U.S. patent application number 10/055935 was filed with the patent office on 2003-07-31 for integral complex buffing structure of safety helmet.
Invention is credited to Ho, Chang-Hsien.
Application Number | 20030140400 10/055935 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 27609242 |
Filed Date | 2003-07-31 |
United States Patent
Application |
20030140400 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Ho, Chang-Hsien |
July 31, 2003 |
Integral complex buffing structure of safety helmet
Abstract
Integral complex buffing structure of safety helmet, including a
casing, a lining body and a buffing body integrally sandwiched
between the casing and the lining body. The casing is made of a
hard plastic material. The lining body is connected on inner face
of the casing and made of hardened foam material with high density.
The buffing body is made of soft shock-absorbent material with low
density. The buffing body is able to fully distribute the external
concentrated impact to larger area of respective layers so as to
reduce the linearly transmitted inertial impact. After the impact
energy is fully spread, the instantaneous deformation of the casing
and the lining body is reduced, whereby the respective layers of
the helmet can naturally automatically restore to their original
state and position and thus the helmet is excellently anti-impact
with respect to many times of or continuous impact at one
point.
Inventors: |
Ho, Chang-Hsien; (Taipei,
TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
TROXELL LAW OFFICE PLLC
SUITE 1404
5205 LEESBURG PIKE
FALLS CHURCH
VA
22041
US
|
Family ID: |
27609242 |
Appl. No.: |
10/055935 |
Filed: |
January 28, 2002 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
2/411 ;
2/412 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A42B 3/063 20130101;
A42B 3/128 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
2/411 ;
2/412 |
International
Class: |
A42B 003/00 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. Integral complex buffing structure of safety helmet, comprising
a casing, a lining body and a buffing body integrally disposed
between the casing and the lining body, the casing being made of a
hard plastic material, the lining body being connected on inner
face of the casing and made of hardened foam material with high
density, the buffing body being made of low-resistance material
with low density, whereby when suffering greater inertial impacting
force from outer side of the casing, the buffing body is able to
fully distribute the impact to a larger area so as to reduce the
impact energy exerted onto unit area of the lining body and spread
the inward concentrated impact, after the impact energy is fully
spread, the instantaneous deformation of the casing and the lining
body caused by the impact being reduced, whereby the respective
layers of the helmet can naturally automatically restore to their
original state and position and thus the helmet is excellently
anti-impact with respect to many times of or continuous impact at
one point.
2. Integral complex buffing structure of safety helmet as claimed
in claim 1, wherein the buffing body is formed with beehive
structures facing the lining body.
3. Integral complex buffing structure of safety helmet as claimed
in claim 2, wherein the beehive structures are dents.
4. Integral complex buffing structure of safety helmet as claimed
in claim 2, wherein the beehive structures are perforations passing
through the buffing body.
5. Integral complex buffing structure of safety helmet as claimed
in claim 2, wherein the lining body is integrally foamed with a
configuration corresponding to the dents or perforations of the
beehive structures so as to fill the dents or perforations and
achieve a good connection between the lining body and the buffing
body.
6. Integral complex buffing structure of safety helmet as claimed
in claim 3, wherein the lining body is integrally foamed with a
configuration corresponding to the dents or perforations of the
beehive structures so as to fill the dents or perforations and
achieve a good connection between the lining body and the buffing
body.
7. Integral complex buffing structure of safety helmet as claimed
in claim 4, wherein the lining body is integrally foamed with a
configuration corresponding to the dents or perforations of the
beehive structures so as to fill the dents or perforations and
achieve a good connection between the lining body and the buffing
body.
8. Integral complex buffing structure of safety helmet as claimed
in claim 1, wherein a mesh body is parallelly disposed between the
lining body and the buffing body or disposed in at least one of the
lining body and the buffing body.
9. Integral complex buffing structure of safety helmet as claimed
in claim 2, wherein a mesh body is parallelly disposed between the
lining body and the buffing body or disposed in at least one of the
lining body and the buffing body.
10. Integral complex buffing structure of safety helmet as claimed
in claim 3, wherein a mesh body is parallelly disposed between the
lining body and the buffing body or disposed in at least one of the
lining body and the buffing body.
