Traditional protective equipment, such as leg guards for baseball or softball, is offered in approximate sizes, such as small, medium, or large, to accommodate different user sizes. Accordingly, traditional protective equipment typically requires several sets of molds or tooling (one for each approximate size).
Representative embodiments of the present technology include protective equipment for protecting a portion of a user's body (such as a leg guard for protecting part of a user's leg). In some embodiments, protective equipment may include a cap configured to cover a first portion of a user's body and a cap-extension element connected to an end of the cap and configured to cover at least another portion of the user's body. The cap-extension element is removable from the cap and connectable to the cap via an attachment mechanism. The attachment mechanism may include a tab element on the cap-extension element that connects to a socket element on the cap. The protective equipment may include a cap liner attached to the cap, a cap-extension liner attached to the cap-extension element, and the attachment mechanism may include liner-attachment elements on the liners.
Other features and advantages will appear hereinafter. The features described herein can be used separately or together, or in various combinations of one or more of them.
In the drawings, wherein the same reference number indicates the same element throughout the views:
The present technology is directed to protective equipment, such as leg guards, with detachable cap extensions, and associated systems and methods. Various embodiments of the technology will now be described. The following description provides specific details for a thorough understanding and enabling description of these embodiments. One skilled in the art will understand, however, that the invention may be practiced without many of these details. Additionally, some well-known structures or functions, such as those common to protective equipment such as leg guards, may not be shown or described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the relevant description of the various embodiments. Accordingly, embodiments of the present technology may include additional elements or exclude some of the elements described below with reference to
The terminology used in this description is intended to be interpreted in its broadest reasonable manner, even though it is being used in conjunction with a detailed description of certain specific embodiments of the invention. Certain terms may even be emphasized below; however, any terminology intended to be interpreted in any restricted manner will be overtly and specifically defined as such in this detailed description section.
Where the context permits, singular or plural terms may also include the plural or singular term, respectively. Moreover, unless the word “or” is expressly limited to mean only a single item exclusive from the other items in a list of two or more items, then the use of “or” in such a list is to be interpreted as including (a) any single item in the list, (b) all of the items in the list, or (c) any combination of items in the list. Further, unless otherwise specified, terms such as “attached” or “connected” are intended to include integral connections, as well as connections between physically separate components. Numerical adjectives including “first” and “second,” as used in the present disclosure, do not convey hierarchy or specific features or functions. Rather, such numerical adjectives are intended to aid the reader in distinguishing between elements which may have similar nomenclature, but which may differ in position, orientation, or structure. Accordingly, such numerical adjectives may be used differently in the claims.
Specific details of several embodiments of the present technology are described herein with reference to leg guards for baseball or softball. Embodiments of the present technology can be used in other sports, such as hockey, or in other industries or activities, or for guards for other anatomy, such as arm guards.
Removal of the shin-cap-extension element 115 shortens the overall length of the leg guard 100 to accommodate a smaller user. Replacement of the shin-cap-extension element 115 increases the overall length of the leg guard 100 to accommodate a larger user. The leg guard 100 may include one or more elements of padding 120 to cushion a user's leg against the harder portions of the leg guard 100, such as the cap portions 105, 110 or the shin-cap-extension element 115, and to further absorb impact energy.
In some embodiments, the knee cap 105 and the shin cap 110 articulate relative to each other via a suitable mechanism, such as a hinge, or as a result of their mutual connection to the padding 120. The leg guard 100 may include one or more body retention elements 125 (such as straps) to secure the leg guard 100 on a user's leg. In
In some embodiments, the shin cap 110 and the knee cap 105 are separate components attached to the shin-cap liner 200, which may facilitate articulation between the shin cap 110 and the knee cap 105. The padding 120 may further include a shin pad 205 attached to the shin-cap liner 200 and positioned to coextend with at least part of a user's shin area for additional cushion. The padding 120 may also include a knee pad 210 attached to the shin-cap liner 200 and positioned to coextend with at least part of a user's knee for additional cushioning. The padding 120 may further include a shin-cap-extension liner 215 that is attached to the shin-cap-extension element 115 via stitching, adhesive, rivets, or another suitable form of attachment.
In use, when the first cap-attachment element 405 is engaged with the second cap-attachment element 410, or when the first liner-attachment element 415 is engaged with the second liner-attachment element 420, the shin-cap-extension element 115 is attached to the shin cap 110. When the attachment elements 405, 410, 415, 420 are disengaged, the shin-cap-extension element 115 is disconnected from the shin cap 110.
In some embodiments, and as generally illustrated in
In some embodiments, the first liner-attachment element 415 and the second liner-attachment element 420 may be hook and loop fasteners (such as VELCRO® hook and loop material). For example, the first liner-attachment element 415 may include a strip of hook material and the second liner-attachment element 420 may include a strip of loop material, or vice versa. The shin pad 205 may be connected to the shin-cap liner 200 in a manner that leaves the second liner-attachment element 420 exposed to facilitate access to the connection point between the liner-attachment elements 415, 420. In some embodiments, the attachment mechanism 400 may include other attachment elements for connecting the shin-cap-extension element 115 to the shin cap 110, such as snaps, buttons, clasps, or other suitable attachment elements.
In some embodiments, the first cap-attachment element 405 includes a boss 500 or similar component projecting in an anterior direction. The shin cap 110 may include a corresponding opening 505 for receiving the boss 500. The opening 505 may extend partially or fully through the thickness of the shin cap 110 (from the inside of the shin cap 110 in embodiments where it does not pass fully through the thickness). The boss 500 may slip into or snap into the opening 505. The first liner-attachment element 415 may attach to the shin-cap liner 200 on a posterior side of the shin-cap liner 200.
In some embodiments, as shown in
Leg guards and other protective equipment configured in accordance with embodiments of the present technology may be formed with any suitable materials, such as generally rigid materials (such as plastic materials or injection molded materials) for the caps 105, 110, 115, mesh or fabric or padded materials for the liners 200, 215, mesh or fabric or padded materials for the pads 205, 210, or other suitable materials for protecting a user's anatomy. In some embodiments, the shin-cap-extension element 115 may have a length (along a superior/upper to inferior/lower direction) of approximately 2.0 to 3.0 inches, or approximately 2.5 inches, or it may have other suitable dimensions, depending on the desired adjustability and configurability of the leg guard 100.
Guards and other protective equipment configured in accordance with embodiments of the present technology provide several advantages. For example, less tooling is needed to create multiple sizes of guards relative to existing technology, which improves production efficiency. In addition, two differently sized users may be able to wear the same guard by removing or adding the extension element according to size needs. Accordingly, guards configured in accordance with embodiments of the present technology are more versatile than existing equipment.
From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that specific embodiments of the disclosed technology have been described for purposes of illustration, but that various modifications may be made without deviating from the technology, and elements of certain embodiments may be interchanged with those of other embodiments, and that some embodiments may omit some elements. For example, although leg guards are described, embodiments of the present technology may be implemented in other protective equipment, such as arm guards. For example, an arm guard may have a cap extension that connects to a primary arm cap using an attachment mechanism similar to or the same as the attachment mechanism 400. Accordingly, the attachment mechanism 400 may be implemented in other devices and equipment.
Further, while advantages associated with certain embodiments of the disclosed technology have been described in the context of those embodiments, other embodiments may also exhibit such advantages, and not all embodiments need necessarily exhibit such advantages to fall within the scope of the technology. Accordingly, the disclosure and associated technology may encompass other embodiments not expressly shown or described herein, and the invention is not limited except as by the appended claims.