Patent Application
20230404203
The present invention relates to sun visors for wear by sports players. More particularly, the present invention relates to sun visors that detachably attach to protective cage-type wire-frame sports face masks to reduce sun light and glare for players engaged in game play.
Many sports activities involve thrown or hit balls that are caught or grabbed by players during play. For example, softball sports activities involves thrown or batted balls during play in daylight games. A ball involved in this sport can be driven by the batter to a high velocity. Quickness and alertness are key factors for players in the field successfully catching or stopping the ball in flight. Sometimes the players are hit by the batted ball. This may happen when the player misjudges the flight path or the velocity of the ball, but in some instances, the event of the pitched ball being hit at high velocity occurs so quickly that the player is unable to defend against being hit. Balls that hit on the arms, legs or body of a player may be painful and potentially cause injury, but hits that impact the player's face are of more concern due to risk of injury to eyes, nose, mouth and teeth, and facial bones.
The athletic game industry has developed face masks having resistance to forces from impact of batted balls that fly to the face of a sports player. One type of face mask involves wire members that attach in spaced relation as a cage for a player to wear and to deflect impacts from a thrown or hit ball. Different configurations and sizes are provided for various sports activities.
Daytime softball games are played in range of ambient weather conditions sometimes overcast and sometimes bright blue cloudless skies. Bright sunlight directly or indirectly into the player's face may interfere with fielding plays and a player may shade with a hand held overhead.
To reduce lighting and glare from the sun during daylight play, players may wear sunglasses under the face mask or use a transparent sun visor that fixedly attaches on an inward side of the cage of the face mask. A transparent material allows light to pass through so that objects viewed through the material can be seen distinctly. The material may be tinted or treated to reduce light and glare.
While such devices reduce light and glare for viewing game actions and travel of the ball, there are drawbacks for use in active softball play. Players may jostle the sun glasses lose under the face mask while making a fielding play such as running towards a ball or while catching the softball. Inwardly attached sun visors may dislodge and cause interference while a player seeks to catch the softball cleanly.
Upon ball impact, the sun visor should remain attached or the sun visor should not break or dislodge and intrude behind the wire framework due to the strength of the polycarbonate material being used. Further, sun visors are used in other sports, for example football, and the sun visor must be readily detachable in the field without special tools and without moving the neck and/or head in case of injury so the eyes and face can be seen quickly by medical personal for assessment. Easy and fast removal is also a requirement for removing the sun visor by the player to adapt to changes in field conditions during a game.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art to providing a sun visor that is readily detachably attachable to a wire cage sports face mask for reducing sun lighting and glare during play of a game. It is to such that the present invention is directed.
The present invention meets the need in the art by providing a sun visor for attaching in outward overlying relation to a wire cage-type sports face mask yet readily detachable if impacted. The sun visor comprises a transparent sheet having an arcuately curved face that extends in a U-shape to opposing sides and a pair of attachment connectors each on an inner surface proximate a distal extent of a respective side for engaging a respective side of a cage-type wire frame face mask.
Objects, advantages, and features of the present invention will become readily apparent upon a reading of the detailed description in conjunction with reference to the drawings of illustrative embodiments.
With reference to the drawings in which like parts have like identifiers,
The opposing sides 20 each have an attaching connector generally 22 on an inner surface proximate a distal end portion. In the illustrated embodiment, the attaching connector 22 comprises a magnet 28. The magnet 28 attaches to an inner surface of the side 20. In the illustrated embodiment, the magnet 28 seats in an open dish 24 defined by a perimeter wall 26 extending laterally from the inner surface of the side. The open dish 24 receives and holds the magnet 28. The magnet 28 may be sized for closely seating in the dish 24 such as a swedged, press-fit, or secured by a mechanical connection of the magnet with the side surface or within the perimeter wall 26 alternatively secured with a fastener such as a screw, rivet, or an adhesive, or held secured within a closed or closable recess in the side as a holding structure for the magnet. The magnet 28 is selected for an appropriate force sufficient to keep the sun visor 10 attached to the wire cage face mask 12 during usage normal for the particular sport.
