U.S. patent application number 14/417246 was filed with the patent office on 2015-07-23 for visor and combination thereof with a protective helmet.
The applicant listed for this patent is PFANNER SCHUTZBEKLEIDUNG GMBH. Invention is credited to Anton Pfanner.
Application Number | 20150201696 14/417246 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 48808372 |
Filed Date | 2015-07-23 |
United States Patent
Application |
20150201696 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Pfanner; Anton |
July 23, 2015 |
VISOR AND COMBINATION THEREOF WITH A PROTECTIVE HELMET
Abstract
Visor for a protective helmet, having two retaining arms (14)
and two bearing devices for the retaining arms (14) which are
attached to a helmet shell (18) of a helmet (10) in order to pivot
the visor (12) between two end positions corresponding to an
operational position in which the visor (12) is folded down and
lies on a front edge (19) of the helmet shell (18), and a parked
position in which the visor (12) is folded up and is disposed on
the outer surface of the helmet shell (18). The visor (12) is
provided with a soft lip (30), preferably made from TPU or TPE, at
the location where it comes into contact with the helmet shell (18)
in the end positions. When the visor (12) is manually activated to
pivot out of an end position, the visor (12) is accelerated by
resilient pretensioning in the direction of the other end position
until the lip (30) is in contact with the helmet shell (18)
substantially without recoil. The lip (30) damps the movement
momentum of the visor (12) and additionally has a sealing
function.
Inventors: |
Pfanner; Anton; (Hohenems,
AT) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
PFANNER SCHUTZBEKLEIDUNG GMBH |
A-6845 Hohenems |
|
AT |
|
|
Family ID: |
48808372 |
Appl. No.: |
14/417246 |
Filed: |
July 22, 2013 |
PCT Filed: |
July 22, 2013 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/EP2013/065447 |
371 Date: |
January 26, 2015 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
2/424 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A42B 3/225 20130101;
A42B 3/222 20130101 |
International
Class: |
A42B 3/22 20060101
A42B003/22 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jul 27, 2012 |
DE |
10 2012 015 023.7 |
Claims
1. A visor for a protective helmet, comprising two retaining arms
and two bearing devices for the retaining arms, said bearing
devices being attachable to a helmet shell of a helmet, for
pivoting the visor between two end positions which correspond to an
operating position, in which the visor is folded down and rests on
a front edge of the helmet shell, and a parking position, in which
the visor is folded up and disposed at the outer surface of the
helmet shell, characterized in that the visor is provided with a
soft lip at least in a region in which the visor can be brought
into close proximity or into touch with a helmet shell in the end
positions and in that the lip is formed and disposed at the visor
so that it can be placed onto a protruding front edge of the helmet
shell in the operating position of the visor.
2. The visor of claim 1, characterized in that the lip is further
formed and disposed on the visor so that in the parking position it
can be brought to rest against the outer surface of the helmet
shell.
3. The visor of claim 1, characterized in that the lip is made of a
soft resilient material which is shock absorbing as well as
sealing.
4. The visor of claim 3, characterized in that the material of the
lip is selectable among rubber, TPU, TPE, silicon rubber, PVC, and
the like.
5. The visor of claim 1, characterized in that the lip is attached
to the visor or to a frame of the visor by frictional force.
6. The visor of claim 1, characterized in that the lip is attached
to the visor or to a frame of the visor by form fit or by
adhesion.
7. The visor of claim 1, characterized in that at least one of its
bearing devices has a spring-biased end position lock associated
with it which locks the retaining arm in each end position by
frictional force and which accelerates the visor toward the other
end position when the pivot motion of the visor out of the end
position is manually initiated until the lip touches the helmet
shell substantially without a rebound.
8. The visor of claim 1, characterized in that it is combined with
a protective helmet having a protruding edge at least in a front
region.
