Tinted plastic lens for eye protecting devices
AssigneeScott USA, Inc.
InventorsRobert Youmans, David T. Robrahn
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A goggle has a replaceable plastic lens mounted in a flexible frame containing several air vents for passing external air through the goggle interior. The lens is formed of thermoplastic materials to provide spherical and cylindrical versions of the lens. The thermoplastic resins incorporate dyes which tint the lens to create a transmission curve with a broad flattened peak above a 50% transmission level and steep slopes to couple with the response characteristics of the rods of the human eye retina so as to improve contrast in very low light conditions such as night skiing under artificial light. Inlet and outlet air vents are covered by porous foam to reduce fogging in an outdoor environment.
Claims26
An eye protecting device for low light conditions comprising:
- a frame having sections surrounding a wearer's face including a frame mounting portion,
- a plastic lens formed of a thermoplastic resin and mountable in the frame mounting portion in spaced relation in front of the wearer's face,
- the thermoplastic resin incorporating dye material to tint the plastic lens to transmit variable amounts of light over a range of wavelengths between 400 nm and 700 nm, the tinted plastic lens having a transmission curve with a steep rising slope extending to a flattened top having a range of at least 100 nm and over 50% transmission, the flattened to extending to a steep falling slope of less than 100 nm followed by a flattened valley of less than 20% transmission to thereby improve contrast for a wearer in low light conditions.
A goggle for low light conditions comprising:
- a replaceable plastic lens formed of a thermoplastic resin and containing mounting projections,
- a frame having sections surrounding a wearer's face including a lens mounting portion for mating engagement with the mounting projections to replaceably mount the lens in spaced relation in front of the wearer's face to define an interior space,
- the plastic lens having a tint producing a transmission curve for visible light with an average transmission through the lens above 30% and a flattened top of greater than 50% transmission for a range of wavelengths between 400 nm and about 570 nm to create a dome shape, the flattened top being followed by a steep falling slope which falls to a flattened valley below 20% transmission for wavelengths above the steep falling slope.
A plastic lens member for low light conditions, wherein
- the lens member is formed of a thermoplastic resin which incorporates dye material to tint the lens to produce a transmission curve for visible light over a range of wavelengths between 400 nm and 700 nm,
- the transmission curve having a dome shape of greater than a 50% transmission for a first range of wavelengths between 400 nm and about 570 nm followed by a steep falling slope for a second range of wavelengths of less than 100 nm followed by a flattened valley of less than 20% transmission to improve contrast for low levels of visible light passing through the lens member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.