Protective helmet

Abstract

The present invention includes an improved protective football player's helmet capable of providing improved protection against what is commonly known as "spearing" and face-guard tackles. The safety helmet or football helmet disclosed by the present invention includes a relatively rigid helmet portion formed with a recess for receiving and protecting the upper and side portions of the user's head, a chin strap removably secured to the helmet in order to hold same upon the head of the user, and a face-guard assembly which functions both as an additional protective device as well as being cooperative with the chin strap such that, upon preselected and undesirable movement of the face-guard in a forward direction, the chin strap is rendered inoperative and releases the helmet from the user's head. In an alternate embodiment hereof, the chin strap will not be detached from the face-guard, thereby facilitating refastening.

Description

This invention relates generally to safety helmets and, more particularly, to an improved football helmet which possesses novel safety features unknown to the prior art.

There are those among us who not only enjoy witnessing contact-type sports, such as football, but who also are concerned for the safety and well-being of the individuals who find themselves making a living or reputation participating in these sports. Increasing numbers of sports-minded football fans, for example, concede that they are capable of deriving an equivalent amount of pleasure in watching a football game in which one or more of our stars is neither maimed nor crippled for life.

We are very much concerned for the safety of not only professional football players, but youngsters who may become the potential victims of overzealous participants whose desire to win may overshadow their concern for the safety of their opponents. Few parents of such youngsters will rejoice in a victorious game in which his or her son has become injured, possibly permanently.

Most football helmets are equipped with a helmet portion which protects the forehead, the top of the head and the rear and sides of the head so as to expose only the face and neck portions of the user. In addition, such helmets are equipped with face masks. In the case of running backfield players, their face-guard usually consists of two bars below the eye level and adapted to protect the nose and mouth of the player.

It has not taken much ingenuity for many players to discover that the very face-guard which is worn by such running backfield players to protect their nose and mouth may be easily grasped and used to tackle the running back. This has resulted in serious neck, head and spinal injuries.

Yet another prevalent feature of the football game involves what is commonly known as "spearing", in which the top of a player's helmet comes into contact with the body of his opponent, usually if not surprisingly with great force. In this case, very often the very party doing the "spearing" injures himself as well as his opponent.

Thus, we see that safety or football helmets known to the art and used every day are deficient from a safety standpoint. Efforts to improve them have resulted in rather complex and expensive structures capable of doing more harm to the player than the very type of act sought to be protected against.

The reader's attention is directed to our U.S. Pat. No. 3,815,152, which issued to us on June 11, 1974. This patent discloses and claims a novel helmet assembly which teaches significant advances in the art. The present invention teaches yet further novel improvements over the improvements of our aforementioned patent, as will be more fully explained and set forth below.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved safety helmet capable of use as a football helmet.

Another object of this invention is to provide a football helmet possessing features which protect the user against injuries sustained during what is commonly known as "spearing" and face-guard tackling.

A further object of our invention is to provide a football helmet structure in which the chin strap and face-guard cooperate with one another so as to enable the release of the chin strap which ordinarily holds the helmet upon the head of the user upon the occurrence of an undesirable movement of the face-guard.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a release mechanism for use with a safety helmet, or the like, in which a retaining structure cooperatively meets a movable structure in a region such that, upon a predetermined movement of the movable structure in a preselected direction, the retaining structure will be rendered inoperative from a retention standpoint.

The present invention fulfills the aforementioned object and overcomes the limitations and disadvantages of prior art solutions to problems associated with conventional football helmets and equipment known to the art, by providing, according to one aspect of the invention, an improved safety football helmet found with a hollow helmet portion capable of receiving and protecting the head of the user. A face-guard suitable for protecting the nose and mouth of the user removably engages and is connected to the helmet portion just described. A chin strap similarly engages and is connected to the helmet portion in a cooperative manner with the face-guard such that, upon predetermined and undesirable forward movement of the face-guard, the chin strap will automatically be released and thereby release the helmet from the head of the user. In a preferred embodiment of our invention, both the chin strap and the face-guard are joined in a novel structure capable of exhibiting this releasing action, and being further capable of retaining the chin strap at one side thereof upon the face-guard.

