LED illuminated protective headwear

Abstract

Protective headwear having at least a hard-shell outer layer and a protective shock absorbing layer includes at least one LED illumination arrangement fitted into recesses in the protective layer and visible through an at least partially transparent area of the hardtop shell in any desired pattern or combination of lighting elements, the illumination arrangement including an optical member which serves to optically increase the viewing angle and at the same time deflect or distribute the force of impacts away from the LED and thereby decrease possible of LED penetration through the helmet and into the head of the wearer. A control circuit in the form of a multiple function integrated circuit controller in which the on/off times and sequences for individual LEDs is switchable, either by means of switches which can be operated by the wearer of the helmet, or during assembly by means of simple circuit components connected to appropriate input pins of the controller, so as to achieve any desired combination of special effects.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.