Helmet for impact protection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11425951-B2
Application number	US-201916594488-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 7, 2019
Priority date	Dec 19, 2013
Publication date	Aug 30, 2022
Grant date	Aug 30, 2022

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 configured to be disposed between the outer shell and the wearer's head, the inner padding comprising:
i) an outer part connected to the outer shell;
ii) an inner part configured to face the wearer's head; and
iii) a plurality of sliding interfaces separate from one another and arranged between the outer part and the inner part of the inner padding such that the outer part and the inner part of the inner padding are shearable relative to one another by sliding against one another in response to a rotational impact on the outer shell, wherein the inner part of the inner padding comprises a comfort layer for contacting the wearer's head when the helmet is worn, wherein the comfort layer comprises a plurality of comfort pads separate from one another, the plurality of sliding interfaces separate from one another being arranged between the plurality of comfort pads and the outer part of the inner padding, such that each comfort pad of the plurality of comfort pads separate from one another is shearable relative to the outer part of the inner padding by sliding against the outer part of the inner padding in response to the rotational impact on the outer shell.

2. The helmet of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of connectors, including at least one connector for each sliding interface, the plurality of connectors interconnecting the inner and outer parts of the inner padding and being elastically deformable to allow the inner and outer parts of the inner padding to slide against one another in response to the rotational impact on the outer shell.

3. The helmet of claim 1 , wherein a shock-absorbing material of the inner part of the inner padding is a first padding material and a shock-absorbing material of the outer part of the inner padding is a second padding material different from the first padding material.

4. The helmet of claim 1 , wherein each comfort pad of the plurality of comfort pads separate from one another is slidably connected to the outer part of the inner padding by at least one of the deformable connectors of the plurality of deformable connectors.

5. The helmet of claim 4 , wherein, for each comfort pad of the plurality of comfort pads separate from one another, the at least one connector slidably connecting the comfort pad to the outer part of the inner padding interconnects the comfort pad and the outer part of the inner padding such that the comfort pads are each slidable relative to the outer part of the inner padding independent of one another.

6. The helmet of claim 1 , wherein given ones of the comfort pads have different shapes from one another.

7. The helmet of claim 1 , wherein each sliding interface of the plurality of sliding interfaces separate from one another comprises a low-friction interface, configured such that a coefficient of friction between the outer part of the inner padding and the inner part of the inner padding at the sliding interface is lower than a coefficient of friction between a shock-absorbing material of the outer part of the inner padding and a shock-absorbing material of the inner part of the inner padding, to facilitate movement of the inner and outer parts of the inner padding relative to one another.

8. The helmet of claim 7 wherein:
each sliding interface comprises a first low-friction element coupled to the outer part of the inner padding and a second low-friction element coupled to the inner part of the inner padding; and
a coefficient of friction between the first low-friction element and the second low-friction element is lower than a coefficient of friction between the shock-absorbing material of the outer part of the inner padding and the shock-absorbing material of the inner part of the inner padding.

9. The helmet of claim 8 , wherein the first low-friction element coupled to the outer part of the inner padding has a generally flat circular disk shape.

10. The helmet of claim 7 , wherein each sliding interface comprises at least one low-friction element, each low-friction element including at least one of a fluorocarbon, polyethylene, nylon, or a dry lubricant.

11. The helmet of claim 1 , wherein the outer part of the inner padding comprises a plurality of outer pads separate from one another.

12. The helmet of claim 11 , wherein the outer shell comprises a first shell member and a second shell member movable relative to one another to adjust a size of the helmet.

13. The helmet of claim 12 , wherein respective ones of the outer pads are secured to different ones of the first shell member and the second shell member to move relative to one another when the first shell member and the second shell member are moved relative to one another to adjust the size of the helmet.

14. The helmet of claim 1 , wherein the helmet is a hockey helmet.

15. A helmet for protecting a head of a wearer, the helmet comprising:
an outer shell;
main shock absorption padding connected to the outer shell;
comfort padding configured to be arranged between the main shock absorption padding and the wearer's head when the helmet is worn, the comfort padding comprising a plurality of comfort pads for contacting the wearer's head when the helmet is worn, the comfort pads being separate from one another and separately connected to the main shock absorption padding such that each comfort pad is independently movable relative to the outer shell by sliding against the main shock absorption padding in response to a rotational impact on the outer shell.

16. The helmet of claim 15 , wherein each comfort pad of the plurality of comfort pads separate from one another is separately connected to the main shock absorption padding by at least one deformable connector that is elastically deformable to allow the comfort pad to slide against the main shock absorption padding in response to the rotational impact on the outer shell.

17. The helmet of claim 16 , wherein between each comfort pad and the main shock absorption padding is a low-friction interface configured such that a coefficient of friction between the main shock absorption padding and a given comfort pad is lower than a coefficient of friction between a shock-absorbing material of the main shock absorption padding and a shock-absorbing material of the comfort pad.

18. The helmet of claim 17 wherein, for each comfort pad:
the low-friction interface between the comfort pad and the main shock absorption padding comprises a first low-friction element coupled to the main shock absorption padding and a second low-friction element coupled to the comfort pad; and
a coefficient of friction between the first low-friction element and the second low-friction element is lower than a coefficient of friction between the shock-absorbing material of the main shock absorption padding and the shock-absorbing material of the comfort pad.

19. The helmet of claim 18 , wherein the first low-friction element coupled to the main shock absorption padding has a generally flat circular disk shape.

20. The helmet of claim 17 , wherein each low-friction interface comprises at least one low-friction element, each low-friction element including at least one of a fluorocarbon, polyethylene, nylon, or a dry lubricant.

21. The helmet of claim 15 , wherein given ones of the comfort pads have different shapes from one another.

22. The helmet of claim 15 , wherein the main shock absorption padding co

Assignees

• 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

• A42B3/324

  Adjustable helmets · CPC title

• A42B3/064 Primary

  with relative movement between layers · CPC title

• A42B3/121

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

• A42B3/124

  with at least one corrugated or ribbed layer · CPC title