Protective Base Lens

Abstract

A protective base lens configured for attachment to the visor or face shield of a helmet upon which protective tear-away lenses may be mounted. The protective base lens includes an elongated flexible clear transparent sheet with apertures at each end with post member fasteners being reversibly secured within the apertures. A pressure sensitive adhesive is affixed to the bottom surface at each end of the transparent sheet to attach the protective base lens to the helmet visor. One or more tear-away lenses operationally engage the post member fasteners and are reversibly mounted to the top surface of the transparent sheet. The protective base lens being designed and configured to be used with or without tear-away protective lenses.

Description

STATEMENT AS TO RIGHTS TO INVENTIONS MADE UNDER FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable.

PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT

Not Applicable.

SEQUENCE LISTING

Not Applicable.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of protective lens for helmet visors or face shields and to the mounting of tear-away lenses onto such helmet visors or face shields.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The need to protect a person's face and eyes in the work place and during sporting events is well known and devices to provide such protection exist is various forms and formats. Various sporting activities and occupations employ a protective helmet with a visor or face shield. Although the visor or face shield provides protection to the user's face and eyes, the user's vision may become obstructed due to the accumulation of dirt and such other debris on the outer surface of the face shield or visor. An obstructed field of vision for the participant of a sporting event, or a worker at his or her place of employment, is unsafe and may result in injury to the sporting participant or the worker, or to others due to the unsafe actions of the sporting participant or worker. Although a visor or face shield can be manually cleaned, this cleaning method is usually not desirable due to the time required for such cleaning, as well as the interruption to the user's activity. This obstruction of vision under such circumstances has led to various solutions in an attempt to maintain a clear field of vision for the user and to improve safety.

Many attempts to resolve the dirty visor or face shield issue employ a lens or sheets constructed from a thin transparent plastic material. Typically, this lens must be individually mounted by the user to a helmet visor or face shield by attachment to a post-like structure that is affixed to each side of the helmet visor or face shield. Also, a series of lenses can be mounted on top of one another to form a stack of clean lenses. Such a stack of lenses provides the user multiple opportunities to remove the top-most lens when it becomes dirty and thereby revealing a clean lens for unobstructed vision. The end portion of each lens generally terminates with a tab structure for the user to grasp and pull the top lens off the stack when it becomes dirty. These permanent post-like structures to which the lenses are attached have now become problematic. Many in the professional automotive racing industry believe that such a structure may be the source of injury to the helmet user in the event of an accident involving the head area. As a result of this safety concern some organizations, such as the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), no longer permit such permanent post-like structures on the racing helmets of its drivers.

Another approach to provide the user multiple tear-away lenses utilizes lamination to form a stack of removable lenses. A series of lenses are cut to the desired shape and mechanically laminated to one another with a non-permanent adhesive. The adhesive often covers the entire viewing surface of the lens. The end tab portion of each lens is not laminated which allows the user to grasp the tab and remove the top lens. This series of laminated lenses can be attached to a helmet by means of post-like structures on each side of the helmet or directly to the helmet visor or face shield. If permanently affixed post-like structures are used to attach the stack of lenses, a safety concern for the user can arise as previously noted. The stack of laminated lenses is typically attached directly to the face shield with a continuous layer of adhesive on the viewing area of the bottom-most lens in the stack. Attaching the lens stack directly to the visor or face shield requires excessive time and a certain amount of skill and expertise in order to provide a quality attachment.

Accordingly, there remains room for improvement and variation within the art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is at least one aspect of the present embodiments of the invention to provide a protective base lens for a helmet visor or face shield to which additional protective lenses may easily be removably attached. Alternatively, the protective base lens may be used without other protective lenses being attached, wherein the present invention serves as a single protective lens for a helmet visor or face shield. One exemplary embodiment of the present invention is to provide a protective base lens that includes a transparent sheet configured and designed to attach to the visor or face shield of a helmet. The transparent sheet having a plurality of apertures with a first aperture located at a first end of the transparent sheet and a second aperture located at a second end of the transparent sheet. An attaching means is used to affix the transparent sheet to the helmet visor or face shield. A plurality of post member fasteners are reversibly secured within the apertures and also adapted to receive a plurality of disposable tear-away lenses which are stacked on the top of the protective base lens.

Another aspect of the present invention provides for a protective base lens as discussed above in which the transparent sheet is flexible and includes a top surface and a bottom surface.

It is still a further aspect of at least one of the present embodiments to provide an attaching means affixed to the bottom surface of the transparent sheet for detachably attaching the transparent sheet to the visor of a helmet.

