AU2018201607B2

AU2018201607B2 - Sports helmet with a protective pad

Info

Publication number: AU2018201607B2
Application number: AU2018201607A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Mark Benjamin David COMBES; Alan Michael George Meeks; Samuel Anthony MILLER
Original assignee: Masuri Group Ltd
Current assignee: Masuri Group Ltd
Priority date: 2015-02-04
Filing date: 2018-03-06
Publication date: 2018-11-22
Anticipated expiration: 2035-02-04
Also published as: WO2016124233A1; AU2015381317B2; NZ735153A; AU2015381317A1; AU2018201607A1

Abstract

Abstract The invention relates to a sports helmet (1) and a face guard (2) attached to said helmet (1), said face guard (2) having a cage type construction of 5 interconnected struts (3, 4) capable of surrounding and protecting at least the front and sides of the jaw of a wearer (20), where a protective pad (5) is provided with attachment means (10, 17) for securely attaching said protective pad (5) to said struts (3) of the face guard (2). The protective pad (5) can be provided with hexagonal openings (11) and one or more of the hexagonal 10 openings (11) are filled with an impact absorbent crush foam. The invention also relates to a protective pad (5) configured for use in connection with a sports helmet (1).

Description

SPORTS HELMET WITH A PROTECTIVE PAD

The invention relates to a sports helmet and a face guard attached to said helmet, said face guard having a cage type construction of interconnected struts capable of surrounding and protecting at least the front and sides of the jaw of a wearer.

The invention further relates to a protective pad for a sports helmet, which protective pad is connected to the faceguard of the helmet.

The present invention relates to the field of protective sports equipment for providing facial protection especially in connection with ball sports. Most particularly, the present invention relates to a sports helmet with a face guard having a cage type construction of interconnected struts to which a protective pad can be connected.

Background:

Face guards of various types are known. Many designs of face-guards have been suggested for use in connection with ball sports or sports in which a projectile such as a puck or a ball is in play. A cage type face guard for use in connection with a helmet is known from WO 2012/104389 A1, which shows a helmet with a face guard made from a frame of relatively rigid wire elements extending around and/or in front of the face of the wearer. Such cage type face guards are often made from longitudinal struts connected together into a frame having a suitable rigidity to offer the wearer sufficient protection from impact of a projectile such as a ball or a puck in flight.

The purpose with this type of face guard is to provide sufficient protection and at the same time give the wearer sufficient mobility to move in order to play the game with no essential limitations

From BRMU8802485U a flexible insert for a helmet with a protective piece for protecting the nape of the neck is known. Here the protecting piece is integral with the flexible insert by an elongate member.

From US8505113 BB a combat helmet is known to which helmet a ballistic armoured component attaches to the existing retention straps of common combat helmets and provides protection to the otherwise exposed lower skull and upper neck region. The protection is provided by a fabric covering containing a soft armour or hard armour insert, and is mounted by straps or other fasteners to existing straps found in conventional helmets. The armoured component is intended for adding additional protection from ground level or subterranean munitions. The fabric shell may also be connected directly to the helmet shell, to allow the component to withdraw within the helmet when the wearer's neck is flexed rearwardly.

In relation to sports helmets especially used in games like hockey, polo and cricket, helmets are used in order to avoid injuries in the head region caused by a puck or a ball during game as discussed above.

Experience has shown that other regions of the head apart from the face can be injured during these games. It has been discovered that the back of the head in some situations during game can be hit by a projectile such as a ball or a puck in flight and that impact from a ball or a puck in the back of the head can lead to fatal injuries.

Even if the wearer in some conditions would try to duck in order to avoid the ball or puck by reflexes, it is different with a ball or puck coming from the rear since you may not have noticed the ball or puck at all. It is also very likely that the player will have seen the ball coming and in his attempt to deal with the ball has moved into a position where the back of the head is exposed.

Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles or the like which has been included in the present specification is not to be taken as an admission that any or all of these matters form part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present disclosure as it existed before the priority date of each of the appended claims.

Summary of the invention

Throughout this specification the word "comprise", or variations such as "comprises" or "comprising", will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps, but not the exclusion of any other element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps.

According to a first aspect, the present invention provides a method of protecting a rear portion of a head or neck of a sportsperson, the method comprising the steps of providing a sports helmet having an attached face guard, said face guard having a cage type construction of interconnected struts capable of surrounding and protecting at least the front and sides of the jaw of a wearer; and a neck protection pad having a first end and a second end, and attaching the first end of the neck protection pad to a first part of a faceguard of the helmet and attaching the second end of the neck protection pad to a second part of the faceguard, and causing the neck protection pad to extend rearwardly of the faceguard around the back of the head at nape level.

