Layered Helmet
A helmet for reducing impact-related head trauma and pathology, including acute concussive and chronic sub-concussive injury, the helmet having a plurality of tensile and compressive layers configured to disperse, spread and absorb the kinetic energy of an impact force through a network of interlayer and intralayer structural motifs. The plurality of layers include a “shell layer”, preferably as a unibody construct, having a resilient framework of anastomosing reticulations defined by slots or cutouts so as to be capable of flexing cooperatively during an impact and recovering. The shell layer serves as a support for an exterior layer, generally an ordered layer of “scales” attached to the outside surface, each scale being mounted so as to resiliently yield, resist stretch, and cooperatively flex with shell members. A third layer, attached inside the shell layer, may include padding having multiple compressive and resilient elements configured to absorb and redirect kinetic energy laterally from a point of impact at one or more fractal scales. Collectively, the layers form the “body” of the helmet.
Not Applicable.
TECHNICAL FIELDThis disclosure pertains to an athletic helmet generally having a layer of scales mounted externally on a shell and a layer of padding elements mounted internally; the shell having integral cutouts and branches that flex collectively with the scales and padding elements so as to reduce kinetic energy transferred to the skull and brain when an impact on the helmet occurs.
BACKGROUNDThe pathology of sequelae to sport-related head injuries have been found to be much more common than initially thought. Head trauma to motorcyclists, resulting in long term disability, was believed to be an extreme case, causing many States to mandate that motorcyclists wear helmets. Also well known were cases of impairment in professional boxers due to repeated head drama. Most recently, under increasing scrutiny following a series of autopsies of professional football players conducted by a neuropathologist, Dr. Bennet Omalu, a syndrome termed “chronic traumatic encephalopathy” was identified. Although this finding was published in 2002, football helmets, and helmets more generally for sports in which head impacts are experienced as part of play, have not yet undergone any substantial reengineering. Screening to prevent chronic traumatic encephalopathy has been increased (such as by X2 Biosystems, Seattle, Wash.) but protective headgear that would guard against cumulative head trauma experienced during normal play has not been generally adopted. For some fans and broadcasters, the concussive and sub-clinical concussive injuries experienced by players, along with the occasional extraordinary play injuries and jarring tackles are all part of the game. Nonetheless, if the cumulative and traumatic brain injury that appears over a career of head butting can be prevented or reduced, then a significant improvement in the game's reputation and enjoyment will result. The same can be said for other sports to one degree or another, hockey. Lacrosse and soccer for example.
Helmets have been improved before. Famously, when Otto Graham of the Cleveland Browns took an elbow in the face, he and his coach, Paul Brown, prototyped and developed a face mask or guard such as used in professional football today. The money from the invention was enough to finance creation of the Cincinnati Bengals. And in 1969, single piece injection molded helmet shells were introduced in place of the leather helmets worn by players since 1939. In 1982, a water-filled helmet was attempted, and in 2003, the first head impact telemetry system was introduced.
But what is needed is a serious look at the helmet concept from the ground up, to address it in new and inventive ways, to understand the principles by which head injury can be engineered out of sports—and to build on that understanding.
SUMMARYDisclosed is an apparatus having general application for reducing head trauma, particularly that associated with contact sports. The apparatus is made with a plurality of layers of resilient material; generally at least three: a) a shell layer; b) a layer of scales that are fastened to an outside surface of the shell layer; and c) a layer of padding mounted on the inside of the shell: all of which work cooperatively through multiple interactions at multiple dimensions to absorb and disperse kinetic impacts, and reduce the residual shock wave transmitted to the brain through the skull.
An improved athletic helmet design will increase protection to a person's head by spreading and absorbing the kinetic energy, the “jolt”, of the blow to the head during an impact. When an inventive helmet is impacted by an object or surface, kinetic energy is transferred to a first layer having scaled elements that are deformed or displaced in response to the applied force of the impact before conveying the force to a shell layer. The shell layer of the helmet receives residual kinetic energy from the scale layer but will also spread and absorb that kinetic energy in the compound structure. Typically the shell is a ribbon latticework structure of resilient ribs, where each of the rib members is free to flex independently of other rib members but flexes cooperatively because of the intimate interaction of the rib members and the scales attached to them. The resilient lattice framework holds the general shape of a conventional rigid “shell” of a helmet. A padding layer is provided inside the shell, and includes padding elements of fractal dimensions that further lateralize and absorb any remaining kinetic energy of an applied impact. Exemplary helmets have a plurality of layers composed of different materials and elements having different fractal dimensions. Helmets may have three, four, five or more layers, in which each layer contributes cooperatively to reduce any vectored force directed at the brain.
