Patent Application
20240423313
The present invention relates to a device for connecting a lens and an earmuff to a safety helmet, so as to meet the requirement of reducing carbon emissions.
In general, a hard hat or safety helmet is combined with a lens to protect the user's face and eyes if necessary for welding or other engineering operations.
Taiwan Utility Model Publication No. M595976 discloses a helmet and an eye protection device thereof published on Jun. 1, 2020. The helmet includes a helmet body and an eye protection device. The helmet body includes a head cover portion, a brim portion, and two mounting portions. The eye protection device includes two connecting rods installed to the respective mounting portions, two linkage units pivotally connected to the connecting rods in a left-to-right axial direction, and a lens unit pivotally connected to the linkage units. Each connecting rod has a plurality of engaging members spaced in a front-to-rear direction. The engaging members are detachably engaged with positioning members of the corresponding mounting portion. Each connecting rod can be moved back and forth and positioned by the engaging members in cooperation with the positioning members of the corresponding mounting portion. In this way, the lens unit can be operated to drive the linkage units to pivot up and down relative to the connecting rods, so as to change between a storage position above the brim and a wearing position below the brim. This helmet is a structure that can be combined with lenses only. When the wearer encounters noise at work, this helmet cannot prevent noise effectively.
Taiwan Utility Model Publication No. M366314 discloses an improved structure of an anti-noise hard hat published on Oct. 11, 2009. The anti-noise hard hat comprises a hat body, a cover frame and an anti-noise structure. The cover frame and the anti-noise structure are assembled to the hat body. The hat body has locking grooves on both sides thereof. The anti-noise structure includes a retaining seat, a connecting rod, a pivot seat, earplugs, earmuffs and other components. The retaining seat has a retaining hole. The bottom edge of the retaining seat has an insert to be inserted into the locking groove of the hat body, so that the connecting rod and the pivot seat are connected to the retaining seat for connecting the earplugs or earmuffs. The lens is mounted on the cover frame to form an anti-noise hard hat.
In the above-mentioned patent, when the earmuffs are connected, the locking grooves on both sides of the hat body cannot be used for insertion of the lens. It is necessary to manufacture a hat body structure that is able to fit earmuffs or lens. Therefore, it is required to use more than four components for connection, unable to optimize overall construction. Using more components needs more plastics. In these days, countries around the world have a certain consensus on “reducing the use of plastics”. “Plastic reduction” has become the common goal of most enterprises, and it is also the claim and demand of government policy. Plastic reduction can achieve the purpose of reducing carbon emissions, so as to conform to the world trend. Therefore, the use of more (four) components leads to an increase in the use of plastics. It is obviously contrary to the current “plastic reduction” policy, and it is difficult to meet the environmental protection requirements of reducing carbon emissions. Besides, Due to the large number of parts, the assembly is cumbersome, time-consuming, and high failure rate. It cannot be universally used in general hat body structures, so it is not ideal in use.
In view of the drawbacks of the prior art, the primary object of the present invention is to provide a device for connecting a lens and an earmuff to a safety helmet, comprising a retaining frame, two pivot members and two connecting units. The retaining frame includes a pivot portion on either side of the retaining frame, an engaging block on an inner side of the pivot portion, and a first pressing block on a periphery of the pivot portion. The two pivot members are pivotally connected to the two pivot portions of the retaining frame, respectively. The pivot member has an engaging slot corresponding in position and in shape to the engaging block. The engaging slot has a width greater than that of the engaging block for the engaging block to pass through the engaging slot. The pivot member is rotatably connected to the pivot portion. A slide portion is provided on a periphery of the pivot member and corresponds in position to the first pressing block. The slide portion has at least one first groove. When the pivot portion is turned relative to the pivot member, the first pressing block is forced to be positioned in the first groove so that the retaining frame is turned to an angle relative to the pivot member. The pivot member further includes a positioning strip extending backward and a plurality of second grooves that are arranged continuously on an outer side of the positioning strip. The two connecting units are coupled to the two pivot members, respectively. The connecting unit has a second slide groove on an inner side thereof. The positioning strip is inserted and slidable in the second slide groove. A second pressing block is disposed on an inner wall of the second slide groove. The second pressing block is pressed into any one of the second grooves in a multi-step manner so that the pivot member can slide and extend to a length relative to the connecting unit. The connecting unit further includes an elastic insert.
