Patent Application
20160021947
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a protective garment for an individual and more particularly to a protective garment that incorporates both style and protective elements.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various forms of safety garments have been created for use in sports such as motorcycling, bicycling, skating and skate boarding. Many of these garments incorporate impact absorbing areas and abrasion resistant materials which improve wearer safety. The protection offered by these safety garments fall into two main categories: impact protection and abrasion protection. Padded areas, often within resilient cups that may be constructed of materials, such as Temper-foam, are often sewn into garments over impact-sensitive areas, such as over the knees, elbows, shoulders, ankles, and even over the spine. These impact absorbing sections are often referred to as “body armor”. Densely woven materials, generally provided in layers, are used within these safety garments for preventing abrasion over the remaining fleshy areas of the user. Traditionally one of the best materials for these safety garments has been thick leather (i.e. over 1.5 mm), as it provides abrasion resistance many times greater than traditional cloth materials. Newer materials such as ballistic nylon, Cordura, Gortex and Kevlar, along with armor sections, are being incorporated within otherwise traditionally constructed cloth garments in order to increase their abrasion resistance. These garments rely on the use of layers of dense durable abrasion resistant cloth materials to protect the wearer.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,151,714 teaches a protective pad for a joint surface of a wearer's limb during athletic activity, such as skating and skateboarding, has a cushioning element and a shielding element mounted thereto. The cushioning element has a body with a first surface to overlie the joint surface and an opposite second surface. The shielding element has a primary wall forming a domed central region surrounded by a peripheral flange engaged upon the second surface of the cushioning body. In the central region, the primary wall defines an outer, obstruction-engaging surface and an inner wall surface. The shielding element also has a plurality of inter-engaged support wall segments extending from the inner wall surface toward, but spaced from engagement with, the second surface of the cushioning body. The shielding and cushioning elements, in a central region of the cushioning body bounded by the peripheral flange and overlying the joint surface, together define, at rest, a cavity between the support wall segments and the second surface of the cushioning body. The shielding element is relatively more resistant to flexing than the cushioning element, and upon application of a force to the obstruction-engaging surface of the protective pad overlying the joint surface to be protected, the shielding element resists flexing as the cushioning element flexes to permit penetration of the joint surface into the cavity, thus to absorb force and protect the joint surface. The pads are for protection of joint surfaces, e.g. of the knee or elbow, during sports activities such as skating and skateboarding. Protective pads for joint surfaces, e.g., of the knee or elbow, to be worn during sports activities such as skating and skateboarding, are widely available. Many forms of protective padding are constructed as composite assemblies in which a shock absorbing layer is positioned within an outer shell and/or attached to a rigid plate. U.S. Pat. No. 5,496,610, U.S. Pat. No. 5,840,397 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,625 all describe composite pad assemblies having a shock absorbing layer in the form of a honeycomb. Other protective pads have been integrally formed by molding as described in U.S. Pat. No. D-298,669, U.S. Pat. No. 4,354,280 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,093,388.
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U.S. Pat. No. 4,443,891 teaches a helmet for cyclists, skateboard runners and roller skaters which includes a shell of flexible and hard plate-shaped material and a damping means attached inside the shell. The shell in its plane has the form of an I with extended cross-pieces and with tips attached radially between the same, which tips extend from the connecting between the cross-pieces and the stem of the I. About at the center of the stem lateral tips are attached to both sides. The cross-pieces and tips are provided with attachment means in such a manner, that the free ends of one cross-piece after the bending of the stem can be connected to the free ends of the other cross-piece. The free ends of the tips can be attached to suitable holders on the lateral tips. The cross-pieces, tips and lateral tips can be designed as bands, and the attachment means be arranged so that the width and size of the shell can be adjusted. The damping means substantially is formed after the stem and lateral tips and is provided with lugs arranged so as to protect the temples. The shell is made of plastic, and the damping means of foamed plastic. It has become popular to cycle, but unfortunately the number of bicycle accidents has increased thereby. According to an investigation of the number of accidents, in which children up to 15 years' age were involved, bicycle accidents ranked as the second greatest group. In order to reduce the risks at such accidents, therefore, helmets have come into use, which are recommended also for adult cyclists, especially those participating in the traffic in greater cities. A helmet for cyclists, skateboard runners or roller skaters must meet certain requirements. The helmet must provide good ventilation, because its wearer advancing by his own efforts gets warm and begins to sweat more readily than either a mopedist or a motor-cyclist. The helmet should be adjustable and of low weight. It should not appreciably screen off sound nor reduce or disturb the visual field. The inside of the helmet shall be soft. The helmet also shall be esthetically attractive and have a low price. This implies that the manufacturing costs shall be low, and the costs for distribution and storage shall be as low as possible. The last-mentioned requirement can be met when the helmet is made of plate-shaped material portions formed in a special way, which portions the consumer himself can form and fix to suitable size. Helmets made of plate-shaped material are known previously. A construction, which is particularly suitable for children, is based on the idea that the helmet in unfolded state comprises a number of segments extending from a small central portion, which segments can be bent to the shape of the head so as to form a hood where the ends of the segments are held together by strings or bands. The width of the hood thereby can be changed as the child grows in size. With this construction, there is no continuous protective band about the head. In case of an accident, the segments easily are displaced so that the head more or less is unprotected.