The inventive helmet is provided with a plurality of layers configured to lateralize, spread and absorb the kinetic energy of an applied force of an impact. The plurality of layers include a “shell” having a resilient framework or latticework of reticulations and interconnections defined by slots and holes, the latticework capable of resiliently flexing and recovering during impact. The shell is preferably provided as a unibody construct and is configured to surround the braincase except over the face or eyes. The shell serves as a support for an exterior layer: an ordered layer or array of scales attached externally to the shell, each scale being configured to resiliently yield or flex cooperatively with the shell during impact. A third layer, attached inside the shell, includes padding elements generally of multiple categories, the padding layer having multiple resilient elements of multiple sizes and stiffnesses configured to absorb and redirect kinetic energy laterally from a point of impact. Collectively, the layers make up the body of the helmet and are all capable of elastic deformation to absorb impacts. Additional layers may include a slick exterior layer, an elastic matrix layer, and an inside breathable layer of padding subassemblies, for example.
In one example, the padding layer may include collapsible compartments and pliant “finger bristles” that are irreversibly deformable if a yield strength is exceeded, but absorb lesser impacts elastically. In a preferred embodiment, individual compartments are in fluid communication through cross-channels sized so as to exchange a fluid in response to a localized pressure, thus converting a vectored impact pressure directed against the helmet into a lateral pneumatic or hydraulic pressure wave that disperses the impact force laterally around and across the helmet body rather than into the head.
Progressively, the effects of concussive and sub-concussive brain trauma have been acknowledged in many sports. Accordingly, there exists a need for equipment and a method of reducing sports related traumatic head injuries even further. Current rigid helmet designs do not adequately protect the brain from transmission of kinetic energy.
The elements, features, steps, and advantages of the invention will be more readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which presently preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example.
It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawings are for illustration and description only and are not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention. The various elements, features, steps, and combinations thereof that characterize aspects of the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming part of this disclosure. The invention does not necessarily reside in any one of these aspects taken alone, but rather in the invention taken as a whole.
The teachings of the present invention are more readily understood by considering the drawings in light of the specification and claims.
The posterior wishbone is positioned to limit impacts to the occipital lobes of the brain, which have been shown to more frequently lead to vascular tears and ischemia.
The drawing figures are not necessarily to scale. Certain features or components herein may be shown in somewhat schematic form and some details of conventional elements may not be shown in the interest of clarity, explanation, and conciseness. The drawing figures are hereby made part of the specification, written description and teachings disclosed herein.
Glossary
Certain terms are used throughout the following description to refer to particular features, steps or components, and are used as terms of description and not of limitation. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, different persons may refer to the same feature, step or component by different names. Components, steps or features that differ in name but not in structure, function or action are considered equivalent, and may be substituted herein without departure from the invention. The following definitions supplement those set forth elsewhere in this specification. Certain meanings are defined here as intended by the inventor, i.e., they are intrinsic meanings. Other words and phrases used herein take their meaning as consistent with usage as would be apparent to one skilled in the relevant arts. In case of conflict, the present specification, including definitions, will control.
“Scale”—refers to plate-like elements, typically about coin-sized or thereabouts, that are mounted externally on a supporting shell, and that flex and yield when subjected to impact. This microstructure redirects and diffuses impact energy that would otherwise be directed against the skull of a person wearing the helmet. “Dragonscale” is a preferred scale type, but the invention is defined by a range of functional equivalents of scale elements differing in size, thickness and shape. The yield may be elastic or inelastic depending on the work function of the scale structure and its mode of attachment to the helmet body. Scales refer more generally to tensile elements having distinct elastic stretch and bending moduli, and act in cooperation with compressive ribs and buttresses of the shell layer to distribute and redirect impact loads away from the point of impact. The tensile and bending moduli of the combined structure are distinct from the moduli of the complete helmet body.
“Shell layer” or “shell”—as used here refers to a plastic member shaped to cover and surround most of the braincase, with an opening for the face and ventilation, including generally a hole over the ears. As described here, the shell is modified by a series of external and internal layers that deform under impact to disperse kinetic energy. The shells of the inventive helmets include interconnected buttress elements and reticulations and anastomoses defined by open slots or cutouts.
