Patent Application
20230320452
Helmets are a common form of protective gear for the head, protecting the human brain. Helmets have a wide range of applications ranging from recreational, to construction, to combat, to safety and rescue (e.g., full brimmed fire helmets). Helmets are often constructed in portions, where an inner helmet interfaces with a wearer's head and provides some level of protection, such as via padding applied to the outside of the inner portion to provide shock absorption. An outer shell, often having a hard outward facing surface provides additional protection, such as providing further shock absorption as well as helmet penetration prevention.
Systems and methods are provided for a helmet shell mounting assembly. A system includes a mounting component and a locking slider configured to interface with the mounting component when in an engaged position to secure an outer helmet shell to an inner helmet.
In another example, a method of interfacing an outer helmet shell to an inner helmet includes threading an anchor through a through hole of an outer helmet shell into a mounting component connected to an inner helmet. A locking slider is slid into the mounting component into an engaged position to secure a portion of the anchor within the mounting component.
The multi-layer implementation of helmets described above may ease in the manufacturing of helmets, where a hard outer shell can be manufactured separately from an inner helmet that may optimally be made from wholly different materials and be subjected to disparate manufacturing processes. For example, the inner helmet may be fabricated using materials and features designed to provide a snug and comfortable fit on the interior, while having a shock absorbing material (e.g., Styrofoam, air bladders, vinyl nitryl foam, expanded polypropalene foam) applied to the outer surface of the inner helmet. The outer helmet shell may then be made of a rigid or penetration preventative material, such as Kevlar, carbon fiber, polycarbonate, molded plastics, composite materials, or combinations thereof.
While a multi-layer implementation provides certain advantages, mechanisms for connecting an inner helmet to an outer helmet shell may be cumbersome (e.g., brackets and screws), such that disconnecting an outer helmet shell from an inner helmet is time consuming. This can present an inconvenience during maintenance activities, such as cleaning and inspection. Difficulty in separating an outer helmet shell from an inner helmet can also present a safety issue in some instances. For example, when a wearer is injured (e.g., a head or neck injury), it may be necessary to remove the outer helmet shell for back-boarding the wearer, while leaving the inner helmet in place so as to limit movement of sensitive body structures. It may also be desirable to remove an outer helmet shell when a wearer is trapped or needing to ingress into or egress out of a confined space. Slow and complex disconnection procedures can significantly hamper safety in instances where time is of the essence.
Systems and methods provided herein, in embodiments, provide simple and fast connection and disconnection of a helmet inner helmet and an outer helmet shell. Increasing ease of cleaning, inspecting, and other servicing of helmets can increase health and safety of the wearers. Enabling mechanisms for fast disconnecting of an outer helmet shell from an inner helmet can also provide health and safety benefits in certain off-nominal scenarios (e.g., during a rescue operation, escaping an entrapment scenario).
Certain systems and methods herein may further enhance safety by providing designed separation of an outer helmet shell from an inner helmet based on the helmet being subjected to greater than a threshold level of force (e.g., greater than a threshold tensile load). In certain scenarios (e.g., a wearer being thrown from a maritime vessel at height, confined space operations), an intact helmet with a brim may contribute to injury of a wearer. During these scenarios, significant tensile and torsional impact forces may be imparted on the head and neck of the wearer (e.g., due to the wide brim of a fire-fighter helmet). An intended separation of the wide brimmed outer helmet shell from internal helmet components provides benefits that may include: providing relief from significant tensile and torsional forces; providing retention of some, albeit reduced, level of head protection for the end user, and releasing restrictive or otherwise encumbering component from the wearer, enabling rapid egress or extrication.
Embodiments of systems and methods described herein provide a mechanical interface between an outer helmet shell element and an internal helmet (e.g., a foam/plastic liner element) that may allow for intentional separation of said components under certain conditions (e.g., when subjected to a prescribed load which exceeds product certification requirements, upon actuation of a disengagement mechanism). In embodiments, the connection/disconnection assembly provides these capabilities using minimal components (e.g., few, if any loose components, such as screws), reducing the possibility of component loss or incorrect reassembly and facilitating more frequent cleaning and maintenance.
The example of
In embodiments, the locking slider 210 may be fully extractable from the channel 220, such that it becomes a loose component. In other embodiments, the locking slider 210 may include a retention mechanism, such as a tab that is configured to catch on a surface within the channel 220 such that the locking slider 210 is not easily extractable from the 220. In other embodiments, the locking slider 210 may be retained via a tether or otherwise connected to the inner helmet 204 or the mounting portion 208 to reduce a count of loose components.
