Helmet with multiple illuminants and a detachable cover

Abstract

A helmet has a body, a cover and a chinstrap. The body has a lower segment, an upper segment and an illuminant assembly. The upper segment has multiple locking slots and recesses. The illuminant assembly is mounted in the recesses and has a circuit board, at least one battery seat, multiple illuminants and multiple electrical wires. The cover is mounted detachably on the upper segment of the body and has multiple windows, longitudinal slots and fasteners. The windows are defined through the cover and align respectively with the illuminants. The longitudinal slots are defined through the cover and align respectively with the locking slots. The fasteners detachably mount respectively through the longitudinal slots in the cover and locking slots, and each fastener has a knob and a T-shaped latch. The illuminants are replaced easily by detaching the cover. The chinstrap is attached to the body.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a helmet, and more particularly to a helmet that has multiple illuminants and a detachable cover. The illuminants can be replaced easily by detaching the cover.

2. Description of Related Art

People participating in sports such as skating, bicycling and skateboarding usually wear a helmet to prevent or mitigate head injuries caused by collisions or falls.

A conventional helmet has a body and a cover. The body is made of a shock absorbing material and is worn on a human's head. The cover is securely mounted on the body. However, the conventional helmet does not have illuminants to warn vehicles or people of the person's presence.

Another conventional helmet further has multiple illuminants mounted in the body covered by the cover. However, the cover is attached securely to the body by fasteners such as screws or rivets. These fasteners cannot be detached without tools, which makes repair of the helmet difficult.

To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a helmet with multiple illuminants and a detachable cover to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The main objective of the invention is to provide a helmet with multiple illuminants and a detachable cover in which the illuminants can be replaced easily by detaching the cover.

A helmet in accordance with the present invention comprises a body, a cover and a chinstrap.

The body has a lower segment, an upper segment and an illuminant assembly. The upper segment has multiple locking slots and multiple recesses. The illuminant assembly is mounted in the recesses in the body and has a circuit board, at least one battery seat, multiple illuminants and multiple electrical wires.

The cover is mounted detachably on the upper segment of the body and has multiple windows, multiple longitudinal slots and multiple fasteners. The windows are defined through the cover and align respectively with the illuminants. The longitudinal slots are defined through the cover and align respectively with the locking slots in the body. The fasteners are detachably mounted respectively through the longitudinal slots in the cover and locking slots in the body, and each fastener has a knob and a T-shaped latch.

The chinstrap is attached to the body.

Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is perspective view of a first embodiment of a helmet with multiple illuminants and a detachable cover in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the helmet in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front view in partial section of the helmet in FIG. 1 at a fastener attached to the cover and the upper segment of the body;

FIG. 4 is a top view of a second embodiment of a helmet in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional side view of the helmet in FIG. 1 with a lip hooking a bottom edge of the upper segment of the body.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 4, a helmet in accordance with the present invention is worn on a person's head and comprises a body (10), a cover (20, 20a) and a chinstrap (30).

With further reference to FIG. 3, the body (10) is worn on a person's head, is made of shock absorbing material and has two sides, a rear, a lower segment (11), an upper segment (12), at least two through holes (17) and an illuminant assembly.

The lower segment (11) is worn on and conforms to a person's head.

With further reference to FIG. 2, the upper segment (12) has a front, a bottom edge, two sides, multiple locking slots (17a) and multiple recesses.

The locking slots (17a) are defined in the upper segment (12), and each locking slot (17a) is comprised of a longitudinal slot and a transverse cavity. The longitudinal slot is formed perpendicularly in the upper segment (12) of the body (10). The transverse cavity is formed inside the body (10) and communicates with the longitudinal slot. A first embodiment of the helmet has two pairs of longitudinal slots (17a) defined respectively in the sides of the upper segment (12). With reference to FIG. 4, a second embodiment of helmet has the body (10) has three locking slots (17a) defined respectively in the front and the sides of the upper segment (12).

The multiple recesses are formed in the upper segment and include a circuit board recess (16), at least one battery recess, multiple illuminant recesses (13) and multiple wireways (14). The wireways (14) are formed between the circuit board recess (16) and the at least one battery recess and illuminant recesses (13).

The through holes (17) may be oval-shaped, and two through holes (17) are defined respectively through the sides of the body (10) and a through hole (17) may be defined through the rear of the body (10).

The illuminant assembly is mounted in the recesses in the upper segment (12) and comprises a circuit board (19), at least one battery seat (15), multiple illuminants (18) and multiple electric wires.

The circuit board (19) is mounted in the circuit board recess (16), controls the operation of the illuminant assembly and has several modes of operation and a pushbutton (191). The modes of operation may include constantly radiating, pulsing, flashing, asynchronous flashing and the like. The pushbutton (191) is mounted on the upper segment (12), is connected to the circuit board (19) and selects the mode of operation of the illuminant assembly.

The battery seats (15) correspond respectively to and are mounted in the battery recesses in the upper segment (12).

The illuminants (18) are mounted respectively in the illuminant recesses (13) and may be light emitting diodes (LEDs). The radiating illuminants (18) on the helmet make a person wearing the helmet more apparent to neighboring vehicles or people.

The electric wires connect the circuit board (19) to the at least one battery seat (15) and the illuminants (18) and may be wire ribbons or discrete electrical wires. The wire ribbons are attached to the upper segment (12) of the body (10) between the circuit board recess (16) and the at least one battery recess and illuminant recesses (13). The discrete electrical wires are mounted in the wireways (14).