Description
[0001] The invention relates to a visor for a protective helmet,
comprising two retaining arms and two bearing devices for the
retaining arms, said bearing devices being attachable to a helmet
shell of a helmet, for pivoting the visor between two end positions
which correspond to an operating position, in which the visor is
folded down and rests on a front edge of the helmet shell, and a
parking position, in which the visor is folded up and disposed on
the outer surface of the helmet shell.
[0002] A similar helmet, known from document EP 1 841 338 B1, is
preferably used as a police helmet. When the visor of the helmet is
folded up in the parking position, a substantial gap exists between
the visor and the helmet outer face. When used in the forest area,
such a helmet would have the disadvantage that branches could get
caught between the visor and the helmet and pull the helmet from
the user's head.
[0003] The same problem presumably appears with protective helmets
of the kind described in documents DE 94 10 596 U1 and DE 29 70 834
U1, although they are explicitly meant to be suitable for forest or
timberland workers. With these known helmets, too, a greater gap
between the visor and the outer surface of the helmet shell occurs
in the parking position of the visor, allowing branches to get
caught on the helmet.
[0004] An even bigger problem may arise with a protective helmet of
the kind known from document DE 29 07 054 A1 when used in the
forest area. Here the visor assumes a parking position in which it
has a particularly large distance from a shield-like front edge of
the helmet and from the outer face of the helmet at a position
which is further up relative to the edge, so that branches cannot
get caught only between the visor and the outer face of the helmet
shell, but also on the visor itself.
[0005] In order to avoid such problems with a visor of the
above-mentioned kind known from document DE 10 2010 027 015 A1,
each bearing device is formed for being mounted to the helmet shell
inside and each retaining arm extends from the visor to its free
end connected to the bearing device substantially parallel to and
with such a distance from the visor that a slot is formed between
the retaining arm and the visor through which the helmet shell
extends in the parking position. Furthermore, the visor is disposed
in close adjacency on the outer surface of the helmet shell in the
parking position. The visor is guided by the retaining arms so that
in the operating position it does hardly have any distance from the
outer surface of the helmet with its upper edge. This visor does
therefore not offer any opportunities for obstacles to get caught.
With this known visor, each of the bearing devices has a
spring-biased locking element associated with it by means of which
the visor is retained in a releasable manner by frictional force in
the operating position and in the parking position. When the visor
is manually set into motion, the spring bias of the locking element
causes the visor eventually to move into one of the two end
positions on its own and with an increasing acceleration. When the
visor or a frame of the visor then hits the helmet in the end
position, the visor may rebound and come to rest in a position that
is not precisely the desired end position. Furthermore, the impact
on the helmet shell in the end position is always accompanied by
generation of noise, which is usually perceived as annoying.
[0006] Known from DE 10 2009 012 450 A1 is a helmet having a visor
equipped with a sealing lip which in the operating position rests
against the helmet shell.
[0007] DE 36 07 483 A1 describes a protective helmet that comprises
a folding part and a visor attached to the folding part. In the
operating position, the folding part cooperates with the helmet to
have a sealing function. In the operating position, the visor
cooperates with the folding part to have a sealing function.
[0008] It is an object of the invention to design a visor of the
above-mentioned type such that it can reach its two end positions
safely and substantially silently.
[0009] In accordance with the invention, this object is solved by
providing the visor with a soft lip at least in an area in which
the visor can be brought into close proximity or into touch with a
helmet shell in the end positions.
[0010] With the visor of the invention, when its soft resilient lip
hits the outer surface of the helmet shell in the end position
corresponding to the parking position, the lip of the visor damps
the momentum of motion so that a rebound is substantially prevented
and the noise generated during the impact on the helmet shell is
substantially damped. The lip of the visor of the invention has the
same effect when the visor in the end position corresponding to the
operating position hits the protruding front edge of the helmet
shell from above, wherein the sealing lip in this position
additionally also provides a seal between the visor and the helmet
shell so that raindrops pouring down on the outer surface of the
helmet shell pour down aside via the visor toward the outside and
thus do not enter the field of view of the person wearing the
helmet. In the end position corresponding to the parking position,
the lip of the visor has the same sealing effect. Furthermore, in
the parking position a view screen or a grid mesh in the frame of
the visor provides a rain shield which does not allow raindrops to
enter the field of view immediately.
