Apparel – Guard or protector – Penetration resistant
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-21
2004-03-09
Thibodeau, Paul (Department: 1773)
Apparel
Guard or protector
Penetration resistant
C002S455000, C442S135000, C528S030000, C525S477000, C556S402000, C428S297400, C428S299700, C428S372000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06701529
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an energy absorbent medium and, in particular, to a polymeric based material for absorption and dispersion of impact energy which is formable into articles useful in the protection of animate and inanimate objects.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Padding materials and structures have been developed to protect animate objects such as the human body, and inanimate objects which are susceptible to injury or damage when subjected to shock, vibration or stress.
In a number of contexts the human body requires protection from external impact and vibration beyond the normal protection afforded by the structure of the body itself. For instance, impact stress is a significant concern in contact sports such as football, hockey and soccer in which the participant is periodically or constantly subject to high impact stress. Bruising, fracture, joint impact trauma and osteoarthritis, susceptibility to sprains, muscle cramps, tendinitis, and strains, fatigue, and discomfort are all incidents of such impact stress being imparted to the body of the participant.
Another example of high impact stress attenuation is represented by the absorbent of seats, steering wheels, and structures surrounding the driver of a vehicle, designed to cushion the body of the driver in motor sports.
For those who are confined to bed, in wheel chairs, or in body contact with other medical implements requiring prolonged contact between the body and the implement, the difficulties can be quite substantial. As those involved in the field well understand, substantial problems arise from contact between the body and articles which require prolonged contact with the body, such as medical devices, prosthetics, orthopedic implements, such as casts, braces and the like, aids for the disabled such as wheelchairs, crutches, beds for those who are confined there. Through prolonged or high stress contact, a variety of undesirable consequences often plague the users of such constructs. Problems range from ulcerations (bed sores), to dermal inflammation, blisters, and simple irritation and discomfort.
Padding in use today for energy dissipation, cushioning or shock absorbing applications is typically made of assorted foams, urethanes and plastic, rubber, and metal. The materials are formed into shape by stitching, die cutting, molding or shearing. Pre-formed pads are made in various sizes that conform over a limited range of applications. Pads molded from foams produce a solid, semi-stiff piece. Although molded pads may be custom fit to an object or an individual, they are not compliant to the object or user. Molded pads, for instance, do not change shape as the anatomy of the user may change during a given activity. For example, a jet fighter pilot's body changes under g-forces and may swell at higher altitudes. Another example is present in motorsports where a race car driver can lose over ten pounds during a race, in which case a custom molded seat would then be too loose and not provide the needed support. Metal pads offer protection against shock, however lack comfort and are not lightweight and provide little or no vibration protection. In some instances metal pads are the cause of damage.
Polymer gel padding is currently being used in applications where cushioning is required. The gels are typically manufactured from silicone and urethane elastomers which are cross linked into specific geometries. The gel pads are extremely soft and easily compressed, but do not flow and could not be classified as a fluid. When weight is applied the gel pad is soft enough that it will collapse to support the weight, but only in a single dimension. It is generally recognized that polymer gel padding does not offer significant shock protection or protection from side-to-side motions or g-force loading. The person or object will typically move around in the padding since it will not shear. In many instances the object to be protected may “bottom out” within the padding. These padding materials are typically of higher specific gravity than the current invention which incorporates lower specific gravity fillers.
It would be particularly beneficial to produce a padding composition which overcomes the limitations of current padding, and which also exhibits the capability to change the padding's physical characteristics in response to applied loads or forces.
Traditional padding does not generally maintain intimate contact with the portion of a human body to be protected. In order for the body to be totally supported by the padding, the substrate material must crush to accommodate the contours of the body. Under sudden applied force, a human body or inanimate object will often move around within the voids between the padding and the user or object.
Accordingly it is a principal object of the present invention to provide compositions, structures and padding articles made therefrom which are conformable to the surface of an animate or inanimate object, and which responds to an applied force or stress by minimizing the transfer of such force or stress to the object.
It is an object of the present invention to provide for prolonged or high impact or vibration stress contact structures which respond elastically to applied impact forces between an animate or inanimate object and the structure to limit peak impact force applied to the object.
It is an object of the present invention to provide padding articles for use in contact sports such as football, hockey, soccer and basketball that are conformable to the human body and which exhibit the characteristic of a viscous liquid in the absence of a sudden applied force, and convert to a near solid elastomer in response to a high rate applied force to minimize the transfer of the force to the human body.
It is an object of the present invention to provide padding articles which respond elastically to applied vibration and forces between an object and the article to attentuate the vibration and force applied to the object.
It is another object of the present invention to provide articles for prolonged or high impact or vibration stress contact which are highly conformable to, and supportive of, the object surface configuration.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide for prolonged or high impact or vibration stress contact structures which respond resiliently to applied impact forces between an object and the structure with controlled or tuned elastic hysteresis.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide for prolonged or high impact or vibration stress contact absorbent, cushions, and like structures which provide for improved tolerance of the human body to contact with medical appliances and related structures and articles, including neck braces, wheel chair cushions, bed pads, absorbent for orthopedic appliances such as braces, casts and the like.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Generally, the present invention provides a high impact energy absorbent medium comprising the use of a conformable, resilient component which includes an envelope containing a polyborosiloxane elastomer. The response of the system to applied force optimizes high impact and vibration and repetitive impact shock absorption. The high level of conformability is a key to preventing adverse consequences of prolonged contact.
The invention is a self-conforming, compliant, high impact energy absorbent medium that continuously conforms to the environment in which it is used. At rest the medium acts as a viscous liquid and it offers conformal cushioning and support for a protected object. When a sudden or high rate impact force is applied to the medium it becomes dilatant and rheopectic which causes the composition (a thermo-rheologically complex fluid) contained within an envelope defining a padding article, to become more rigid (or viscous) with an increasing rate of deformation. The medium will stiffen and dissipate energy in accordance with the rate of the force applied to the article. When the external force is not present or is of low rate impa
Matechen John M.
Rhoades Lawrence J.
Rosner Mark J.
Bernatz Kevin M.
Extrude Hone Corporation
Thibodeau Paul
Webb Ziesenheim & Logsdon Orkin & Hanson, P.C.
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