Headset retainer for helmet

Abstract

A retainer for releasably securing a headset earphone assembly of the type having a pair of pin receiving recesses therein to a flexible helmet in which a relatively rigid frame is formed with an outwardly opening peripheral channel adapted releasably to receive a portion of the flexible helmet body surrounding an opening therein adjacent to the ear of a wearer. A pair of housings formed by the rigid frame receive plates for sliding movement inwardly and outwardly of the frame opening which is so shaped that an earphone assembly placed therein is oriented with its pin receiving recesses aligned with projections on the sliding plates to permit the projections to be moved into the recesses and to be releasably locked into position securely to hold the headset assembly onto the flexible helmet.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There are known in the prior art headsets including a pair of earphone assemblies which are supported on a headband extending across the wearer's head by means of flexible yokes at the ends of the headband the legs of which yokes carry inwardly extending pins which are adapted to be snapped into recesses formed in the earphone housings releasably to hold the earphone assemblies in position on the headband.

There are also known in the prior art flexible protective helmets with which earcup assemblies may be associated. One form of such a headgear structures is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,786,519, issued Jan. 22, 1974. The headgear structure shown in the patent includes a flexible relatively close fitting helmet on which a plurality of bodies of impact resistent material are mounted. The helmet is provided with ear openings in which earcup assemblies comprising an integrally molded shell provided with a peripheral channel may be mounted. A salient feature of the headgear structure of the patent is the arrangement by virtue of which earcup assembly sealing means are brought into intimate contact with the wearer's head so as to form a seal therewith when the helmet is donned by a wearer. This sealing effect takes place as the helmet is donned even though the chin strap of the helmet is not secured.

It is desirable that a headset earphone assembly of the type first mentioned above be able to be used with the flexible helmet shown in the patent mentioned above. At present there exists no means for attaching such an earcup assembly to the flexible helmet in a rapid, simple and expeditious manner.

I have invented a retainer for releasably securing a headset earphone assembly of a type shown in the prior art to a flexible protective helmet. My retainer permits the headset earphone assembly to be secured to the flexible protective helmet in a rapid and expeditious manner. It is relatively simple and inexpensive to construct.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One object of my invention is to provide a retainer for releasably securing a headset earphone assembly of a type known in the prior art to a flexible protective helmet.

Another object of my invention is to provide a retainer for releasably securing a headset earphone assembly to a flexible protective helmet in a rapid and expeditious manner.

Another object of my invention is to provide a headset earphone assembly retainer which is simple in construction and which is inexpensive to manufacture.

Other and further objects of my invention will appear from the following description.

In general my invention contemplates the provision of a retainer for releasably securing a headset earphone assembly of the type having a pair of pin receiving recesses therein to a flexible helmet in which a relatively rigid frame is formed with an outwardly opening peripheral channel adapted releasably to receive a portion of the flexible helmet body surrounding an opening therein adjacent to the ear of a wearer. The frame forms a pair of housings which slidably receive plates for movement inwardly and outwardly of the frame opening which is so shaped that an earphone assembly placed in the frame is oriented with its pin receiving recesses aligned with inwardly directed projections on the plates so that the plates can be moved inwardly to engage the projections in the pin receiving recesses and then be releasably locked in position securely to retain the headset earphone assembly in place on the flexible protective helmet.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a protective helmet assmebly and one of the earcup assemblies of the prior art held in position on the helmet by my retainer.

FIG. 2 is an end elevation with a part shown in section of the assembly of my retainer and one of the headset earphone assemblies of the type known in the prior art.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of the assembly illustrated in FIG. 1 taken along the line 3--3 of FIG. 1 and drawn on an enlarged scale.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view of the assembly of my retainer and a headset of the prior art taken along the line 4--4 of FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the drawings, a helmet assembly indicated generally by the reference character 10 may include a rigid outer shell 12 provided with a rudimentary visor 14 and an inner flexible protective helmet indicated generally by the reference character 16 of the type shown and described in the patent referred to hereinabove. The helmet 16 includes a fabric webbing 18 formed with a plurality of pockets adapted to receive bodies of impact resistant material, one body 20 of which is illustrated in FIG. 1. Respective strips 22 of leather or the like secured along the lower front side portions of the helmet 16, are secured to a pair of fabric lengths 24 by any suitable releasable fasteners, such as snap-fasteners. The lengths 24 in turn are secured to the rigid shell 12 by any suitable means. Each of the strips 22 further carries a second snap-fastener element adapted to receive a complementary element carried by one end of a chin strap 26.