In the case of running back field players, pass-catching ends and quarterbacks, the face guard usually consists of two bars below the eye level for better visibility, and as mentioned, to protect the nose and mouth. Although face guard tackling is an infraction of the rules and a penalty is imposed, most face guard tackles are inadvertent but it does not subtract from the chance of injury.

This invention will be more clearly understood from the following description of specific embodiments of the invention, together with the accompanying drawings, wherein similar reference characters denote similar elements throughout the views and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective elevational type view illustrating the helmet assembly according to the present invention, in a secured manner upon the head of a user;

FIG. 2 is a perspective elevational view illustrating the helmet assembly according to the present invention in a chin strap release position, and the helmet being removed from the head of the user;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary, exploded perspective view of the essential elements of the chin strap release mechanism;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4--4 of FIG. 1 in a secured and locked position;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view on line 5--5 of FIG. 2 showing the chin strap releasing position;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a modified form of the invention, wherein the channel part thereof is formed as an integral part of the helmet;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the modification taken on line 7--7 of FIG. 6, illustrating more clearly the structural integrity of the helmet and channel;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary exploded perspective view of a second modification showing elements of our invention wherein one side of the chin strap is released and the other side is retained to the helmet; and

FIG. 9 is a bottom fragmentary sectional view of our helmet, depicting a one-side chin strap release.

It is important here, before referring in more detail to the drawings, to reemphasize the fact that our present invention is specifically directed to providing means by which we are able to improve football helmets to prevent neck, head and spinal injuries from "spearing" and face-guard tackles. The manner in which this is accomplished is best seen by looking at the drawings in which FIG. 1 illustrates a helmet assembly 10 having an upper crown portion 11 from which two side pieces or portions depend. A face-guard assembly 20 is secured to helmet 10 and its associated side portions or pieces 12 and 13 by a releasable locking assembly 30 located on each side of helmet 10. A chin strap 21 cooperatively engages and is releasably connected to releasable locking assemblies 30.

It is important here to emphasize that the following technical description of our invention, for purposes of convenience and to aid the reader, will describe the makeup and workings of one releasable locking assembly 30. The reader is reminded, however, that a releasable locking assembly 30 is located on each of side pieces or portions 12 and 13 of helmet assembly 10, and therefore there are two distinct releasable locking assemblies 30.

Inasmuch as the left and right releasable locking assemblies 30 are identical and are activated by a pulling force on face-guard assembly 20, the left side piece 12 of helmet 10 will be described for FIGS. 1 and 2.

Helmet assembly 10 is held securely to the user's head by chin strap assembly 21 which, in turn, is formed with an upper chin member 17 engaging the face of the user immediately above his chin. A corresponding lower chin member 18 engages the underside of the user's chin so that, together, upper and lower chin members 17 and 18 firmly grip the chin of the user. Chin strap assembly 21 is further formed with a strap member 19 with which members 17 and 18 dovetail or merge. A female snap member 22 capable of receiving a male snap member 26 is adjustably secured to strap 19.

Directing our attention now in more detail to the releasable locking assembly 30 shown in exploded perspective form in FIG. 3, we see that the face guard assembly 20 includes an extension thereof which will hereafter be referred to as a slide bar 23 and associated elements. A channel plate element 31 receives slide bar 23 and is structurally formed in a manner whereupon it functions an an element or part of a positive female snap release.

A bolt member 40 formed with internal threads in one end thereof cooperatively and matingly engages a cap screw 41 which, in turn, is formed with external threads capable of mating with and engaging the internal threads formed in bolt member 40. Bolt and screw elements 40 and 41 comprise the releasing force adjustment means capable of defining a predetermined and adjustable force required to release chin strap 21 from face-guard assembly 20. This releasing action is accomplished via the structural composition of releasable locking assembly 30.

Rivets 35 which are formed with round heads 35' thereof secure channel plate element or channel plate 31 to the helmet flap or portion 12 and are also utilized as part of the releasable locking assembly 30. Channel plate element 31 comprises a bottom flat surface 32 from which two upstanding, perpendicularly extending flange members 34 and 36 extend in integral relationship therewith. These same flange members 34 and 36 define a slot proximate a rear wall 32'. Flange members 34 and 36 are formed in a manner which defines forward relatively higher portions 34' and 36', each of which extends rearwardly a predetermined distance to a portion thereof which is sharply angled downwardly to two lower portions 34" and 36". Bottom surface or base portion 32 is formed with two rivet holes 33 and a relatively larger opening 38 which is sized to be capable of receiving bolt member 40. Rivet holes 33 are located with their centerlines a distance a from one another, and provide the means by which the entire channel plate assembly 30 may be secured or fixed by round headed rivets 35 to depending side portions 12 and 13 of helmet assembly 10.