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U.S. Pat. No. 6,589,891 teaches an abrasion resistant garment which is highly ventilated while providing abrasion protection for a wearer during a slide, as for instance that may occur during a fall from a motorcycle. A material is produced wherein abrasion-resistant, low sliding friction, beads are held within a matrix of high-tensile strength, abrasion-resistant, cords. The beaded matrix within the garment can be augmented with layers to form a lining and exterior layers to enhance visibility. The force of a sliding rider is retained over the beaded matrix, away from the road surface. Under abrasive sliding friction, the beads additionally rotate to an extent which tightens the cord matrix and thereby helps constrain the skin surface of the wearer from making contact with the roadway surface. Various forms of safety garments have been created for use in sports such as motorcycling, bicycling, skating and skateboarding. Many of these garments incorporate impact absorbing areas and abrasion resistant materials which improve wearer safety. The protection offered by these safety garments fall into two main categories: impact protection and abrasion protection. Padded areas, often within resilient cups that may be constructed of materials, such as Temperfoam, are often sewn into garments over impact-sensitive areas, such as over the knees, elbows, shoulders, ankles, and even over the spine. These impact absorbing sections are often referred to as “body armor”. Densely woven materials, generally provided in layers, are used within these safety garments for preventing abrasion over the remaining fleshy areas of the user. Traditionally one of the best materials for these safety garments has been thick leather (i.e. over 1.5 mm), as it provides abrasion resistance many times greater than traditional cloth materials. Newer materials such as ballistic nylon, Cordura, Gortex, Kevlar, along with armor sections, are being incorporated within otherwise traditionally constructed cloth garments in order to increase their abrasion resistance. These garments rely on the use of layers of dense durable abrasion resistant cloth materials to protect the wearer. Often minor abrasions are referred to as “road rash” wherein a slowly moving body contacts a roadway surface at a speed of under 15-20 mph. However in sports such as motorcycle riding, a fall at even moderate speed on a roadway surface can result in severe abrasions; whereby not only the skin is abraded away, but significant amounts of flesh, muscle, and bone can be similarly removed. Even moderate abrasion wounds are painful and slow healing. Severe abrasion wounds can result in a significant blood loss, an infection hazard, a likelihood of permanent disfigurement, and even death. Everyday clothing provides insignificant levels of abrasion resistance, such as to a motorcycle rider falling on a roadway. In Australia in 1982, the Royal Brisbane Hospital Burn Unit completed a 13½ year study of motorcycle burn injuries wherein 29% of the burn unit victims were road abrasion burns with 46% experiencing the burns to both upper and lower extremities. Of these the median hospital stay was 8 days, but ranged up to 186 days. It was concluded that proper safety clothing would have prevented all of these road abrasion burns. Similar studies have been conducted in England, Germany and other countries with similar results. Insurance industry and government committees have been looking closely into regulations directed at safety garments. At this time Germany is considering compulsory clothing standards which require motorcycle riders to wear certified safety garments, while the British Standards Institute of the British government is drafting standards for protective clothing for motorcycle riders. As can be seen, therefore, abrasion-resistant protective clothing should be worn when one is involved in any high speed activity where one is otherwise unprotected from abrasion as a result of a fall. However, the use of protective clothing is often ignored, even though equipment currently exists which can largely protect riders from impact and abrasion injuries. Part of the lack of acceptance of current safety garments may lie in the numerous drawbacks that are inherent in the designs which limit their proper habitual use. There are generally two principle forms of safety garments available for sports such as motorcycle riding; the first category is leathers, while the second is cloth type garments. Thick leather provides a good measure of protection and is favored by the majority of competitive riders. Its thickness and durability often requires that only a single layer is required to prevent abrasion. However the leather does not stretch nor does it allow air-flow to reach the wearer. Protection in the, many current cloth-type safety garments is provided by means similar to those used within ballistic protection gear, such as so called “bullet proof vests”; wherein a tightly closed material structure is created through which no objects can incur. Layers of densely woven Kevlar and carbon fibers have replaced steel chain-mail type construction in these protection suits. Within an abrasion resistant garment, numerous layers of material are utilized to provide redundancy as a layer wears through during a fall, and to provide thermal insulation. To further enhance protection against abrasion, more ballistic armor techniques have been considered, such as covering the exterior of the garment with closely spaced platelets. Within ballistic protection suits the platelets are intended to prevent ballistic