US 5,315,718 AGranted

Protective helmet and retention system therefor

AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army

InventorsJohn V. Barson, Roger J. Croft

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Abstract

A protective helmet has a fitting and retention system which allows for fing a variety of head sizes and shapes with a single helmet size and also allows for precision reproducible fitting for a repeat user. The protective helmet has an energy-attenuating liner comprising a brow pad, a crown pad and a floating occipital pusher plate. The pusher plate hangs from the rear of the helmet on adjustable straps which are tensioned to urge the wearer's head forward toward the front of the helmet. This ensures that weapon sighting/designation systems are consistently aligned each time the helmet is worn. This feature also allows the helmet to accommodate a variety of head sizes and shapes. Pusher plate movement is preferably controlled using a parallel arrangement of two horizontal straps in which the lower strap is adjusted as part of the chinstrap assembly while the upper strap routed through a slot in the helmet shell and coupled to a device which simultaneously tensions the pusher plate and the ear cups.

Claims8

Dependent claims

A protective helmet comprising:

(a) a helmet shell having a slot on either side to permit passage through it of a strap;
(b) one releasable strap tensioning means on either side of the helmet shell;
(c) two ear cups, each suspended on opposite sides of the helmet shell from an elastic strip placed substantially vertically and attached to the inside surface of the helmet shell at upper and lower fixing points;
(d) a chin strap assembly;
and
(e) an energy-attenuating liner for the helmet shell which includes a brow pad;
at least one crown pad comprising a layered composite of expanded polyethylene and open cell foam in substantially rectangular shape which extends from the anterior cranial region to the posterior cranial region of a wearer's head, having major curvature in the saggital plane and lesser curvature in the coronal plane, and having a maximum width that permits air flow around the sides of a wearer's head for ventilation;
and a floating occipital pusher plate suspended from the inside rear aspect of the helmet shell on adjustable strap means, said floating occipital pusher plate being operable to urge a wearer's head towards the front of the helmet on tensioning the adjustable strap means;
wherein said adjustable strap means comprises an arrangement of two substantially horizontal straps on either side of the helmet shell consisting of an upper and a lower strap, the lower strap on either side being part of the chin strap assembly and the upper strap on each side being routed to the exterior of the helmet through its respective slot in the helmet shell where it is coupled to the releasable strap tensioning means.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.