Directing our attention now to face-guard assembly 20, the drawings illustrate the fact that two face-guard bars 15 and 16 are positioned so as to be capable of guarding the nose and mouth of the user of helmet assembly 10, and these same two bars 15 and 16 converge toward a strip. This same strip extends to slide bar 23 and will hereinafter be referred to as plates or bars 23. Slide plates 23 are formed with a central slot 25 which extends longitudinally with respect to the longitudinal axis of slide plate 23. Slot 25 terminates short of a male snap member 26 secured adjacent the end of plate 23 by means of a screw thread or other conventional fastening means.

A bottom surface 27 of slide plate 23 is formed with two rounded projections 24 and 24' which extend in side-by-side relationship. Projections 24 and 24' are separated from one another a predetermined distance a' from their respective centerlines. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the distance a' is substantially equal to the aforesaid distance a.

It should now be seen that the elements of channel plate assembly, namely the base member and its integral parts, bolt member 40, cap screw 41, cap screw head 41' and the associated elements are capable of cooperative interengagement in a manner which facilitates the entry of slide plate 23 into channel plate assembly 31 and the recesses formed by bottom surface 32, flanges 34 and 36 which, in turn, define a channel 28. These surfaces serve as guides and retainers for the slide plate 23. Bottom surface 32, as already mentioned, is formed with holes 33 which accommodate round headed rivets 35 which, in turn, hold and secure the channel and track to helmet sides or portions 12 and 13. Rounded heads 35' of rivets 35 are utilized in conjunction and cooperation with projections 24 and 24' of slide bar 23 -- these members serving as friction locking means for face mask guard assembly 20.

The releasable locking assembly 30 is assembled by sliding a slide plate 23 into the channel 28 formed by surfaces 32 and upper flanges 34 and 36, such that slot 25 coincides with and overlies opening 38. Thereafter, bolt receptacle or nut 40 is inserted upwardly through opening 38 which, in turn, coincides with similar-sized holes in side flaps 12 and 13. Cap screw 41 may then be screwed into the female threads formed within bolt member 40.

Face-guard assembly 20 is set in a locked position by exerting a backwardly or rearwardly steady, sharp pressure against front bars 15 and 16, such that the rounded projections 24 and 24' on the under surfaces of slide plate 23 are forced over rounded heads 35' of rivets 35. In this position, the predetermined centerline distances of projections 24 and 24' and those of the rivet heads 35' are offset in such a manner that a friction-type locking is created, as best illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 6. When slide plate 23 is moved into this locked position, the slide is limited from further rearward movement by the abutment of bolt member 40 against the forward surfaces defining the forward end of slot 25. By turning cap screw 41, pressure is exerted on the flange high portions 34' and 36' by the under side surfaces of cap screw head 41', and the resulting pulling force on the face mask necessary to activate the chin strap release is thereby adjusted to the user's preference. It should be emphasized here that the heads 35' of rivets 35, together with the rounded projections 24 and 24' cooperate in a cam-like relationship. In the position shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, our invention is shown in locked position with the female snap member 22 of chin strap 21 engaged with male strap member 26 of slide plate 23.

Referring now to FIG. 5, the reader will see that the operation of the present invention as concerns the releasable locking assemblies 30 is brought into play when a player grabs face-guard assembly 20 and pulls same away from the helmet itself. This outward pulling will force projections 24 and 24' ove rivet heads 35', thereby allowing slide 23 to move forwardly in channel assembly 31, with the chin strap securing members 22 and 26 moving simultaneously in the same direction within slot 39. Male snap 26 is secured to slide 23. Within a very short distance the female snap fastener 22 comes into an abutting relationship with the sloped portion joining flange members 34' and 36', and further movement in a forward direction forces female part 22 upwardly, releasing same from male snap 26. Slide 23 will continue forwardly a relatively short distance and will thereupon stop when the rearward surfaces of slot 25 of slide plate 23 comes into an abutting relationship against bolt member 40. In the embodiment of the present invention being described, since both left and right female snaps 22 are released simultaneously, the chin strap assembly 21 falls freely to the ground as the release assembly 30 is still attached to the helmet. Continued or further pulling on the face-guard assembly 20 will cause helmet assembly 10 to be pulled off the user's head and will thereby avoid twisting of his head and neck of the type as is presently occurring in conventional assemblies wherein the chin straps are held in place during this pulling-type movement.

