The present invention relates to a protective helmet.
Protective helmets are commonly worn in the industrial workplace to prevent or reduce the likelihood of head injuries. The hard hat is the most common and well-recognized protective helmet. A hard hat consists of three primary components—a shell, a headband, and a suspension system—which cooperate to reduce the potential for injury by attenuating some translational energy of the force of an impact to the helmet.
A hard hat or similar protective helmet is comprised primarily of: a shell; a headband; and a suspension system. These primary hard hat components cooperate to provide the requisite level of protection. The hard hat shell itself causes any force of impact to be spread across the surface area of the shell. The hard hat suspension separates the wearer's head from the shell such that there is an air gap between the shell and the wearer's head that provides for further attenuation of the force of an impact to the shell. Specifically, when an object strikes the shell of the hard hat, the shell itself flexes inward and the straps of the suspension system will stretch. The air gap accommodates the flexing of the shell and stretching of the straps, but, under normal conditions, prevents the wearer's head from contacting the hard hat shell.
Common hard hat constructions are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,609,254 and 7,174,575, which are incorporated herein by reference.
It is often desirable to incorporate or attach accessories to the hard hat or other protective helmet, such as clear/tinted visors, face protection shields, hydration devices, electronic communication devices, lighting apparatus, etc. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,618,936, which is incorporated herein by reference, describes the incorporation of a visor into a protective helmet, such as a hard hat. Specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 8,618,936 describes a construction in which the hard hat includes a crown configured to fit on a wearer's head. A bill extends from the crown, and at least a portion of the bill is transparent. Furthermore, a filtration material is positioned about the transparent portion of the bill, and this filtration material is reactive to radiant energy, such that radiant energy is selectively permitted to pass through the transparent portion of the bill.
In any event, there remains a need for an attachment mechanism for securing accessories to a hard hat or other protective helmet, preferably a simple mechanism that preferably requires no use of tools.
The present invention is a protective helmet with an attachment mechanism for securing accessories.
An exemplary protective helmet including an attachment mechanism made in accordance with the present invention has a substantially rigid shell shaped to protect the wearer's head, with the shell defining a bottom opening and an internal cavity for receiving the wearer's head. The shell further includes a brim (or bill). The brim is not continuous around the circumference of the shell. Rather, there is a central opening defined in the brim of the shell at the front, an opening that generally corresponds to the forehead of the wearer. Furthermore, a slot is defined in and along the edge of the shell, with the slot corresponding with the central opening defined in the brim of the shell.
On one side of the central opening, there are one or more openings defined through the brim. Each opening is in the form of a keyhole (or figure-eight) slot that includes a larger diameter (or enlarged) portion and a smaller diameter (or reduced) portion, which are separated by a detent.
On the other side of the central opening, there are also one or more openings defined through the brim. Each opening is also in the form of a keyhole (or figure-eight) slot that includes a larger diameter (or enlarged) portion and a smaller diameter (or reduced) portion, which are separated by a detent.
An accessory is designed to mate with the shell through interaction with the slot defined in and along the edge of the shell and the respective openings defined through the brim on either side of the central opening. Specifically, the accessory includes bosses extending from a surface thereof. Each of these bosses has a shank portion and an enlarged head, and each of these bosses is sized and spaced to correspond with a respective opening defined through the brim on one side of the central opening. The accessory also includes a projection that extends from the accessory and is sized to correspond to and mate with the slot defined in the brim of the shell.
In practice, the accessory is positioned such that all bosses are in the larger diameter (or enlarged) portion of the corresponding openings. In this regard, the enlarged head of each of the bosses passes through the corresponding opening. At the same time, the edge of the projection extending from the accessory is aligned with the slot defined in and along the edge of the shell. Each of the openings includes an “over-center” snap feature. Thus, by applying pressure to advance the accessory toward the shell, each of the bosses passes over a detent (i.e., passes “over-center”) and into the smaller diameter (or reduced) portion of the corresponding opening, thus “snapping” the accessory into place. At the same time, the projection mates with and effectively fills the slot defined in and along the edge of the shell, thus creating a substantially watertight seal.
