U.S. patent application number 17/495431 was filed with the patent office on 2022-04-07 for visor for a ballistic protective helmet.
The applicant listed for this patent is Ulbrichts GmbH. Invention is credited to Martin Meindlhumer, Franz Rieger, Georg Scharpenack.
Application Number | 20220104573 17/495431 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | |
Filed Date | 2022-04-07 |
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United States Patent
Application |
20220104573 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Meindlhumer; Martin ; et
al. |
April 7, 2022 |
VISOR FOR A BALLISTIC PROTECTIVE HELMET
Abstract
The present invention is directed to a visor for a ballistic
protective helmet having: a visor pane; a splinter protective lip
arranged in an edge region of the visor pane, wherein the splinter
protective lip encloses at least partly an edge of the visor
pane.
Inventors: |
Meindlhumer; Martin;
(Schwanenstadt, AT) ; Scharpenack; Georg;
(Schwanenstadt, AT) ; Rieger; Franz;
(Schwanenstadt, AT) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Ulbrichts GmbH |
Schwanenstadt |
|
AT |
|
|
Appl. No.: |
17/495431 |
Filed: |
October 6, 2021 |
International
Class: |
A42B 3/22 20060101
A42B003/22 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Oct 6, 2020 |
EP |
20200237.4 |
Claims
1. A visor for a ballistic protective helmet, having: a visor pane;
a splinter protective lip, arranged in an edge region of the visor
pane, wherein the splinter protective lip encloses at least partly
an edge of the visor pane.
2. The visor according to claim 1, wherein the visor is a ballistic
visor, a splinter protective visor and/or an impact protective
visor.
3. The visor according to claim 1, further having: a visor carrier,
which is configured to connect the visor with a ballistic
protective helmet.
4. The visor according to claim 1, wherein the visor pane has a
plurality of layers.
5. The visor according to claim 4, wherein the plurality of layers
are connected with each other by means of an adhesive.
6. The visor according to claim 1, wherein the splinter protective
lip is made of a flame retardant material.
7. The visor according to claim 1, wherein the splinter protective
lip is made of polyurethane.
8. The visor according to claim 1, wherein the splinter protective
lip is glued with the visor pane.
9. The visor according to claim 1, wherein the splinter protective
lip has a thickness from 1 mm to 4 mm.
10. The visor according to claim 1, wherein the visor pane has an
external side and an opposing internal side, and the splinter
protective lip covers at least a part of the external side, at
least a part of the internal side and at least a part of an edge of
the visor pane.
11. The visor according to claim 1, wherein the splinter protective
lip has a U-shaped or L-shaped cross section.
12. The visor according to claim 1, wherein the splinter protective
lip covers an edge region from 1 mm to 20 mm of the external side
and/or the internal side of the visor pane, respectively measured
from the edge of the visor pane.
13. The visor according to claim 1, wherein the splinter protective
lip encloses more than 25% of the circumferential edge of the visor
pane.
14. The visor according to claim 3, wherein the splinter protective
lip and the visor carrier together enclose more than 90% of the
circumferential edge of the visor pane.
15. A ballistic protective helmet comprising: a visor, having: a
visor pane; and a splinter protective lip, arranged in an edge
region of the visor pane, wherein the splinter protective lip
encloses at least partly an edge of the visor pane.
16. The ballistic protective helmet of claim 15, wherein the visor
is a ballistic visor, a splinter protective visor and/or an impact
protective visor.
17. The ballistic protective helmet of claim 15, further
comprising: a visor carrier configured to connect the visor with a
ballistic protective helmet.
18. The ballistic protective helmet of claim 15, wherein the visor
pane has a plurality of layers.
19. The ballistic protective helmet of claim 15, wherein the
plurality of layers are connected with each other by means of an
adhesive.
20. The ballistic protective helmet of claim 15, wherein the
splinter protective lip is made of a flame retardant material.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present invention is directed to a visor for a ballistic
protective helmet.
PRIOR ART
[0002] A ballistic protective helmet protects the head of its
wearer from direct firing with firearms but also from splinters and
the impact of cutting or thrust weapons as well as from punches
with hard objects. Such helmets are therefore worn for
self-protection by special operations forces and increasingly also
by policemen arriving on site first (so-called "first
responders").
