Patent Application
20240324710
The present invention relates to helmets and, more particularly, to safety helmets for use during sporting activities where head impacts are a concern. Such activities may include, but are not limited to sports such as bicycling, skiing, skateboarding, rollerblading, baseball, rock climbing, and the like.
Persons engaged in sporting activities that have the potential for head impacts, either with the ground, trees, posts, rocks or other fixed or falling objects are commonly advised to wear helmets as head protection. When considering head impacts, both direct impacts and rotational impacts that impart a significant direct or rotational force are considered to be particularly harmful in causing brain damage.
Generally, helmets have been made of a rigid or semi-rigid outer shell and interior padding designed to cushion the head when the outer shell receives a hard sudden impact from a fixed or moving object, thereby reducing the effects of the impact on the head. Such helmets provide protection to the head where the padding compresses to absorb the energy from the impact between the user's head and the object.
The outer shell of known helmets is designed to withstand impacts without breaking, to create an barrier to the padding that keeps the padding in place. As described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,075,904, known helmets are designed to have high tenacity and a high modulus to resist breaking and deformation during impact.
The cushioning, or padding, is often made with a resilient material, where the padding compresses with the impact and then returns to its original shape. The types of resilient padding in helmets is include foamed rubber, memory foams or other open or closed-cell elastomeric materials where the cells collapse under impact and then expand to form when the impact is abated.
Other known helmets are made with cushioning or padding that permanently deforms upon impact, making them suitable for single incident use. An example of a deformable padding material used in helmets is a closed cell foamed material where the material of the cells crush upon impact, such as Styrofoam.
Once a helmet that uses a permanently deformable type of padding is involved in an impact incident the padding loses its ability to collapse in the same area. This reduces or obviates the protection available in a subsequent incident involving the same area. Therefore, it is recommended that a helmet with a permanently deformable padding be replaced after an impact incident.
Although this basic helmet structure is widely used, manufacturers are always looking at ways to improve helmet performance. This may include extra reinforcement in certain areas of the helmet, the use of different paddings in different portions of the helmet, etc. In seeking such improvements, the ultimate goal is to reduce the effects of an impact incident on the user's head, mainly in minimizing the impact of the brain against the skull during the impact incident.
The present invention is directed to an improved helmet for reducing the effects of an impact incident on the user's head, and particularly for diffusing forces during an impact incident, thereby reducing the potential of harmful brain contact with the skull. Although the present invention is particularly suited for direct impacts, it provides a level of protection against rotational impacts and can incorporate related technologies, including air and cushion padding, to supplement protection against rotational impact.
The present invention is directed to a helmet comprising a frangible layer corresponding to at least a portion of a user's head configured to fail with a fracture at a predetermined force to diffuse the impact force over a larger area and potentially allow further movement of the user's head during impact. More particularly, the frangible layer provides protection by maintaining an impact resistant layer corresponding to at least a portion of a user's head, which fails with sufficient impact at a relatively predetermined force.
In this way, the frangible layer creates a barrier that relieves and disperses the stress of a force at a relatively predetermined level, allowing the force to diminish at the impact site prior to final impact. In doing so, the energy of impact is diffused along a broad surface area rather than directly at the site of injury, thereby decreasing the ultimate force to particular site of the impact.
As used here, frangible is defined as being susceptible to fracture without implying weakness or delicacy. Instead, the frangible layer is designed to fail at a predetermined stress that protects the user's head, being strong enough to provide protection but weak enough to slow the force of an impact. Of course, any material may be subject to failure and fracture with sufficient force, including the non-frangible layers discussed here. However, these are distinguishable from the frangible layer of the present invention where they are not configured specifically to fail or fracture upon the application of a generally predetermined force.
Any frangible material may be used for the frangible layer, with preferred materials being safety glass, tempered glass, a fiberglass, plastic, polymer, resin, or similar material that is configured to permit fracture in the area of impact. This is most easily described by the example of safety glass or tempered glass, which shatters or crumbles in all directions when an excessive force is applied, thereby allowing the energy at site of impact to be shared throughout the entire perimeter of the helmet safety glass. In similar ways, a fiberglass, plastic, polymer, resin, or other suitable layer having a predetermined fracture strength, which may comprise failure lines such as reduced thickness or score lines along which the frangible layer can fracture at a relatively predetermined force, may be used. Such materials, that fracture or “release” when an area of the frangible layer reach the fracture strength upon sufficient impact, reduce the impact force to the head.
The effect of the contemplated frangible layer is similar to a person falling off of a higher floor and through a breakable barrier (sometimes shown in action movies as a glass ceiling above a room) that is a shorter distance above the ultimate floor or the ground. The barrier breaks under the weight of the person, slowing the person down enough to avoid a more forceful impact with the ultimate floor or ground.