It is a further aspect of at least one of the present embodiments to provide pressure sensitive adhesive for removably mounting the transparent sheet to the visor of a helmet.

It is still a further aspect of at least one of the present embodiments to provide that each of the post member fasteners are designed and configured to operationally engage one of the apertures located on the transparent sheet.

It is at least one aspect of the present embodiments to provide a protective base lens for attachment to a visor or face shield of a helmet and being configured to receive a plurality of tear-away lenses comprising an elongated flexible clear transparent sheet that has a first end, a second end, a top surface, and a bottom surface; a first aperture located at the first end of the clear transparent sheet and a second aperture located at the second end of the clear transparent sheet; a means for attaching the transparent sheet to the visor of a helmet; and a plurality of post member fasteners that includes a first post member fastener positioned in the first aperture and a second post member fastener positioned in the second aperture.

It is a further aspect of at least one of the present embodiments to provide a protective base lens having transparent sheet that is tinted to address the needs of the user for different lighting and weather conditions.

It is still a further aspect of at least one of the present embodiments wherein the post member fastener further comprises a male member having a circular flanged end and a female member having a circular flanged end and a hollow cylindrical shaft for receiving and reversibly securing the male member.

It is a further aspect of at least one of the present embodiments wherein the circular flanged ends of the post member fasteners being designed and configured to operationally engage the apertures, the apertures removably securing the post member fasteners within the apertures.

It is still another aspect of at least one of the present embodiments to provide post member fasteners being designed and configured to receive and removably mount a plurality of tear-away lenses.

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description and appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings where:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a protective base lens;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of a protective base lens;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the protective base lens depicted in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of a protective base lens with a pair of post member fasteners;

FIG. 5 is a side view of the protective base lens depicted in FIG. 4 illustrating a post member fasteners positioned within two apertures;

FIG. 6A is an exploded perspective view of a post member fastener illustrating a male member and a female member;

FIG. 6B is an operational perspective view in partial cross section of a post member fastener depicting a male member reversibly secured to a female member; and

FIG. 7 is an operational perspective view illustrating the alignment and position of a protective base lens relative to a helmet visor and to a plurality of tear-away lenses.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the invention, one or more examples of which are set forth below. Each example is provided by way of explanation of the invention, not limitation of the invention. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. For instance, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment can be used on another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover such modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents. Other objects, features, and aspects of the present invention are disclosed in the following detailed description. It is to be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the present discussion is a description of exemplary embodiments only and is not intended as limiting the broader aspects of the present invention, Which broader aspects are embodied in the exemplary constructions.

In describing the various figures herein, the same reference numbers are used throughout to describe the same material, apparatus, or device. To avoid redundancy, detailed descriptions of much of the material, apparatus, or device once described in relation to a figure may not be repeated in the descriptions of subsequent figures, although such material, apparatus, or device is labeled with the same reference numbers.

As seen in reference to FIGS. 1 to 7, a protective base lens 10 is provided. In accordance with the present invention, referring to FIGS. 1 to 5 generally, a protective base lens 10 is provided comprising a transparent sheet 11 which is configured and designed to attach to the visor 41 of a helmet, the visor being depicted in FIG. 7. Much like the visor of a helmet, the transparent sheet 11 of the protective base lens is generally manufactured from a clear plastic material capable of providing a non-distorted view to the person wearing the helmet. Additionally, the transparent sheet 11 is flexible which permits the transparent sheet to intimately adapt to the curvature of the helmet when attached to the helmet visor 41. The ability of the transparent sheet to intimately mirror the shape of a helmet's visor decreases visual distortion and also provides better protection to the helmet visor from dirt and debris to that area of the helmet visor which the transparent sheet covers. In additional to the transparent sheet 11 being manufactured from an optically clear plastic ensure maximum visibility for a user, an alternative embodiment of the invention the protective base lens 10 may be manufactured to include a tint to address different lighting conditions that a driver may encounter. The degree of tint and type of tint incorporated into the invention may be affected by various factors, including but not limited to, the time of time during which the protective base lens is used and the weather conditions, both of which impact the amount of light that a person encounters during the day.

Continuing to refer to FIGS. 1 to 5, the transparent sheet 11 defines an elongated shape having a first end 12 and a second end 13. Additionally, at least two apertures 16, 17 are located on the transparent sheet 11. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention a first aperture 16 is located at the first end 12 of the transparent sheet 11 and a second aperture 17 is located at the second end 13 of the transparent sheet 11. Additionally, the transparent sheet 11 includes a top surface 14 and a bottom surface 15.