The present invention seeks to provide an improved sports helmet with a face guard and having regard in particular to enhanced protection and minimal visual obstruction as well as minimal mobility obstruction.

The invention aims to give the wearer the maximum coverage possible without inhibiting movement which is critical to batting.

The invention provides a protective pad for a sports helmet with a face guard having a cage type construction with a generally open viewing aperture, bounded by longitudinal struts connected together into a frame.

To be able to connect the protective pad to the helmet in a way that makes the attachment easy and at the same time achieves a secure attachment to the helmet the protective pad is provided with attachment means for attachment to the frame of the face guard, said face guard being attached securely to the helmet thereby securing that when attaching the protective pad to said struts or wire of the face guard, said protective pad is also attached securely in relation to the helmet.

In an embodiment the attachment means can be provided at opposite distal ends of said protective pad and provided by at least one pair of protruding flanges for securely and releasable attaching said protective pad to said struts of the face guard. The distal ends of said protective pad should be understood as the two attachment ends of said protective pad pointing away from each other.

The flanges can provide a retaining force or act with a snapping action by said flanges at their free end having a mutual distance which is shorter than a mutual distance between the flanges measured at a point at half a protruding length of the flanges.

In an alternative embodiment at least one of said flanges curves in order to partly embrace a strut or wire of said face guard, said flange embracing said strut or wire and having an opening with an angle a, which angle is more than 90° and less than 180°, preferably between 100° and 130° relative to a contact point between said protective pad and said strut or wire of said face guard. Hereby is achieved that even a single flange can attach the protective pad to a strut or wire of the face guard or at least one of the flanges is capable of retaining the protective pad to a strut or wire of the face guard by a snapping effect.

In an alternative embodiment, where at least one of said flanges curves in order to partly embrace a strut or wire of said face guard, said flanges having an opening between end points of said flanges with a gap which is smaller than the diameter of said strut or wire.

Further the retaining force of the flange or flanges is supported by having least one of said protruding flanges being elastic providing a retaining force, attaching the protective pad to a rearward strut or wire of said face guard by at least partly embracing a part of a strut or wire at a rearward part of said face guard.

In an alternative embodiment at least one of said flanges are provided with a cut-out for receiving a strut, which strut is fastened to said rearward part of said face guard.

The flanges form a kind of clip that is able to rotate (hinge) on the strut or wire of the rear of the face guard and it is achieved that the flanges can retain the protective pad securely to the face guard and at the same time allow for some movement of the guard if it does come into contact with the wearer.

In an alternative embodiment the flanges at an upper part of said protective pad are positioned closer to an outer side of the protective pad and at a lower part of said protective pad the flanges are positioned closer to a head side of the protective pad, giving more clearance to the wearer in that the distance between the protective pad and the head of the wearer is increased at the lower part of the protective pad.

In an embodiment said protective pad comprises two pad elements connected with one or more bendable connection pieces having a cross section smaller than a cross section of the two pad elements. Hereby is achieved that the middle section of the protective pad is flexible and allows freedom for movement.

In an alternative embodiment said protective pad comprises two hollow pad elements. When the pad elements are hollow, they are capable of taking up energy from a puck or ball when hit and thereby protect the back of the head of the wearer of the helmet.

In an alternative embodiment the protective pad comprises two pad elements each provided with a core of an impact absorbent crush foam. This may further improve the capability of taking up energy from a puck or ball.

In an alternative embodiment the protective pad elements at least at one side is provided with a cell structure having openings, which structure also leads to improved capability of taking up energy from a puck or ball.

In an alternative embodiment the cell structure comprises a number of elongate openings surrounding one or more larger openings, compared to the elongate openings.

In an alternative embodiment the larger openings are hexagonal and one or more of the hexagonal openings are filled with an impact absorbent crush foam.

Hereby an even more improved capability of taking up energy from a puck or ball is achieved.

In an alternative embodiment, a protective pad can be fitted to a rear point of the helmet to support the attachment to the helmet and the face guard. Such a rear point could be a separate fixing point or a kind of adjustment system for adjusting the helmet in order to fit to the wearer which adjustment system is used in a number of helmets.

The adjustment system can be extended from a groove or recess in the rear of the helmet. The protective pad can in certain conditions even be supported by the attachment to the attachment point at the rear of the helmet alone.

In an alternative embodiment the one or more connection pieces has a height which is less than half the height of the pad elements. Hereby is achieved that the wearer gains more freedom to move the head when wearing the helmet with the protective pad attached.

