GB1591265A - Safety helmet - Google Patents

Description

(54) SAFETY HELMET (71) I, KALMAN GYÖRY, a citizen of the German Federal Republic, of Ahrwaldstr.

7, 3141 Garlstorf a. Walde, German Federal Republic, do hereby declare the invention, for which I pray that a patent may be granted to me, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement:- This invention is concerned with a safety helmet for motor-cyclists.

Simple helmets have been in general use for a long time, and consist essentially of a hard shell for covering the cranium and the temples of the wearer and reaching to just about eye level, and have a soft padding.

These simple helmets may be used, in practically the same design for a wide range of purposes, as crash helmets, safety helmets, workmen's "hard hats", etc. There have also been developed a number of special helmets for particular purposes, such as helmets for hockey, cricket, football or rugby players, auto racing drivers, and aviators, to cite just a few examples. All of these special helmets must meet the particular requirements essential only for their particular intended use.

For example, a special feature of football and rugby helmets is that they must leave the face of the player free as much as possible in order to afford him the widest possible field of vision, as well as to show his face to the spectators. Less important in such cases is the considerable time required to put on and fit the helmet.

The following features satisfy some of the special requirements of safety helmets for motor-cyclists that are not required of any other type of protective head gear. First of all, no other kind of helmet is exposed to wind velocities of anywhere near the same magnitude. Similarly, the wearer of the helmet faces great danger in the event of an accident, due to the high speeds involved. On the other hand, the wearer does not require such a wide field of vision extending to nearly 180q as does a rugby player. For these reasons, it is expedient and warranted to encase the head of the wearer, including the full face plus the mouth, nose, cheeks and chin in a helmet that is padded all over and in which only a frontal opening for the face has been left, this opening being formed by a transparent visor.Protective helmets of the type that encase the entire head and extend downwards so as to cover the chin, are known as "integral helmets" and are gaining increased acceptance because of their excellent protective features, even in very serious accidents against which other helmets do not offer any protection, or only minimal protection, although there does exist certain considerable drawbacks to these helmets.

These disadvantages have largely to do with the afore-mentioned high travel speeds to which a helmet and its wearer may be exposed. The velocities tend to make the helmet slip out of place if it is not made to fit the head of the wearer very exactly and tightly, thereby causing discomfort to the wearer.

Heretofore it has not ben fully possible, for technical and commercial reasons, to meet this requirement of a close fit of the wearers' head not only with respect to size, but also shape. A product of such general use would be uneconomical to keep in stock? since it requires the provision of a complete line of head sizes and at least four different head shapes ranging from angular and broad to slim and oval.

An even greater disadvantage arising from the requirement of a perfect fit of an integral helmet lies in the fact that a helmet that meets this requirement completely can only be put on and taken off by overcoming the resistance of the elastic padding, since the helmet tapers off downwardly and forwardly to conform to the anatomy of the human head. While this presents a minor problem for healthy uninjured persons, it becomes quite difficult in the case of persons with neck; injuries that are unavoidable even with the best protective helmet. In such cases, it is highly important that the helmet be lifted off the head of an injured person as carefully as possible, and this cannot be done with the previously proposed integral helmets for the afore-mentioned reasons.This difficulty is so serious that for some time, all ambulances have been equipped with bone saws, not because it is necessary to saw off a bone at the scene of an accident, but solely for the purpose of removing, where necessary, an integral helmet from the head of an accident victim without injury to him. Obviously, the task of removing the helmet cannot be left to laymen, nor even to highly skilled persons, including doctors, if they are not provided with the necessary special saws. As a result, valuable time may be lost in many cases before the medical care of an accident victim can be initiated.

According to the present invention there is provided a safety helmet, wherein the helmet comprises an integral helmet shell and an inflatable, interconnected air-cushion system positioned in the lower part of the shell, said integral helmet shell having a tapered portion extending in a downward direction intended to lie below the chin of the wearer, and having a frontal opening for the face, and wherein said air-cushion system extends from the lower edge of said helmet shell to at least the level of the ears, but not higher than the level of the temples of a wearer of the safety helmet.

Thus, the present motor-cycle helmet may be designed so that it fits exactly the size as well as the shape of the head of the wearer, requiring a considerably smaller number of helmets to be kept in stock, and facilitating an easy and gentle removal from the head of the wearer. Even in the case of serious injuries to the spine, any further harm to the victim due to the removal of the helmet may be positively prevented.

The present protective helmet may be designed to enclose the entire head of the wearer, including his face, to extend downward below the lower edge of the chin, and to be provided with a visor type of opening for the face that tapers off downwardly. The inside of the helmet is padded using a system, the principle of which is known as such in other contexts, of inflatable air-cushions that are interconnected by throttling passageways. This system differs in many respects from the known systems of air-cushions with inter-connected throttling passage-ways in design, in the manner of its fastening to the helmet, and also by its interaction with other padding features of the helmet.