11. Integral complex buffing structure of safety helmet as claimed
in claim 4, wherein a mesh body is parallelly disposed between the
lining body and the buffing body or disposed in at least one of the
lining body and the buffing body.
12. Integral complex buffing structure of safety helmet as claimed
in claim 5, wherein a mesh body is parallelly disposed between the
lining body and the buffing body or disposed in at least one of the
lining body and the buffing body.
13. Integral complex buffing structure of safety helmet as claimed
in claim 6, wherein a mesh body is parallelly disposed between the
lining body and the buffing body or disposed in at least one of the
lining body and the buffing body.
14. Integral complex buffing structure of safety helmet as claimed
in claim 7, wherein a mesh body is parallelly disposed between the
lining body and the buffing body or disposed in at least one of the
lining body and the buffing body.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention is related to an integral complex
buffing structure of safety helmet, which is able to fully
distribute the impacting force so as to reduce the linear
transmitted impact energy and minimize the danger caused by many
times of impact at one point.
[0002] FIGS. 1 to 3 show a conventional safety helmet formed of a
casing having a certain thickness and made of anti-abrasion and
anti-compression hard plastic such as ABS and PC. A
high-magnification foamed hardened material such as EPS, EPO and
EPU is laid over the inner face of the casing as a lining for
absorbing shock. The foam material is snugly attached to the
casing. When a user wear the helmet on his/her head, the foam
material serves to retain the user's head and buff the shock, while
the casing is able to prevent a sharp object from thrusting the
head. The casing and the foam lining fully absorb the external
impact to provide double protective functions for the user's
head.
[0003] However, the foam material is a hard close-type buffing
material. When suffering impact, the buffing ability of such
material is still limited so that a concentrated impact can be
hardly fully distributed and eliminated. When a strong impact is
concentrated on the casing and transmitted to the foam material,
the impact will directly act on the user's head. As a result, the
user's head will suffer a strong impact and may get hurt.
[0004] Accordingly, when the helmet suffers a concentrated impact
or is many times strongly impacted at one point, the deformation of
the casing and the foam material can exceed the critical point of
deformation of the material. Therefore, the material will be unable
to restore its original state after impacted. This leads to
decrement of the anti-impact ability of the casing. Moreover, after
impacted, the casing and the foam material tend to separate from
each other and inward dented and lose their anti-collision
function.
[0005] An improved safety helmet has been developed. The top of the
foam material of such helmet is formed with a socket in which a
dome cover with lower density is inlaid. The dome cover serves as a
softer and collapsible layer between the casing and the foam
material for overcoming the above problem. However, it is hard to
integrally and truly assemble the dome cover with the casing and
the foam material. Therefore, the quality of the safety helmet will
be poor.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to
provide an integral complex buffing structure of safety helmet,
which is able to fully distribute the impacting force to a larger
bearing area. Therefore, before the great impact energy is
transmitted from the casing to a wearer's head, the linear
transmitted impact energy is greatly reduced so as to protect the
user. It is known that complex material has been applied to the
safety helmet. Such material includes an upper and a lower layers
made of high density material and a beehive-type or soft buffing
foam material with low density. Referring to FIG. 7, when suffering
an impact and prior to breakage in direction of thickness, the
intermediate layer of low density is able to distribute the impact
and protect a user from being injured by concentrated stress.
[0007] The integral complex buffing structure of safety helmet of
the present invention includes a casing, a lining body and a
buffing body integrally sandwiched between the casing and the
lining body. The casing is made of a hard plastic material. The
lining body is connected on inner face of the casing and made of
hardened foam material with high density. The buffing body is made
of soft highly shock-absorbent material with low density. When
suffering an impact and prior to breakage, the buffing body is able
to fully distribute the concentrated or stronger point impact to
the periphery and convert the impact into weaker components of
impact. Therefore, the impact energy exerted onto one point is
greatly reduced. After the impact energy is fully spread by the
buffing body to larger bearing area, the energy bearing ratio of
unit area is reduced so that the user's head is protected from
being injured at one point.