A foam rubber lining 50 is integral with the insides of depending portions 12 and 13 of helmet 10 to provide cushioning and comfort for the wearer of helmet 10. This same rubber lining 50 conceals the rivets 35 and the bolt assembly and prevents same from contacting the user's face.

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate a modified form of the present invention and varies from the aforementioned embodiment insofar as the channel portion is formed as an integral part of helmet flaps or portions 12 and 13.

FIGS. 8 and 9 depict yet another embodiment of the present invention wherein the structural details of helmet assembly 10 permit the release of one of the female snap members only, with the other female snap member remaining in mating engagement with its male counterpart so that the chin strap does not fall to the ground but at the same time releases itself from the user's chin and head. This is accomplished by securing a modified channel assembly on one side of helmet 10. Either the left or right side may be equipped with this modified channel 31'.

Modified channel plate element 31' herein described varies from channel plate element 31 in that the predetermined length of higher portions 34' and 36' are somewhat shorter than the decreased height of flanges 34" and 36". More simply stated, the length of the lower portions on the modified channel plate element 31' is greater than the length of the higher portions.

As illustrated in FIG. 9, when our invention is activated as described above by a pulling force on the face mask guard assembly, the male and female snap parts or members 26 and 22, respectively, move forwardly with the slide within slot 39. This forward movement is limited by the length of slot 25 and the presence of stop bolt 40. The unsnapping action described above for the first embodiment described will not occur on channel assembly 31' since the snap fastener assembly 22 and 26 will not reach the angle higher portion of flanges 34' and 36'. The aforesaid action results in one side of chin strap assembly 21 remaining secured to the face mask and helmet assembly 10.

While the present invention has been described with reference to specific emobdiments illustrated in the figures of the drawings heretofore described, embodiments and changes coming within the scope of the present invention may occur to those skilled in the art and, as such, are contemplated by this invention. Various changes and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention defined by the proper scope of the appended claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A safety helmet, or the like, comprising cover means formed with a recess for receiving and protecting portions of the head of the user; retaining means for removably holding said cover means on the head, said retaining means comprising a plate assembly having walls that form a slide receiving channel, a substantially unitary slotted face-guard slide bar which includes a first snap fastener affixed thereto, a chin strap having at least one second fastener at extremities thereof, said first and second fasteners being cooperatively capable of engaging one another; an adjustable release force means for controlling a predetermined force necessary to enable a predetermined disengagement of said first and second snap fasteners upon forward movement of said slide bar, said release force means comprising a bolt member cooperatively secured to said plate assembly, and a cap member removably secured to said bolt member; said retaining means enabling said predetermined disengagement of said snap fasteners upon forward movement of said slide bar, said plate assembly further comprising a raised cam surface disposed in the path of said second fastener such that contact therebetween will cause a lifting of said second fastener, thereby resulting in said fastener disengagement.

2. A safety helmet according to claim 1, wherein said cover means comprises a football helmet.

3. A safety helmet according to claim 1, wherein said slide bar is an integral part of a face-guard assembly.

4. A safety helmet according to claim 1, wherein said channel is adapted to receive said slide bar in frictional substantially mating engagement with one another.

5. A safety helmet according to claim 3, wherein said face-guard assembly terminates in a releasable assembly to which said chin strap is removably secured upon forward movement of said face-guard under preselected conditions, said chin strap being capable of resecurement to said releasable assembly.

6. A safety helmet according to claim 1, wherein said first snap fastener is a male fastener.

7. A safety helmet according to claim 6, wherein said second snap fastener is a female fastener.

8. A safety helmet according to claim 1, wherein said retaining means comprises two pairs of male and female snap fasteners, respectively.

9. A safety helmet according to claim 8, wherein said disengagement of said snap fasteners occurs with one pair of male and female snap fasteners only, thereby facilitating the retention of said chin strap upon said safety helmet.