The helmet of the present invention comprising a frangible layer can be incorporated with other materials or technologies that may be more effective in slowing the rotational force of an impact. For example, the frangible layer can be used with a low friction layer, such as described in the MIPS system, which is particularly suited for reducing rotational forces but does not significantly alter the energy of a direct impact. Spongy cushioning layers can also assist with reducing direct and rotational impact forces.
The frangible layer can be the outer layer of the helmet, or a portion thereof, or an interior layer, corresponding to at least a portion of the helmet, with a generally non-breakable or non-frangible outer layer. In some embodiments, the helmet can comprise multiple frangible layers. When multiple frangible layers are used, the separate frangible layers may have the same predetermined fracture strength or different fracture strengths. For example, the outer frangible layer may have a greater fracture strength than the interior frangible layer. In any event, however it is preferred that there be a comfort layer between the user's head and the frangible layer.
The preferred comfort layer preferably comprises a material that is suitable for contact with the user's head, and most preferably includes a wicking material to move moisture, such as perspiration, away from the user's head. The helmet also preferably comprises a cushioning material, such as a resilient foam rubber or similar material, to further soften the force of an impact, including an impact that doesn't rise to the force of failure of the frangible layer.
The comfort layer may include cushioning or otherwise incorporate the cushioning layer, either as the comfort layer or with a comfort layer covering the interior surface of a cushioning layer. Alternatively, the comfort layer may be independent from the cushioning layer, and may even be removable for cleaning. In any event, one or both of the cushioning layer and/or comfort layer is selected to protect the user's head from the frangible layer.
Other options include the use of cushioning layers between the frangible layer and the outer layer, when used, or between multiple frangible layers. Such intermediate cushioning layers can comprise any suitable resilient material or single use compressible materials that absorb the force of an impact and protect adjacent areas.
When a non-frangible outer layer is used as an outer layer of the helmet, it can be made of any suitable material, including those generally used as an outer shell in the known helmet art. Adaptations to the outer layer or inner components of a helmet may also be made to offset the weight of the frangible layer as an additional layer, if desired.
The attached drawings, in which like reference characters represent like parts, are intended to better illustrate a preferred embodiment of the present invention without limiting the invention in any manner whatsoever.
The following description of the preferred embodiment is presented to describe the present invention without limiting the scope of the appended claims in any manner whatsoever.
As shown in
In a preferred embodiment with multiple frangible layers 4, shown in
In the preferred embodiment, the helmet 2 includes a comfort layer 8 having an interior surface 10 that contacts the user's head or the user's personal clothing, such as a cap. The comfort layer 8 may provide protection of the user's head from deleterious features of a fractured or crumbled frangible layer 4, such as sharp or jagged edges along which the material of the frangible layer 4 fractures. The comfort layer 8 also preferably comprises a wicking material on the interior surface 10 designed to move moisture away from the user's head.
In the preferred embodiment, the helmet 2 includes a cushioning layer 10 located between the frangible layer 4 and the user's head. In different embodiments, the cushioning layer 10 may comprise the comfort layer 8 or may be a separate layer that is covered by a comfort layer 8. Moreover, the helmet 2 may comprise additional cushioning layers 12 between a frangible layer 4 and a non-frangible outer layer 6, as shown in
The cushioning layer 12 is preferably made of a closed or open cell material, and most preferably a resilient or non-resilient closed or open cell material. For example, a resilient padding such as foamed rubber, memory foams or other open or closed-cell elastomeric materials where the cells collapse under impact and then revert to original form when the impact is abated, can be used in the cushioning layer 12.
In an alternative embodiment, a material that permanently deforms upon impact, suitable for single incident use, can be used alone or in combination with a resilient material, a low friction layer, etc., in the cushioning layer 12. An example of a deformable material that can be used is an open or closed cell material where the cells crush upon impact, such as Styrofoam.
In a most preferred embodiment, the helmet 2 also includes a low friction layer 16 to reduce the forces from rotational impact. Such a low friction layer 16, shown in
Although the low friction layer 16 is shown between the comfort layer 8 and cushioning layer 12 in
With particular respect to the frangible layer 4, it preferably comprises a frangible material that is configured to fracture with the application of a generally predetermined force. One example of a frangible material that may be used with the present invention is a tempered glass or safety glass, such as used in automobile windshields, that crumbles upon the application of sufficient force. Such tempered or safety glass may comprise two layers of a treated glass with a membrane between the glass layers, the thickness of the glass layers and the material of the membrane affecting the force required to fracture the material.
Alternative embodiments can utilize other materials designed to fracture upon the application of a predetermined force, such as fiberglass, plastics, polymers, resins, or the like. In one embodiment, shown in
Variations, modifications and alterations to the above detailed description will be apparent to those skilled in the art. All such variations, modifications and/or alternatives are intended to fall within the scope of the present invention, limited only by the claims. Any cited patents and/or publications are incorporated by reference.
