: WO1982003181A1
Application number: PCT/US1982/000324
Authority: WO
Inventors: Line Inc Pro; Robert Zide
Original assignee: Line Inc Pro
Priority date: 1981-03-17
Filing date: 1982-03-16
Publication date: 1982-09-30
Also published as: US4370759A; CA1182252A

Abstract

Shock absorbing mounts (22) for the face guard (21) of a helmet (20) having a substantially rigid shell and being connected to the shell allow substantial movements of the face guard relative to the helmet shell in response to forceful blows on the face guard (21). The mount protects the head of the wearer of the helmet from severe shocks and also prevents severe deformation of the helmet shell likely to crack it. The mount (22) can be installed at all points of attachment of the face guard (21) to the helmet (20) to provide a resilient anchorage for the face guard without loss of security.

Description

FACE GUARD MOUNT FOR HELMETS

Background of The Invention

A widely recognized and urgent need for safer athleti helmets, such as football and hockey helmets, exists a the present time and has not been satisfied by state of the art developments. Very serious and sometimes life-threaten¬ ing injuries continue to occur in games such as football due to shocks transmitted directly by the steel face guard to the rigid shell of the player's helmet. Brain concussion and spinal column injuries can result. Similar problems exist with hockey helmets, motorcycle helmets and the like.

Furthermore, when the connections between the face guard and^' helmet shell are rigid, or nearly rigid, stresses on the face guard are transferred directly to the helmet shell and can deform it, sometimes permanently, andean also crack the helmet shell which again can result in an injury to the athlete wearing the helmet.

It is also possible with state of the art helmets for the steel face guard to separate under impact from the helmet shell to which it is anchored by relatively rigid or unyieldingmeans, and such separation creates an obviously dangerous situation.

To a very limited extent, some structures have been devised in the prior art attempting to deal with the above deficiencies and problems, but as ^'yet nothing even approach- ing an adequate solution has been offered.

For example, in prior U.S. Patent 3,263,236 to Humph¬ rey, an improved connection or mounting for the face guard of a football helmet is disclosed which lessens to some degree the stress transmitted by the guard to the helmet shell and the shock transmitted to the shell when the guard receives a heavy blow. In the structures disclosed in this patent, however, the shock absorbing ability of the face guard mounting is derived entirely from the resiliency of the material from which the guard attaching or anchoring element is formed, such as a solid elastomer. There is no provision in the patented structure for any substantial displacement of the face guard relative to the helmet shell when the guard received an impact blow. Consequently, the face guard mounting is not very effective in isolating the helmet shell and the head of the wearer from severe shocks, as is accomplished quite effectivelywith the present inven¬ tion, in accordance with its main objective.

Additional United States Patents to Humphrey, namely. Patents 3,139,624; 3,729,746 and 4,086,664, possess a similar lack of shock absorbing capability, even though they do show improved connecting means between the face guard and helmet shell which resist separation of the guard from the shell and render it possible to raise the guard upwardly and away from the face of the wearer in emergency situations.

In contrast to the devices in the above—noted patents and in any known prior art, the present invention provides a simplified, economical, safe and higly efficient shock absorbing connector or mount between the rigid face ^"guard and the rigid shell of an athletic helmet which isolates the shell and therefore the head of the wearer from severe shocks resulting from impact blows delivered to the face guard. Without loss of anchoring ability, the mount of a face guard can yield under impact to allow substantial and sufficient relative movement between the face guard and helmet shell to effectively absorb the shock. The mount is constructed from components which exhibit a controlled plunger-likemovement under shock forces which in turnpermits controlled displacement of the face guard relative to the helmet shell followed by controlled return of the guard to

its normal position after the shock forces have been dissi pated and without permanentlydeforming ordamaging the hel met shell. The components of the mount by their nature ca be designed to vary the extent of face guard displacemen in accordance with variations in forces against the fac guard.

The shock absorbing face guard mount for helmet according to the invention possesses versatility in that i can be installed in various positions on the. helmet shell to absorb shocks transmitted in different directions, such as generally horizontally or generally vertically relative to the head of the wearer of the helmet.

Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent during the course of the following detailed description.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Eigure 1 is a side elevation of an athletic helmet face guard according to the invention.

Figure 2 is an enlarged exploded perspective view of the mount.

Figure 3 is an enlarged cross section through the mount taken on line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is an elevational view of a connecting strap element in a relaxed state. Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmentary cross section through the mount and associated elements taken on line 5-5 of Figure 1.

Figure 6 is a similar view depicting the operation of the face guard mount under an impact force. Figure 7 is a view similar to Figure 1 showing the invention applied to a hockey helmet.

