Patent Application
20170291096
Helmets worn by catchers in baseball, softball, and fastpitch softball (“fastpitch”) have evolved from simple batter-style helmets—to which face guards or masks may be attached—to more complex helmets including integrated face guards and jaw protectors. While these modern catchers' helmets provide increased protection, they are often unwieldy and difficult to quickly remove, particularly in situations where a catcher is attempting to field a foul ball or a ball in play near home plate.
A catcher's helmet includes a front shell portion and a rear shell portion connected to each other at their upper regions. The front and rear shell portions are pivotable relative to each other about their upper connection. Elastic side straps connect lower regions of the front shell portion to lower regions of the rear shell portion. In use, a wearer may pull the lower region of the front shell portion (such as a jaw-protector region) away from the wearer's face, such that the front shell portion pivots away from the rear shell portion about the upper connection, allowing the helmet to be easily and quickly removed from the wearer's head. The helmet may be donned in a similar manner, after which the wearer may release the lower front portion, allowing the elastic straps to pull the lower front and lower rear shell portions together into a closed position.
In some embodiments, the upper region of the front shell portion may be connected to the upper region of the rear shell portion via an inelastic, adjustable strap or similar element. This feature allows the helmet to be adjusted longitudinally to fit the head of a given wearer. The pivot location between the front and rear shell portions may also be adjusted in this manner.
In some embodiments, a protective chin pad may be affixed to the front shell portion at two or more lateral points to create an axis of rotation for the chin pad. This feature allows the chin pad to be rotated up or down, providing increased freedom of motion for the wearer's jaw relative to a traditional, static chin pad. This feature allows the wearer to speak clearly during use.
The features described above can be used separately or together, or in various combinations of one or more of them. Other features and advantages will appear hereinafter.
In the drawings, wherein the same reference number indicates the same element throughout the views:
Various embodiments of the invention 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 may not be shown or described in detail so as to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the relevant description of the various embodiments.
The terminology used in the description presented below 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.
Turning now in detail to the drawings, as shown in
A face cage 19 or other suitable face protector may be removably or permanently attached to the front shell portion 12 using straps, grooves, screws, or any other suitable connectors. In some embodiments, the face cage 19 may include a minimal number of bars to minimize the weight of the face cage 19 and to maximize the field-of-view for the wearer. In such an embodiment, the bars of the face cage 19 are positioned close enough to one another to prevent a ball from passing between the bars and striking the wearer. To this end, face cages designed for baseball require the bars to be positioned more closely together than face cages designed for softball or fastpitch, for example. In one embodiment, the front shell portion 12 may be configured to connect to a variety of removable face cages—each having different bar spacing to prevent passage of balls of different sizes—such that the helmet may be used with various cage configurations in different sports.
Lower side regions of the front shell portion 12 are connected to lower side regions of the rear shell portion 14 by one or more elastic straps 20, or by other resilient, stretchable straps or webs. In one embodiment, each of the elastic straps 20 passes through slots 21 or other openings in the front and rear shell portions 12, 14. Each strap is back-folded at its ends so that the folded end portions 32 are thicker than the slots 21 through which the straps 20 pass. Each folded end portion 32 may be stitched in place, via bar-tack stitching or other suitable stitching, or may otherwise be suitably secured in its folded position. Because the folded end portions 32 are thicker than the slots 21, they cannot be pulled back through the slots 21. In other embodiments, the strap ends may be secured to the front or rear shell portions 12, 14 via screws, bolts, rivets, adhesive, or other suitable connectors.
As is best shown in
In an alternative embodiment, a single elastic strap (having a longer length than the straps 20 described above) may be used to provide the closing force between the front and rear shell portions 12, 14. In this embodiment, the ends of the strap may be secured or attached to both interior sides of the front shell portion 12, as generally described above. For example, the ends of the strap may pass through slots in the front shell portion 12, then may be back-folded and stitched or otherwise secured in the folded position so that they do not pass back through the slots. Alternatively the strap ends may otherwise be secured to the front shell portion 12 via screws, bolts, rivets, adhesive, or other suitable connectors.
The body of the single strap between the strap ends may pass along the interior sides and interior back region of the helmet, and may be held in place along the interior surface of the helmet 10 via loops, similar to belt loops on pants, or in any other suitable manner. In an alternative embodiment, the ends of the single elastic strap may be secured or attached to both interior sides of the rear shell portion 12. In this embodiment, the body of the strap between the strap ends may pass along the interior sides and interior front region (for example, an interior surface of a jaw protector 34) of the helmet, and may be held in place along the interior surface of the helmet 10 via loops or in any other suitable manner.
When an opening force is applied to the lower region of the front shell portion 12 in either of these embodiments, the single strap stretches and the shell portions 12, 14 pivot relative to each other about an upper region of the helmet. In this open position, the helmet 10 may be easily donned or removed. Once the opening force is removed, the single strap pulls the front shell portion 12 back into closed engagement with the rear shell portion 14.
As shown in
In the illustrated embodiments, the front and rear shell portions 12, 14 cover essentially the entire head of a wearer. Padding attached or affixed to the inside surfaces of the helmet 10 may be arranged to engage the wearer's head on all sides to provide increased stability, comfort, and fit relative to existing catcher's helmets, such as those that include a front shell and a non-overlapping rear piece that pushes against the wearer's head in a relatively unstable manner. In some embodiments, the padding may be made of an anti-microbial material. The padding may optionally be removable and washable. In one embodiment, one or more pads made of a urethane foam, such as Poron® or a similar material, may be included in a crown region of the helmet to provide extra protection for the crown of the wearer's head.
A channel or other hair-management feature may be included at the rear of the helmet to accommodate a wearer's long hair or pony tail. The channel may be located between sections of padding, or the padding may include a reduced thickness portion that accommodates the wearer's hair.
As shown in
Any of the above-described embodiments may be used alone or in combination with one another. Further, the catcher's helmet may include additional features not described herein. While several embodiments have been shown and described, various changes and substitutions may of course be made, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The invention, therefore, should not be limited, except by the following claims and their equivalents.
The present application claims the benefit of U.S Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/320,158, filed Apr. 8, 2016, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62320158 | Apr 2016 | US |
