Ventilated Goggles

Abstract

A ventilated goggle having a face piece with a front wall, a top wall, a bottom wall, and side walls. The front wall is defined by a pair of laterally spaced wall sections that are substantially parallel to each other with each having an aligned aperture therein to allow the wearer to see therethrough. The open space between the laterally spaced wall sections form a channel that extends around the inner surface of the front wall and a plurality of spaced locking lugs are formed integrally with the outer walls of said face piece such that they project inwardly into said channel. The goggles have a single lens which is detachably positioned in said channel and the lens comprises a substantially planar central body shaped like the letter B laying on its side and has a plurality of spacers positioned at intervals around its periphery. The spacers are of a thickness greater than the thickness of the central body with that thickness extending laterally outwardly from both sides of the central body. The peripheral edge of the central body between the spacers is recessed inwardly from the peripheral edge of the spacers to form ventilation paths between the spacers when the lens is mounted in the channel.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to goggles and more particularly to industrial goggles adapted for use in connection with chipping, grinding, and other industrial operations during which it is desired to protect the eyes from heat, sparks, and other flying particles. A particularly troublesome problem in the past has been a lack of suitable ventilation means in the design of the goggles to prevent fogging. It is well known in the art to provide ventilation openings of various kinds around the perimeter of the goggle lenses and along the side pieces of the goggles. One of the problems of the past, however, has resulted from the complicated designs of the ventilation means and the time consuming molding operations required in the manufacturing of the goggles. Most of the prior goggles required a plurality of parts, each of which have to be separately molded, and all of which added considerably to the cost of manufacture of the goggles.

One of the principal objects of the invention is to provide a new goggle having novel ventilation means which are both economical and simple to manufacture with the major parts of said goggles being formed of integral parts.

Another object of the invention is to provide a face piece fabricated to comfortably fit the facial structure of most individuals and one whose structure acts to stabilize the angle at which the face piece protrudes from the front of the wearer.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a novel and simplified structure for attaching the lens to the face piece which eliminates the need for metallic snap fasteners formed either on the lens or in the face piece structure.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel structure for locating or centering the lens members so that insertion of the lens member is facilitated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Applicant's novel ventilated goggles are assembled from only three parts, a face piece, a lens, and a head band. The face piece is an integrally molded resilient member having a front wall, a top wall, a bottom wall and a side wall. The front wall is defined by a pair of laterally spaced wall sections that are substantially parallel to each other and each have aligned apertures therein for allowing the wearer to see therethrough. The open space between the laterally spaced wall sections form a channel that extends around the inner surface of the front wall and a plurality of spaced locking lugs are integrally formed with the outer walls of the face piece and protrude inwardly into the channel. The top and bottom wall of the face piece each have a flange running along their inner edge which contacts the face of the wearer. These flanges have integral portions which extend both upwardly and downwardly and bear upon the face of the wearer, thus stabilizing the angle at which the face mask protrudes from the face of the wearer. The second component of the goggles is the lens which consists of a substantially planar central body shaped like the letter B laying on its side and having a plurality of spacers integrally molded thereon and positioned at intervals around the periphery of the central body. The spacers are of a thickness greater than the thickness of the central body with this thickness extending laterally outwardly from both sides of the central body. The peripheral edge of the central body between the spacers is recessed inwardly from the peripheral edge of the spacers to form ventilation paths between the spacers when the lens is detachably mounted in the channel. The operation of inserting the lens into the face piece requires only that the locking notches formed in the spacers on the lens be forced onto the locking lugs formed within the channel of the face piece. The central locking notch of the lens mates with the central locking lug of the face piece, thus acting as a convenient method for centering the lens while inserting it into the face piece.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the ventilated goggles;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation view of the face piece of the goggles;

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the face piece of the goggles;

FIG. 4 is a side elevation view of the face piece of the goggles;

FIG. 5 is a cross section taken along line 5--5 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a front elevation view of the lens;

FIG. 7 is an end elevation view of the lens;

