Patent Application
20160286888
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to protective headgear and, more particularly, to a universal protective headgear for sports, recreational activities and other activities for both children and adults that extends around the circumference of the head and absorbs and dissipates significant impact forces to the head and brain.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Head and brain injuries from forces of impact are an unfortunate but common occurrence in a wide variety of sports, as well as in the daily routines of children, adults, the elderly and challenged individuals. While head injuries cannot be entirely eliminated, the number and severity of injuries can be significantly reduced with the use of protective headgear.
Numerous innovations for head protective devices have been provided in the prior art, including those devices disclosed in my prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,234,174; 6,978,487; 6,675,395; and 6,272,692. Many of the protective headgear devices in the prior art resemble helmets that extend over the top of the head and, while suitable for the purpose of providing some protection, there are shortcomings of the prior art devices which the present invention overcomes. For instance, many prior art headgear devices use padding materials that do not provide complete elastic memory. Thus, their ability to consistently absorb impact and dissipate significant impact forces is diminished. The various head protective devices in the prior art are designed to cover areas of the head that have a low level of risk for injury due to impact forces, resulting in cumbersome, oversized headgear devices that are hot, unsightly and difficult to wash. Moreover, headgear that resembles a helmet presents a negative stigma and many individuals, including athletes, are reluctant to such cumbersome and less attractive devices. In certain sports, athletes are concerned about presenting and maintaining a tough or macho image. While they will wear protective headgear that looks and acts like a sweatband, many of these “macho” athletes refuse to wear helmets or other protective headgear that is not stylish or that is not considered “cool.”
The present invention seeks to overcome the problems, limitations and negative stigma of the prior art headgear devices. The present invention provides the first universal protective headgear that can be applied to a wide variety of sports, recreational activities, cheerleading, the elderly prone to falling, veterans that have traumatic brain injuries (TBI), children on playgrounds, children learning to walk, and challenged children. Specifically, the present invention provides a stylish, highly functional and extremely effective universal protective headgear device that is lightweight, ventilated and adjustable and which includes full memory polymeric absorbing material offering increased protection at crucial impact zones around the entire circumference of the user's cranium, including at the forehead, temporal regions and the back of the head.
The present invention is directed to a universal headgear device for protecting those areas of the head that are at the highest level of risk of injury from forces of impact.
The invention has been developed and tested to be in full compliance with ASTM standards, FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association), the National Federation of High School Associations and the European CE II requirements, designating the product as protective headgear after independent testing.
The universal protective headgear includes an elongate headband formed of neoprene or other elastomeric polymeric materials that have similar properties to neoprene. The elongate headband has opposite end portions and a central portion. The headband is sized, structured and configured to wrap around a user's head to cover and protect crucial areas around the entire circumference of the cranium. Pads formed of impact absorbing polymers having full elastic memory are secured between inner and outer layers of the headband at the central and opposite end portions. The hardness of the polymeric pads is selected depending upon the amount of absorption and dissipation required for a specific activity. Hook and loop releasable fasteners on the opposite end portions allow for adjusted fitting of the headband to the user's head. The polymeric pads are specifically positioned to allow the headband to easily wrap around and conform to the user's head and are structured and disposed to absorb and dissipate significant impact forces, thereby providing increased protection to areas around the user's entire head that are at the highest level of risk of injury from forces of impact, including at the forehead and at the back of the head.
The universal protective headgear of the present invention is useful in a wide variety of sports, recreational activities and other activities and environments for both children and adults including, but not limited to, the following:
Precise positioning and placement of protective headgear is critical in reducing significant impact forces to the head that could cause head and brain injuries. Providing protection at the areas of the head that are at the highest level of risk for injury is particularly important with regard to children playing sports whose brains are still developing. For instance, children running around a playing field while participating in a contact sport can hit their heads together, get kicked in the head, have their heads hit to the ground or come into contact with a goal post. They may also be inadvertently hit in the head with an object, such as ball in field hockey or a puck in floor hockey. In addition, heading the ball in soccer exposes the player to sub-concussive and concussive impacts. All of these impact forces to the head and brain are significantly reduced with the use of the universal protective headgear of the present invention. The risk of head and brain injuries from such impact forces necessitates use of the universal headgear which provides a lightweight and non-burdensome means to absorb and dissipate a substantial portion of the significant impact forces associated with collisions and other impacts to the head and brain areas.
In the past twenty years, cheerleading, which includes “competitive cheer”, has evolved into a highly physical sport of tumbling, flying through the air and building tall human pyramids. Cheerleaders perform these dangerous acrobatics without the use of any body armor or protective headgear. Not surprisingly, thousands of cheerleaders are injured each year from falls and collisions while performing various acrobatic maneuvers. In fact, the Consumer Product Safety Commission recently reported that there were almost 37,000 emergency room visits for cheerleading injuries among girls aged 6-22 in just the course of one year. Cheerleading poses by far the greatest risk of catastrophic injury to young female participants of any sport. The American Academy of Pediatrics reported that, between the years 1982 and 2009, cheerleading accounted for 65% of all direct catastrophic injuries to girl athletes at the high school level and 70% at the college level. Many of these catastrophic injuries involve closed-head injuries and skull fractures. Accordingly, there is an urgent need to provide protective headgear for cheerleaders that significantly lowers the risk of the severity of significant impact forces to the head and brain areas, while also being lightweight, stylish and matching the color and design of cheerleader uniforms.