Preferably, the helmet 16 is provided with a nape strap 28 which permits the protective helmet to be drawn closely around the back of the wearer's neck. A strip 30 of webbing or the like carries a fastener 32 adapted to be engaged with a fastener element 34 on the body of shell 12 to hold the back of the inner helmet assembly 16 to the rigid outer shell 12. Additional fastening means may be provided to secure the inner helmet 16 to the shell 12.

The inner helmet 16 is formed with respective ear openings 36, surrounded by beaded fabric portions 38. The structure thus far described is more fully shown and described in the patent referred to hereinabove.

The headset earphone assembly indicated generally by the reference character 40 includes an earcup 41 of relatively rigid synthetic resin forming a housing for an electrical component (not shown) such as an earphone. The earcup 41 carries a sealing assembly 49 comprising soft resilient material adapted to form a seal with the portion of the wearer's head around his ear when the helmet 16 is donned so as to prevent extraneous sound from entering the cup. A valve member 42 carried by the earcup may be actuated to uncover an opening to permit the wearer to hear outside sound without removing the helmet.

The assembly 40 includes a pair of pin receptacles indicated generally by the reference characters 44 and 46 positioned at generally oppositely disposed locations around the peripherery of the assembly 40. Each of the receptacles 44 and 46 includes a body 48 received in an opening 50 in a boss 51 on the earcup 41. Each body 48 is provided with an aligning slot 52 and with a pin receiving recess 54 extending inwardly into the body from the slot 52 at a location generally in the center of the slot.

My retainer includes a frame 56 provided with a peripheral channel 58, having an inner wall 60 and an outer wall 62. I provide the frame 56 with a central opening 64, having a cross-sectional configuration which conforms to the shape of a portion of the outer surface of the assembly 40. Moreover, the outline configuration of the opening 64 is the same as that of the portion of the housing 48 adapted to be received thereby. A step or shoulder 65 in the opening 64 permits the assembly 40 to nest snugly within the opening 64 as illustrated in FIG. 2.

Frame 56 carries a pair of connector assemblies indicated generally by the respective reference character 66 and 68. Each of the connector assemblies includes a housing 70 formed by an outwardly offset portion of the outer wall 62 of the frame 56. Adjacent to each of the connectors 66 and 68, I provide a notch 72 forming a mouth leading from the edge of the opening 64 into the corresponding housing 70. As will be more fully described hereinbelow, when the assembly 40 is placed in the opening 64, each notch 72 receives the outwardly projecting portion of the corresponding body 48 of the receptacle.

A slot 74 in the top of the housing portion receives the shank 76 of a locking fastener, having a head 78. Shank 76 is threaded into a plate 80 disposed within the housing portion 70 for sliding movement inwardly and outwardly of the frame 56. I form each plate 80 with a projection or finger 82 extending inwardly of the frame 56.

In use of my retainer to mount a headset earphone assembly to a flexible helmet 16, I first mount respective frames 56 in the ear openings 36 of the helmet 16. This is accomplished by inserting the bead 38 into the channel 58 formed by the flanges or walls 60 and 62. Owing to the somewhat elliptical shape of the openings 36 and the corresponding shape of the frame 56, when this is done the fastener assembly 66 and 68 are generally at those locations at which they should be for proper positioning of the earcup assembly 40 on the helmet 16. It will be readily appreciated, of course, that this operation is performed in such a way that the fastener assembly 66 and 68 are outboard.

Next, in order to assemble one of the units 40 to a frame 56, it is applied to the opening 64 from the inside out. Owing to the corresponding shapes of the opening 64 and of the periphery of the earcup 41 unit 40, as this operation is performed the projecting portions of the bodies 48, will be aligned with the notches or mouths 72, so as to be received therein. It will be appreciated that before the operation the plates 80 are moved outboard to retract the pins or projections 82. Even in the retracted positions of the plate 80, the pins will project inwardly sufficiently to enter into the guide slots 52 to insured that the pins are accurately aligned with the pin receiving recesses 54.

When the unit 40 is snugly in place in the opening 64 in the frame 56, pins 82 are aligned with recesses 54. In this relative position of the parts, the plates 80 are slid inwardly to cause the pins 82 to enter into the recesses 54. After the pins 82 have been moved into the recesses, each of the knobs 78 is turned to draw the corresponding plate unwardly into the recess formed by the housing 70 in the outer wall 62, so as securely to lock the parts in place. Then when the helmet is donned, owing to the helmet construction pointed out hereinabove, the sealing assembly 49 is brought closely into engagement with the surface of the wearer's head about his ear.