[0003] The fundamental protective effect of a protective helmet
consists in stopping an impinging projectile (such as a bullet or a
splinter) and preventing the projectile from penetrating the head
of a wearer of the protective helmet. Another important aspect of
the protective effect consists in keeping the impact of the kinetic
energy of the projectile onto the head of the wearer as low as
possible.
[0004] To protect the face, in particular the eyes, ballistic
protective helmets are frequently equipped with visors. These can
be permanently or removably secured to the protective helmet and
can usually be removed from the field of view by a rotary motion,
e.g., when there is no hazardous situation at the moment. The
protective effect of such visors is based on visor panes, which are
able to degrade the energy of impinging projectiles, splinters or
punches and to prevent an impact of the impinging projectiles,
splinters or punches on the face of the wearer or at least to
reduce the risk of injury to a non-(life-) threatening minimum.
[0005] However, the protective effect of visors for ballistic
protective helmets usually decreases towards the edges. In
particular, hits by projectiles, splinters or punches in an edge
region of the visor can cause chipping or a breaking of one or more
visor panes, which in turn means a risk of injury for the wearer of
the ballistic protective helmet. Also, the resistance against full
penetration of prior art visors, usually decreases towards the
edge.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] The present invention is therefore based on the problem to
provide a visor for a ballistic protective helmet, which minimizes
the risk of injury especially from impacts in the edge region,
e.g., by projectiles, splinters or punches.
[0007] This problem is solved according to claim 1 of the present
invention by a visor for a ballistic protective helmet having a
visor pane and a splinter protective lip arranged in an edge region
of the visor pane, wherein the splinter protective lip encloses at
least partly an edge of the visor pane.
[0008] Due to the splinter protective lip according to the
invention a series of beneficial effects is achieved. First, the
protection from separation of splinters is to be mentioned here.
The splinter protective lip includes the rim (which e.g., can be
milled) of the visor pane, which consists of at least one but also
of multiple layers connected with each other. During bombardment
with projectiles or splinters or by punches complex processes occur
like e.g., breakage, deformation, separation. Usually, splinters
form. With increasing proximity to the edge the following
mechanisms can lead to a separation of splinters: (i) Due to the
separation of single visor panes, splinters that have formed in the
proximity of the hit can leak and lead to injury or even death of
the wearer. Due to the splinter protective lip according to the
claims, such a separation of splinters is prevented or at least
reduced in its impact. (ii) Due to the hit in the proximity of the
edge, splinters are formed directly on the visor rim as secondary
projectiles, which can lead to injury or even death of the wearer.
Due to the splinter protective lip according to the invention the
leakage of splinters and the separation of splinters, which are
formed directly at the visor rim as secondary projectiles is
prevented or at least strongly reduced.
[0009] Moreover, due to the splinter protective lip according to
the invention a break protection is achieved. Due to the
bombardment with projectiles or the impact of splinters or punches
such forces can impact on the visor, which lead to a break or
partly break of the visor pane by kinking or shearing off. During
this process, splinters are also created which, as secondary
projectiles, can lead to injury or even death of the wearer. Due to
the splinter protective lip with its great elongation at break
combined with sufficient solidity dampens this behavior and
prevents it in the best case, and therefore prevents the separation
as secondary projectiles and, in the worst case, full
penetration.
[0010] A further advantage of the splinter protective lip according
to the claims consists in its flame-retardant effect. According to
the standards, the products (visor, helmet, etc.) to be tested are
exposed to a flame with a temperature of 800+/-50.degree. C. during
12 seconds. After exposing to the flame, the tested product should
afterburn/afterglow or drip for a maximum 2 seconds. The splinter
protective lip according to the claims improves the flame-retardant
properties of the visor in comparison to a visor without splinter
protective lip, since the visor rim without splinter protective rim
is basically flame sensitive, that is, on impact of the testing
flame the visor pane burns for an unacceptably long time on the
position of the flame impact. However, if there is a formation of
splinters in the edge region, the splinter protective lip reduces
the likelihood of the detaching and flying around of splinters by
enclosing the visor pane. Anyway, the kinetic energy of
nevertheless detached splinters is essentially reduced and thus the
potential for injury is reduced.
[0011] The visor may be a ballistic visor, a splinter protective
visor and/or an impact protective visor. Advantageously, ballistic
protective helmets are equipped with such visors to protect the
field of view of a wearer from projectiles, splinters or punches.