For simplicity, so as to describe the variants of structural members effective in the invention, the term “shell layer” shall be used to describe the skeletal latticework or framework, including any ribs, reticulations and interconnects, and buttress members that support the outside scales and inside padding. The shell is a framework in compression under a force of impact. Synergically, individual scales bend cooperatively with the rib members, but are constrained by overlapping with adjoining rib members so as to transfer impact force laterally from one rib to another while also yielding so as to absorb some of the energy in the external layer. The padding layer adds to the synergy achieved.
In a preferred embodiment, the shell layer is a unibody construction, also sometimes termed a “monocoque” fabrication and is typically formed of a resilient material such as nylon, polycarbonate, block copolymers, or polypropylene, with or without reinforcing fibers, while not limited thereto. Thus the shell layer is one component layer of the multiple layers the make up the helmet “body”.
“Member”—a constituent part of a complex structure as a leg, skeleton, branch or limb.
“Element”—a constituent piece of a complex structure, such as a scale, a layer, a sub-layer, or an attachment thereto.
“Supple”—flexible and bending readily without breaking or becoming deformed.
“Resilient”—refers to a material capable of deformation with elastic recovery when subjected to a force that does work on the material.
“Modulus”—in longitudinal testing mode refers to the elastic modulus obtained for a sample will refer to the orientation along the sample's length. In contrast, when a material is flexed by testing in bending mode, there is both tension and compression. For homogeneous and isotropic materials, the elastic modulus measured in an axial test (longitudinal direction) corresponds to the elastic modulus obtained from a bending test. However for anisotropic and heterogeneous materials (such as having intra-and interlayer structural motifs), the two moduli may not correspond as measured—because the stressed surface is under a tensile load and the deeper core or opposite surface is under compressive load in bending tests. In both stretch and bending testing, there is generally a range over which loads are tolerated with full recovery and a load at which a permanent yield or deformation occurs.
“Branch” or “rib”—refers to a framework of members extending between buttress members and conforming to the general shape of a conventional shell or body of a conventional helmet. The branched members of the shell layer are configured with flexural properties and resilience so as to flex and recover independently when subjected to an impact and spreading any force laterally over a larger surface area—while absorbing at least a part of the blow's energy.
“Chronic traumatic encephalopathy”—refers to a neurological pathology characterized by mental slowing and dysfunctions resulting from multiple jolts that result in unrepaired tissue damage, ischemia, gliosis, or scarring in the brain.
General connection terms including, but not limited to “connected,” “attached,” “conjoined,” “secured,” and “affixed” are not meant to be limiting, such that structures so “associated” may have more than one way of being associated. “Fluidly connected” indicates a connection for conveying a fluid therethrough. Fluids may refer to liquids or gases having suitable hydraulic or pneumatic properties.
Relative terms should be construed as such. For example, the term “front” is meant to be relative to the term “back,” the term “upper” is meant to be relative to the term “lower,” the term “vertical” is meant to be relative to the term “horizontal,” the term “top” is meant to be relative to the term “bottom,” and the term “inside” is meant to be relative to the term “outside,” and so forth. Unless specifically stated otherwise, the terms “first,” “second,” “third,” and “fourth” are meant solely for purposes of designation and not for order or for limitation. Reference to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” or an “aspect,” means that a particular feature, structure, step, combination or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or aspect is included in at least one realization of the present invention. Thus, the appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment and may apply to multiple embodiments. Furthermore, particular features, structures, or characteristics of the invention may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.
“Adapted to” includes and encompasses the meanings of “capable of” and additionally, “designed to”, as applies to those uses intended by the patent. In contrast, a claim drafted with the limitation “capable of” also encompasses unintended uses and misuses of a functional element beyond those uses indicated in the disclosure. Aspex Eyewear v Marchon Eyewear 672 F3d 1335, 1349 (Fed Circ 2012). “Configured to”, as used here, is taken to indicate is able to, is designed to, and is intended to function in support of the inventive structures, and is thus more stringent than “enabled to”.
It should be noted that the terms “may,” “can,” and “might” are used to indicate alternatives and optional features and only should be construed as a limitation if specifically included in the claims. The various components, features, steps, or embodiments thereof are all “preferred” whether or not specifically so indicated. Claims not including a specific limitation should not be construed to include that limitation. For example, the term “a” or “an” as used in the claims does not exclude a plurality.
