Football helmet with pressable front section

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10470515-B2
Application number	US-201815987570-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 23, 2018
Priority date	Jul 22, 2010
Publication date	Nov 12, 2019
Grant date	Nov 12, 2019

Abstract

A protective helmet comprises a shell made of plastic and having a raised central region oriented from a front of the shell towards a rear of the shell, a first vent opening adjacent to the raised central region on a left side of the raised central region, a second vent opening adjacent to the raised central region on a right side of the raised central region, a pressable front section created by a non-linear slit through the shell, which does not extend to an edge of the shell, ear holes formed in the shell; and an energy absorbing layer protected by the shell and having an outer surface.

First claim

We claim:

1. A football helmet comprising:
a shell made of plastic;
the shell having a raised central region oriented from a front of the shell towards a rear of the shell;
a first vent opening adjacent to the raised central region on a left side of the raised central region, a second vent opening adjacent to the raised central region on a right side of the raised central region;
a pressable front section created by a non-linear slit through the shell, said non-linear slit does not extend to an edge of the shell;
ear holes formed in the shell; and
an energy absorbing layer protected by the shell and having an outer surface;
wherein the non-linear slit partially surrounds the pressable front section such that the pressable front section is connected on one edge to a remainder of the shell.

2. The football helmet of claim 1 wherein the outer surface of the energy absorbing layer includes a raised ridge positioned in the non-linear slit.

3. The football helmet of claim 1 wherein the energy absorbing layer is secured to the pressable front section.

4. The football helmet of claim 1 wherein the non-linear slit is U-shaped.

5. The football helmet of claim 3 wherein the non-linear slit is U-shaped.

6. The football helmet of claim 2 wherein the raised ridge fills the non-linear slit to provide a relatively smooth exterior surface.

7. The football helmet of claim 1 wherein the pressable front section allows for bend or flex into the energy absorbing layer.

8. The football helmet of claim 7 wherein the energy absorbing layer is secured to the pressable front section.

9. The football helmet of claim 1 wherein the plastic is polycarbonate or ABS.

10. The football helmet of claim 1 further comprising a face guard system comprising a wire face guard and a pair of upper side mounts secured to the helmet.

11. The football helmet of claim 1 wherein the non-linear slit intersects the raised central region.

12. The football helmet of claim 1 wherein the pressable front section is on the raised central region.

13. The football helmet of claim 1 wherein the pressable front section includes at least a portion of the raised central region.

14. A plastic shell for a football helmet comprising:
a raised central region oriented from a front of the plastic shell towards a rear of the plastic shell;
a first vent opening adjacent to the raised central region on a left side of the raised central region, a second vent opening adjacent to the raised central region on a right side of the raised central region; and
a pressable front section created by a non-linear slit through the plastic shell, said non-linear slit does not extend to an edge of the plastic shell;
wherein the non-linear slit partially surrounds the pressable front section such that the pressable front section is connected on one edge to a remainder of the plastic shell.

15. The plastic shell of claim 14 wherein the non-linear slit is U-shaped.

16. The plastic shell of claim 14 wherein the plastic shell is made of polycarbonate or ABS plastic.

Assignees

• Kranos Ip Corp

Inventors

• Princip Michael M
• Wingo James C
• Thompson Jeremy J

Classifications

• A42B3/06

  Impact-absorbing shells, e.g. of crash helmets · CPC title

• A42B3/20 Primary

  Face guards, e.g. for ice hockey (A42B3/22 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A42B3/127

  with removable or adjustable pads · CPC title

• A63B71/10

  for the head ({A63B71/081 takes precedence } ; in the form of caps or hats A42B1/08; helmets A42B3/00) · CPC title

• A42B3/064 Primary

  with relative movement between layers · CPC title