Patent Application
20100306908
1. Technical Field
The invention relates generally to athletic pads used to prevent injury during lacrosse or other contact sports. More particularly, the invention relates to an athletic pad assembly that allows removal of an outer pad. Specifically, the invention relates to a separate shoulder pad and sternum protector assemblies which are connected to an undershirt that may have a plurality of additional pads.
2. Background Information
Athletic pads are well known and used in a variety of sports including lacrosse and football. Shoulder pads typically used in football and lacrosse have a neck opening located between two hard shoulder portions which connect at both the front and back below the player's neck. The shoulder pad may be a two piece unit split along the centerline of both the front and back. The back is connected with riveted plates, while the front may be connected with a draw string or plates. The shoulder pad assembly is a ridged unit which redistricts movement of the player. While the player is protected from potential injury, mobility is limited and it is cumbersome to clean and maintain the pads due to their size.
An alternative to the hard style pads are soft pads. Soft pads may be placed within an athletic garment or on the outside of the athletic garment. To locate the pads within the garment, the pad is stitched within a pocket in the garment and is permanently fixed. In an alternative arrangement, soft pads are stitched to the outside of the garment instead of located within a pocket. The soft pads provide much greater mobility for the player since he is not restrained by a ridged one-piece should pad. Nevertheless, the soft pads suffer from a lack of protection. The soft pads cannot withstand the force of harder hits and the player may be injured more readily when wearing soft pads instead of ridged shoulder pads.
One attempt to overcome the problems of the hard shoulder pads and the soft shoulder pads is the Rhinoskin by Brine. The Rhinoskin shoulder pads have a soft pad system covering the entire rib section of a player and extending upwards around the neck to cover the player's shoulders. Further, the soft pads continue down the shoulder blades of the player about half way down his back. On the front side, a loop is stitched near the collar bone area of each side and includes hook or loop on the outside. Similarly, on the back side, a loop is stitched near the shoulder blade of each side and includes hook or loop on the outside. A hard pad, can then be located between the front and back loops on either or both sides. The hard pad includes a length of material with either hook or loop that passes through one of the loops and is wrapped around the loop and secured to the top of the loop.
While the Rhinoskin prior art is adequate for the purpose for which it was intended, there remains needs that must be satisfied in the art.
The present invention broadly comprises a garment including an undershirt having at least one first pad disposed proximate a wearer's sternum, and at least one second pad dimensioned wider than the wearer's sternum and secured to the undershirt at the at least one first pad.
The preferred embodiment of the invention, illustrative of the best mode in which Applicant has contemplated applying the principles of the invention, is set forth in the following description and are shown in the drawings.
At the outset, it should be appreciated that like drawing numbers on different drawing views identify identical, or functionally similar, structural elements of the invention. While the present invention is described with respect to what is presently considered to be the preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention as claimed is not limited to the disclosed aspects.
Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood to one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Although any methods, devices or materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of the invention, the preferred methods, devices, and materials are now described.
The garment of the present invention is indicated generally at 10, as is shown in
Referring to
In accordance with a main feature of the invention, undershirt 12 includes mounting loops 20 at various positions throughout the front and back sides to secure second pads 16A-16E. Mounting loops 20 are preferably a folded piece of straight material sewn to undershirt 12. In a preferred embodiment, each mounting loop 20 is secured to the undershirt within a perimeter of first pads 14. Due to the increased size of second pad 16C, two mounting loops 20 may be secured within the perimeter of a single pad, such as first pad 14F or 14J.
Referring to
Referring to
In accordance with yet another main feature of the present invention, second pads 16 include an elbow finger 32 at a terminal end 34 in a preferred embodiment illustrated in
Referring to
In accordance with still another main feature of the present invention, second pad 16C is preferably bow shaped in a direction away from a player's sternum when in use. Referring to
Second pad 16C also includes a plurality of fingers 24 formed in the perimeter of mounting flanges 52. Preferably, two fingers 24 are formed in each mounting flange to insure the second pad is secured in place during play. However, it should be immediately apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that only one finger 24 is necessary at each mounting flange 52 in order to maintain the second pad proximate the player's sternum. Further, fingers 24 are also preferably arranged with distal ends 26 facing in generally opposite directions and include hooks 30 to prevent accidental removal of second pad 16C.
Second pad 16C connects to undershirt 12 at mounting loops 20 at first pads 14F and 14J. In a preferred embodiment, two mounting loops 20 are located within the perimeter of first pad 14F and first pad 14J. Further, the two loops within each first pad are arranged generally perpendicular to each other to resist inadvertent removal of second pad 16C. In operation, impact at second pad 16C is deflected through the first pads 14F and 14J to reduce the potential for injury to the player.
Having described the structure of a preferred embodiment, a preferred method of operation will be described in detail and should be read in light of
Initially, a wear puts undershirt 12 on and may proceed with only first pads 14A-14W. Next, the wear locates second pads 16A and 16B on one side and second pads 16D and 16E on the other side. In order to locate the second pads, fingers 24 are inserted through corresponding mounting loops 20 on undershirt 12. The same method may be used to locate second pad 16C proximate the wearer's sternum by inserting fingers 24 of second pad 16C within mounting loops 20 on undershirt 12. Next, elbow pads 18A and 18B may be connected by inserting elbow finger 32 within elbow mounting loop 36. While the method of operation has been described as a series of steps, the wearer may decide to wear any number of pads in any combination or wear only the first pads.
During play, second pads 16A-16E absorb impact and transfer the impact force to first pads 14A-14W which are proximate the impact area. The force on the first pads is spread across all of the interconnected pads proximate the impact area and thereby reduces the force. Since the force is reduced because it is spread across a broader area, the first pads also function to absorb the impact.
It will be evident to one skilled in the art that a variety of changes can be made that are within the spirit and scope of the present invention. For instance, the first pads may be a single unit disposed within the undershirt, or may be completely omitted so long as the mounting loops remain to secure the second pads.
Accordingly, the garment is an effective, safe, inexpensive, and efficient device that achieves all the enumerated objectives of the invention, provides for eliminating difficulties encountered with prior art devices, systems, and methods, and solves problems and obtains new results in the art.
In the foregoing description, certain terms have been used for brevity, clearness, and understanding; but no unnecessary limitations are to be implied therefrom beyond the requirement of the prior art, because such terms are used for descriptive purposes and are intended to be broadly construed.
Moreover, the description and illustration of the invention is by way of example, and the scope of the invention is not limited to the exact details shown or described.
Having now described the features, discoveries, and principles of the invention, the manner in which the garment is constructed and used, the characteristics of the construction, and the advantageous new and useful results obtained; the new and useful structures, devices, elements, arrangement, parts, and combinations are set forth in the appended claims.