“Conventional” refers to a term or method designating that which is known and commonly understood in the technology to which this invention relates.
Unless the context requires otherwise, throughout the specification and claims that follow, the term “comprise” and variations thereof, such as, “comprises” and “comprising” are to be construed in an open, inclusive sense—as in “including, but not limited to.”
A “method” as disclosed herein refers to one or more steps or actions for achieving the described end. Unless a specific order of steps or actions is required for proper operation of the embodiment, the order and/or use of specific steps and/or actions may be modified without departing from the scope of the present invention.
The appended claims are not to be interpreted as including means-plus-function limitations, unless a given claim explicitly evokes the means-plus-function clause of 35 USC §112 para (f) by using the phrase “means for” followed by a verb in gerund form.
DETAILED DESCRIPTIONThe shell layer of the inventive helmet fits onto the head of a person and is resilient and bendable—not rigid—so as to absorb and redirect forces of impact; thus reducing concussive effects on the brain. Resilience is achieved by selection of elastomeric materials, but also by selective weakening and thinning of the shell and by use of multiple layers outside and inside the shell layer. The inventive athletic helmets generally include a plurality of layers, each configured to act cooperatively with elements of other layers so as to absorb and redirect impact forces away from the point of impact. While not limited thereto, the plurality of layers typically includes a shell layer, a scale layer mounted externally on the shell layer, and a padding layer mounted internally on the shell layer.
A conventional football helmet is depicted in
Helmets for organized sports typically meet or comply with established standards of the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment, or NOCSAE. While these helmets are designed to be rigid and to meet recognized standards for head protection when worn properly, impact to the head often results in trauma precisely because of the rigid construction of the helmets. Padding has not proven effective because the shell behaves in impact as a rigid body that concentrates the force on a single point directly on the braincase. Experience in professional sports has increasingly demonstrated widespread brain injury, once thought limited only to boxing.
Head injury can be much more effectively treated if immediately detected and the design and engineering of the helmets of the invention is undertaken in the recognition that the longer term sequelae of head injury can be reduced by reduction of kinetic energy transfer to the skull, accurate and real time detection and quantitation of impact (with intervention as required), or a combination of both. The consistent reduction of impact force directed through the skull reduces the incidence and severity of traumatic head injury and chronic traumatic encephalopathy as compared to a conventional helmet.
In the second view,
Epidural hematoma is associated with a tear in the cerebral arteries between the skull and the brain, most often the middle meningeal artery. Chronic damage can result in persistent drowsiness, inattentiveness or incoherence, headaches and personality changes. Tears of the middle meningeal artery are particularly common in acute head injury.
Intracerebral hematoma has a poor prognosis, and is basically a stroke resulting from a blow to the head, leading to cerebral edema and ischemia with loss of function. Skull fractures are less common in professional sports, but may be encountered.
Contusions and localized ischemia can occur when the skull impacts the brain, a “coup” injury, and also when the brain impacts the skull, as in “contrecoup” injuries that occur on the side of the head opposite the original impact as the result of its elastic recoil away from the site of impact. Fluids may be forced into and out of tissues so fast that cavitation results, leading to severe tissue damage. It is also known that lesser but frequent “sub-concussive” impacts result in cumulative pathology that is not fully repaired. Injury occurs at a vascular or tissue level by transmission of the kinetic energy of an impact to the brain. The dura is separated from the skullcase by only a thin arachnoid layer and pia mater, tissue layers that are poor at cushioning impact. Principally, the brain is compressed by an impact and reflates during a recovery period.
Contrecoup vascular and tissue injuries to the frontal lobes occur due to posterior head impact, and may be the most common and extensive injury seen [Goggio A F, 1941. The mechanism of contre-coup injury. J Neuro Neurosurg Psych. 4:11-22; Smith E. 1974. Influence of site of impact on cognitive impairment persisting long after severe closed head injury. 37:719-26]. The importance of the helmet in reducing the anisotropic force of posterior impacts to the head is thus an important factor that remains unrecognized in current helmet design. Traditional design of athletic helmets include a rigid outer layer, as well as some type of padding that is a lining material intended to give comfort and help absorb shock. These conventional designs fail to adequately address the full impact of kinetic energy transmitted to the back of the brain and its cumulative effects.