A feature of the present safety helmet is that, while the air-cushion system encloses and protects the neck and cheeks of the wearer, it leaves free the top of the skull, in contrast to previously proposed safety helmets that use inflatable air-cushions, and assigns the protection of the cranium entirely to a familiar padding with an elastic material such as foamed polystyrene, such as that sold under the registered Trade Mark "Styropor", and/or foam rubber. This does not impair the protection in the area of the cranium, but offers the advantage of eliminating undesirable and often unavoidable upward pull on the chin-strap.

Another advantage achieved by omitting air-cushions above the cranium consists in avoiding the recoil effect that occurs after the end part of an impact due to the re-expansion of the air-cushion.

Preferably, the air-cushion system with throttling passage-ways between the various air-cushions, is designed as a continuous band made up of two films, which are superimposed and inter-connected in a gas-tight manner. Similarly, in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the invention, cross-pieces, likewise made of elastic gastight material may be mounted on the upper, lower and lateral edges. This latter embodiment has the advantage, compared to the simpler embodiment, that the air-cushion will not bulge forward when inflated, and thereby exert an undesirable pressure. The width of these cross-pieces should be not less than half the difference between the inside diameter of the helmet and the diameter of the smallest head-size to be fitted, and not greater than three times the amount of that difference.

A preferred design of the air-cushion system consists of a double-walled gas-tight band with perhaps elastic cross-pieces between the walls, and containing, in the cervical region and in the two regions of the cheeks, inflatable air-cushions. Between the inflatable air-cushions are two non-inflatable parts of the band. The non-inflatable parts of the band have passage-ways leading to the adjoining inflatable cushion parts. In addition, throttling passage-ways are provided between each air-cushion and its adjoining non-inflatable section, said throttling passageways affording a pressure balance between the various air-cushions, but also retarding the air expelled from the air-cushions upon impact. The intensity of the retarding effect must be regulated rather carefully. If it is too weak, the air-cushion system does not develop sufficient elasticity and thus does not provide sufficient protection; if it is too strong, the fitting of the helmet to the size and shape of the head of the wearer is impaired.

An ideal throttling effect that is neither too weak nor too strong can be achieved by affixing labyrinth joints to the throttling passage-ways. These labyrinth joints can be made most effectively by using some, preferably, not more than two, welded or adhesive seams that are staggered and placed adjacent to each other.

Advantageously, the lateral, or cheek, cushions of the system extend no farther forward than to the borderline between jaw bones and chin, while the chin region of the helmet is lined with a familiar non-inflatable pliable cushioning material, for instance "Styropor" or foam rubber. In this way, any undesirable horizontal pull during inflation of the cushion-system is avoided. The same purpose is served by designing an air-cushion that protects the neck, e.g. by installing some welded joints so that it will be inflated less than the cheek cushions, when the system is inflated.

It is also advantageous to have the neck support consist not of an inflatable aircushion, but of elastic foam material, in the conventional manner.

The fastening of the air-cushion system within the helmet may be done advantageously by placing it inside a pocket that is firmly attached to the helmet and preferably, by fastening the air-cushion system to the pocket firmly, but so as to be detachable by means of snap fasteners.

In order to enable the invention to be more readily understood, a preferred embodiment thereof will now be explained in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate schematically and by. way of example the embodiment, and in which: Figure 1 is a vertical section along the line 1-1 of Figure 2 of a safety helmet, the facial opening located in front of the plane of the section being shown for the sake of clarity; Figure 2 is a vertical section along the line Il-Il of Figure 1; Figure 3 is an enlargement of the encircled area of Figure 1; Figure 4 is a view of an air-cushion system of the helmet, shown in the unfolded state; and Figure 5 is the top-view of the band in the direction of the arrow (5) of Figure 4.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a safety helmet comprising a shell 1, a "Styropor" padding 3 of the upper part of the helmet, positioned above an air-cushion padding that is inserted in accordance with the invention, and additional padding 4 that is made, e.g. of PVC-foam-coated tissue, or layer, that extends not altogether up to the roof of the skull, and that is applied above the "Styropor" padding and a continuous system 5 of inflatable air-cushions that is interconnected by way of throttling passageways and is located in a pocket 6. The pocket 6, as shown in Figure 3, consists, for example, of a rigid, but sufficiently flexible hard-PVC sheet or film 7, forming the rear wall of the pocket that is joined, by way of a seam 8, to a connecting piece 9, and to a front wall 10.

The front wall 10 of the pocket, consists, for example, of tissue coated with foam material on the inside.