In order to affix the transparent sheet 11 to the visor of a helmet, the present invention also includes a means by which the transparent sheet is attached the helmet visor. As most clearly illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 5, such an attaching means 21 is affixed to the bottom surface 15 of the transparent sheet 11 at its first and second ends 12, 13. The attaching means 21 used to affix the transparent sheet 11 to a helmet visor 41 is generally a pressure sensitive adhesive that is strong enough to ensure that the protective base lens 10 will remain attached to the helmet visor 41 during the helmet's use. However, the pressure sensitive adhesive will also permit the protective base lens to be repositioned if necessary and also permit the protective base lens to be removed without damaging the helmet visor.

Now referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, the protective base lens also includes at least two post member fasteners 31, 32. The post member fasteners 31, 32 are configured and designed to engage the transparent sheet 11. The post member fasteners are also configured and designed so that one or more tear-away lenses can be mounted on the top surface of the protective base lens when the protective lens base is mounted to a helmet visor. Such tear-away lenses are generally available to the public and being designed and configure to include apertures that are designed and configured to operationally engage the post members on helmet visors used for automotive and motorcycle sporting events. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention a first post member fastener 31 is positioned and secured within the first aperture 16 of the transparent sheet 11. In similar fashion a second post member fastener 32 is positioned and secured within the second aperture 17 of the transparent sheet 11. As illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 5, the pressure sensitive adhesive 21 surrounds the apertures 16, 17, but leaves a sufficient area around each aperture 16, 17 to permit the post member fastener 31, 32 to directly engage the bottom surface 15 of the transparent sheet 11.

Now referring FIG. 6A, an exploded perspective view of one of the post member fasteners 31, 32 of the present invention is depicted illustrating a male member 36 and a female member 33. Referring to FIG. 6B, an operational perspective view in partial cross section of one of the post member fasteners 31, 32 of the present invention is depicted is illustrating a male member 36 reversibly secured to a female member 33. Now continuing to refer to FIGS. 6A and 6B generally, a post member fastener of the invention is shown comprising a female member 33 having a circular flanged end 34 and a male member 36 having a circular flanged end 37. The female member 33 defines a hollow cylindrical shaft 35 to receive the male member 36, female member 33 being designed and configured to reversibly engage the male member 36. Typical post member fasteners include those in which the female member 33 and the male member 36 are reversibly secured to each other in a screw-like fashion, as illustrated in FIGS. 6A and 6B, as well as those configurations in which the female member 33 and the male member 36 are reversibly secured to each other in a snap-like fashion.

In preparation to use a post member fastener 31, 32 either a female member 33 or a male member 36 is inserted through the aperture 16, 17 of the protective base lens. To secure the post member fastener 31, 32 to the protective base lens 10 the mate of the inserted female or male member is attached to its mate. Since the diameter of the circular flanged ends 34, 37 of the female member 33 and of the male member 36 is greater than the diameter of the protective base lens aperture 16, 17, the post member fastener becomes securely attached to the protective base lens once the female member and the male member of the post member fastener are coupled together. Although a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a protective base lens having a single aperture to receive a single post member fastener at each end of the protective base lens for use on helmet visors, other embodiments may provide for provide for post member

Although the elongated shape of the transparent sheet in one embodiment of the present invention generally resembles the shape of a helmet visor, the shape the transparent sheet may assume the shape of other types of protective face shields for which its use may be desired. Therefore, in addition to the use of the present invention on helmets and helmet visors by people participating in automotive and motorcycle sporting events, other uses of the present invention may include helmets and visors for skiing, snowboarding, and other outdoor sports including hunting and fishing, rock climbing and similar activities where one may need to quickly clean a visor.

Now referring to FIGS. 1 to 7 generally, and to FIG. 7 specifically, to use the present invention the female member 33 of a post member fastener 31, 32 is inserted into an aperture 16, 17 of the transparent sheet 11. With the female member 33 positioned within an aperture 16, 17, the male member 36 of a post member fastener engages the female member generally in a snap-like or screw-like manner. The aperture 16, 17 has a diameter large enough to allow the entry of the hollow cylindrical shaft 35 of the female member 33. However, the diameter of the female and male circular flanged ends 34, 37 of the post member fastener 31, 32 are larger than the diameter of the aperture 16, 17, and therefore the aperture of the transparent sheet 11 retains the post member fastener 31, 32 within the aperture once the female member 33 and the male member 36 are reversibly secured to each other.