As described above, certain systems and methods as described herein may be configured to provide separation of a helmet outer shell from an inner helmet when the helmet is subjected to certain forces of more than a threshold amount. This can be accomplished by providing certain weak points in one or more of an anchor, a mounting assembly, a locking slider, or other component of a helmet, where that weak point is configured to fail at or beyond a predetermined threshold level of force. For example, a mounting assembly may be configured to provide separation of the outer helmet shell from the inner helmet when the mounting assembly is subjected to greater than a threshold tensile load. As an example, the mounting assembly may include a weak point (e.g., a weak point at notch 706 of the anchor of
In addition to providing a mechanism for securing an outer helmet shell to an inner helmet, the anchor or other structures of a mounting assembly may provide other functionality as well. For example, an assembly may include an accessory mount connected to the retention portion of the anchor, where the accessory mount comprises a connector for interfacing with a helmet accessory such that the helmet accessory is retained in position on an outside portion of the outer helmet shell. An accessory may take a variety of forms, such as an equipment identifier, a badge, a light, a radio, a sensor, and a GPS device.
Systems and methods as described herein may take a variety of forms. In one example, systems and methods are provided for a helmet shell mounting assembly. A system includes a mounting component and a locking slider configured to interface with the mounting component when in an engaged position to secure an outer helmet shell to an inner helmet.
Systems and methods may include one or more of the following additional features, alone or in combination with one another. For example, the mounting assembly may be configured to provide separation of the outer helmet shell and the inner helmet when the mounting assembly is subjected to greater than a threshold tensile load. The mounting assembly may include a weak point, wherein the weak point is configured to fracture when subjected to at least the threshold tensile load. The outer helmet shell may be configured to be removed from the inner helmet when the weak point is fractured or when the locking slider is moved to a disengaged position. The locking slider may include a transverse locking slider that is configured to substantially span a width of the mounting component when the locking slider is in the engaged position. The mounting component may include a channel configured to receive the locking slider when the locking slider is in the engaged position. The assembly may include a retention mechanism for retaining the locking slider at or near the mounting component when the locking slider is in a disengaged position. The assembly may include an anchor, where an extending portion of the anchor is configured to pass through the outer helmet shell via a through hole, where the extending portion of the anchor is configured to be received by the mounting portion, and where the locking slider is configured to retain the extending portion of the anchor within the mounting portion when in the engaged position. The anchor may include the extending portion of the anchor, and a retention portion, where the retention portion is larger than the through hole such that the retention portion is configured to reside on one side of the through hole while the extending portion is configured to extend through the through hole for retention by the locking slider once received by the mounting portion. The extending portion may include a plurality of hooks. The locking slider may include an anchor trapping region, where the anchor trapping region includes a recess configured to partially surround an upper portion of the hook and a retention surface configured to be positioned above a lower portion of the hook so as to limit an ability to extract the hook from the mounting portion when the locking slider is in the engaged position. The assembly may include an accessory mount connected to the retention portion of the anchor, where the accessory mount comprises a connector for interfacing with a helmet accessory such that the helmet accessory is retained in position on an outside portion of the outer helmet shell. The accessory may include one or more of: a user or equipment identifier, a badge, a light, a radio, a sensor, a GPS device, ear protection, a visor, and a face shield. The assembly may comprise an accessory connected to the retention portion of the anchor. The locking slider may include a notch or a protuberance configured to interface with the mounting portion to hold the locking slider in the engaged position until the locking slider is subjected to more than a threshold force to disengage the locking slider. The outer helmet shell may include a full brim fire helmet, a full brim construction helmet, or a cap style construction helmet. The inner helmet may include an inner portion that is configured to conform to a head of a user, where the inner helmet further comprises an outer portion that comprises a shock absorbing material. The mounting component may be permanently attached to the inner helmet.
In another example, a method of interfacing an outer helmet shell to an inner helmet includes threading an anchor through a through hole of an outer helmet shell into a mounting component connected to an inner helmet. A locking slider is slid into the mounting component into an engaged position to secure a portion of the anchor within the mounting component.
In an example, the outer helmet shell is disengaged from the inner helmet by either: sliding the locking slider into a disengaged position such that the anchor can be removed from the mounting component; or subjecting one of the mounting assembly, the locking slider, and the anchor to more than a predefined tensile load to induce a fracture of said one of the mounting assembly, the locking slider, and the anchor.
While the disclosure has been described in detail and with reference to specific embodiments thereof, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the embodiments. Thus, it is intended that the present disclosure cover the modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
