Protective Helmet

Abstract

The invention relates to a protective helmet comprising a shock-resistant helmet shell (1) provided with a recess for a transparent visor (3) and a viewing panel (7), in particular a sun visor which is pivotally arranged on the internal surface of the shell (1) and movable from a resting position, wherein it leaves the transparent visor (3) to be free, to a final position in which it enters into a visor opening. Said viewing panel (7) is pivotally mounted with a minimum additional space since it is, movably mounted with at least one side end (8) in a guide (9) which form an arc-shaped section whose virtual pivot point (10) is located outside said side end (8) of the viewing panel (7) and at a certain distance behind thereof.

Description

The invention will be explained in more detail below with reference to exemplary embodiments represented in the drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation of a section through a protective helmet according to the invention taken through the longitudinal center axis of the protective helmet;

FIG. 2 shows a front view of the protective helmet according to FIG. 1 with a vision panel in an inoperative position;

FIG. 3 shows the front view according to FIG. 2 with the vision panel in a lower end position;

FIG. 4 shows a schematic representation of the actuation of the vision panel by means of an actuating element arranged laterally on the chin part.

The protective helmet represented in FIG. 1 comprises a helmet shell 1 for an integral helmet, i.e. one with a chin part 2. A cutout in the helmet shell forms a visor opening 3 which can be closed off (and which is shown to be closed off in FIG. 1) by means of a visor panel 4 arranged pivotably on the outer side of the helmet shell 1. A pivot joint 5 of the visor panel 4 is indicated schematically in FIG. 1 with a locking mechanism 6, which allows the visor panel to be latched not only in the completely opened and completely closed position but also in a number of intermediate positions.

A vision panel 7 in the form of a sunshield is mounted on the inner side of the helmet shell 1 above the visor opening 3 and is preferably curved spherically to match the inner contour of the helmet shell 1 in this region. This vision panel 7 can be pivoted from the inoperative position represented in FIG. 1, in which it is situated completely behind the forehead region of the helmet shell 1, downwardly into the region of the visor opening 3. For this purpose, lateral ends 8 of the visor panel are mounted in a respective guide 9. The guide 9 forms a curved section which is curved so as to produce a virtual pivot point 10 which lies not only outside the lateral ends 8 of the vision panel 7 but also at a considerable distance from the guide 9. This makes it possible to match the path of movement of the vision panel 7 exactly to the inner contour of the helmet shell 1 in the region above the visor opening 3 and to achieve a desired positioning of the vision panel 7 within the visor opening when the vision panel 7 is in the swung-down state. If required, the curved section of the guide 9 can deviate from a circular arc section, with the result that the virtual pivot point 10 can move somewhat during the pivoting movement of the vision panel 7, although still remaining far outside the lateral ends 8 of the vision panel 7 and being arranged at a considerable distance behind the guide 9.

FIGS. 2 and 3 schematically illustrate a front view of the protective helmet according to FIG. 1, with the vision panel 7 being represented above the visor opening 3 in the inoperative position in FIG. 2, whereas the vision panel 7 in the representation of FIG. 3 is situated in the lower end position, that is to say in a maximum use position. Of course, it is possible for the motorcyclist to select any desired intermediate positions to suit him. For this purpose, the arrangement for mounting the vision panel 7 in the guides 9 can be designed to be sufficiently self-locking.

FIG. 4 schematically shows, in a side view, a variant of the embodiment according to FIG. 1, in which variant both lateral ends 8 of the vision panel 7 are actuated by means of an actuating element 11 which is arranged laterally on the chin part 2 of the helmet shell and which is formed as a slide 12 which can be displaced substantially parallel to the lower edge of the helmet shell 1. Coupled to the actuating element 11 are two Bowden cables 13, 14, of which the shorter Bowden cable 13 extends to the left-hand lateral end 8 of the vision panel 7 and the longer Bowden cable 14, which is guided around the rear neck region of the helmet on the inner side and lower edge of the helmet shell 1, extends to the right-hand lateral end 8 of the vision panel 7. As a result, the same actuating movement on the actuating element 11 causes both lateral ends 8 of the vision panel 7 to be moved synchronously upward or downward in their respective guide 9. In addition to the actuation of the vision panel 7 thus being produced on both sides and preventing distortion and jamming, reliable and rapid actuation is also achieved because the actuating element 11 is seated at a point which the motorcyclist can find very easily and without having to feel around much.

Claims

1. A protective helmet with a shock-resistant helmet shell (1), which has a cutout for a visor opening (3), and with a vision panel (7), in particular a sunshield, which is arranged pivotably on the inner side of the helmet shell (1) and which can be pivoted from an inoperative position in which it uncovers the visor opening (3) into an end position in which it projects into the visor opening, characterized in that the vision panel (7) has at least one lateral end (8) mounted displaceably in a guide (9) which forms a curved section whose virtual pivot point (10) lies outside the lateral end (8) and at a distance behind the lateral end (8) of the vision panel (7).

2. The protective helmet as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the guide (9) is shaped in such a way that the pivot point (10) moves during the movement of the vision panel (7).

3. The protective helmet as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that both lateral ends (8) of the vision panel (7) are mounted displaceably in a respective guide (9).

4. The protective helmet as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that at least one lateral end (8) of the vision panel (7) is connected to a Bowden cable (13, 14), the other end of which cable is coupled to an actuating element (11) arranged on the outer side of the helmet shell (1).

5. The protective helmet as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that the actuating element (11) is arranged laterally on a chin part (2) connected to the helmet shell (1).