As already mentioned, the splitter protective lip according to the
invention prevents the formation of splinters in the edge region of
the visor and thus increases the impact of protection of the
visor.
[0012] The visor may further have a visor carrier, which is
configured to connect the visor with a ballistic protective helmet.
In this way, the visor may be removably or permanently secured to a
protective helmet. Moreover, in a further embodiment, the visor
carrier is rotatably placed on the protective helmet such that the
visor is removable from the field of view by a rotary motion, e.g.,
outside a concrete hazardous situation.
[0013] The visor pane may have a plurality of layers. This
increases the protective effect of the visor. The layers may be
single layers of different materials, like e.g., glass, ceramics,
and plastics like PMMA and PC, which are connected to each
other.
[0014] The layers may be connected by means of an adhesive.
Advantageously, it is an elastic adhesive, which enables a shearing
motion of the layers relative to each other to absorb a part of the
kinetic energy of a hit by a projectile, splinter or a punch.
Preferably, the adhesive may be a foil adhesive, further preferably
based on polyurethane. Also conceivable are adhesives, which are
curing under UV light. Basically, the adhesive shall have a great
elongation at break.
[0015] The splinter protective lip may be made of flame retardant
material. Thereby, a burning or scorching of the splinter
protective lip by the produced thermal energy of a hit or on
contact with burning substances is avoided or at least reduced. In
one embodiment, the splinter protective lip is made of
polyurethane, whose flame retardant effect is increased by an
additive.
[0016] The splinter protective lip may be made of polyurethane.
Polyurethane has been found to be particularly advantageous, since
it meets two basic requirements: Firstly, polyurethane is
sufficiently solid to prevent that splinters penetrate the splinter
protective lip, which are formed by the impinging of projectiles,
splinters or punches. On the other hand, polyurethane has a great
elongation at break to support the conversion of the kinetic energy
of impinging projectiles, splinters or punches to a deformation of
the visor pane.
[0017] The splinter protective lip is preferably glued with the
visor pane. In this way, the formation of splinters can be more
effectively prevented or at least reduced. Due to the usage of an
adhesive with a great elongation at break this effect is even
further amplified.
[0018] The splinter protective lip may have a thickness from 1 mm
to 4 mm. In this range, the splinter protective lip fulfils the
already mentioned two requirements in an optimal way: Firstly, the
separation of splinters as secondary projectiles is effectively
prevented or at least reduced and secondly the breaking of the
visor pane by kinking or shearing off the visor pane is effectively
prevented or at least reduced.
[0019] The visor pane may have an external side and an opposing
internal side and the splinter protective lip may cover at least a
part of the external side, at least a part of the internal side and
at least a part of an edge of the visor pane. In this way, the
separation of splinters on all sides in the edge region of the
visor pane is effectively prevented or at least mitigated.
[0020] The splinter protective lip may have a U-shaped or L-shaped
cross section. These cross-sections have been found to be
particularly advantageous to prevent or at least reduce the
separation of splinters.
[0021] The splinter protective lip may cover an edge region from 1
mm to 20 mm of the external side and/or internal side of the visor
pane, respectively measured from edge of the visor pane. In this
range, the splinter protective lip fulfils the already mentioned
requirements in an optimal way, namely the protection from
separation of splinters, break protection and flame protection.
[0022] The splinter protective lip may enclose more than 25% of the
circumferential edge of the visor pane. Further preferred, the
splinter protective lip may enclose more than 50% of the
circumferential edge of the visor pane, even further preferred the
splinter protective lip may enclose more than 75% of the
circumferential edge of the visor pane. The splinter protective lip
and the visor carrier may enclose together more than 90% of the
circumferential edge of the visor pane. In this way, specific edge
regions of the visor pane may be protected quite precisely by the
splinter protective lip or essentially the entire circumferential
edge region may be protected by the splinter protective lip.
[0023] A further aspect of the present invention is directed to a
ballistic protective helmet having a visor as described herein.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0024] The present invention is explained in the following by means
of preferred embodiments with reference to the figures. The figures
show:
[0025] FIG. 1A: A front view of an embodiment of a visor according
to the invention;
[0026] FIG. 1B: A cut along the plane A-A, shown in the FIG.