Once the post member fasteners 31, 32 are secured within the transparent sheet apertures 16, 17, the protective base lens 10 is properly positioned onto the helmet visor such that maximum protection is afforded the user's field of vision. With the protective base lens in proper position on the helmet visor 41, sufficient pressure is applied to the adhesive areas 21 of the transparent sheet 11 to affix the protective base lens to the helmet visor 41. Finally, the tear-away lenses 51, having apertures 52 being spaced and configured to operationally engage the post member fasteners 31, 32 of the protective base lens 10, are aligned and placed onto the protective base lens. In the event the protective base lens 10 needs to be repositioned or removed, pressure sensitive adhesive 21 permits the invention to repositioned or removed if and when necessary. Additionally, that characteristic of the pressure sensitive adhesive 21 which permits the protective base lens to be repositioned or removed, also provides a safety feature with regard to the post member fasteners 31, 32 of the present invention. Unlike post member fasteners that are permanently mounted to a helmet visor to utilize tear-away protective lenses, the post member fasteners of the present invention are held in place due to their placement within the apertures 16, 17 of the transparent sheet 11. The transparent sheet 11 being attached to the helmet visor 41 with a pressure sensitive adhesive 21 which permits the protective base lens 10 to be easily repositioned or removed. Likewise, in the event of a collision involving a helmet to which post member fasteners 31, 32 of the present invention are attached, such post member fasteners would easily become disengaged from a helmet visor during impact due to the repositionable nature of the pressure sensitive adhesive used in the present invention.

Although preferred embodiments of the invention have been described using specific terms, devices, and methods, such description if for illustrative purposes only. The words used are words of description rather than of limitation. It is to be understood that changes and variations may be made by those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit or the scope of the present invention. In addition, it should be understood that aspects of the various embodiments may be interchanged, either in whole, or in part. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the invention should not be limited to the description of the preferred versions contained herein.

Claims

1. A protective base lens for a helmet comprising: a transparent sheet configured to engage a visor of a helmet, said transparent sheet having a first end and a second end;a plurality of apertures located on said transparent sheet, wherein said plurality of apertures includes a first aperture located at the first end of the transparent sheet and a second aperture located at the second end of the transparent sheet;an attaching means for affixing the transparent sheet to the visor of a helmet; anda plurality of post member fasteners, the post member fasteners being adapted for receiving a plurality of tear-away lenses.

2. The protective base lens of claim 1, wherein said transparent sheet is flexible and includes a top surface and a bottom surface.

3. The protective base lens of claim 1, wherein said attaching means is affixed to the bottom surface of each end of the transparent sheet for detachably attaching the transparent sheet to the visor of a helmet.

4. The protective base lens of claim 3, wherein said attaching means includes a pressure sensitive adhesive allowing the transparent sheet to be removably mounted on the visor of a helmet.

5. The protective base lens of claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of post member fasteners being designed and configured to operationally engage with one of said plurality of apertures.

6. A protective base lens for attachment to a visor of a helmet being configured to receive a plurality of tear-away lenses comprising: an elongated flexible transparent sheet having a first end, a second end, a top surface, and a bottom surface;a first aperture located at the first end of the transparent sheet and a second aperture located at the second end of the transparent sheet;an attaching means to affix the transparent sheet to the visor of a helmet; anda plurality of post member fasteners, wherein the plurality of post member fasteners includes a first post member fastener positioned in the first aperture and a second post member fastener positioned in the second aperture.

7. The protective base lens of claim 6, wherein said transparent sheet is tinted for use in various environmental lighting conditions, including time of day sunlight and weather.

8. The protective base lens of claim 6, wherein said attaching means is affixed to the bottom surface of each end of the transparent sheet for detachably attaching the transparent sheet to the visor of a helmet.

9. The protective base lens of claim 6, wherein said attaching means includes a pressure sensitive adhesive allowing the transparent sheet to be removably mounted on the visor of a helmet, the pressure sensitive adhesive being located on the bottom surface of each end of the transparent sheet.

10. The protective base lens of claim 6, wherein said post member fastener further comprises a male member having a circular flanged end and a female member having a circular flanged end, the female member being designed and configured to reversibly engage a male member.

11. The protective base lens of claim 10, wherein said female member further comprises a hollow cylindrical shaft for receiving and reversibly securing said male member.

12. The protective base lens of claim 10, wherein the circular flanged ends being designed and configured to operationally engage the apertures located on the transparent sheet, the apertures removably securing the post member fasteners within the apertures.

13. The protective base lens of claim 10, wherein at least one of said male members is secured by said protective base lens.

14. The protective base lens base of claim 10, wherein at least one of said female members is secured by said protective base lens.

15. The protective base lens of claim 10, wherein the post member fasteners are designed and configured to receive and removably mount the tear-away lenses.