FIG. 8 is a cross section taken along line 8--8 of FIG. 6; and

FIG. 9 is an exploded partial view of a cross section illustrating the ventilation path between the lens and the face piece when assembled.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Applicant's novel ventilated goggles will now be described by referring to the drawings, with attention being directed to FIGS. 1 through 5 to explain the structure of the face piece generally designated numeral 10. The face piece has a front wall 11, a top wall 12, a bottom wall 14 and side walls 16. Along the inside edge of the top wall the fore head contour portion 18 is comprised of a flange having a top section 20 and a bottom section 22. The central face contour portion 24 along the inner edge of the bottom wall has a flange comprised of a top section 26 and a bottom section 28. The side walls have integrally formed ears 30 with head strap slots 32 into which a head strap (not shown) would be inserted. The front wall 11 is defined by a pair of laterally spaced wall sections 34 and 35 that are substantially parallel to each other with each having aligned apertures 36 and 37 respectively forming the viewing aperture. The open space between the wall sections forms a channel 38 that extends around the inner surface of the front wall. A plurality of spaced locking lugs are formed integrally with the outer walls of said face piece and they extend inwardly into the channel. They are designated central locking lug 40 and auxiliary locking lugs 42. The face piece is formed in an integrally molded member made preferably of a resilient material which allows the facial contour portions to readily conform to the contour of the individual wearer.

The lens 50 is illustrated in FIGS. 6 through 8. It has a central body 52 which is substantially in the shape of a sheet of material shaped like the letter B laying on its side. Around the periphery of the central body are a plurality of spacers 54 which are positioned at intervals in order to provide ventilation paths 56. Selected spacers have notches 57 formed along their outer periphery for mating engagement with the auxiliary locking lugs 42 of the face piece. The spacer on the lens in the nose bridge area has a central locking notch 58 which aids in centering the lens in the face piece as it matingly engages the central locking lug 40. The assembly and disassembly of the goggles is thus readily seen to be quite simple and being of a structure wherein the face piece is integrally molded and the lens member has integrally molded spacers around its periphery to make for an economically manufactured and assembled ventilated goggle.

The actual manner in which the goggles are ventilated results from the spacers 54 being of a thickness greater than the thickness of the central body of the lens with that thickness extending laterally outwardly from both sides of the central body 52. The peripheral edge of the central body between said spacers is recessed inwardly from the peripheral edge of the spacers, thus forming a ventilation path 56 between said spacers when the lens is mounted in the channel 30 as illustrated in FIG. 9. Applicant's novel structure is thus seen to provide a novel manner for ventilating his goggles while at the same time designing them from two easily molded members whose assembly and disassembly can be accomplished with a minimum expenditure of time.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A ventilated goggle comprising a face piece adapted to fit about the eyes of the wearer, said face piece having a front wall, a top wall, a bottom wall and side walls, said front wall being defined by a pair of laterally spaced wall sections that are substantially parallel to each other with each having aligned apertures to allow the wearer to see therethrough, the open space between said laterally spaced wall section forming channel that extends around the inner surface of said front wall, a plurality of spaced locking lugs being formed integrally with the outer walls of said face piece and extending inwardly into said channel, a single lens having its peripheral edge detachably positioned in said channel, said lens comprising:

a substantially planar central body having a plurality of integrally molded spacers positioned at intervals around the periphery of the central body,

said spacers being of a thickness greater than the thickness of said central body with said thickness extending laterally outwardly from both sides of said central body,

the peripheral edge of said central body between said spacers being recessed inwardly from the peripheral edge of said spacers to form ventilation paths between said spacers when the lens is mounted in said channel.

2. A ventilated goggle as recited in claim 1 wherein said face piece is made of a resilient material.

3. A ventilated goggle as recited in claim 1 wherein the top wall of said face piece has a flange along the forehead contour portion comprised of a top flange and a bottom flange which acts to stabilize the angle at which the top wall of the face piece projects from the face of the wearer.

4. A ventilated goggle as recited in claim 1 including a spacer located at the bridge of the nose position of the lens which spacer has a central locking notch formed in the shape of a chord of a circle.