The height of the one or more connection pieces and the height of the protection elements should be understood as the essentially vertical extent when the wearer is wearing the helmet and the wearer is in upright position.

The invention is also achieved by a protective pad configured for use in connection with a sports helmet and a face guard attached to said helmet, said face guard having a cage type construction of interconnected struts capable of surrounding and protecting at least the front and sides of the jaw of a wearer, where the protective pad is provided with attachment means for securely and releasable attaching said protective pad to said struts of the face guard.

Further embodiments and advantages are disclosed below in the description and in the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will now be described more fully below, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

Figure 1 shows schematically contours of a wearer of a sports helmet with a cage type face guard provided with a protective pad;

Figure 2 shows schematically a sports helmet with a cage type face guard provided with a protective pad ready to be attached to the face guard;

Figure 3 shows schematically a perspective view of a sports helmet with a cage type face guard provided with a protective pad;

Figure 4 shows schematically a side view of a sports helmet with a cage type face guard provided with a protective pad;

Figure 5 shows schematically a top view of a protective pad for a sports helmet;

Figure 6 shows schematically a side view of a protective pad having hexagonal pattern of openings;

Figure 7 shows schematically a perspective view of a protective pad;

Figure 8 shows schematically another perspective view of a protective pad;

Figure 9 shows schematically the back side of a sports helmet with a cage type face guard provided with a protective pad; and

Figure 10 shows schematically a virtual cross section where a protective pad is releasable attached to a strut or wire of the face guard.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Now convenient embodiments of the invention will be described. A sports helmet 1 having a face guard 2 attached to said helmet 1 where said face guard 2 is provided as a cage type construction of interconnected struts 3, 4 capable of surrounding and protecting the face and at least the front and sides of the jaw of a wearer 20. The struts 3, 4 can be made of a metal mesh or from wire or rods bended and joined together forming the face guard 2. The struts, wires or rods 3, 4 can be made of metal or any suitable material being sufficient strong and sufficient light so it is capable of giving sufficient protection and not hindering movement or the viewing ability of the wearer 20 during use.

The helmet 1 with the face guard 2 is advantageous for players playing hockey, polo or cricket or other games where a projectile such as a puck or a ball is in play.

In order to give the wearer 20 further protection for regions of the head apart from the face, a protective pad to be attached to a helmet carrying a face guard is provided by the invention.

The protective pad 5 is provided with attachment means 10, 17 for securely attaching said protective pad 5 to said struts 3 of the face guard 2. The attachment means 10, 17 must be capable of holding the protective pads 5 securely attached to the struts 3 of the face guard 2. Such attachment can be achieved by providing the protective pad with attachment means 10, 17 at opposite distal ends of said protective pad 5 where the attachment means 10, 17 are provided by at least one pair of protruding flanges 10, 17.

The flanges 10, 17 can be provided in pairs being of equal length and having at their free end a mutual distance which is shorter than a mutual distance between the flanges 10, 17 measured at a point at half a protruding length of the flanges 10, 17. The protrusion of the flanges in such an embodiment will be a little longer than a radius of the strut or wire 3 to which the flanges 10, 17 are attached by a snapping action facilitated by the narrower distance of the flanges 10, 17 at their free ends and at the same time make it easy to attach and detach the protective pad 5 to the face guard 2 thereby making possibility for securely and releasable attaching said the protective pad 5 to the face guard.

The flanges 10, 17 can be provided in an elastic material in order to increase the snapping action of the flanges 10, 17.

In an alternative embodiment the flanges 10, 17 can be of different length.

One of the flanges 10 can curve, as indicated in Figure 10, in order to partly embrace a strut or wire 3 of said face guard 2. Here the flange 10 embracing said strut or wire 3 has an opening with an angle a, which angle is more than 90° and less than 180°, preferably between 100° and 130° relative to a contact point 23 between said protective pad 5 and said strut or wire 3 of said face guard 2.

Even if the angle a, is a little less than 180°, the curved flange 10 will hold on to the strut or wire 3. The holding properties of the flange can be improved by providing the free end 21 of the flange 10 with a kind of bulge.

If the curved flange 10 leaves only a little opening or having an opening angle a being too small, it is possible to attach the protective pad 5 to the strut or wire 3, but it will be more difficult to perform the attachment and detachment.

In this embodiment it is possible to reduce the protrusion or extent of one flange 17 to a minimum or even sacrify the flange 17, which is not curved.