Thus preventative measures are needed to reduce the impact transferred to the brain. These impacts occur for example when a player is brought to the ground with a head pounding tackle, when players butt heads, and when players are overturned and land on their heads. It is unlikely that the head can be taken out of the game of football, but the force of the impacts can be reduced by structuring the helmet to absorb some of the kinetic energy of the impacts.
The technical term for sudden impact is “jolt”, a change in acceleration of a moving body, and is expressed mathematically as,
{circumflex over (j)}(t)=(δ
where ā is acceleration (m/s2) and t is time. The vector ĵ(t) is given in m/s3 but may also be expressed in units of standard gravity per second (“G's per second”), and the magnitude of each jolt can be added so that successive jolts in a series during a game—without reference to vector direction—are cumulative. A more complete analysis of motion of a sponge-like body, the brain in its viscous fluid domain, is not needed to understand the principles behind the inventive helmets disclosed here, and no limitation is to be construed based on theory.
Also shown here is an inside view of a padding layer 33 having cellular padding elements 34 sandwiched between a top and bottom sheet. The internal padding layer 33 here includes padding cells 34 having a generally truncated-conical shape. The cells narrow toward their external apex so as to promote selective collapse at the “outer tips” of the cells during any impact that is not fully absorbed in the outside scale layer.
Optionally, there may be added layers, such as an elastomeric matrix between the scales and the shell. Layers of the skullcase and brain are also shown as labelled. A headspace open volume 35 is identified for receiving the player's head and hair, and may include an air gap between the head and the bottom sheet of the padding layer 33. While not to scale, the helmet thickness is substantially greater than the thickness of the skull and internal fluid space surrounding the brain (as bounded by the dura and the pia mater).
In this model, the unibody shell 40 is modified to create slots that weaken the rigidity of the helmet and define parallel lateral ribs 41. The transverse ribs support a secondary outside layer having a plurality of smaller scale elements that absorb impact force by deforming cooperatively with the ribs of the shell. The invention is not limited to parallel slots and ribs.
Also shown is an “X” shaped structural frame of less supple members that buttress the ribs and hence are called “buttress members” 42. The buttress members are positioned over padded areas (described below), such that the ribs are engineered to direct kinetic energy over as large a padded area as possible. Buttress members are positioned in an inverted wishbone shape over the occipital lobs and in another inverted wishbone shape over the temples where bones of the skull are weaker. The two wishbones are conceived to be joined stemwise at the crest or crown 43 of the helmet in the form of a duplex wishbone having four arms. The lateral ribs or “reticulations” that branch from the buttress members support a secondary outside layer having a plurality of smaller scale elements that absorb impact force by yielding as will be shown below.
More generally, a pattern of holes or slots divides the shell layer into a “scaffold” or framework including buttress members having a generally “X” shape and, a more bendable ribbon latticework formed of rib members originating from and joining adjacent arms of the scaffold. The shell is generally a unibody construct. Another layer is applied over the shell and includes “scale” elements that attach to the ribs and may be seated on or embedded in a supple elastomeric layer, generally in the manner of scales on a fish. The interior of the helmet includes a third layer made of one or more padding elements selected from resilient cells, foam, collapsible cells, pliant fingers, and “memory” finger bristles arranged in an array so as to redirect and distribute impact loads laterally and away from the point of impact. The helmet defines an opening for receiving a wearer's head, the opening having a reinforced lip 44 that is part of the ribbon lattice and scaffold.
The ribbon latticework includes a scaffold of primary buttress members from which secondary rib or branch members reticulate and interconnect. The shell scaffold and ribs are configured to deform cooperatively and resiliently in response to an impact, the cooperative response to an impact being made synergic by the addition of an overlayer of scales that overlap or adjoin so as to transmit an impact laterally over multiple structural members of the shell while absorbing some of the impact.
In a preferred embodiment, the shell layer is a unibody construction, also sometimes termed “monocoque” fabrication and is typically formed of a relatively stiff but resilient material such as a plastic.
Any description of a preferred shell fabrication technology is not a limiting description. Other fabrication methods are known in the art. Preferred materials include those that are injection moldable, but may also include other plastics, optionally with fiber reinforcement, that meet the engineering criteria for resilience. This may be a bending modulus, for example, as known in the art.
Each rib 41 is configured to flex or bend independently. The ribs with separating slots are positioned in the most impacted zones on side and rear of shell surface such that rib flexure is enhanced by the slots acting as expansion joints between the rib members. The scales act to guide the flexing of the ribs and will flex when the ribs flex.