[0011] In accordance with the invention, the lip of the visor is a
soft component, in contrast to a hard component formed by the view
screen or the frame of the visor. The soft component is resilient
and prevents the hard component from rebounding from the desired
end position. With a protective helmet in which the visor freely
swings from one of the end positions to the other one due to a
spring bias generated in the bearing device as soon as this motion
has been initiated by hand, the soft lip damps the closing
momentum. This is significant in particular for a visor with a
protective helmet where the visor always has a minimum distance
from the outer surface of the helmet shell in both end positions
and in the range between the two end positions.
[0012] The lip is formed and disposed on the visor such that in the
operating position of the visor it can be placed onto a protruding
front edge of the helmet shell. This does not only ensure good
damping while assuming the end position corresponding to the
operating position, but also ensures a particularly good seal
between the visor and the helmet shell in this end position.
[0013] Advantageous embodiments of the visor of the invention are
the subjects of the dependent claims.
[0014] In an embodiment of the visor of the invention, the lip is
further formed and disposed on the visor so that it can be brought
to rest against the outer surface of the helmet shell in the
parking position. This close adjacency is beneficial for both the
damping and the sealing function of the lip and ensures that the
visor assumes and also retains each of the two desired end
positions.
[0015] In a further embodiment of the visor of the invention, the
lip is made of a soft resilient material which is shock absorbing
as well as sealing, wherein in a further embodiment the material of
the lip is preferably selectable among rubber, TPE, TPU, silicon
rubber, PVC, or the like. Selection of a suitable material for the
lip thus allows influencing its damping and sealing function.
[0016] In a further embodiment of the visor of the invention, the
lip is attached to the visor or to a visor frame by frictional
force. For this purpose, the lip may have a suitable profile, for
example, substantially a U-profile, allowing it to be easily
plugged onto a corresponding ledge of the visor or a frame of the
visor.
[0017] In a further embodiment of the visor of the invention, the
lip is attached to the visor or to a visor frame by form fit and/or
adhesion. The connection by form fit can be achieved, for example,
by providing the sealing lip at its free longitudinal edges with
bulges which engage in a corresponding notch on the visor or on the
visor frame in a manner similar to a bulge stripe engaging in a
bulge rim. Alternatively or in addition, a connection by adhesion
can be achieved when establishing the connection of the lip with a
visor or a visor frame, which is usually done during a spraying
process, by welding or melting the lip with the material of the
visor or the visor frame.
[0018] In a further embodiment of the visor of the invention, at
least one of its bearing devices has a spring-biased end position
lock associated with it which locks the support arm in each end
position by frictional force and which accelerates the visor toward
the other end position when pivot motion of the visor out of an end
position is manually initiated, until the lip touches the helmet
shell substantially without a rebound. This end position lock,
which by itself is known, and the acceleration by the end position
lock during the pivot motion between the two end positions, which
by itself is known, are supplemented in accordance with the
invention by the damping and sealing function of the lip, which
facilitates assuming and retaining each end position.
[0019] In a further embodiment of the visor of the invention, the
visor is combined with a protective helmet. Although the latter may
be a protective helmet in which the visor is moved into the one or
the other end position by hand, the visor of the invention has a
particularly advantageous effect in the combination according to
the invention if it is moved between its two end positions under
spring bias, because it is capable of preventing a rebound by
damping the momentum of motion when reaching the end of the pivot
motion and, simultaneously, of damping generation of noise and, in
addition, of having a sealing function.
[0020] Examples of embodiments of the invention are further
described below with reference to the drawings.