The sun visor 10 in the illustrated embodiment further defines a slot 30 that extends vertically from the lower edge 18 inwardly to a distal end 19. In the illustrated embodiment, the slot 30 is centrally disposed for aligned receiving of a vertical member of the protective cage-type sports face mask 12. In an alternate embodiment in which the cage-type sports face mask has opposing side vertical members, the sun visor may include slots that align with such side vertical members.
In the illustrated embodiment, respective opposing thickened portions of the sun visor define a pair of opposing support webs 32 inwardly extending on or proximate opposing walls that define the slot 30. The support webs 32 are elongate troughs along a bottom edge of the sun visor A portion of the face 14 and the web 32 define a J-shape as shown in side view in
The sun visor 10 preferably is molded with a transparent polycarbonate material, and is preferably tinted for sunlight reduction or shading such as a smoke or gray color, brown, greenish tint, or other suitable coloring conventionally used for sun glasses, or may be clear. The material or surface may be treated to reduce passage of UV rays. Further, the surface may be treated to provide light polarization particularly to reduce glare while improving color saturation and contrast and to reduce the effect of UV-A and UV-B rays.
In the illustrated embodiment, the sheet has a thickness of 0.05 inches. As shown in top plan view in
With reference to
An upper bar 50 attaches to an outward face of the head band 42 along a bottom edge thereof and extends to opposing distal ends that attach to the side leg portions 46, 48. An intermediate bar 56 is vertically spaced from the upper bar 50. Opposing distal ends secure to the respective opposing sides 46, 48, and extends with the transverse portion 35 across a nose portion of a player's face. A lower bar 60 vertically spaced from the intermediate bar 56 extends laterally for positioning proximate the mouth and chin area of a player's face, and for example, angling upwardly and outwardly for spacing outwardly along lower jaw lines of a player. The distal ends secure to a lower portion of the respective sides 46, 48.
A chin plate 62 attaches centrally on an inward side of the lower bar 60 and preferably includes a detachable cushion chin pad 64 for cushioningly abutting a lower jaw/chin area of the face of a player wearing the face mask 12. A front bar 76 attaches at a first end to the lower bar 60 medial the lateral edges of the chin plate 62 and at a second end to the intermediate bar 56. An alternate embodiment (not illustrated) of the face mask 12 includes a pair of lateral side bars attached respectively to the lower bar 60, the intermediate bar 56, and the header 42 on opposing sides of the vertical front bar 76.
With reference to
The sun visor 10 positioned on the face mask 12 reduces sunlight and glare in the eyes of the player. In the event of a sharp justling play, such as two players colliding in attempts to make a fielding play, or the ball striking the face mask 12 or the sun visor 10, the sun visor 10 may readily detach from the contacting connection of the mounts 22 to the sides 46, 48 of the face mask 12 and the sun visor 10 detaches from the intermediate member 56, and the sun visor falls away. After the play, the player may readily reattach the sun visor 10 for continued sun light and glare reduction.
As noted above, the magnet 28 is selected for having an appropriate force sufficient to keep the sun visor attached through usage normal for the particular sport, which is generally referred to as a “pull force” or the strength of the magnetic field. Pull force is how much force necessary to exert when pulling a magnet away from a steel object or another magnet. Magnetic force is characterized in term of pounds or Newtons, as a magnetic strength measurement. The energy product of a magnet is measured in terms of Mega Gauss Oersteds (MGOe) as an indicator of a magnets “strength”. In general, the higher a maximum energy product value, the greater the magnetic field the magnet will generate in a particular application.
The attaching connector 22 comprises opposing detachably engageable members each having a respective mating characteristic. In an alternate embodiment illustrated in
With reference to
The sun visor 80 in alternate embodiments uses attaching connectors 22 discussed above, including mating snap connectors, hook-and-loop fabric mating patches, and magnets and magnetically attractive plates.
It thus is seen that the foregoing describes a sun visor in various embodiments readily detachably attachable to a protective wire cage-type sports face mask for reducing sun light and glare to the player during play yet readily detachable for injury assessment or during player collisions or softball impacts to the sun visor or the face mask during fielding plays. Although the sun visor has been illustrated and described in various embodiments, it should be understood that many modifications, additions, and deletions may be made without departure from the scope of the invention disclosed herein.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63353663 | Jun 2022 | US |