The cover (20, 20a) is made of a thin, resilient material such as plastic, is mounted detachably on the upper segment (12) of the body (10), covers the illuminant assembly and has an outer surface, an outer edge, multiple windows (24), multiple longitudinal slots (27a), two through holes (27), at least one lip (29), multiple fasteners (25) and multiple transparent illuminant covers (28). The cover (20) may also have patterns or characters as a decoration.

The windows (24) are defined through the cover (20), align respectively with the illuminants (18) and allow light radiated by the illuminants (18) to pass through the cover (20, 20a).

The longitudinal slots (27a) are defined through the cover (20) and align respectively with the longitudinal slots in the locking slots (17a) in the body (10).

The through holes (27) may be oval-shaped, are defined through cover (20) and align respectively with the through holes (17) in sides of the body (10).

The at least one lip (29) extends inward from the outer edge of the cover (20) and hooks the bottom edge of the upper segment (12) of the body (10).

The fasteners (25) are detachably mounted respectively through the longitudinal slots (27a) in the cover (20) and locking slots (17a) in the body (10), and each fastener (25) has a knob and a latch (251). The knob abuts the upper segment of the cover (20). The latch (251) is T-shaped, is formed on the knob and extends through a corresponding longitudinal slot (27a) in the cover (20) and into a corresponding locking slot (17a) in the body (10) and is selectively held in the corresponding transverse cavity in the locking slot (17a). The fastener (25) can be detached from or attached securely to the cover (20) and the body (10) by rotating the knob to align or misalign with the longitudinal slot (27a) in the cover (20) and the longitudinal slot of the locking slot (17a) in the body (10).

The transparent illuminant covers (28) are mounted respectively in the windows (24) and cover the illuminants (18).

The chinstrap (30) is attached to the body (10) and has a buckle, at least two bands (31) and at least two anchors (32). The buckle holds the chinstrap (30) on a person's head. The bands (31) extend respectively through the through holes (17, 27) in the body (10) and the cover (20), and each band (31) has a distal end. The anchors (32) are oval-shaped and are attached respectively to the distal ends of the bands (27). Two of the anchors (32) abut the upper segment of the cover (20) and further hold the cover (20) on the body (10).

The cover (20) can be detached easily by removing the fasteners (25) and the anchors (32) mounted through the cover (20, 20a) so the illuminants (20) and batteries can be replaced easily. Moreover, the helmet can present different visual effects by replacing the cover (20) with different decorative patterns or characters.

Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.

Claims

1. A helmet comprising:

a body made of shock absorbing material and having two sides; a rear; a lower segment adapted to be worn on to a person's head; an upper segment having a front; a bottom edge; two sides; multiple locking slots defined in the outer surface, and each locking slot having a longitudinal slot formed in the upper segment of the body, and a transverse cavity formed inside the body and communicating with the longitudinal slot; multiple recesses formed in the upper segment and including a circuit board recess, at least one battery recess and multiple illuminant recesses; an illuminant assembly mounted in the recesses in the upper segment and comprising a circuit board mounted in the circuit board recess, controlling the operation of the illuminant assembly and having a pushbutton mounted on the outer surface, connected to the circuit board and selecting the modes of operation of the illuminant assembly; at least one battery seat mounted in the at least one battery recess in the outer surface; multiple illuminants mounted respectively in the illuminant recesses; and multiple electric wires connecting between the circuit board, the at least one battery seat and the illuminants;

a cover made of resilient material, mounted detachably on the upper segment of the body, covering the illuminant assembly and having an outer surface; an outer edge; multiple windows defined through the cover and aligning respectively with the illuminants; multiple longitudinal slots defined through the cover and aligning respectively with the longitudinal slots in the locking slots in the body; and multiple fasteners detachably mounted respectively through the longitudinal slots in the cover and the locking slots in the body, and each fastener having a knob abutting the upper segment of the cover; and a latch being T-shaped, formed on the knob and extending through a corresponding longitudinal slot in the cover and into a corresponding locking slot in the body and being selectively held in the corresponding cavity in the locking slot; and

a chinstrap attached to the body.

2. The helmet as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

the body further has two through holes defined respectively through the sides of the body;

the cover further has two through holes defined through the cover and aligning respectively with the through holes in the sides of the body; and

the chinstrap has two bands extending respectively through the through holes in the body and the cover, and each band having a distal end; and two anchors mounted respectively on the distal ends of the bands and abutting the upper segment of the cover.

3. The helmet as claimed in claim 2, wherein the cover further has at least one lip extending inward from the outer edge of the cover and hooking the bottom edge of the upper segment of the body.

4. The helmet as claimed in claim 3, wherein the cover further has multiple transparent illuminant covers mounted respectively in the windows and covering the illuminants.

5. The helmet as claimed in claim 4, wherein the illuminants are light emitting diodes.

6. The helmet as claimed in claim 5, wherein:

the through holes in the body and the cover are oval-shaped; and

the anchors on the band of the chinstrap are oval-shaped.

7. The helmet as claimed in claim 6, wherein two pairs of locking slots are formed respectively in the sides of the upper segment of the body.

8. The helmet as claimed in claim 6, wherein three locking slots are formed respectively in the front and the sides of the outer surface.

9. The helmet as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

the multiple recesses further include multiple wireways formed between the circuit board recess and the at least one battery recess and illuminant recesses; and

the electric wires are mounted in the wireways.