It will be seen that I have accomplished the objects of my invention. I have provided a retainer for holding a headset earcup assembly of a type known in a prior art, to the body of a flexible protective helmet. My retainer accomplishes this result in a rapid and expeditious manner. It is relatively simple in construction and is easy to manufacture.

It will be understood that certain features and subcombinations are of utility and may be employed without reference to other features and subcombinations. This is contemplated by and is within the scope of our claims. It is further obvious that various changes may be made in details within the scope of our claims without departing from the spirit of our invention. It is, therefore, to be understood that our invention is not to be limited to the specific details shown and described.

Claims

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is:

1. A helmet and earphone assembly including in combination, a flexible relatively close fitting helmet, means forming an ear opening in said helmet, a relatively rigid frame, means mounting said frame in said ear opening, an earcup assembly, and manually operable readily releasable means for locking said earcup in assembled relationship with same frame.

2. An assembly as in claim 1 in which said locking means comprises a receptacle on said earcup assembly, a fastener, and means mounting said fastener on said frame for movement into and out of operative relationship with said receptacle.

3. An assembly as in claim 2 including manually operable means for locking said fastener in operative relationship with said receptacle.

4. An assembly as in claim 1 in which said manually operable releasable means comprises a pair of receptacles at spaced locations around said earcup assembly, a pair of fastener elements, and means mounting said fastener element on said frame at correspondingly spaced locations on said frame for movement into and out of operative relationship with said receptacle.

5. An assembly as in claim 1 in which said earcup assembly includes an earcup of noncircular configuration and in which said frame forms an opening having a noncircular configuration conforming to said earcup configuration.

6. An assembly as in claim 1 in which said means mounting said frame in said opening comprises means forming a peripheral channel on said frame for receiving a portion of said helmet around said opening.

7. An assembly as in claim 1 in which said earcup assembly comprise a pair of spaced projections and in which said frame forms an opening with a pair of correspondingly spaced recesses for receiving said projections.

8. An assembly as in claim 1 in which said manually operable releasable means comprises a receptacle on said earcup assembly and a fastener on said frame, said receptacle being formed with a pin receiving recess, said fastener including a pin, means mounting said pin on said frame for movement into and out of said recess and means for releasably locking said pin in a position in said recess.

9. An assembly as in claim 8 in which said means mounting said pin on said frame comprises a plate formed integrally with said pin and means forming a housing on said frame for receiving said plate for sliding movement.

10. An assembly as in claim 9 in which said housing is formed with a slot extending in the direction of sliding movement of said plate, and in which said locking means comprises a screw having a shank extending through said slot and into said housing, said shank being threaded through said plate, said screw adapted to be turned to draw said plate into engagement with said housing to lock said plate in an adjusted position along the length of said slot.

11. An assembly is in claim 1 in which said releasable locking means comprises a pair of receptacles each of which is formed with a pin receiving recess, means mounting said receptacles on said earcup assembly at spaced locations therearound, said earcup assembly having a noncircular outline configuration, a pair of pins, means mounting said pins on said frame for movement inwardly and outwardly thereof, said frame forming an opening having a configuration confirming to that of said earcup whereby said pins are aligned with said pin receiving recesses when said earcup assembly is inserted in said frame.

12. A retainer for releasably securing an earcup assembly in the ear opening of a flexible helmet including in combination, a frame of relatively rigid material forming an opening of noncircular configuration conforming to the outline configuration of a portion of said earcup assembly, means forming an outwardly opening peripheral channel on said frame for receiving a portion of said helmet surrounding said ear opening, a pair of fasteners, means mounting said fasteners on said frame for movement between inoperative positions remote from said frame opening and operative positions adjacent to said frame opening, and means for releasably locking said fasteners in said operative positions.

13. A retainer as in claim 12 in which said fasteners are pins, and in which said pin mounting means mounts said pins for sliding movement on said frame.

14. A retainer as in claim 13 in which said pin mounting means comprises a plate formed integrally with said pin and means forming a housing on said frame for slidably receiving said plate and in which said locking means comprises means forming a slot in said housing extending in the direction of movement of said fastener, a screw having a shank extending into said housing through said slot, said shank being threaded through said plate, said screw adapted to be turned releasably to lock said plate in said housing.

15. A retainer as in claim 14 including outwardly directed recesses in said frame opening adjacent to said fasteners.