Protective helmet
OwnerAlbert E Strausinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A protective helmet of the type used in football has an external soft elastomer layer to absorb/dissipate some of the energy of an impact. Other features include a quick disconnect face guard, carbon fiber face guard with Kevlar wrap at junction points, a soft foam inner shell inside the intermediate hardened shell, and a head fitting structure including a plurality of pads, visco-elastic cells and at least one inflatable bladder. In addition, the hardened shell may be formed as a lattice frame of strips having a plurality of fibers impregnated with resin. The resin may have a dye added that will indicate if and where an impact exceeding a predetermined value is incurred by the helmet to assist a physician in diagnosing a possible head trauma injury.
Claims15
A helmet for protecting a head of a user comprising:
- a) a hardened shell having an inside surface and an outside surface;
- b) an outer layer comprising an elastomeric cellular, foam material having an integral inner skin and an integral outer skin, said foam material having physical characteristics which cause it to absorb energy from an impact with another object and rapidly and fully recover to absorb energy from the next impact, said outer layer mounted on said hardened shell so that said inner skin is adjacent said outside surface of said hardened shell;
- c) connection means for securing a face mask to said hardened shell, said connection means additionally securing said outer layer to said hardened shell.
A helmet for protecting the head of a user comprising:
- a) a hardened shell having an inside surface and an outside surface;
- b) a face guard;
- c) means for securing said face guard to said hardened shell including a removable side plate installed on each side of said helmet,
- d) quick release mechanism securing said removable side plate and said face guard to said hardened shell, said quick release mechanism including a first inner lug and a second outer lug, said second outer lug having a central finger bar permitting its rotation without use of another tool, whereby when said quick release mechanism is disengaged, said side plate and said face guard are removed from said hardened shell.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.