This invention relates generally to personnel identification, worksite security, and protective headwear. More particularly, it relates to protective headwear such as hard hats and bump caps that are configured (or adapted) to removably receive a personal identification card of the wearer of the head wear, in some embodiments.
It is common at various worksites and facilities for personnel to wear protective headwear and produce some form of personal identification prior to being admitted to the worksite or facility. Historically, plant personnel and the like are frequently provided with identification cards attached to lanyards, clips or other hardware that enables the person to wear their identification card around their neck, or clipped to an article of clothing. Identification information so displayed, such as an identification card, is then readily visible to security personnel charged with site security to assist security personnel in ensuring that only authorized personnel are admitted to a work area or worksite.
However, in many instances it may not be desirable or most efficacious to employ conventional methods and wares for displaying identification information.
Articles useful for receiving and holding a rigid cardstock item having opposite edges, comprising in some embodiments a substantially rectangular solid having a front face, a rear face, an upper portion, a lower portion, a right side, and a left side. The front face includes a convex surface and the rear face includes a concave surface. There is a first slot disposed substantially along the left side of the article, and a second slot disposed substantially along the right side of the article. The slots are configured to receive the edges of and to hold a surface present on a rigid cardstock item in contact with, and mechanically biased towards, the front face.
Also provided is headwear comprising a shell. The headwear further comprises, attached to the shell, and alternately in some embodiments integral to the head wear, provision for receiving and holding a rigid cardstock item having opposite edges. In some embodiments the provision comprises a front face having a convex surface, and there is a first slot disposed substantially along a first portion of the face, and a second slot disposed substantially along a second portion of the face. The slots are configured to receive the edges and to hold a surface present on the rigid cardstock item in contact with, and mechanically biased towards, the front face. In some embodiments the slots are parallel to one another and spaced from one another a distance that is slightly less than opposite parallel edges present on a rigid card stock item, which in cooperation with the convex surface, is the source of the mechanical bias.
Embodiments of the invention may take physical form in certain parts and arrangement of parts, the preferred embodiment of which will be described in detail and illustrated in the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and wherein:
Referring now to the drawings, wherein the showings are provided for the purpose of illustrating the invention only and not for the purpose of limiting the same,
In some embodiments, article 10 is comprised of a single construct, i.e. article 10 is a single piece of injected molded plastic, and retainers 21, 23 are an integral (cast-in) feature of article 10. Retainers 21, 23 in some embodiments are just bars of material cast-in to article 10, and function as guides present at the left side L and right side R of article 10, which guides in some embodiments run the entire sides of article 10 from upper portion 7 to lower portion 9 as shown in
In some embodiments, front face 3 is contoured to be a convex surface. In some embodiments only a selected portion of front face 3 is contoured to be a convex surface, the selected portion being oriented about the center of front face 3. Slots 11, 13 function cooperatively with front face 3 when convex, to rigidly maintain an identification card (or other rigid cardstock) in place within article 10, particularly when an identification card is positioned with two of its opposite edges into slots 11, 13, and subsequently pushed or slid completely into slots 11, 13 so that the identification card becomes substantially-centered on front face 3, two of its opposite edges being present in slots 11, 13 and wherein the surface of the identification card that is disposed towards front face 3 is in contact with front face 3. In some embodiments, slots 11, 13 are selected to be spaced or positioned from one another a distance that is slightly less than the distance between the opposite edges of a rigid cardstock item that is to be held in article 10, in order to cause the rigid cardstock item to be slightly flexed, causing a mechanical bias due to the cardstock item functioning akin to a spring, i.e., a tiny amount of potential energy is caused to be present in the cardstock item by virtue of flexing caused by the spacing between the slots 11, 13 being less than the dimension of the cardstock item. In other embodiments, slots 11, 13 are selected to be spaced or positioned from one another a distance that is slightly greater than the distance between the opposite edges of a rigid cardstock item that is to be held in article 10. In other embodiments slots 11, 13 are selected to be spaced or positioned from one another a distance that is about the same as (and optionally the same as) the distance between the opposite edges of a rigid cardstock item that is to be held in article 10.
An article as provided has an overall configuration that means that no additional covers, clips, or retaining wares are required to hold an identification card in place in article 10, as is necessitated by articles of the prior art. Moreover, an article 10 according to the disclosure does not require any bumps, tabs, lugs, protrusions, holes or other features or indentations to be present in or on an article 10 according to the disclosure, or the rigid cardstock item in order for the rigid cardstock item to be maintained in a stationary position in article 10.