Shapes may be dimensioned so that individual tiled scale elements are fitted round curved surfaces according to the degree of curvature, or to accommodate any holes in the underlying shell, such as an ear hole. In combination, the scale elements and rib members of the shell may have a new bending and tensile modulus that is not predictable from the individual moduli of the materials taken separately, as is determined by the dimensions and relative scale of the heterogeneous structure taken as a whole.
In
Inside the shell is a layer of padding elements; each padding element may be attaching to a breathable segmented coversheet that is relatively supple and seats itself in contact with the head of the wearer. The padding elements themselves are not shown here, but may be of multiple sizes and multiple shapes or materials so as to absorb energy using the multi-layered approach pioneered here. Some padding elements may be large and readily visible, other padding cells may be microscopic and concealed, and these may be combined to produce a padding layer that is both cushioning, resilient, and provides ventilation. The underlayer of the padding elements or coversheet may be segmented, textured and/or porous to permit convective cooling. Gaps between or clearances under the padding elements is provided to promote cooling. The spaces between the elements serve to accommodate partial collapse of the padding when absorbing an impact as will be described below. Padding elements may be incorporated in sections so as to improve fit and ease of assembly.
The flex of the helmet scale layer and shell layer is aided in absorbing kinetic energy by a cooperative compression of the padding cells. Individual padding elements may be filled with a filler that is a pliant or a resilient material, or a combination thereof. The filler may be an open-cell foam or a closed-cell foam for example. Alternatively, the padding elements are fluidly interconnected cells and are filled with a gas or liquid. Impact load is distributed by a network of pneumatic or hydraulic channels or orifices dimensioned to deflate and reflate by redistribution of the gas or liquid from a cell under load to surrounding cells. As needed, the cells are separated by vented spaces having each a volume configured to receive flexural distortion of the cell walls or partitions under load, for example in which the cell members taper from the shell-side to the headspace-side.
In other instances one or more cells may be pneumatically driven by an apparatus that triggers release of a gas into the cells in response to an impact as detected by a sensor. The gas may distribute itself into one or more compartments after impact so as to reduce the acceleration of the impact, and may then slowly vent. Miniaturization of air bag technology has progressed to the point that use in helmets is practical without significantly enlarging the helmet and sensor response using a nanosecond clock and microcontroller is readily fast enough to inflate the bag or bags before the skull is impacted.
The plates may be attached individually to the underlying shell or may be embedded in an elastomeric layer such as a silicone gel and applied according to an area of the helmet to be covered.
The scales may be opaque, transparent, or colored; the material may be pliant, resilient, compressible, or stiff.
The scales may be sized to achieve the greatest absorption of impact energy. The scales act to guide the flexing of the ribs and any underlying padding layers, the whole acting cooperatively to absorb impacts. Other scale shapes may also be used, such as circular, ovoid, tear-shaped, and irregular shapes. Scales may be formed having an outline of a circle or an ovoid, or shaped as a feather, adding some individuality or team identity to the helmet.
In
In
The helmet is formed so when a person is impacted in the head, the scales, structural members of the shell, and padding layers will absorb the force of the impact and disperse it laterally through the helmet thickness, rather than concentrating the force on a single weak spot or transmitting it to the skull. Essentially the helmet is configured to flex at several dimensional scales, including macro- and micro-scales, as the result of a multi-layered construction and by use of interdigitated elements on multiple levels. The flexure and/or deformation of the scales results in dissipation of the energy of the impact, converting energy to work done on the helmet structures—rather than work done on the brain of the person wearing the helmet.
In
Individual scales may be modified to accept fittings for attaching a faceguard and straps. In some instances the scales overlap so as to promote transfer of energy from one scale to the next (
Advantageously, ventilation of the helmet body is improved by segmentation of the layers and by provision for exchange of air through the lattice framework of the shell, unlike conventional helmets used in professional sports. The inventive helmets find use in football, as batting caps, in hockey, rugby, Lacrosse, soccer, hockey, karate, and any sport where mental dysfunction resulting from acute or cumulative head trauma is experienced.
In one embodiment, the scales may be formed after the desired material is positioned over the shell. Individual seams are opened up to allow the shell layer to flex with an engineered level of suppleness and resilience that is determined by the size of the elements, the thickness, and the materials themselves. Various scale shapes, such as fish scales, coins, feathers, or diamonds, may be used. In some instances the scales will interlock or be shaped to fit flush with the surrounding exterior surface. In some instances the scales include an outside film having a higher tensile strength than the scale body. The outside film may be selected to afford a slick, slippery and even water repellent surface to the outside of the helmet, while the helmet structural framework still provides breathability between the ribs and scale elements and through the padding, an improvement over conventional art.
