Apparel – Guard or protector – For wearer's head
Patent
1997-07-15
1999-06-29
Neas, Michael A.
Apparel
Guard or protector
For wearer's head
24615, 24625, A42B 308
Patent
active
059155388
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a protective helmet, and more specifically to the device for attaching its chin strap.
Protective helmets have been customarily used for a long time in various fields, either professionally, as is the case for the military, police or firemen, or in private, as is the case for motorcyclists, rally or race car drivers.
Protective helmets are already known which are used in various fields and are worn by diverse users, such as cyclists, motorcyclists, firemen, skiers and others, such as aircraft and helicopter pilots. All of the current helmets, irrespective of their use, include a generally sphere-shaped rigid outer shell including a facial opening, and whose cavity thus formed includes protective and comfort padding elements adapted to nest the user's head. Furthermore, the helmet is conventionally maintained on the user's head by means of a flexible chin strap attached to the lateral portions of the helmet. The current devices for linking the chin strap are totally unsatisfactory, because inefficient, often unreliable, and are very anaesthetic; and removing or putting on the helmet is often quite difficult, and the chin strap is sometime unfastened at the wrong moment, the helmet then failing to perform its protective function properly.
The object of the present invention is to remedy these drawbacks by proposing a new chin strap connecting device which enables a particularly simple and rapid positioning and disconnection for the user, while ensuring a reliable and certain retention of the chin strap.
Thus, according to the invention, the device for attaching a chin strap to a protective helmet is of the type enabling a removable connection, and is characterized in that the chin strap fastening means are constituted by the cooperation of a fastening member affixed to the chin strap and engageable with a fastening lug affixed to the helmet wall.
According to a complementary characteristic of the invention, the fastening member is constituted by a cylindrical portion affixed to a pivotable gripping lever, whereas the fastening lug is constituted by a matching recessed portion.
According to another arrangement, latching means are provided for latching the gripping lever to the helmet, and especially to its lateral wall, in a disconnectable manner.
According to an embodiment, the gripping lever is pivotally mounted on a retaining part to which the chin strap is attached. Let's also note that the recessed portion constituting the fastening lug is open upwardly and closed at its ends by two end walls, and is limited outwardly by an outer projecting portion serving as a retaining and fastening edge, and toward the helmet wall by a rear wall, whereas the retaining edge is, in its central portion, interrupted by a central cutout adapted for the passage of the retaining end of the retaining part of the fastening member.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the fastening lug is affixed to an independent edge part fixed on one of the lateral wall portions, and advantageously in the vicinity of the lateral edge of said lateral wall portion.
Of course, the invention also relates to the helmet equipped with the device. Furthermore, it must be noted that each of its lateral wall portions advantageously includes the device, which enables a total disconnection of the chin strap; but it could be otherwise, and the helmet could, for example, have only one removable connecting device arranged on only one side, while the chin strap would be irremovably fixed on the other side of the helmet.
Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the description that follows, with reference to the annexed drawings which are only provided by way of non-limiting examples.
FIG. 1 is an external lateral view of a helmet according to the invention, with its chin strap;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the helmet with its chin strap;
FIGS. 3, 4, 5, and 6 more particularly show the fastening lug affixed to the helmet;
FIG. 3 is a partial front view;
FIG. 4 is a vi
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patent: 5003632 (1991-04-01), Claude
patent: 5203034 (1993-04-01), Foehl
Basson Gilles
Noyerie Jean-Paul
Gallet S.A.
Neas Michael A.
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