HELMET WITH SHOCK ABSORBING INSERTS
Helmets and methods for manufacturing a helmet are described. An example helmet includes a shell and a shock absorbing liner attached to the shell. The shock absorbing liner includes a cavity. The helmet a shock absorbing insert formed of a material different than the material of the shock absorbing liner. The cavity is configured to retain the shock absorbing insert.
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This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 17/714,864, filed Apr. 6, 2022, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 16/989,695, filed Aug. 10, 2020, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/965,703 filed Aug. 13, 2013, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 10,736,373 on Aug. 11, 2020. These applications and patent are incorporated herein by reference, in their entirety, for any purpose.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONHelmets are used in many outdoor activities to protect the wearer from head injuries that may occur during the activity. For example, helmets worn during cycling sports protect the rider's head in the event of a fall or crash, as well as from equipment (e.g., bike) that may strike the wearer in the head.
Consumers measure the desirability of a helmet based on various criteria. For example, helmets should provide good protection to the head in the event of an impact, but should also be relatively light in weight and provide sufficient ventilation when worn. Helmets should also be affordable and have a design that facilitates manufacturability. Additionally, a helmet should be esthetically pleasing.
Often, these various criteria compete with one another. For example, a helmet that is light in weight and provides adequate ventilation is generally less impact resistant than one that has a heavier design. That is, a helmet can be designed with a harder shell material that is generally heavier than other lighter shell materials resulting in a helmet that provides greater protection but is not as light as desirable. A helmet may be designed to have less ventilation cavities to improve coverage of the head in the event of an impact, but this results in a helmet having less ventilation than is desirable. Additionally, a helmet providing good head protection and is light in weight may be complicated to manufacture and can be expensive.
Therefore, there is a need for alternative helmet designs that can balance various competing factors that are used in measuring the desirability of a helmet.
The present invention is generally directed to a helmet formed having a shell, a shock absorbing liner formed from a first shock absorbing material (e.g., expanded polystyrene (EPS) material, expanded polypropylene (EPP) material, or another suitable shock absorbing material). The shock absorbing liner includes one or more cavities (e.g., openings, recesses, etc.) having a shape to receive a shock absorbing insert formed from a second shock absorbing material (e.g., a honeycomb material). The shape of the insert relative to a shape of a cavity (or cavity) in the first shock absorbing material is such that the insert must be deformed (e.g., compressed) in order to be removed from the cavity in the first shock absorbing material. Many of the specific details of certain embodiments of the invention are presented in the following description and in
The shock absorbing liner 130 may be formed to have an inner surface that is configured to receive the wearer's head with one or more cavities, such as the cavity 170. The cavity 170 may extend all of the way through the shock absorbing liner 130. In some embodiments, one or more cavities may not extend all of the way through the shock absorbing liner 130. The shock absorbing liner 130 may be attached (e.g., bonded) to an inner surface of the shell 110. The shock absorbing liner 130 may be seamless, aside from the seam formed with the inserts 122, 124, and 126. For example, the shock absorbing liner 130 may not be interrupted by joints or seams that may compromise the shock absorbing capabilities and/or the structural integrity of the shock absorbing liner 130 during impact of the helmet 100. That is, forming the shock absorbing liner 130 to have an inner surface that is seamless may result in greater structural strength than an inner surface that includes seams between different portions of the shock absorbing liner 130. Although a seamed shock absorbing liner 130 may be less desirable than one having a seamless inner surface, such a construction is within the scope of the present invention.
The shell 110 may be formed from polycarbonate (PC), Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). The shell 110 may be formed from materials suitable for use in an in-mold manufacturing process. The shock absorbing liner 130 may be formed from various materials, for example, EPS material, EPP material, or other suitable shock absorbing materials. In some embodiments, the shell 110 and shock absorbing liner 130 components may be formed using in-mold technology. For example, the shell 110 may be formed by injection molding techniques, or from a PC flat sheet which is first thermally formed and then installed in the final EPS mold to heat bond with the final foam shape. As known, the shells may be insert molded. The shell 110 may be formed from other materials and/or using other manufacturing techniques as well. Thus the present invention is not limited to the particular materials previously described or made using an in-mold process.
As previously described, the second shock absorbing material 120 of the inserts 122, 124, and 126 may be a honeycomb material. The honeycomb material may have tubes that allow air to freely flow through to the head of the wearer. The honeycomb material may include an array of energy absorbing cells. Each of the cells may include a tube. In an embodiment, the tubes may be oriented along a thickness of the insert. In some embodiments, a tube of the insert may be generally oriented along a longitudinal axis that is normal to an adjacent point on the inner surface of the shell 110. For example, the longitudinal axis of a tube of a cell may be arranged at an angle of between 0° and 45° to a line normal to the adjacent point, on the inner surface of the outer shell 110. The tubes may be a hollow structure having any regular or irregular geometry. In some embodiments, the tubes have a circular cylindrical structure or circular conical structure. As depicted in
Helmet straps (not shown) may be attached to the shell 110 and/or the shock absorbing liner 130, and used to secure the helmet to a wearer's head. In some embodiments, the helmet straps are attached to helmet strap loops, which may be attached to the shock absorbing liner 130, for example, by having a portion embedded in the shock absorbing liner 130. Other attachment techniques may be used as well, for example, adhesive or other bonding techniques.