incursion, but in this case have been considered to prevent roadway incursion. However, it will be appreciated that such approaches lead to the creation of a heavy garment that is substantially covered with anti-ballistic material. Opening up platelet spacing then leads not only to a garment that tears on impact, but one in which the friction forces rotate platelets, platelet halves, or platelet fragments, against the skin of the wearer inflicting additional injury. In general, abrasion resistant clothing follows the teachings of ballistic protection to provide abrasion protection. Unfortunately, both the leather and cloth designs, when promulgated as abrasion safety garments, restrict air-flow and consequently when worn in warm to hot weather are at best uncomfortable, and may in fact be unwearable, due to the high risk of hyperthermia. Thick garments such as these allow insignificant amounts of air to flow and thereby pose a dangerous hyperthermia risk as body temperatures can soar. It is not surprising that a large percentage of safety-conscious riders don't ride when it gets warm out, . . . . while others ride dangerous under-protected with street clothing. Clothing manufacturers have worked to provide various forms of venting for conventional safety garments, venting is unable to compensate for the bulk of layers of tightly woven material surrounding the wearer, and vents are of only minor aid when the wearer is stationary. To fully appreciate the situation, it should also be remembered that in the case of a motorcycle rider, the rider is seated above an engine operating at high temperature, the heat from which rises to envelop the rider. There is a need for abrasion resistant safety garments that can be constructed to minimally restrict ventilation of the wearer. The abrasion resistant conformal beaded-matrix in accordance with the present invention satisfies that need, as well as others, and overcomes deficiencies in previously known techniques.
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U.S. Pat. No. 6,910,698 teaches safety clothing which is suitable for use when skateboarding or in other similar activities. The clothing has pockets in the inside thereof to removeably receive cushioning or energy absorbing material, typically in sheet form, such as closed cell foam, so as to be invisible to the casual observer, but to offer substantial protection to body parts such as hips, knees and the like. Skateboards and the riders of them have, over the past few years, propelled the sport into an art form. Many maneuvers are performed that appear to defy gravity.
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U.S. Pat. No. 5,717,997 teaches a form-fitting garment which has side pockets that allow hip pads for the protection of the greater trochanter to be securely positioned and centered above the greater trochanter region. The hip pads have a slit extending through the planar surface that is centered over the greater trochanter region and disperses any impact forces against the pad away from the greater trochanter region. At a time when health care costs are escalating, medical research continues to focus on preventative medicine. The study of geriatrics has revealed that elderly individuals have an increased risk of hip fractures and deaths related to hip fracture disease. Included within the elderly group are several groups at greater risk. Among some of these greater at-risk groups are: persons, particularly females, over age 50, persons with chronic medical conditions, persons with impaired acuity, persons with osteoporosis, and persons with bodies having low muscle/fat content. The most frequent cause of hip fractures results from a fall, including light falls. In the past, various devices have been constructed to prevent hip injuries. These devices include hip pads used by athletes while playing soccer, hockey and baseball and also by skiers. Devices have also been constructed to prevent such injury among the elderly. These devices often contain a recess in the pad that must be aligned in position directly above the greater trochanter region. These pads have been taped or strapped in place causing slight discomfort to the elderly person. When strapped in place, the pads have a tendency to slip becoming misaligned with the greater trochanter. The slipped pads decrease the effectiveness of protecting the greater trochanter from fractures. Further, these devices are often difficult to place in position directly surrounding the greater trochanter area. Medical assistance may be required to properly position and secure the pad to the hip. The hip pads are manufactured in a variety of sizes thereby increasing the costs of manufacture.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,756,713 teaches a garment which has a hood and in which three groups of connectors are installed on and around the opening edge of the hood surrounding the face of the wearer. Each group of connectors is positioned at a vertex of a triangle shape. When the hood has been put on the head of the wearer, the exposure area of the wearer's face is to be adjusted to be smaller or larger, by tightening or untightening one pair, or more than one pair of the connectors. When tightened, the hood forms a better thermo-insulation and provides better protection for the user against severe weather including cold, wind and snow. Today, hoods are generally soft head coverings which form part of a larger garment, the hoodie. They can be pulled up over the head when needed, or left to hang down the back when not. They may also be detachable to turn a winter overcoat into a summer one.