1A;
[0027] FIG. 1C: A perspective view of the embodiment of FIGS. 1A
and 1B.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0028] An embodiment of visor 1 for a ballistic protective helmet
(not shown in the figures) according to the invention is shown in
the FIGS. 1A, 1B and 1C, wherein the FIG. 1A presents a front view,
the FIG. 1B a cut along the plane A-A shown in the FIG. 1A and the
FIG. 1C a perspective view.
[0029] The visor 1 has a visor pane 2 and a splinter protective lip
3, arranged in an edge region of the visor pane 2, wherein the
splinter protective lip 3 encloses an edge 4 of the visor pane 2 at
least partly. The visor 1 is basically suitable for a ballistic
protective helmet, which is for example worn by the policemen or
special operations forces. Also conceivable is a military usage of
the protective helmets, respectively the visor 1 according to the
invention.
[0030] The visor 1 may be a ballistic visor, a splinter protective
visor and/or an impact protective visor. Ballistic visors are
preventing the field of view of a wearer from projectiles from
firearms, slings, bows, etc., splinter protection visors from
splinters and impact protection visors from punches, whereby e.g.,
this is also understood to mean, for example, the impingement of
objects such as stones or glass bottles. Basically, visors may also
have a combination of the mentioned properties, that is, e.g.,
protect from projectiles, splinters and punches or protect from
splinters and punches, etc. The protective effect is achieved by
the visor pane 2 in combination with the splinter protective lip 3.
Basically, the visor pane 2 may be a single pane of suitable
thickness or multiple layers of panes.
[0031] In the embodiment of the FIGS. 1A, 1B and 1C the visor has
one single visor pane 2. As already mentioned, in other embodiments
the visor pane may be a multilayer construction. Suitable materials
for the visor pane 2 are for example polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)
and polycarbonate (PC). In case of a multilayer construction, the
layers may be connected to each other by means of an adhesive.
[0032] A variety of materials can be used for the visor pane, like
e.g., glass, ceramic and plastics like e.g., polymethylmethacrylate
(PMMA) and polycarbonate (PC). Depending on the protection class,
the pane may consist of only one material or a combination of the
mentioned materials in which the visor pane is constructed layer by
layer. The connection of the single layers usually happens
(preferably) by gluing, but also mechanical connections are
conceivable like e.g., by screwing or by a frame, which holds the
panes together.
[0033] In the embodiment of the FIGS. 1A, 1B and 1C the visor 1 has
a visor carrier 5, which is configured to connect the visor 1 with
a ballistic protective helmet (not shown in the figures). In this
way, the visor 1 is removably and permanently secured to the
protective helmet. The visor carrier has two bearings 10a and 10b
on its sides such that the visor 1 is rotatable around the axis of
rotation marked with the reference sign 11.
[0034] The splinter protective lip 3 is made of polyurethane in the
embodiment of the FIGS. 1A, 1B and 1C. Concretely, this is a
material that is specially optimized for flame-retardant
applications. Basically, also other materials are conceivable as
long as they have sufficient flame retardancy, breaking resistance
and solidity.
[0035] The splinter protective lip 3 is glued with the visor pane.
In the embodiment of the FIGS. 1A, 1B and 1C, an adhesive 12 is
used based on polyurethane. Basically, also other adhesives can be
used, like e.g., an adhesive, which is cured under UV light. A
prerequisite for this is that the adhesive has similar
characteristics like for example flexibility, elongation at break
and solidity like the splinter protective lip 3 itself.
[0036] In the embodiment of the FIGS. 1A, 1B and 1C, the splinter
protective lip 3 has a thickness 6 of 2.2 mm (see FIG. 1B). It is
also shown in FIG. 1B that the splinter protective lip has a
U-shaped cross-section and thus covers the face side 9 of the visor
pane 2 as well as its front side 7 and back side 8 at least partly.
Other cross sections are conceivable. For example, the
cross-section may be L-shaped such that the splinter protective lip
1 covers the face side 9 and the external side 7 or the internal
side 8 of the visor pane 2.
[0037] In the embodiment of the FIGS. 1A, 1B and 1C the splinter
protective lip 3 encloses the circumferential edge of the visor
pane 2 together with the visor carrier 5 almost completely.
Thereby, the splinter protective lip 3 encloses alone more than
half of the circumferential edge, namely the sides and the bottom
side, while the visor carrier encloses the top side of the visor
pane (see FIG. 1A).
* * * * *