Disengageable helmet visor clamp
AssigneeHelmets Limited
InventorsAlan N. Jenkins, Michael Taylor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The mounting for a visor of a helmet comprises an arcuate track located at the side of the rigid headshell and centered on the visor axis, a shoe connected with the visor and movable along the track, a control element for moving the shoe and hence the visor and means for clamping the shoe to the track. Initial movement of the control element relative to the shoe serves to release the clamping means which may comprise rollers wedging between inclined surfaces of the shoe and the opposing track surface. The visor can be replaced by other helmet borne equipment.
Claims18
A protective helmet having
- (1) a rigid head shell,
- (2) optical means carried on the head shell for rotational movement into and out of the line of sight of the helmet wearer about an axis extending transversely of the head shell, and
- (3) a mounting for supporting the optical means on the head shell,
- characterized in that said mounting comprises:
- A. means defining an arcuate track fixed relatively to and located at a side of the head shell and centered on the rotational axis of the optical means;
- B. a shoe connected with the optical means for movement along the track concomitantly with said rotational movement of the optical means;
- C. disengageable clamping means reacting between the shoe and track to hold the optical means against unintentional rotational movement;
- D. a control element for said clamping means operable upon limited movement thereof relative to the shoe in either of two opposite senses to disengage the clamping means and free the shoe for movement along the arcuate track and thereby enable rotational movement of the optical means to be effected by further movement of the control element and upon cessation of such movement of the control element to enable reengagement of the clamping means;
- E. said clamping means comprising oppositely mutually spaced surfaces of the track and of the shoe, the shoe surface at opposite ends thereof being inclined towards the track surface in respective opposite senses;
- and
- F. wedging elements located between said spaced opposing surfaces of the shoe and the track and biased into engagement with the track surface and the respective inclined ends of the shoe surface.
A protective helmet having a shell, optical means mounted on the shell for adjustment about an axis extending transversely through the shell, disengageable latching means to releasably hold the optical means against unintended displacement from a selected position of adjustment, and means operable upon disengagement of the latching means to adjust the position of the optical means, said helmet being characterized in that:
- A. said latching means comprises means defining an arcuate track that is fixed with respect to the shell and has two uninterrupted smooth surfaces concentric to said axis;
- B. a shoe movable along said arcuate track, said shoe having a first surface slidably engaging one of said uninterrupted smooth surfaces of the track and a second surface in spaced opposing relation with the other of said uninterrupted smooth surfaces of the track,
- said second surface of the shoe being shaped to coact with said other surface of the track to define a pair of circumferentially spaced oppositely facing wedge-shaped spaces;
- C. wedging elements in said spaces;
- D. spring means yieldingly urging said wedging elements towards the narrow end of their respective wedge-shaped spaces, so that one of said wedging elements coacts with the surfaces it engages to hold the shoe against movement in one direction along the arcuate track while the other wedging element coacts with the surfaces it engages to hold the shoe against movement in the opposite direction;
- E. manually actuatable latch releasing means mounted to move with and with respect to the shoe and operable to selectively move either wedging element out of wedging coaction with the surfaces it engages to thereby free the shoe for movement in a selected direction along the track and then move the shoe in that selected direction;
- and
- F. means connecting the optical means with the shoe so that in one motion the latching means can be disengaged and the optical means moved to a selected position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.