Figure 8 is an enlarged horizontal section taken on line 8-8 of Figure 7. -4-

Detailed Description

Referring to the drawings in detail wherein like numerals designate like parts, there is shown in Figures 1 through 6 a football helmet having the customary substan- tially rigid exterior shell 20 to which the usual rigid face guard 21 is attached through the shockabsorbing mount 22 forming the main subject matter of this invention.

The shock absorbing mount 22 comprises an L-shaped anchor bracket 23 formed of molded nylon or like tough material and having a circular aperture 24 in its base web receiving an anchor screw 25 engaging- through a T-nut 26, held within a grommet 27, inserted in a provided opening in the helmet shell 20, Figures 5 and 6.- The other web of the anchor bracket 23 extends outwardly from the helmet shell and has a preferably rectangular aperture 28 formed therethrough adapted to receive two extension arms 29 of a strap element 30 formed of tough nylon or similar strong material. The arm extensions 29 have retainer heads 31 on their leading ends.

The shock absorbing mount further comprises a short length of cylindrical resilient tubing32, such as polyure- thane tubing, capable of serving as a shock absorbing spring element. At its longitudinal center, the tubing section has a transverse rectangular through opening 33 adapted to receive the extension arms 29, ^{^}and through which the re¬ taining heads 31 can be inserted.

The mount further includes a resilient clip 34 also formed of tough nylon or equivalent material and having beveled entrance faces 35 which can be cammed over the arms 29 when the latter are in parallel contracting relationship, the clip then engaging behind the retainer heads 31, as clearly shown in Figures 5 and 6. The strap element 30, when its arms 29 are draw together intoparallelism, assumes a substantially cylindri cal form and can embrace a rod portion 36 of the face guar 21, as shown in Figure 1. In this position, the stra element 30 becomes quite rigid and can embrace the rod por tion 36 of the guard tightly to support it in assemble relationship with the helmet shell.

The resilient tubing element 32 is held captive i the shock absorbing mount between the outwardly projectin web of anchor bracket 23 and shoulder formations 37 whic exist on the strap element 30 on opposite sides of th extension arms 29. These arms preferably have a somewha loose fit within the rectangular aperture 28.

When the cylindrical tubing section 32 is relaxed, Figure 5, as when there is no impact force on the face guard 21, its opposite sides are very close to or in light contact with shoulders 37 and the opposing outstanding web of bracket 23. As shown in Figure 6, when the face guard 21 receives an impact blow indicated by the arrow 38, the tubing section 32 can yield to the required extent to ab¬ sorb the shock of this blow, and in some cases will assume a completely flattened configuration against the outstanding web of bracket 23. The arms 29 at this time will move through the aperture 28 and with the clip 34 will be dis- placed well beyond the far side of the outstanding bracket web. In practice, the actual displacement allowed by the collapsing tubing section 32 can be 3/8ths of an inch more- or-less depending upon the relative sizes of the components of the shock absorbing mount.

When the mountmoving in thismanner with the connect¬ ed portion 36 of the face guard has sufficiently absorbed the shock force generated by the impact blow, its compon¬ ents will return automatically to their relative positions of Figure 5 as a result of the memory of the resilient tub¬ ing section. -6-

In addition to forming an effective shock absorber, the mounting is entirely free of sharp edges or exposed metal parts which could injure the helmet wearer or anothe person. The cylindrical spring form provided by tubing 5 section 32 is ideal from this safety standpoint, althoug in some cases alternate spring forms might be employed, such as wavy spring elements or solid rod-type elements formed of foam elastomer.

The shockabsorbing mount 22 in addition to provid- 10 ing for positive significant displacement of the face guard along the longitudinal axis of arms 29 under impact forces with aplunger-type operation also allows some lateral dis¬ placement or floating action of the face guard relative to the helmet shell 20 across the axis of the arms 29 due 15 to some inherent resiliency of the attaching loop element 30. Therefore, the.mounting can absorb shocks in multiple directions to a significant degree. This ability prevents distorting and cracking of the rigid helmet shell resulting from face guard impact.

20 While the mount 22 is shown on the helmet in Figure

1 in a certain inclined side position to accommodate the particular angle of the guard portion 36, it will be appre¬ ciated that the mount can be installed in any required lo¬ cation on the helmet to resist and absorb shock forces

25 directed along any axis. In the Figure 1 illustration, the top mount 39 for the face guard is a conventional prior art mount. In some cases, the shock absorbing mount 22 can also be used as a top mount for the face guard to absorb shocks in a vertical plane.

30 Another benefitof the mount 22 is that in emergency situations as where an athlete may have a serious head or neck injury requiring removal of the helmet with great care, the retainer clip 34 can easily be removed so that the loop element 30 canbe separated quickly from the bracket 23. This will release the face guard 21 so that it can b rotated upwardly away from the face and toward the top of the head.

