Apparel – Guard or protector – Side impact torso protector
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-23
2001-09-04
Calvert, John J. (Department: 3765)
Apparel
Guard or protector
Side impact torso protector
C602S023000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06282729
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a waist protection member for protection of a femur and more particularly, to a waist protection member suitable for the prevention of femur injury and fracture upon falling of elder persons with their bones weakened due to osteoporosis.
2. Background Art
Protection members have been conventionally provided for the protection of specific areas of human bodies from impact associated with falls or collisions. In general, the protection members of this type employ, as an impact absorber, various types of foamed resin materials, nonwoven fabrics or fluids such as air, and are adapted for attachment to specific areas ofthe human body. Protection members of various specifications have been proposed so as to conform to contours of protected human body areas such as the arm, breast and the like.
Upon impact to a lower body part due to a fall or the like, a great impact force is applied to a greater trochanter
1
a
of a femur
1
shown in FIG.
27
. Therefore, in the case of falls of the elderly whose bones are weakened due to osteoporosis, they often sustain injury or fracture of a portion of the femur
1
and particularly of a cervical part
1
b
thereof Currently, such injuries or fractures of the elderly have become a social problem. Thus, various efforts have been paid to the protection of various human body areas and particularly, of the greater trochanter and its peripheral area (a waist area or a hip area).
For example, as shown in
FIGS. 28A and 28B
, U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,216 discloses a protection member
3
for the protection of the waist area including the greater trochanter
1
a
. This protection member
3
is substantially of an elongate ellipse shape. The device has a double-layer structure which includes an inner layer
3
a
formed of a partially cross-linked silicone rubber and placed against a surface of a human body
4
, and an outer layer
3
b
formed of a cross-linked silicone rubber. This protection member
3
has a bell-shaped cross section wherein the thickness is the greatest at a portion corresponding to the greater trochanter
1
a
and gradually decreases toward a periphery ofthe member. The inner layer
3
a
has a thickness of not more than 40 mm. A total thickness combining those of the inner layer
3
a
and the outer layer
3
b
is in the range of 20 to 50 mm.
As shown in
FIG. 29
, another protection member
6
is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,511. The device is formed of a resin material and placed within a pocket
5
a
of pants
5
.
Further, as shown in
FIGS. 30A and 30B
, in Japanese patent application No. 7-62520 (Japanese laid-open application No. 8-209409), the present applicants have previously proposed a protection member
8
adapted for placement in pockets
7
a
,
7
a
positioned at lateral-sides of pants
7
and composed of a gel-like substance.
As shown in
FIGS. 31A and 31B
, another protection member
12
is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,034,998. This protection member takes the form of a skirt, comprising a polymer sheet base
9
formed of an air-impermeable polymer material, such as polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene or the like. The protection member also has a bubble layer
10
which includes a plurality of recesses circular in section and is adhesively or ultra-sonically bonded to the sheet base
9
for defining a plurality of fluid filled chambers
11
. The chambers
11
are filled with fluid such as a gas like air or a liquid like water. In
FIG. 31
A, a reference numeral
13
denotes a tensile belt strip with a fastener element for attachment of the member to a lower body part.
However, the protection member
3
of above mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,216 shown in
FIGS. 28A and 28B
is designed such that one piece of protection member
3
serves to protect the greater trochanter
1
a
and its peripheral area, and hence, has a great surface area (contact area) in abutment against or in contact with the human body surface
4
. Furthermore, as mentioned above, the protection member
3
has a thickness as great as 20 to 50 mm. Therefore, the protection member
3
is incapable of deforming in a manner to fully follow the movement of the human body
4
at the greater trochanter
1
a
and its peripheral area. Consequently, when worn, this protection member
3
restricts the movement of the human body
4
, causing discomfort to a wearer. Furthermore, the protection member
3
has a relatively great weight, resulting in poor wear comfort.
The protection member
6
of above-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,511 shown in the
FIG. 29
, also has a great contact area with the human body and a relatively high hardness, resulting in poor conformability to the movement of the human body and poor wear comfort.
Since the protection member
8
of
FIGS. 30A and 30B
proposed by the present applicants is formed of a gel-like substance, the protection member
8
is more flexible than the protection members
3
,
6
shown in
FIGS. 28A
,
28
B and
29
. However, this protection member
8
also has great contact area with the human body, resulting in insufficient conformability to the movement of the human body.
The protection member
12
of U.S. Pat. No. 5,034,998 shown in
FIGS. 31A and 31B
has an arrangement wherein the plural fluid chambers
11
establish respective point contacts with the human body so as to define a small contact area with the human body. However, when this protection member
12
is worn, the one piece of polymer sheet base
9
covers all the fore, back and lateral areas of the waist, thus restricting the movement of the wearer. In addition, a fear exists that any of the fluid chambers
11
may rupture to cause the gas or liquid filled therein to escape.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been accomplished for solving the problems of the conventional protection members of this type and has an object to provide a waist protection member featuring good conformability to the movement of the human body, nice wear comfort, and a capability of sufficiently reducing the impact due to a fall or the like.
For achieving the above object, the waist protection member according to the invention comprises a primary chamber to be placed against at least an area of the human body surface in correspondence to the greater trochanter ofthe femur and filed with a gel-like substance, and at least two auxiliary chambers which are vertically juxtaposed to be placed against an area of the human body surface forwardly ofthe area covered with the primary chamber, and which are each filled with the gel-like substance, and with each having a smaller contact area with the human body than the primary chamber.
The waist protection member according to the invention is configured as mentioned above so that when the impact force is applied to the greater trochanter due to falling or the like of the wearer, this impact force is absorbed by the deformation of the gel-like substance in the primary chamber. When the impact force due to fall or the like is applied to the area forward of the greater trochanter, the impact is absorbed by the gel-like substance in the auxiliary chambers. Hence, the waist protection member of the invention is adapted for sufficient reduction of the impact to the greater trochanter upon a fall or the like.
The aforementioned gel-like substance is flexible enough to present a high fitness to the human body surface. Hence, the primary and auxiliary chambers are permitted to deform in a manner to follow the movement ofthe human body. As a result, the greater trochanter and its peripheral area are surely covered by the primary chamber
33
regardless ofthe position assumed by the human body.
Furthermore, two or more auxiliary chambers with the smaller contact area are disposed forwardly of the primary chamber so that the wearer may not suffer interference with the movement to bend the upper body part forwardly or to lift up the thigh. Thus, the wearer is allowed to make these movements without feeling discomfort.
Thus, the waist protectio
Kowatari Rika
Oikawa Katsuhiko
Ozawa Nanami
Calvert John J.
Gunze Limited
Patel Tejash
Wenderoth , Lind & Ponack, L.L.P.
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