In embodiments having detachable scales, the helmet may need repair after a strong impact, but the improved safety more than warrants the maintenance or replacement of a helmet. And synergy is also achieved when two helmets of opposing players, each having one of the multi-layered energy dissipation systems of the invention, are impacted against each other, each yielding with progressive reduction of impact force.
These heterogeneous arrays of padding elements are also examples of structural intralayer motifs that confer anisotropic properties on the helmet body taken as a whole. Bending moduli are no longer simple curves with linearity over a limited range of stresses followed by a yield point, but instead are complex curves having one or more inflexion points in the stress-strain curve.
In principle, a similar cushion is achieved using finger bristles of a somewhat supple but resilient material that collapses and yields to be efficacious in reducing the residual kinetic energy that reaches the skull. In some instances the finger bristles are elastic, in other instances the padding includes pliant, crushable members that absorb impact and do not recover immediately, with the expectation that a player must replace the helmet after it has absorbed a significant impact and one or more layers have crumpled or otherwise deformed.
In
Micro-venting (two-headed arrows) between pneumatic compartments can be used to redirect impacts having a vector directed at the skull into a lateral pressure wave moving around the skull instead of against it, analogously to the waveform (dashed arrows) shown schematically in
The outline of the entire helmet 205 is divided by a skeleton of wishbone frame members having a general “X” shape where the intersection of the legs is at the crest 43 of the helmet. Reticulations join the legs of the X at each of four quadrants: posterior (shown here), frontal, right side and left side. The scale layer is omitted for clarity in this drawing of the hexagonal latticework and wishbone frame. With cooperative interactions mediated by the scale elements, loads are distributed to the thicker elements which form a generally less supple framework that takes load from the more elastic and supple branch members in the back, side, and front panels.
For clarity,
Shown here is a sandwich 210 of padding cells between two pliant sheets (211,212). Also shown is the wearer's skull 139 for reference. A more complete view of an exemplary helmet with multiple layers is shown here, and complements
Another view showing the ribs flexing with the scales is shown in
Achieved is a helmet for reducing concussive and cumulative sub-concussive injury, in which the helmet body is configured to fit around and protect the human braincase, the helmet body having three, four or five layers, each layer contributing to localized repeating interlayer structural motifs illustrated by example in
A scale-on-shell helmet is constructed and fitted with internal padding. The scales consist of flexible but stiff sheets having a mini-size relative to the helmet shell. Sheets of carbon-fiber reinforced polycarbonate having a thickness of about 3/32nd inch were used by way of example. Individual scales were cut by a saw process and mounted individually in an ordered array. As a demonstration, the dragonscale helmet of
The dragonscale helmet of
Finite element modelling is performed to optimize the tensile and bending moments of the structural motifs making up the helmet body and its resistance to vectored forces directed through the helmet.
INCORPORATION BY REFERENCEAll of the U.S. Patents, U.S. Patent application publications, U.S. Patent applications, foreign patents, foreign patent applications and non-patent publications referred to in this specification and related filings are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety for all purposes.
SCOPE OF THE CLAIMSThe disclosure set forth herein of certain exemplary embodiments, including all text, drawings, annotations, and graphs, is sufficient to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to practice the invention. Various alternatives, modifications and equivalents are possible, as will readily occur to those skilled in the art in practice of the invention. The inventions, examples, and embodiments described herein are not limited to particularly exemplified materials, methods, and/or structures and various changes may be made in the size, shape, type, number and arrangement of parts described herein. All embodiments, alternatives, modifications and equivalents may be combined to provide further embodiments of the present invention without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention.
In general, in the following claims, the terms used in the written description should not be construed to limit the claims to specific embodiments described herein for illustration, but should be construed to include all possible embodiments, both specific and generic, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. Accordingly, the claims are not limited in haec verba by the disclosure.
Claims
1. A helmet for reducing concussive and cumulative sub-concussive injury, which comprises a helmet body configured to accommodate a human braincase, the helmet body having three, four or five layers, each layer contributing to a localized repeat of structural motifs formed of elements of more than one layer, each structural motif having a bending modulus and tensile modulus configured to cooperatively and laterally distribute a vectored force of an impact that would otherwise be directed at the braincase.