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US Patent Publication No. 2011/0289 649 teaches a super hoodie which is similar to a conventional hooded sweatshirt (hoodie) with added inner material that attaches completely near the bottom, up along one side of the zipper to the other, and to the lower portion of the arm holes, creating a large inner pocket in the hoodies. Additional pockets, slits, and accessories can be added to either side of the inner pocket material. Conventional hooded sweatshirts (hoodies) generally have one or two pockets sewn to the outside of the garment. The pockets are not very large. This invention gives the garment a large carrying capacity without changing the look of the garment on the outside. The super hoodie adds a large inner pocket that runs from one side of the zipper to the other on the inside of the garment. By adding a large inner pocket, the garment can now carry larger items that a conventional hoodie cannot without sacrificing the common look of the hoodie. A large inner pocket is created by attaching additional material to the inside of the garment. The material is attached completely near the bottom of the garment. It is also attached close to both sides of the zipper without hampering the zippers ability to perform the closing action. To give the pocket added stability, the inner material is attached to the lower portion of the inner arm holes. Additional pockets, slits and accessories can be added to either side of the inner pocket.
US Patent Publication No. 2013/0152269 teaches a hoodie which has a holder pouch on the outside of a hand warmer panel with an open top able to be selectively closed with mating hook and loop strips. Such garments have a sewn on panel in the lower part of the front of the garment, forming a single space, partially open at either side so as to allow a wearer to insert his or her hands therein to keep them warm. Wearers often try to store items such as a cell phone behind the hand warmer panel, but the presence of the side hand openings precludes securely retaining anything put in the pouch. Gamers have a particular need to hold portable game consoles to free up their hands in order to use a cell phone while carrying the game consoles.
Referring to
The applicants hereby incorporate the above referenced patents and patent publications into their specification.
The present invention is generally directed to protective garments for individuals who are at risk of fall injury such as cyclists, skiers, skateboarders, security personnel, seniors and impaired mobility control persons. The protective garment includes a hoodie with a hood and a pair of long sleeves, long pants and unobtrusive protective elements composed of 3 to 20 millimeters thick gel filled spacer fabric,
In a first aspect of the present invention the head protective element is coupled to the hood of the hoodie by a fastening system.
In a second aspect of the present invention each protective element is coupled to one of the garment parts of the hoodie or pants by a fastening system.
In a third aspect of the present invention the protective garment incorporates style, flexibility and protective elements.
In a fourth aspect of the present invention the protective garment maintains a look that most individuals think is “cool.”
In a fifth aspect of the present invention the protective garment provides protection of other more conspicuous protective garments inconspicuously.
Other aspects and many of the attendant advantages will be more readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description and considered in connection with the accompanying drawing in which like reference symbols designate like parts throughout the figures.
The features of the present invention which are believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims.
The solution of Incorporating protective elements directly into popular street-wear styles require that the protective components be flexible, breathable, lightweight and, generally, indistinguishable to the untrained eye from regular garments. This goal can be achieved with a combination of smart garment design and revolutionary “spacer fabrics”, now available on the market, especially modified by Cool Space Ltd. for this application. Spacer fabrics have three layers with monofilament yarns standing between upper and backing fabrics. Spacer fabrics are not three different fabrics laminated or glued together, instead they are all knitted together on a Raschel knitting machine. The fabric works as one unit, sharing load, elongation and stress. Spacer fabrics are very lightweight, compressible and they breathe. The air-spaced interior core is crush resistant, resilient (bounces back), well ventilated and moves moisture away from the body. These fabrics have the stretch-ability, compressibility and resiliency of conventional foam material such as neoprene, latex, EVA and PU, while providing enhanced flexibility, drape, launder-ability and air/moisture permeability. Thickness can vary from 3 to 20 mm and a wide variety of fibers can be used in the three layers.