Figures 7 and 8 show the invention applied to a typical hockey helmet 40 having a face guard 41 and side depending shell extensions 42. The guard 41 at each side thereof can have a short vertical slot 43 receiving an attaching loop element 44 substantially identical to the described loop element 30 and having the arms 29, retainer heads 31 and shoulder formations 37. The same retainer clip 34 and resilient tubing section 32 previouslydescribed are employed and function in the same manner. The anchor bracket 23 is secured by the screw 25 and T-nut 26 to the adjacent shell extension 42, Figure 8.

The invention is applicable to other types of helmets including motorcycle helmets. Its numberous advantages of the prior art should now be fully apparent to those skilled in the art.

The terms and expressions which have been employed herein are used as terms of description and notof limitation, and there is no intention, in the use of such terms and expres¬ sions, of excluding any equivalents o.f the features shown and described or portions thereof but it is recognized that var¬ ious modifications are possible within the scope of the invention claimed.

Claims

1.- . In a helmet, a substantially rigid helmet shell

(20), a substantially rigid face guard (21) for the helmet

(20), and a yielding shock absorbing mount (22) for the face guard (21) including an anchor element (23) attached to the shell (20), a connecting element (30) attached to the face guard (21) and being engaged movably with the anchor element (23), and a resilient shock absorbing element

(32) engaged betweenparts of the anchor (23) and connecting

(30) elements and yieldingly resisting movement of the con- necting (30) element in one direction relative to the anchor element (23) in response to an impact force on the face guard (21).

2. In a helmet as defined in Claim 1, and the connecting element (30) being adapted to yield across the path of movement of the connecting element (30) with respect to the anchor element (23).

3. In a helmet as .defined in Claim 1, and the anchor element (23) comprising a bracket having a wall pro¬ jecting outwardly from said shell (20) and said wall having an aperture (28), said connecting element .(30) comprising an element having a shankportion (29) adapted to reciprocate within said aperture (28), and means (31,34) to retain the connecting element (30) engaged movably with said anchor element (23) .

4. In a helmet as defined in Claim 3, and the last- named means (31,34) comprising a head (31) carried by the shank portion (29), and a clip (34)* detachably engageable with the shankportion (29) between said head (31) and said^' wall.

5. In a helmet as defined in Claim 3, and said shock absorbing element (32) comprising a tubing section der (37) of the connecting element (30) across the axis of said shank (29) and having a transverse through passage (33) receiving said shank (29) movably.

6. A shock absorbing mount for a helmet face guard (21) comprising a first attaching element (23) adapted for mounting on a helmet shell (20), a second attaching element (30) adapted for mounting on a helmet face guard (21) and being movably engaged with the first attaching element (23) for plunger-like reciprocation relative thereto, and a shock absorbing resilient element (32) held between opposing sur¬ faces of the first (23) and second (30) attaching elements.

7. A shock absorbing mount for. a helmet face guard as defined in Claim 6, and the shock absorbing resilient element (32) comprising a tube section having its longitudinal axis across the axis^' of movement of the second attaching element (30) .

8. A shock absorbing mount for a helmet face guard as defined in Claim 7, and the first attaching element (23) including a wall portion extending outwardly of a helmet shell (20) on which the first attaching element is mounted, the second attaching element (30) having a shoulder (37) in spaced opposed relationship to said wall portion and said tube section (32) being held between said shoulder (37) and wall portion (23) and collapsing yieldingly when the shoulder (37) moves toward the wall portion (23).

9. A shock absorbing mount for a helmet face guard as defined in Claim 8, and the second attaching element (30) comprising • a strap adapted to embrace a bar (36) of the face guard (21) and ^' including extensions (29) forming a reciprocatory shank, said wall portion (23) having an opening (28) receiving said shank (29) for plunger-like movement therein, and said tube section (32) having a trans¬ verse through passage (33) receiving said shank (29 )

^ _~f. r

10. A shockabsorbingmount for a helmet face guard as defined in Claim 9, and means (31,34) connecting said^' shank (29) releasably with said wall portion (23).

11. A shock absorbing mount for a helmet face guard as defined in Claim 6, and the shock absorbing resilient element (32) comprising a tubing section of resilient material.

12. A shockabsorbingmount for a helmet face guard as defined in Claim11, and said tubing section (32) having a transverse through passage (33) receiving said second attaching element (30).

13. A shockabsorbingmount for a helmet face guard as. defined in Claim 6, and said shock absorbing resilient element (32) having a transverse through passage (33) re- ceiving said second attaching element (30).

14. In a helmet as defined in Claim 1, and said resilient shock absorbing element (32) comprising a tubing section of resilient material.

15. In a helmet as defined in Claim 1, and said resilient shock absorbing element (32) having a transverse throughpassage (33) receiving said connecting element (30).