Helmet for impact protection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10477909-B2
Application number	US-201415106192-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 19, 2014
Priority date	Dec 19, 2013
Publication date	Nov 19, 2019
Grant date	Nov 19, 2019

Abstract

A helmet for protecting a head of a wearer, such as a hockey, lacrosse, football or other sports player. The helmet includes an outer shell and an inner padding disposed between the outer shell and the wearer's head when the helmet is worn. The inner padding includes a plurality of shock absorbers and an interconnector interconnecting the shock absorbers, each shock absorber being deformable in response to a rotational impact on the helmet such that an outer part of the shock absorber moves relative to an inner part of the shock absorber in a direction tangential to an angular movement of the outer shell due to the rotational impact.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A helmet for protecting a head of a wearer, the helmet comprising:
an outer shell; and
inner padding connected to the outer shell, the inner padding configured to be disposed between the outer shell and the wearer's head, the inner padding comprising a plurality of pads separate from one another, each pad comprising a plurality of padding layers that overlap one another and are arranged such that adjacent ones of the padding layers of the pad are movable relative to one another in response to a rotational impact on the outer shell, wherein:
the pad comprises a low-friction interface between the adjacent ones of the padding layers of the pad to facilitate movement of the adjacent ones of the padding layers of the pad relative to one another;
the low-friction interface of the pad is between a first one of the padding layers of the pad and a second one of the padding layers of the pad; and
the low-friction interface of the pad is configured such that a coefficient of friction between the first one of the padding layers of the pad and the second one of the padding layers of the pad is lower than a coefficient of friction between a shock-absorbing material of the first one of the padding layers of the pad and a shock-absorbing material of the second one of the padding layers of the pad.

2. The helmet of claim 1 , wherein the adjacent ones of the padding layers of the pad are movable relative to one another in a direction tangential to angular movement of the outer shell in response to the rotational impact.

3. The helmet of claim 1 , wherein the adjacent ones of the padding layers of the pad are shearable relative to one another in response to the rotational impact.

4. The helmet of claim 3 , wherein the adjacent ones of the padding layers of the pad are stacked and interconnected such that compression of the adjacent ones of the padding layers of the pad is decoupled from shearing of the adjacent ones of the padding layers of the pad relative to one another.

5. The helmet of claim 1 , wherein the adjacent ones of the padding layers of the pad are movable omnidirectionally relative to one another in response to the rotational impact.

6. The helmet of claim 1 , wherein the pad comprises a connector interconnecting the adjacent ones of the padding layers of the pad.

7. The helmet of claim 6 , wherein the connector of the pad is elastically deformable to allow the adjacent ones of the padding layers of the pad to move relative to one another in response to the rotational impact.

8. The helmet of claim 7 , wherein the connector of the pad is at least one of elastically stretchable and elastically bendable to allow the adjacent ones of the padding layers of the pad to move relative to one another in response to the rotational impact.

9. The helmet of claim 7 , wherein the connector of the pad comprises elastomeric material.

10. The helmet of claim 6 , wherein the connector of the pad is elongated in a direction from the first one of the padding layers of the pad towards the second one of the padding layers of the pad.

11. The helmet of claim 10 , wherein the connector of the pad comprises: an elongate portion that is elongated in the direction from the first one of the padding layers of the pad towards the second one of the padding layers of the pad; and an enlarged portion that is larger than the elongate portion of the connector of the pad in a direction transversal to the direction from the first one of the padding layers of the pad towards the second one of the padding layers of the pad.

12. The helmet of claim 11 , wherein: the enlarged portion of the connector of the pad is a first enlarged portion of the connector of the pad; the connector of the pad comprises a second enlarged portion that is larger than the elongate portion of the connector of the pad in a direction transversal to the direction from the first one of the padding layers of the pad towards the second one of the padding layers of the pad; and the adjacent ones of the padding layers of the pad are disposed between the first enlarged portion and the second enlarged portion of the connector of the pad.

13. The helmet of claim 6 , wherein a third one of the padding layers of the pad is secured to the second one of the padding layers of the pad other than by the connector of the pad.

14. The helmet of claim 13 , wherein the third one of the padding layers of the pad is adhesively bonded to the second one of the padding layers of the pad.

15. The helmet of claim 6 , wherein an end of the connector of the pad is disposed between a third one of the padding layers of the pad and the second one of the padding layers of the pad.

16. The helmet of claim 15 , wherein the end of the connector of the pad is concealed between the third one of the padding layers of the pad and the second one of the padding layers of the pad.

17. The helmet of claim 6 , wherein the connector of the pad extends through the adjacent ones of the padding layers of the pad.

18. The helmet of claim 6 , wherein the connector of the pad comprises a plurality of connecting members separate from one another.

19. The helmet of claim 6 , wherein a modulus of elasticity of the connector of the pad is different from a modulus of elasticity of a given one of the padding layers of the pad.

20. The helmet of claim 19 , wherein the modulus of elasticity of the connector of the pad is less than the modulus of elasticity of the given one of the padding layers of the pad.

21. The helmet of claim 6 , wherein the connector of the pad is configured to suspend the first one of the padding layers of the pad between the second one of the padding layers of the pad and the wearer's head.

22. The helmet of claim 1 , wherein a third one of the padding layers of the pad is configured to remain stationary relative to the second one of the padding layers of the pad in response to the rotational impact.

23. The helmet of claim 1 , wherein the shock-absorbing material of the first one of the padding layers of the pad is a first padding material and the shock-absorbing material of the second one of the padding layers of the pad is a second padding material different from the first padding material.

24. The helmet of claim 23 , wherein the first padding material comprises a first foam and the second padding material comprises a second foam different from the first foam.

25. The helmet of claim 24 , wherein a third one of the padding layers of the pad comprises a third padding material different from the first padding material and the second padding material.

26. The helmet of claim 23 , wherein the first padding material comprises foam and the second padding material comprises a material other than foam.

27. The helmet of claim 23 , wherein the first padding material comprises foam and the second padding material comprises expanded polymeric microspheres.

28. The helmet of claim 1 , wherein a compressibility of a padding material of a given one of the padding layers of the pad is greater than a shearability of the padding material of the given one of the padding layers of the pad, such that the padding material of the given one of the padding layers of the pad deforms by compression more easily than by shearing.

29. The helmet of claim 1 , wherein given ones of the padding layers of the pad differ in stiffness from one another.

Assignees

• Bauer Hockey Corp
• Bauer Hockey Llc

Inventors

• Laperriere Jean-Francois
• Krick Thierry
• Durocher Jacques
• Ouckama Ryan
• Genereux Marie-Claude
• Cote Denis
• Jean Philippe
• Covo Ken
• Alexander Garnet
• Bidal Jean-Marie

Classifications

• A42B3/124

  with at least one corrugated or ribbed layer · CPC title

• A42B3/121

  with at least one layer or pad containing a fluid · CPC title

• A42B3/064 Primary

  with relative movement between layers · CPC title

• A42B3/324

  Adjustable helmets · CPC title