In an alternative embodiment one of the flanges 10, 17 also curves in order to partly embrace a strut or wire 3 of the face guard 2. The flange 10 which embraces the strut or wire 3 and having an opening between end points 21, 22 of said flanges 10, 17 with a distance which is smaller than the diameter of said strut or wire 3. This gap between the end points 21, 22 is selected in relation to the diameter of the strut or wire 3 to give a sufficient snapping effect and attachment force.

If the strut or wire does not have a substantially circular cross section, the diameter or corresponding measure should be measured essentially perpendicular to a contact face at the contact point 23.

Also to provide a sufficient snapping effect at least one of the protruding flanges 10, 17 is elastic providing a retaining force, attaching the protective pad 5 to a rearward strut or wire 3 of the face guard 2 by at least partly embracing a part of the strut or wire 3 at a rearward part 3 of the face guard 2.

To make it possible for the protective pad to rotate partly around the strut or wire to which it is attached, a cut-out 12 in at least one of the flanges 10, 17 is provided in order to make room for a strut or wire 4, which end is attached crosswise to the rearward strut or wire 3 to which the protective pad is attached. This improves the freedom of movement for the protective pad.

Also to provide as free movement as possible for the wearer 20 the flanges 10, 17 at an upper part of the protective pad 5 are positioned closer to an outer side 19 of the protective pad 5 and at a lower part of said protective pad 5 the flanges 10, 17 are positioned closer to a head side 18 of the protective pad 5. This ensures that the lower part of the protective pad 5 is positioned with a larger distance to the head of the wearer 20 than distance between the head of the wearer 20 and the upper part of the protective pad 5, giving more freedom of movement.

In an embodiment the protective pad 5 comprises two pad elements 7, 8 connected with one or more bendable connection pieces 9. The one or more connection pieces 9 has a cross section smaller than a cross section of the two pad elements 7, 8, also giving more freedom of movement to the wearer 20 and provides more flexibility to the protective pad, which helps preventing that the protective pad 5 is detached unintended.

The protective pad 5 can be provided by two hollow pad elements 7, 8, which are connected to each other by the one or more bendable connection pieces 9.

The protective pad elements 7, 8 can be manufactured from any suitable material providing impact protection and flexibility. An example of such a suitable material can be an impact absorbent thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU).

The two protective pad elements 7, 8 can also each be with a core of an impact absorbent crush foam.

The two protective pad elements 7, 8 can, at least at one side, be provided with a cell structure having openings 11.

The cell structure comprises a number of elongate openings 16 surrounding one or more larger openings 11 compared to the elongate openings 16 and in an embodiment the one or more larger openings 11 are hexagonal and one or more of the hexagonal openings are filled with an impact absorbent crush foam.

These openings further support the impact absorbability for the protective pad elements 7, 8.

The hexagonal design allows for lateral movement ensuring more shock dispersion that one solid foam block or core.

In an embodiment the one or more connection pieces 9 has a height which is less than half the height of the pad elements 7, 8, also for giving more freedom of movement.

The one or more connection pieces 9 can be manufactured in any suitable bendable or resilient materials and the one or more connection pieces can be corrugated or provided with a scalloped centre section to further allow for freedom of movement. In case of more connection pieces 9, they do not need to be identical. A protective pad 5 is configured for use in connection with a sports helmet 1 and a face guard 2 attached to the helmet 1. The face guard 2 has a cage type construction of interconnected struts 3, 4 capable of surrounding and protecting at least the front and sides of the jaw of a wearer 20, where the protective pad 5 is provided with attachment means 10, 17 for securely and releasable attaching said protective pad 5 to said struts 3 of the face guard 2 in order to improve safety during game and to uphold freedom of movement for the player or wearer 20.

The invention, and various embodiments thereof, has been described with reference to non-limiting examples. Additional features of the invention will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A method of protecting a rear portion of a head or neck of a sportsperson, the method comprising the steps of: a sports helmet having an attached face guard, said face guard having a cage type construction of interconnected struts capable of surrounding and protecting at least the front and sides of the jaw of a wearer; and providing a neck protection pad having a first end and a second end; and attaching the first end of the neck protection pad to a first part of a faceguard of the helmet and attaching the second end of the neck protection pad to a second part of the faceguard, and causing the neck protection pad to extend rearwardly of the faceguard around the back of the head at nape level.

2. A method of protecting a rear portion of a head or neck of a sportsperson according to claim 1, wherein the pad extends partially around the helmet.

3. A method of protecting a rear portion of a head or neck for a sports person according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the neck protection pad comprises two pad elements connected by one or more bendable or resilient connection pieces, wherein the one or more connection pieces has a height which is less than half the height of the pad elements.