[0008] Moreover, the casing, the buffing body and the lining body
of the present invention are made of different materials by
integral foaming. The respective layers cooperate with each other
to achieve excellent impact-buffing effect. The impact energy is
more truly transmitted so as to prevent any of the layers from
solely bearing the load and being easily damaged.
[0009] The present invention can be best understood through the
following description and accompanying drawings wherein:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0010] FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a conventional safety
helmet;
[0011] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the conventional helmet in
an impacted state;
[0012] FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a part of the helmet of FIG.
2;
[0013] FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the present invention;
[0014] FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the present invention in an
impacted state;
[0015] FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a part of the present
invention according to FIG. 5; and
[0016] FIG. 7 is a compression load-strain diagram of the low
density sandwiched material of a complex material in an impact
test.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0017] Please refer to FIGS. 4 to 6. The safety helmet of the
present invention includes a casing 1, a lining structure 2 and an
integral complex buffing body 3 disposed between the casing 1 and
the lining structure 2.
[0018] The casing 1 is made of a hard plastic material such as PU,
ABS and PC. The lining structure 2 is laid on inner face of the
casing 1 and has a configuration substantially identical to that of
inner wall of the casing 1.
[0019] The lining structure 2 is made of high-magnification foamed
hardened material such as EPS, EPO, EPU and EPP for absorbing
shock. The lining structure 2 has relatively high density and is
snugly attached to the inner face of the casing 1. A user's head
fits into the lining structure 2 and snugly contact therewith.
[0020] The buffing body 3 is made of low-resistance material
(low-magnification foamed material or silicone material such as EVA
and EPE. The buffing body 3 has relatively low density and is soft
to serve as a buffing pad body as a sponge body. The buffing body 3
is integrally sandwiched between the casing 1 and the lining
structure 2. When suffering concentrated impact, the soft buffing
body 3 with low resistance is able to fully absorb high speed
impact. Moreover, the buffing body 3 is naturally collapsible to
effectively distribute and transmit low and middle impact to the
periphery. Therefore, the energy bearing ratio of unit area is
apparently reduced to fully buff the strong impact energy.
Accordingly, when suffering great inertial impact, the buffing body
is able to absorb the strong impacting force and distribute the
strong external force to larger area. The instantaneous impact is
reduced by the buffing body 3 so as to protect the object enclosed
therein. Moreover, the impact is fully dismissed so that the
possibility of exceeding of the instantaneous deformation of the
material over the critical point of the material is lowered.
Therefore, after impacted, the materials can naturally restore to
their original state and position. Therefore, the safety helmet is
excellently anti-impact with respect to many times of (or
continuous) impact at one point.
[0021] The buffing body 3 can be formed with multiple beehive
structures 31 facing the lining structure 2. The lining structure 2
is integrally foamed with conic bodies 21 (or column bodies)
corresponding to the dents or perforations 311 of the beehive
structures 31 so as to locally or totally fill the dents 311.
Therefore, the connection between the lining structure 2 and the
buffing body 3 is enhanced to integrally combine the lining
structure 2 with the buffing body 3. This prevents the buffing body
3 from separating from the lining structure 2 when suffering
impact. Moreover, the beehive structures 31 and the conic bodies 21
form a section for fully transmitting and absorbing energy. The
beehive structures 31 also enlarge the energy-transmitting area and
reinforce the buffing body 3 so as to more effectively buff
impact.
[0022] A mesh body 4 can be integrally added between the connecting
faces of the lining structure 2 and the buffing body 3 or added
into the material thereof. When the lining structure 2 is foamed,
the mesh body 4 is tightly combined with the lining structure 2 or
the buffing body 3 without easy detachment. Accordingly, the
structure of the entire safety helmet is reinforced. Moreover, the
mesh body 4 serves to screen the vents 5 of the safety helmet and
prevent alien articles such as rocks and bugs from getting into the
helmet through the vents 5.
[0023] The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the
present invention, not intended to limit the scope thereof. Many
modifications of the above embodiments can be made without
departing from the spirit of the present invention.
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