[0021] FIG. 1 shows a side view of a visor of the invention on a
protective helmet, in particular for forest workers, wherein the
visor is shown folded up in a parking position,
[0022] FIG. 2 shows the protective helmet in the same side view as
in FIG. 1, wherein the visor is folded down in an operating
position and wherein the protective helmet additionally carries a
hearing protection not shown in FIG. 1,
[0023] FIG. 3 shows a top view of a front half of the protective
helmet of FIG. 2,
[0024] FIG. 4 shows the visor and a front part of the protective
helmet as a detail in a sectional view,
[0025] FIG. 5 shows a part of the detail of FIG. 4 on a greater
scale, and
[0026] FIG. 6 shows, as a detail, a support joint which connects a
support arm of the visor and a bearing device to each other,
wherein the visor is shown folded down in an end position
corresponding to the operating position.
[0027] In the drawings, a protective helmet collectively denoted 10
is shown in an embodiment destined in particular for use in the
forest industry. The protective helmet 10 comprises a face
protection collectively denoted 110 with a visor 12 of the
invention, which is shown folded up in an end position
corresponding to a parking position in FIG. 1 and folded down in
another end position corresponding to an operating position in FIG.
2. Bearing devices 40 of the face protection 110 are formed
identically in symmetrical fashion on both sides of the helmet 10.
Therefore, no difference is made in the following description
between right and left bearing devices, support joints, retaining
arms, and so on.
[0028] The visor 12 of the face protection 110 comprises, on each
side of the helmet 10, a retaining arm 14 and the bearing device
40, which is formed as a plug and on which a part of a support
joint 16 is formed. The bearing device 40 of each retaining arm 14
is attachable at the inner face of a helmet shell 18. Each bearing
device 40 is formed as a part of a two-piece plug coupling, which
part can be plugged onto the other part of the plug coupling which
is mounted inside on the helmet shell 18. Said other part of the
plug coupling is not shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. It consists of several
rod-like protrusions formed on the inner face of the helmet shell
18. The bearing device 40 is plugged onto the rod-like protrusions
whereby the support joint 16 of the visor 12 comes to rest at the
inner face of the helmet shell 18 in each temper region. In FIGS. 1
and 2, the bearing device 40 can be seen attached inside to the
helmet shell 18.
[0029] The retaining arm 14 is formed at one end against the back
side of a frame 22 of the visor 12. At the free end of the
retaining arm 14, the support joint 16 is formed. The following
structure of the bearing device 40 and the support joint 16 is
known from the above-mentioned document DE 10 2010 027 015 A1 from
which claim 1 starts in its generic expression. Each bearing device
40 comprises a spring-biased locking element, which is also known
from the above-mentioned document and which does not need to be
described any further. The locking element can be taken along when
folding the visor 12 up and down to retain the visor 12 in its one
or other end position releasably by frictional force.
[0030] At least one of the bearing devices 40 of the visor 12 is
provided with a spring-biased end position lock which locks the
retaining arm 14 in each end position by frictional force and which
biases the visor 12 toward the other end position when the pivot
motion of the visor 12 out of an end position is initiated
manually. This is described in greater detail considering the
example of a bearing device 40 as shown in FIG. 6 and as known from
the above-mentioned document DE 10 2010 027 015 A1.
[0031] At the free end of the retaining arm 14, a ring bearing
bushing 42 is formed. Each bearing device 40 comprises a bearing
pivot 44 for receiving the ring bearing bushing 42. Each bearing
device 40 is formed as a plug or part of an already mentioned plug
coupling, which plug or part can be plugged onto the other part of
the plug coupling which is mounted inside on the helmet shell 18.
The bearing pivot 44 of each plug coupling part comprises axially
protruding resiliently flexible tappets 44' on which the ring
bearing bushing 42 can be snapped.