As noted above, children are particularly susceptible to head injuries. In particular, children learning to walk and children on playgrounds are extremely vulnerable to banging their head on the ground or into other objects. Challenged children and autistic children are also at risk for head injuries and may intentionally hit their head against a wall or other object. In some instances, these impacts to children's heads can be severe and have long lasting effects, possibly resulting in permanent brain damage or death. Dwarfs learning to walk are also at significant risk to head injuries. Because dwarfs' heads are large and throw the rest of the child's body off balance, they find it difficult to learn to walk. Until the development of the present invention, dwarfs have had no other option but to wear helmet while learning to walk. Accordingly, there is an urgent need for a universal protective headgear product that can be worn by all children, doing all types of activities, in order to provide protection that lowers the risk of the severity of significant impact forces to the head and brain areas.
Veterans in hospitals and elderly persons in nursing homes are also vulnerable to hitting their head against walls, doors, the floor and other objects. This may be the result of a loss of balance, neurological disorders or other conditions or events (e.g., tripping on curbs or other objects) that result in impacts to the head. Accordingly, there remains an urgent and definite need to protect veterans in hospitals, and elderly persons in nursing homes from head injuries by providing a universal headgear product that lowers the risk of the severity of significant impact forces to the head and brain areas.
The universal protective headgear of the present invention serves to provide protection that lowers the risk of the severity of the impact force to the head and brain, while also functioning as a sweatband that absorbs perspiration. The complete structure of the headgear has consistent memory throughout its length, while also being structured and disposed to provide an appropriate level of ventilation and breathing, thereby reducing heat between the headband and the user's head. The universal headgear of the present invention may be manufactured in a variety of sizes, widths, thicknesses, and degrees of curvature to suit the needs of the particular user, as well as to conform to the circumference and contour of the anatomy of a particular user's head.
Considering the forgoing, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a universal protective headgear product that is sized, structured and configured to cover areas of the head that are at the highest level of risk of injury from exposure to impact forces and that has universal application for a wide variety of sports, recreational activities, cheerleading, nursing homes, playgrounds, veterans in hospitals and challenged children, and wherein the headgear is structured and disposed to absorb and dissipate significant impact forces to the head.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a universal protective headgear product that adjustably fits around and conforms to the entire circumference of the user's head and which is compressible and has full elastic memory throughout the entire length of the headgear.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a protective stylish headband that resembles a typical sweatband, while also providing significant protection to areas of the head that are at the highest level of risk of head and brain injuries, thereby appealing to even the most “macho” athletes.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a universal protective headgear product that is stylish, lightweight, adjustable to fit all head sizes, and that maintains its integrity while in place around the circumference of the user's head.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a universal protective headgear device in the form of a headband that absorbs perspiration and which is formed of breathable materials, thereby maintaining the user's head cool and comfortable, while also significantly reducing the severity of impact forces to the brain.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a protective headgear device that is easily washed in a sink with tap water and hand soap.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a universal headgear device in the form of an elongate headband that can be manufactured in a variety of colors and designs in order to match the décor of uniforms and/or equipment worn by the user.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a protective headband that provides for an area for placement of team and/or brand names and logos.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention are more readily apparent with reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
For a fuller understanding of the nature of the present invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
Like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of the drawings.
Referring to the several view of the drawings, and initially
Referring to
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The embodiments shown in
The embodiment shown in
In each of the embodiments shown throughout the several views of the drawings, the opposite first and second distal end zones 16, 18 are provided with releasable fasteners for adjustably securing the headband around the user's head so that the headband fits snug (i.e., without slipping), but not too tight. In a preferred embodiment, the releasable fasteners at the opposite first and second distal end zones are hook and loop fasteners. However, it is fully contemplated within the spirit and scope of the invention to provide other types of releasable and adjustable fasteners, such as, but not limited to, snaps or buttons. Alternatively, the ends of the headband may be permanently affixed to one another so that the headband is a continuous and endless loop that is able to stretch and conform to the size and shape of the wearer's head.
The hook and loop releasable fasteners shown throughout the several views of the drawings include a loop component 42 on the outer facing side of the first distal end zone 16 and a hook component 44 on an inner facing side of the second distal end zone 18.
As seen in
The outer facing surface of the outer layer 20 may be provided with one or more areas 21 for placement of team or brand names and/or logos.
While the present invention has been shown in accordance with several preferred and practical embodiments, it is recognized that departures from the instant disclosure are fully contemplated within the spirit and scope of the present invention which is not to be limited except as defined in the following claims.