Suitable materials of construction of an article 10 according to the disclosure, and headwear that includes an article 10 as an integral part of its construction include polymeric materials, as are known in the art for headwear such as hardhats and bump caps. For some embodiments, article 10 can be thought of as being comprised of a substantially-rectangular shaped solid of polymeric material having various features shown and described herein. Suitable polymeric materials include thermoset resins, thermoplastic resins, and composite materials. Polyolefins and blends containing polyolefins are suitable. In some embodiments polypropylene is employed. In some embodiments polyethylene is employed. Any material known to be suitable is sufficient to provide an article 10 according to the disclosure, or headwear that incorporates same into its construction, provided where relevant that the material is capable of meeting or exceeding the standards of ANSI Z89.1. Metals such as aluminum and any other known metallic alloys are also suitable materials of construction of an article 10 according to some embodiments of the disclosure. Generally, protective headwear for industrial workers which complies with ANSI Z89.1 is called a “hard hat” and protective headwear which does not comply with ANSI Z89.1 is called a “bump cap”. The present disclosure provides embodiments having the features of article 10 present on both bump caps and hard hats, some embodiments having article 10 attached to a headwear article (including either hard hat or bump cap), and some embodiments in which the headwear article is made to include cooperatively functional features of article 10 as part of its construction when the headwear is a single-moulded article (of unitary construction).
One advantage of the use of an article 10 according to the disclosure is that it enables security personnel to quickly identify intruders or unauthorized personnel within the premises because such persons would not have an identification card displayed on their hard hats or bump caps.
Another advantage of the use of an article 10 according to the disclosure is that supervisors and managers are more able to quickly identify various personnel such as welders, subcontractors or visitors, since this information could be placed on their identification cards which would be clearly displayed on their hard hats or bump caps.
Another advantage of the use of an article 10 according to the disclosure is that would improve control and distribution over tools and materials which are issued to various personnel within a facility because their identities would be clearly visible and easily recorded.
Another advantage of the use of an article 10 according to the disclosure is that it would help reduce loss or misplacement of identification cards, yet also allow personnel to easily remove their identification cards upon leaving the facility for processing thru a time clock or for retention by security personnel.
Another advantage of the use of an article 10 according to the disclosure is that emergency response could also be improved when medical and other critical information is present on a persons' identification card in article 10, which information is then readily found on their hard hat or bump cap.
Another advantage of the use of an article 10 according to the disclosure is that it is far safer to utilize an article 10 on a hard hat rather than utilize a card holder attached to a lanyard, owing to the possibility that a lanyard may become entangled in power tools or rotating equipment.
In some embodiments, the rigid cardstock item has an implement attached to it, which implement can be selected from, without limitation: lights, lamps, and cameras. This provides a wearer of head wear having features as herein described with the ability to utilize such implements without the use of their hands. In such embodiments, the implement is attached to a rigid cardstock item that is not necessarily an identification card, but is a blank piece of rigid material that can be inserted into slots 11, 13 to maintain the implement securely on the headwear.
Moreover, an article 10 as provided in some embodiments does not need an accessory slot, and can be configured to fit on any hard hat or bump cap, unlike some articles of the prior art that can only be fitted into an accessory slot on the side of the hard hat.
In some embodiments, article 31 which holds a rectangular rigid card stock 25 may include multiple vertical slots 39, 40, 41 & 42 to allow a rectangular rigid card stock item 25 to be placed in the vertical (or portrait) orientation as shown in
In some embodiments of the disclosure, article 31 may also be moulded directly into outer shell 17 of said headwear as previously described above.
Consideration must be given to the fact that although this invention has been described and disclosed in relation to certain preferred embodiments, equivalent modification and alterations thereof may become apparent to persons of ordinary skill in this art after reading and understanding the teachings of this specification, drawings, and the claims appended hereto. The present disclosure includes subject matter defined by any combinations of any one or more than one of the features provided in this disclosure with any one or more than one of any other features provided in this disclosure. These combinations include the incorporation of the features and/or limitations of any dependent claim, singly or in combination with features and/or limitations any one or more of the other dependent claims, with features and/or limitations of any one or more than one of the independent claims, with the remaining dependent claims in their original text being read and applied to any independent clams so modified. These combinations also include combination of the features and/or limitations of one or more than one of the independent claims with features and/or limitations of another independent claim to arrive at a modified independent claim, with the remaining dependent claims in their original text or as modified per the foregoing, being read and applied to any independent claim so modified. The present invention has been disclosed and claimed with the intent to cover modifications and alterations that achieve substantially the same result as herein taught using substantially the same or similar structures, being limited only by the scope of the claims which follow.
This application claims benefit under Title 35 United States Code §119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/683,677, filed Aug. 15, 2012; and further claims benefit under Title 35 United States Code §120 as a Continuation-In-Part of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/065,017, filed Mar. 11, 2011; which itself further claims benefit under Title 35 United States Code §119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/390,152, filed Oct. 5, 2010, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/320,742, filed Apr. 4, 2010, the full disclosures of which are each incorporated herein by reference.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 13065017 | Mar 2011 | US |
Child | 13968322 | US |