The pocket 6 is solidly and firmly attached to the shell 1 of the helmet, e.g., by means of rivets 11. A solid, fixedly, but advantageously detachably, connection between the aircushion padding 5 and the pocket 6 can be provided, by means of snap-fastener connections 12.

As may be seen in Figure 2, the aircushion padding 5 extends only to å point on the helmet corresponding to the borderline between the cheek bones and jaw bones, while the chin region of the helmet is padded with another material 13, e.g. with foamrubber coated "Styropor". The air-cushion padding 5 extends to a point slightly below where the helmet side portions start to curve toward each other. A neck support 14 also has been developed in a conventional way, viz, it is made not as an air-cushion but instead is made of a foam material. The helmet also has a fastening device 15 for a chin strap 16.

Further details of a preferred design of the air-cushion system may be seen in Figures 4 and 5. The air-cushion system comprises two flexible air-tight sheets of films 17 that are inter-connected on all sides by means of seams, preferably welded seams. In accordance with the particularly preferred design shown in Figure 5, the films 17 are interconnected on all sides by means of connecting pieces 18, 19 and 20 which are arranged on all sides and between the two films 17. The width b extending between the films 17 should be not less than one half, and not more than three times the difference between the inside diameter of the helmet and the diameter of the smallest head size to be fitted, and is preferably equal to that difference.

Four throttling passage-ways are shown as labyrinth-joints, and consist of two welded seams 21 each staggered, but arranged very closely adjacent each other, preferably 5 mm apart of approximately the same width, and of a length of a few centimetres. These seams 21 separate the two cheek-cushions 22 from the ear-patches 24, and likewise, separate the ear-patches 24 from the neckcushion 23. The seams 21 extend fully between the side films 17 so that the passage of air is possible only along narrow restricted paths.

In the larger part 24a of the area of the earpatches 24, the two films 17 are solidly welded or stuck together, so that that area cannot be inflated, and only narrow air passage ways 24b remain between the cheekcushions 22 and the neck-cushion 23. A few welded joints 25 withn the area of the neckcushion 23 keep it from being inflated by the same air pressure, to the same extent as the cheek cushions 22. Snap-fasteners 26 are provided for attaching the air-cushion system to pocket 6, and a valve 27 connected to an air intake tube 28 is provided for inflating the system as well as for letting the air out of the helmet so as to facilitate the removal of the helmet.

WHAT I CLAIM IS: 1. A safety helmet, wherein the helmet

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (14)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. "Styropor" or foam rubber. In this way, any undesirable horizontal pull during inflation of the cushion-system is avoided. The same purpose is served by designing an air-cushion that protects the neck, e.g. by installing some welded joints so that it will be inflated less than the cheek cushions, when the system is inflated. It is also advantageous to have the neck support consist not of an inflatable aircushion, but of elastic foam material, in the conventional manner. The fastening of the air-cushion system within the helmet may be done advantageously by placing it inside a pocket that is firmly attached to the helmet and preferably, by fastening the air-cushion system to the pocket firmly, but so as to be detachable by means of snap fasteners. In order to enable the invention to be more readily understood, a preferred embodiment thereof will now be explained in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate schematically and by. way of example the embodiment, and in which: Figure 1 is a vertical section along the line 1-1 of Figure 2 of a safety helmet, the facial opening located in front of the plane of the section being shown for the sake of clarity; Figure 2 is a vertical section along the line Il-Il of Figure 1; Figure 3 is an enlargement of the encircled area of Figure 1; Figure 4 is a view of an air-cushion system of the helmet, shown in the unfolded state; and Figure 5 is the top-view of the band in the direction of the arrow (5) of Figure 4. Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a safety helmet comprising a shell 1, a "Styropor" padding 3 of the upper part of the helmet, positioned above an air-cushion padding that is inserted in accordance with the invention, and additional padding 4 that is made, e.g. of PVC-foam-coated tissue, or layer, that extends not altogether up to the roof of the skull, and that is applied above the "Styropor" padding and a continuous system 5 of inflatable air-cushions that is interconnected by way of throttling passageways and is located in a pocket 6. The pocket 6, as shown in Figure 3, consists, for example, of a rigid, but sufficiently flexible hard-PVC sheet or film 7, forming the rear wall of the pocket that is joined, by way of a seam 8, to a connecting piece 9, and to a front wall 10. The front wall 10 of the pocket, consists, for example, of tissue coated with foam material on the inside. The pocket 6 is solidly and firmly attached to the shell 1 of the helmet, e.g., by means of rivets 11. A solid, fixedly, but advantageously detachably, connection between the aircushion padding 5 and the pocket 6 can be provided, by means of snap-fastener connections 12. As may be seen in Figure 2, the aircushion padding 5 extends only to å point on the helmet corresponding to the borderline between the cheek bones and jaw bones, while the chin region of the helmet is padded with another material 13, e.g. with foamrubber coated "Styropor". The air-cushion padding 5 extends to a point slightly below where the helmet side portions start to curve toward each other. A neck support 14 also has been developed in a conventional way, viz, it is made not as an air-cushion but instead is made of a foam material. The helmet also has a fastening device 15 for a chin strap 16. Further details of a preferred design of the air-cushion system may be seen in Figures 4 and 5. The air-cushion system comprises two flexible air-tight sheets of films 17 that are inter-connected on all sides by means of seams, preferably welded seams. In accordance with the particularly preferred design shown in Figure 5, the films 17 are interconnected on all sides by means of connecting pieces 18, 19 and 20 which are arranged on all sides and between the two films 17. The width b extending between the films 17 should be not less than one half, and not more than three times the difference between the inside diameter of the helmet and the diameter of the smallest head size to be fitted, and is preferably equal to that difference. Four throttling passage-ways are shown as labyrinth-joints, and consist of two welded seams 21 each staggered, but arranged very closely adjacent each other, preferably 5 mm apart of approximately the same width, and of a length of a few centimetres. These seams 21 separate the two cheek-cushions 22 from the ear-patches 24, and likewise, separate the ear-patches 24 from the neckcushion 23. The seams 21 extend fully between the side films 17 so that the passage of air is possible only along narrow restricted paths. In the larger part 24a of the area of the earpatches 24, the two films 17 are solidly welded or stuck together, so that that area cannot be inflated, and only narrow air passage ways 24b remain between the cheekcushions 22 and the neck-cushion 23. A few welded joints 25 withn the area of the neckcushion 23 keep it from being inflated by the same air pressure, to the same extent as the cheek cushions 22. Snap-fasteners 26 are provided for attaching the air-cushion system to pocket 6, and a valve 27 connected to an air intake tube 28 is provided for inflating the system as well as for letting the air out of the helmet so as to facilitate the removal of the helmet. WHAT I CLAIM IS:

1. A safety helmet, wherein the helmet

comprises an integral helmet shell and an inflatable, interconnected air-cushion system positioned in the lower part of the shell, said integral helmet shell having a tapered portion extending in a downward direction intended to lie below the chin of the wearer, and having a frontal opening for the face, and wherein said air-cushion extends from the lower edge of said helmet shell to at least the level of the ears, but not higher than the level of the temples of a wearer of the safety helmet.

2. A safety helmet as claimed in claim 1, wherein said air-cushion system includes regions that are free of air-cushions.

3. A safety helmet as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein said air-cushion system comprises a continuous band of two flexible films or sheets, means for interconnecting said films or sheets in an air-tight manner and comprising cross-pieces extending between said films or sheets in such a way that the films or sheets and the cross-pieces form two inflatable cheek cushions and one inflatable neck-cushion, and wherein said films or sheets, in the areas between the neckcushion and the cheek-cushions, are interconnected in such a way that these areas cannot be inflated, there being connecting passage-way means between the cheek cushions and the neck cushion, and throttling passage-way means positioned between the non-inflatable areas and the inflatable areas.

4. A safety helmet as claimed in claim 3, wherein said throttling passage-way means comprises labyrinth joints having at least two staggered welded or stuck seams.

5. A safety helmet as claimed in claim 3 or 4, wherein welded joint means are provided in the neck-cushion for reducing the thickness, when inflated, of the neckcushion from the thickness of the two cheekcushions.

6. A safety helmet as claimed in any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein the width of the cross-pieces is from one half to three times the difference between the inside diameter of the helmet and of the smallest head size to be fitted.

7. A safety helmet as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein said air-cushion system extends upward no further than the boundary line between jaw bone and the chin of the wearer, and wherein the cranial region of the helmet is padded with foamed polystyrene lined with foam rubber.

8. A safety helmet as claimed in claim 7, wherein the width of the cross-pieces is equal to the difference between the inside diameter of the helmet and of the smallest head size to be fitted.

9. A safety helmet as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein said air-cushion system is placed inside a pocket, said pocket comprising a relatively rigid film that is solidly attached to the helmet shell and comprises a hardened PVC-plate, and a soft layer of material welded to said plate.

10. A safety helmet as claimed in claim 9, wherein the inside of said soft layer is coated with foam material.

11. A safety helmet as claimed in claim 9 or 10, wherein said air-cushion system is fixedly and detachably connected to the pocket by snap fasteners.

12. A safety helmet as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein said helmet includes a lining of foamed polystyrene above said air cushion system.

13. A safety helmet as claimed in claim 12, wherein a covering of foamed-plastic tissue is provided in the lower region of said lining above the air-cushion system.

14. A safety helmet substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.