The retaining frame further includes a curved retaining face on a front edge thereof, a plurality of positioning posts on the retaining face, and at least one stop piece protruding from a top edge of the retaining face.
The device further comprises a lens. A top edge of the lens has a plurality of positioning holes. The positioning posts of the retaining frame are inserted and positioned in the respective positioning holes of the lens. The stop piece is configured to prevent the lens from detaching from the retaining frame.
The engaging block is a linear block, and the engaging groove is a linear groove.
Positioning blocks are disposed on upper and lower sides of the second groove, so as to prevent the positioning strip from sliding out of the second groove.
The device further comprises a safety helmet. A fitting groove is formed on either side of the safety helmet. The elastic insert is embedded and secured in the fitting groove.
The elastic insert is located below the second slide groove.
The connecting unit further includes a locking portion on an outer side thereof and two stoppers above the locking portion.
The device further comprises an earmuff. The earmuff is locked to the corresponding connecting unit. The earmuff includes a locking block on an upper end thereof and a protruding plate on a top edge of the locking block. The locking block is locked in the locking portion, and the protruding plate is engaged in the two stoppers, so as to prevent the earmuff from detaching from the corresponding connecting unit.
According to above-mentioned technical features, the present invention has the following advantage:
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings.
As shown in
The retaining frame 1 includes a curved retaining face 11 on a front edge thereof, a plurality of positioning posts 12 on the retaining face 11, and at least one stop piece 13 protruding from a top edge of the retaining face 11. A pivot portion 14 is disposed on either side of the retaining frame 1. An engaging block 15 is disposed on an inner side of the pivot portion 14. The engaging block is a linear block. A first pressing block 16 is disposed on the periphery of the pivot portion 14.
The two pivot members 2 are pivotally connected to the two pivot portions 14, respectively. As shown in
The two connecting units 3 are coupled to the two pivot members 2, respectively. The two connecting units 3 each have a second slide groove 31 on an inner side thereof, so that the positioning strip 24 is inserted and slidable in the second slide groove 31. A second pressing block 32 is disposed on the inner wall of the second slide groove 31. The second pressing block 32 is pressed into any one of the second grooves 25 in a multi-step manner, so that the pivot member 2 (together with the retaining frame 1) can slide and extend to an appropriate length relative to the connecting unit 3. Positioning blocks 33 are disposed on the upper and lower sides of the second groove 31, so as to prevent the positioning strip 24 from sliding out of the second groove 31. The connecting unit 3 further includes an elastic insert 34 below the second slide groove 31. The connecting unit 3 further includes a locking portion 35 on an outer side thereof and two stoppers 36 above the locking portion 35.
When in use, as shown in
As shown in
When it is necessary to flip the lens B to match the height of a different safety helmet A, the protruding length of the lens B is first adjusted, so that when the lens B is flipped, it will not interfere with the length of the brim A2 and the height of the safety helmet A. When the lens B is to be flipped, the pivot portion 14 of the retaining frame 1 is turned relative to the pivot member 2 (as shown in
In this way, the embodiment of the present invention utilizes three components, the retaining frame 1, the pivot member 2 and the connecting unit 3, to secure the lens B and the earmuffs C on the safety helmet A for use. There will be no disadvantage that only one of the lens B and the earmuff C can be used. Therefore, the components are very simple, and the assembly and disassembly are relatively easy. Besides, the present invention is suitable for the fitting and use of the general safety helmet A. There is no need to use another mold for manufacturing a lens B or an earmuff C that can cooperate with the safety helmet. Therefore, the manufacturing cost and the man-hours can be reduced greatly. Compared with the prior art that includes more than four components, the embodiment of the present invention includes three components to achieve the function of connecting earmuffs. Therefore, the embodiment of the present invention can optimize the overall structure, use fewer components, reduce the use of plastics greatly and reduce carbon emissions, so as to reduce the carbon footprint. The present invention can respond to the demand for carbon reduction, so as to meet the requirements of environmental protection, fulfill the social responsibility of the enterprise, comply with the trend in carbon reduction, and take into account sustainable development and enterprise survival.
Although particular embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the present invention is not to be limited except as by the appended claims.