2. A helmet for reducing concussive and cumulative sub-concussive injury, which comprises a helmet body configured to accommodate a human braincase, the helmet body having a plurality of layers including:
- i. an intermediate shell layer comprising a branched and interconnected framework of structural members defined by an array of slots or holes in said shell layer, wherein each said structural member is configured with an efficacious level of stiffness so as to flex cooperatively under progressive increases in the kinetic energy of an impact;
- ii. an exterior body layer of scale elements attached as an array to said framework, wherein each said scale element is configured with an efficacious level of size, tensile strength and stiffness so as to flex cooperatively under progressive increases in the kinetic energy of an impact;
- iii. an interior body layer of padding elements mounted inside said shell, said layer of padding elements having multiple elements of a supple and resilient material configured to absorb and laterally redirect kinetic energy of impact; and,
- wherein said plurality of layers is characterized as having a bending modulus and a tensile modulus distinct from the moduli of any individual material.
3. The helmet of claim 2, wherein said shell layer comprises a unibody frame having a latticework of structural members formed with branches and interconnections, and further wherein each said branch is configured with a tensile strength and an efficacious level of stiffness so as to flex cooperatively under progressive increases in kinetic energy of impact.
4. The helmet of claim 3, wherein said scale layer comprises an array of detachably attachable scales completely covering the exterior of said unibody frame, each said scale having a thickness, a shape, a flexural stiffness intermediate between rigid and bendable, and a tensile strength greater than said tensile strength of said branches and interconnections of said shell, and further wherein said scale layer is attached by a fastener to said shell layer.
5. The helmet of claim 4, wherein said scale elements of said array are dragonscales, coin-like scales, ovoid scales, fish scales, snake scales, or feather scales.
6. The helmet of claim 3, wherein said latticework of structural members is reinforced by a double wishbone substructure integrated into said shell layer, wherein said wishbone substructure is defined by a stiffness greater than said branches, and further wherein said branches are joined by interconnections to said wishbone substructure.
7. The helmet of claim 4, further comprising an elastomeric compressible layer between said external layer of scale elements and said shell layer.
8. The helmet of claim 2, wherein said interior layer of padding elements comprises multiple compartments, wherein each said compartment is separated from proximate compartments by a partition of a supple and resilient material configured to absorb and laterally redirect kinetic energy of impact.
9. The helmet of claim 2, wherein said interior layer of padding elements comprises multiple compartments, and each said compartments are in pneumatic or hydraulic communication through one or more interconnects dimensioned to resist redistribution of said fluid from compartment to compartment under load.
10. The helmet of claim 2, wherein said padding elements are supported on a segmented breathable sheet configured to conform to a human skull; and further wherein said padding elements are filled with an elastic or resilient material.
11. The helmet of claim 10, wherein said elastic or resilient material is an open celled foam, a closed celled foam, or a fluid.
12. The helmet of claim 8, wherein said padding elements are separated by vented spaces having each a volume configured to receive flexural distortion of said partitions under load, said spaces narrowing an air gap between said shell layer and said breathable sheet.
13. An improved helmet having a plurality of helmet body layers, said layers comprising:
- a) a shell layer having transverse slots defining lateral ribs between wishbone frame members, wherein said ribs are configured to flex independently.
- b) a layer of scales attached as an array to said lateral ribs so as to form an impact absorption layer; and,
- c) a layer of bristles mounted inside said helmet shell layer, said layer of bristles having multiple finger bristles of a pliant or resilient material separated by vented spaces, each vented space having a volume configured to receive flexural distortion of said bristles under load.
14. The helmet body of claim 13, further comprising an outside layer of a compliant material that is slick and resistant to tensile loads.
15. The helmet body of claim 13, further comprising an intermediate layer of a compressible elastomeric material between said layer of scales and said shell layer.
16. The helmet body of claim 13, wherein one or more layers comprise segmented or sectional elements.
17. The helmet body of claim 16, wherein said stiffer structural members are exposed on said external surface.
18. The helmet body of claim 13 having transparent windows in said layers configured around the temple of the wearer so as to increase peripheral vision while wearing said helmet.
Type: Application
Filed: Dec 31, 2016
Publication Date: Jul 6, 2017
Inventor: Geoffrey Paul Larrabee (Issaquah, WA)
Application Number: 15/396,544