The present invention is a protective helmet with an attachment mechanism for securing accessories.
Referring still to
In this exemplary embodiment, the headband 30 also includes a ratchet mechanism 34 that allows for ready adjustment of the size and fit of the headband 30. For further details regarding the construction of such a ratchet mechanism 34, see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,174,575, which, as mentioned above, has been incorporated herein by reference.
With respect to the attachment mechanism of the present invention, the focus is on the shell 20 of the hard hat 10. Referring now to
Referring still to
Referring still to
Referring still to
An accessory is designed to mate with the shell 20 through interaction with the slot 24 defined in and along the edge of the shell 20 and the respective openings 60, 62, 64, 70, 72, 74 defined through the brim 22 on either side of the central opening 22a.
In one exemplary embodiment, and referring again to
Referring now to
The intermediate portion 50b includes an arc-shaped wedge (or projection) 51 that extends from the visor 50 and is sized to correspond to and mate with the slot 24 defined in the brim 22 of the shell 20, as further described below.
The second end portion 50c of the visor 50 also includes three bosses 90, 92, 94 extending from the bottom surface 51c thereof. Each of these bosses 90, 92, 94 also has a shank portion and an enlarged head (as further described below), and these bosses 90, 92, 94 are substantially identical to the bosses 80, 82, 84 on the first end portion 50a of the visor 50. Furthermore, these bosses 90, 92, 94 are sized and spaced to correspond with the openings 70, 72, 74 defined through the brim 22 on the other side of the central opening 22a.
As mentioned above, the visor 50 is designed to mate with the shell 20 through interaction with the slot 24 defined in and along the edge of the shell 20 and the respective openings 60, 62, 64, 70, 72, 74 defined through the brim 22 of the shell 20 on either side of the central opening 22a. In practice, the visor 50 is positioned such that all six bosses 80, 82, 84, 90, 92, 94 are in the larger diameter (or enlarged) portion (as indicated, for example, by reference numbers 70a, 72a, 74a in
Each of the openings 60, 62, 64, 70, 72, 74 includes an “over-center” snap feature. Thus, by applying pressure to advance the visor 50 toward the shell 20, each of the six bosses 80, 82, 84, 90, 92, 94 passes over a detent 60c, 62c, 64c, 70c, 72c, 74c (i.e., passes “over-center”) and into the smaller diameter (or reduced) portion (as indicated, for example, by reference numbers 70b, 72b, 74b in
As a further refinement, in this exemplary embodiment, and referring again to
Similarly, at the “dividing line” between the first end portion 50a and the intermediate portion 50b, there is an integral ridge 56a that extends from the underside of the visor 50. A similar ridge 26a is defined on the underside of the brim 22 of the shell 20 of the hard hat 10. These ridges 56a, 26a collectively form a slot, and a coin can be inserted in the slot and twisted to disengage the bosses 80, 82, 84 from the openings 60, 62, 64.
As a further refinement, in this exemplary embodiment, and referring again to
Although a visor (or lens) 50 is described above as the accessory that is secured to a hard hat, a wide range of accessories, including, for example, clear/tinted visors, face protection shields, hydration devices, electronic communication devices, lighting apparatus, could be secured to a protective helmet using the attachment mechanism of the present invention.
One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that additional embodiments are also possible without departing from the teachings of the present invention. This detailed description, and particularly the specific details of the exemplary embodiments disclosed therein, is given primarily for clarity of understanding, and no unnecessary limitations are to be understood therefrom, for modifications will become obvious to those skilled in the art upon reading this disclosure and may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.
The present application claims priority to U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 62/478,724 filed on Mar. 30, 2017, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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62478724 | Mar 2017 | US |