[0032] A spring-biased locking element 50 forms an end position
lock, engages in the ring bearing bushing 42 from outside, and can
be taken by the ring bearing bushing 42 when the visor 12 is folded
up and down to retain the visor 12 in its one or other position
releasably by frictional force. One of the two positions of the
spring-biased locking element 50 is shown in FIG. 6, in which the
visor 12 is in the operating position. The spring-biased locking
element 50 comprises a roller rotatably supported at one end of a
rod 52, wherein the other end of the rod 52 extends slideably
through a pivot bearing 55 and wherein a pressure spring 58 rests
against the rod 52 between the pivot bearing 55 and a shoulder 56
to generate the spring bias. When the pivot motion of the visor 12
out of an end position is manually initiated, the visor 12 is
biased toward the other end position by the locking element 50
forming an end position lock.
[0033] The visor 12 is provided with a soft resilient lip 30 at
least in a region in which it can be brought into close proximity
or into touch with the helmet shell 18 in the end positions.
[0034] The frame 22 of the visor 12 encloses the actual face
protection, which is a clear-view screen or a fine-meshed metal
grid 24, for instance as known from document EP 1 182 943 B1. The
frame 22 consists of a hard stiff plastic but it could easily
consist of aluminum or the like instead. The visor 12 could also
consist of a frameless clear-view screen with retaining arms or of
a frame provided with retaining arms which encloses and supports a
clear-view screen or a protective grid.
[0035] The lip 30 is formed and disposed on the frame 22 of the
visor 12 so that in the operating position according to FIGS. 2, 4,
and 5 of the visor 12 it can be placed onto a protruding front edge
19 of the helmet shell 18 and/or against an adjacent edge region 20
of the outer surface of the helmet shell 18. While the frame of the
known helmet according to the above-mentioned document DE 10 2010
027 015 A1, from which the generic expression of claim 1 starts,
can also rest upon the front edge of the helmet shell, that front
edge corresponds to an edge region 20 shown in FIG. 5, since the
helmet shell of the known protective helmet does not have a
protruding front edge like the protruding front edge 19 of the
helmet shell 18 of the protective helmet 10 shown and described
here.
[0036] Furthermore, the lip 30 is formed and disposed on the visor
12 so that in the parking position according to FIG. 1, it rests or
can be brought to rest against the outer surface of the helmet
shell 18 at the top. Here it is shown that it rests against the
outer surface of the helmet shell 18 at the top.
[0037] The lip 30 is made of a soft resilient material which is
shock absorbing as well as sealing. The material of the lip 30 can
be selected among rubber, TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane), TPE
(thermoplastic elastomers), silicon rubber, PVC, and the like.
Preferably, the lip 30 consists of rubber, TPU, or TPE.
[0038] In the example of an embodiment shown and described here,
the lip 30 is attached to the frame 22 of the visor by form fit and
by adhesion. Instead, it could be attached to the frame 20 merely
by frictional force. For this purpose, the frame 22 is provided
with a protruding ledge 23 which engages in a complementary notch
formed in the lip 30. In addition, the lip 30 can be glued or
welded with the frame 22. Preferably, the lip 30 is sprayed to the
frame 22 which is sprayed or has been sprayed around the metal grid
24.
[0039] The combination of the visor 12 with a protective helmet
like the protective helmet 10, which has the protruding front edge
19 in a front region, enables the visor 12 to have its effect and
to have its damping and sealing function.
LIST OF REFERENCE SYMBOLS
[0040] 10 protective helmet [0041] 12 visor [0042] 14 retaining arm
[0043] 16 support joint [0044] 18 helmet shell [0045] 19 front edge
[0046] 20 edge region [0047] 22 frame [0048] 23 ledge [0049] 24
metal grid [0050] 24' clear-view screen [0051] 30 lip [0052] 40
bearing device [0053] 42 ring bearing bushing [0054] 44 bearing
pivot [0055] 44' tappet [0056] 50 locking element [0057] 52 rod
[0058] 53 resilient finger [0059] 55 pivot bearing [0060] 58
pressure spring [0061] 60 support joint [0062] 110 face
protection
* * * * *