Eye protection device for headgear
AssigneeItech Sport Products Inc.
InventorJoe D. Hill
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An eyeshield removably attached to a headgear. The eyeshield manually rotates from a normal viewing position to an out of viewing position above the forehead by means of two sets of pivotal arms attached to a unique bistable tensioning pivotal mechanism. This mechanism applies tension to keep the eyeshield held firmly in place in the normal viewing position, and when the eyeshield is manually lifted toward the out of viewing position above the forehead, tension is applied in the reverse direction to keep the eyeshield held firmly in the out of viewing position. The position of the eyeshield may also be adjusted with respect to the face of the user.
Claims40
An eye protection device comprising an eyeshield pivotally connectable to a headgear by a pair of bistable tensioning pivotal mechanisms to position said eyeshield to an eye protection position of use and to a position of non-use away from the eyes of a wearer, each said mechanisms having a pair of pivotal arms pivotally connected at one end to a support base by a first and second pivot connection respectively, said support base being attachable to said headgear, each arm of said pair of pivotal arms having a free end pivotally connected to said eyeshield, said pivotal arms having a band engaging guide means secured to each said arm at a predetermined location with respect to a respective one of said first and second pivot connections and displaceable on an arc about said respective one of said first and second pivot connections, a single stretchable elastic band formed as a loop and disposed in tension about and between said band engaging guide means of said pair of pivotal arms to exert a pulling force in opposed directions to displace said arms in tandem between said position of use and non-use, and abutment means associated with said pair of pivotal arms to arrest said arms at said position of use and position of non-use.
An eye protection device, comprising in combination:
- (a) a headband adapted to engage the head of a user to support said eye protection device;
- (b) an optical eyeshield having a right side portion and a left side portion;
- (c) a first and second bistable eyeshield support rigidly connected to the right and left side portion respectively of said headband, each said bistable eyeshield support including:
- i. a base rigidly connected to a side portion of the headband,
- ii. an upper arm having an outer end pivotally connected to an upper point of said side portion of the eyeshield and an inner end pivotally connected to a first pivot point of said base,
- iii. a lower arm having an outer end pivotally connected to a lower point of said side portion of the eyeshield and an inner end pivotally connected to a second pivot point of said base, said second pivot point of said base being below said first pivot point of said base,
- iv. a low friction guide connected to a support point of said base rearward of said first and second pivot points thereof, below said first pivot point of said base, and above said second pivot point of said base,
- v. an elastic band having an upper segment engaging said low friction guide and an intermediate point of said upper arm, and a lower segment engaging said low friction guide and an intermediate point of said lower arm,
- the upper segment of said elastic band producing a first tensile force between said low friction guide and the intermediate point of said upper arm, the lower segment of said elastic band producing a second tensile force between said low friction guide and the intermediate point of said lower arm,
- portions of said elastic band moving around said low friction guide to the lower segment of said elastic band as the eyeshield is raised from a lower position of use to an upper position of non-use,
- portions of said elastic band moving around said low friction guide to the upper segment of said elastic band as the eyeshield is lowered from an upper position to said lower position,
- the first and second tensile forces being balanced by the movement of the portions of said elastic band around said low friction guide as the eyeshield moves from one of the lower and upper positions through a bistable point to the other of the lower and upper positions.
An eye protection device comprising an eyeshield pivotally connectable to a headgear by a pair of bistable tensioning pivotal mechanisms to position said eyeshield to an eye protection position of use and to a position of non-use away from the eyes of a wearer, each said mechanisms having a pair of pivotal arms pivotally connected at one end to a support base which is attachable to said headgear, each arm of said pair of pivotal arms having a free end pivotally connected to said eyeshield, spring biasing means secured to each said arm at a predetermined location with respect to a respective one of said first and second pivot connections, said spring biasing means exerting a pulling force in opposed directions to displace said arms in tandem between said position of use and non-use, abutment means associated with said pair of pivotal arms to arrest said arms at said position of use and position of non-use, said support base being adjustably secured to said headgear by a position adjusting mechanism whereby to cause relative displacement of said eyeshield with respect to a frontal position of said headgear.
A method of providing eye protection for a wearer of headgear comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing an attachable eyeshield with a bistable tensioning pivoting mechanism including pivotal arms having free ends connected to a support base in which the eyeshield alternatively has:
- 1) an eye-protecting position;
- and
- 2) a non-use position away from a user's line-of-sight;
- and
- (b) selectively mounting one of a plurality of different-strength, tensional elastic bands about free ends of the pivotal arms connected to said support base for providing a biasing force between alternate positions of use and non-use of said eyeshield.
An eye protection device comprising an eyeshield pivotally connectable to a headgear by a pair of bistable tensioning pivotal mechanisms to position said eyeshield to an eye protection position of use and to a position of non-use away from the eyes of a wearer, each said mechanism having a pivotal arm pivotally connected at one end to a support base which is attachable to said headgear, said pivotal arm having a free end connected to said eyeshield, said pivotal arm further having a first band engaging guide means secured at a predetermined location with respect to a pivot connection which secures said arm to said support base, said arm being displaceable on an arc about said pivot connection, a second band engaging guide means secured to said support base at a predetermined location with respect to said pivot connection, a stretchable elastic band formed as a loop and disposed in tension about and between both said band engaging guide means to exert a pulling force in opposed directions to displace said arms in tandem between said position of use and non-use, and abutment means to arrest said arm at said position of use and position of non-use.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.