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The dilatant gel is composed of one or more of the following combinations: silica nano-particles dispersed in a solution of poly (ethylene glycol), silicone oil and boric acid, mixed suspensions of silica colloid and hyper-branched poly-ethylene-imine, cetyl-tri-methyl ammonium bromide and sodium salicylate, polysaccharides or other shear thickening colloids known in the art
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In another embodiment a protective garment for individuals includes a pair of pants with a pair of pant legs and a pair of knee protective pads each of which is coupled to one of the pant legs of the pair of pant legs of the pair of pants by a fastening system. The protective garment not only maintains a look that most individuals think is “cool,” but also provides protection of other more conspicuous protective garments inconspicuously. The protective elements are spacer fabrics filled with a shear thickening (also known as dilatant) gel and sealed around the perimeter and wherein said spacer fabrics contain gels yielding enhanced impact protection (reduction of >80% in transmitted force at 10 Joules when tested according to EN1621-1) stemming from the combination of the resiliency inherent in the spacer fabric construction principle and the reaction of the contained gel to impact and shear. The protective elements have flexibility and drape-ability so as not to degrade the natural “cool” look of a standard garment. The dilatant gel is composed of one or more of the following combinations: silica nano-particles dispersed in a solution of poly(ethylene glycol), silicone oil and boric acid, mixed suspensions of silica colloid and hyper-branched poly-ethylene-imine, cetyl-tri-methyl ammonium bromide and sodium salicylate, polysaccharides or other shear thickening colloids known in the art. The outer garment is designed to enhance a “cool” appearance of the wearer. Modular openings are incorporated around the protective elements to exhibit body art such as tattoos or piercings. The protective elements, described more fully below, are incorporated in sections of the garment which require enhanced protection such as the hoodie, elbows, lower back, hips and shoulders. Due to the design of the protective elements they maintain flexibility and drape-ability of the garment thus not detracting from the “cool” look. The protective elements are covertly assimilated in the garment.
The protective elements are comprised of spacer fabrics filled with a shear thickening (also known as dilatant) gel and sealed around the perimeter. The elements are precut to the appropriate shapes for incorporation at the above mentioned body parts, using conventional pattern cutting and grading techniques known in the art. The use of spacer fabrics to contain the gels has two purposes which surprisingly yield the desired result claimed in this disclosure.
Enhanced impact protection (reduction of >80% in transmitted force at 10 Joules when tested according to EN1621-1) stemming from the combination of the resiliency inherent in the spacer fabric construction principle and the reaction of the contained gel to impact and shear, and, ease of fabrication using traditional cut and sew techniques known to the industry. The resulting protective element also has flexibility and drape-ability so as not to degrade the natural “cool” look of a standard garment. The dilatant gel is composed of one or more of the following combinations: silica nano-particles dispersed in a solution of poly (ethylene glycol), silicone oil and boric acid, mixed suspensions of silica colloid and hyper-branched poly-ethyleneimine, cetyl-trimethyl-ammonium bromide and sodium salicylate or other shear thickening colloids known in the art.
The main types of protection required for street sports are protection from falls and from scrapes. The former requires compressible energy absorption and the latter requires abrasion tear resistance. Properly modified spacer fabrics provide both while having good aesthetics and easy incorporation in fashionable garments. There are decorative aspects in that both East coast and West coast style street-wear is available. The fashionable protective street-wear has integrated transparent panes which can show off tattoos and other body decorations. The same rationale is used for protecting the elderly from bone breaking falls that can severely impact their subsequent quality of life. “Normal” looking garments which incorporate protective spacer fabric elements can prevent hip joint fracture in the event of a fall. Some statistics on elderly falls (Source: Colorado State University). The risk of falling increases with age and is greater for women than men. Annually, falls are reported by one-third of all people 65 and older. Two-thirds of those who fall will fall again within six months. Falls are the leading cause of death from injury among people 65 or over. Approximately 9,500 deaths in older Americans are associated with falls each year. The elderly account for seventy-five percent of deaths from falls. More than half of all fatal falls involve people 75 or over, only 4 percent of the total population. Among people 65 to 69, one out of every 200 falls results in a hip fracture, and among those 85 or over, one fall in 10 results in a hip fracture. One-fourth of those who fracture a hip die within six months of the injury. The most profound effect of falling is the loss of independent functioning. Twenty-five percent of those who fracture a hip require life-long nursing care. About 50 percent of the elderly who sustain a fall-related injury will be discharged to a nursing home rather than return home. Most falls do not result in serious injury. However, there is often a psychological impact. Approximately 25 percent of community-dwelling people 75 or over unnecessarily restrict their activities because of fear of falling. The majority of the lifetime cost of injury for people 65 or over can be attributed to falls.
Uniformed professionals spend a great deal of time on bicycles, motorcycles, horseback and Segways and are therefore at increased risk of fall injury. A balance needs to be struck between an elegant, distinguished looking uniform and personal protection. Using CoolSpace Ltd. technology, the protective aspect can be built right in.
Protective garments constructed using CoolSpace Ltd technology have been submitted to the Israel Standards Institute (ISI) for performance evaluation according to accepted standards
From the foregoing it can be seen that protective garments constructed by CoolSpace technology have been described.
Accordingly it is intended that the foregoing disclosure and showing made in the drawing shall be considered only as an illustration of the principle of the present invention.