It will be appreciated that while
The insert 122 may be removed from the cavity, for example, by deforming the insert to cause the curved side 450 to fit through the opening between points 420 and 440. The cavity may be configured to have an interior angle 418 formed by sidewall 414 relative to an interior surface 424 of the cavity to provide a distance between sidewalls 414 along the curved side 450 to be longer than a distance between sidewalls 414 along the curved side 460. In some embodiments, the interior angle 418 is 90 degrees or less. In some embodiments, the interior angle 418 is acute. Other configurations of cavities may be used in the alternative, or in combination to retain the insert 122 in the respective cavity without bonding or use of adhesive material. Examples of other configurations of cavities will be described in more detail with reference to
The embodiment depicted in
The embodiment 602 depicted in
The embodiment 603 depicted in
The embodiment 604 depicted in
The above description of illustrated embodiments of the invention is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. While specific embodiments of, and examples of, the invention are described in the foregoing for illustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications are possible within the scope of the invention, as those skilled in the relevant art will realize. Moreover, the various embodiments described above can be combined to provide further embodiments. Accordingly, the invention is not limited by the disclosure, but instead the scope of the invention is to be determined entirely by the following claims.
Claims
1. A helmet comprising:
- a shell;
- a liner coupled to the shell and defining a liner cavity; and
- a cellular insert received within and filling the liner cavity; wherein: the cellular insert comprises a plurality of energy absorbing cells; and the liner and the cellular insert together define an interior surface of the helmet.
2. The helmet of claim 1, wherein the cellular insert defines at least 50% of an area of the interior surface of the helmet.
3. The helmet of claim 1, wherein the liner cavity and the cellular insert are shaped such that the cellular insert is compressed to insert the cellular insert into the liner cavity or remove the cellular insert from the liner cavity.
4. The helmet of claim 1, wherein:
- the liner is seamless and comprises a plurality of closed cells; and
- the plurality of energy absorbing cells comprises open cells.
5. The helmet of claim 1, wherein:
- each of the cells of the plurality of energy absorbing cells is arranged to have a first end facing towards an exterior of the helmet and a second end facing towards an interior of the helmet; and
- longitudinal axes of the cells are arranged at angles between 0° and 45° of normal to points on the interior surface of the shell adjacent to the respective cells.
6. The helmet of claim 1, wherein:
- the liner cavity is configured to receive the cellular insert in an arched configuration such that a first length of a curved surface of the cellular insert proximal the shell is greater than a second length of a curved surface of the cellular insert distal the shell; and
- a shape of the cellular insert matches a shape of the liner cavity.
7. A helmet, comprising:
- a shell comprising a first vent defining a first opening;
- a liner adjacent to and attached to the shell, the liner comprising a cavity at least partially aligned with the first vent; and
- an insert comprising a plurality of cells;
- wherein: a first plurality of the cells engages interior sidewalls of the cavity; the insert spans across at least a portion of the first vent; at least a portion of the liner is positioned between the shell and the insert; and the cells comprise tubular structures.
8. The helmet of claim 7, wherein longitudinal axes of the tubular structures are arranged at angles between 0° and 45° of lines normal to points on an inner surface of the shell adjacent to the respective tubular structures.
9. The helmet of claim 7, wherein the cells have regular or irregular geometries.
10. The helmet of claim 7, wherein:
- the shell further comprises a second vent defining a second opening;
- the cavity is at least partially aligned with the second vent; and
- the first vent and the second vent are arranged symmetrically in the shell.
11. The helmet of claim 7, wherein an angle between a side surface of the liner defining a perimeter of the cavity and a surface of the liner adjacent to the side surface and further defining the cavity is 90 degrees or less.
12. The helmet of claim 7, wherein:
- an inner surface of the helmet is defined by the liner and the insert; and
- the insert defines at least 50% of an area of the inner surface of the helmet.
13. A helmet, comprising:
- a shell;
- a liner adjacent to and attached to the shell, the liner defining a liner cavity; and
- an insert comprising an array of cells positioned in and substantially filling the liner cavity;
- wherein: a shape of the insert relative to a shape of the liner cavity is configured such that the insert is deformed in order to be inserted into or removed from the liner cavity; the shape of the liner cavity is configured to retain the insert based on an expansion pressure of sides of the insert against sides of the liner defining the liner cavity.
14. The helmet of claim 13, wherein the insert has a curved shape substantially corresponding to a curved interior surface of the liner cavity when the insert is arranged in the liner cavity.
15. The helmet of claim 13, wherein each of the cells of the array of cells comprises a hollow tube.
16. The helmet of claim 13, wherein:
- the shell comprises a first vent opening;
- a first set of cells of the array of cells is at least partially aligned with and at least partially visible through the first vent opening; and
- the first set of cells allows air to enter through the first vent opening and pass through toward an interior of the helmet.
17. The helmet of claim 13, wherein an angle between a bottom surface of the liner cavity and a side surface of the liner cavity is 90 degrees or less.
18. The helmet of claim 13, wherein the insert has a thickness less than or equal to the liner.
19. The helmet of claim 13, wherein the curved interior surface of the helmet is defined by the liner and the insert.
20. The helmet of claim 13, wherein a surface of the liner opposite the shell outside the liner cavity is flush with a surface of the insert opposite the shell.
Type: Application
Filed: Dec 7, 2023
Publication Date: Mar 28, 2024
Applicants: Smith Sport Optics, Inc. (Portland, OR), KOROYD SARL (Monaco)
Inventors: James A. Chilson (Hailey, ID), John Lloyd (Monte Carlo), James Rogers (Carlisle), Piers Storey (Nice)
Application Number: 18/532,265