US3189918A

US3189918A - Visor helmet

Info

Publication number: US3189918A
Application number: US305886A
Authority: US
Inventors: Walter R Hiatt; Michael M King
Original assignee: BATES IND Inc
Current assignee: BATES IND Inc
Priority date: 1963-08-30
Filing date: 1963-08-30
Publication date: 1965-06-22
Anticipated expiration: 1982-06-22

Description

June 1965 w. R; HlATT ETVAL VISOR HELMET Filed Aug. 30, 1965 INVENTOR. WALT ER R. HIATT MICHAEL M. KING BYFULWIDER PATTON,

RIEBER, LEE 2, UTECHT ATTORNEYS United States Patent Ofiice Biddfild Patented June 22, 1965 3,189,918 VISUR HELMET Walter R. Eliatt, Norwallr, and Michael M. King, South Gate, Calih, assignors to Eiatcs industries, inc, Long Bleach, (Ialif, a corporation of California Filed Aug. 30, 1963, her. No. 305,836 3 Claims. (Cl. 2-9) The present invention relates to a visor helmet, and more particularly to a visor helmet in which the visor provides protection against wind, rain, and sun.

Operators of vehicles such as motorcycles, sports and racing cars, speed boats and the like, commonly wear protective crash helmets. Although such helmets are available in a variety of types, the most popular helmets are probably those made of resin-reinforced fiberglas. These are molded into helmet shape, provided on the exterior with a coat of paint or lacquer, provided on the interior with suitable padding, and generally include a chin strap at the sides or side portions thereof for securing the helmet in position upon the wearer.

One such helmet of the prior art is provided with fastening elements on the forehead portion thereof to permit the attachment of a sun visor characterized by a size and configuration similar to that of the brim or peak of the usual baseball cap. Because the sun visor is relatively small, it is only partially effective to shade the wearers face, and is completely ineffective to provide protection against wind, rain, sea spray, and the like. Moreover, when the visor is in operative position, it is fixed and not adapted for ready movement out of the way when desired. Instead, it must be completely removed from the helmet.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a visor helmet which includes a tinted, transparent shield to substantially completely cover the Wearers face and protect the same against wind, rain, and sun. The shield extends from the forehead portion of the helmet rearwardly to the sides or side portions of the helmet, depends therefrom to a position adjacent the chin of the wearer, and consequently substantially completely covers the wearers face.

It is another object of the invention to provide a visor means adapted to be associated with a helmet already provided with fastener elements on the forehead portion thereof to accept other forms of sun visors. That is, the present visor means is adapted to be associated with such helmets instead of the prior art forms of sun visors for which such helmets were originally designed. For this purpose, the present visor means includes an elongated, curvilinear band having fastener elements adapted to be secured to the fastener elements on the forehead portion of the helmet, and the extremities of the elongated band extend rearwardly to positions adjacent the sides of the helmet. These extremities include additional fastener elements adapted to pivotally mount a transparent shield or visor which normally substantially completely covers the face of the wearer. However, the pivotal arrangement permits the shield to be swung or pivoted upwardly to a position overlying the top of the helmet so that the visor is out of the way when, for example, the wearer wishes to smoke a cigarette.

A further object of the invention is to provide a visor means which is quickly mountable to and readily removable from a visor helmet, and which is also pivotable upon the helmet whereby the visor can be easily moved temporarily out of the way.

Another object of the invention is to provide a visor means of the aforementioned character which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture, simple to operate, and comparatively easy to mount and demount.

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent from consideration of the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective, exploded view of a visor helmet associated With a visor means, according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the helmet of FIG. 1, illustrating the transparent visor shield in lowered or operative position substantially completely covering the face of the wearer;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the helmet and visor means of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged detail view taken along the line 44 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is an elevational view of the helmet and visor means of FIG. 2, taken from the side opposite that illustrated in FIG. 2, and illustrating the transparent visor shield in raised position.

Referring now to the drawings, there is illustrated a visor helmet ltl adapted to be worn as a crash helmet by motorcycle riders, sports car and racing car drivers, speed boat drivers, and the like, although it will be understood that these applications are merely exemplary and the invention is not to be limited thereto.

The visor helmet 10 does not itself form a part of the present invention and may therefore be constructed in any conventional manner, such as by molding the same out of resin-reinforced fiberglas material, which is subsequently painted or lacquered on the outside and then provided on the interior with suitable padding. The usual helmet it also includes a usual chin strap 12 which is carried by a depending, flexible skirt 14 attached by rivets id to the lower extremity of the helmet it The helmet forehead portion, designated generally by the numeral 18, is provided with three conventional snap fasteners 20 of that type which is made in two parts, one part, such as the fastener 2%, being closely received in a snap-like action within a mating fastener carried by the structure to be secured to the helmet Iii, As previously indicated, the helmet it) was originally provided with the plurality of fasteners 20 for mounting a relatively small brim or peak type of visor (not shown), but such fasteners are utilized in the present invention for mounting a larger, somewhat different visor or shield.

According to the present invention, these same fasteners 2d are utilized to mount a transparent, curvilinear shield of plastic material, generally designated by the numeral 22, which is tinted to reduce sun glare. As will be seen, an elongated adapter or band 24 adapts the shield 22 for connection to the helmet 10.

More particularly, the prior art sun visor normally associated with the fasteners 20 has been found to be largely ineffective to provide any substantial degree of shading for the wearers face, and almost completely inefiective to provide protection against wind and rain. In contrast, the shield 22 is relatively large, being characterized by an upper margin extending across the forehead portion 18 of the helmet it), side margins as located adjacent the side portions or sides 28 of the helmet 10, and a main body which normally depends or extends downwardly to substantially completely cover the face of the wearer. The bottom margin of the shield 22 terminates in the area of the wearers chin and thence slopes diagonally upwardly and rearwardly toward the side margins 26..

The elongated band 24 is curvilinear to conform to the curve of the helmet forehead portion 13, and includes three snap fasteners 30 adapted to mate with and secure to the helmet fasteners 20 to thereby rigidly mount the band 24 in position across the forehead portion 18 of the helmet ill. The band 24 extends rearwardly with its end extremities located adjacent the sides 23 of the helmet ill, each of such extremities including an additional fastener 32 adapted to mate with and secure to a complementary pair of fasteners 34 mounted to the shield 22 adjacent the side margins 26 thereof.

The band fasteners 32 and shield fasteners 34 are annular in conformation and thus are adapted for pivotal movement relative to each other so that the shield 22 can be pivoted upwardly into overlying relationship to the top of the helmet 10, this position being approached by the shield 22 in the showing in FIG. 5.

The outer of the three fasteners 30 are slidably mounted in lateral slots 36 provided in the band 24, one such slot 36 being illustrated in FIG. 4, whereby the associated fasteners 30 can accommodate themselves to the locations of the corresponding helmet fasteners 20, which locations sometimes vary somewhat from one helmet to the next.

n the side of the band 24 opposite the centrally located one of the three fasteners 30 is located a forwardly projecting element or stop 38 adapted to fit within an opening 40 provided in the central upper portion of the shield 22. The stop 38 fits within the opening 40 for the purpose of properly locating the shield 22 in position to substantially completely overlie the wearers face. Ho. ever, the plastic material of which the shield 22 is made is sufficiently resilient that it is deformable to permit the stop 33 to slide past the margins of the opening 40 when it is desired to move the shield 22 into the position illustrated in FIG. 5. Normally, the stop 38 is effective to prevent such upward movement of the shield 22, maintaining it in the shielding position illustrated in 'FIG. 2.

From the above description it will be apparent that the present visor means is adapted to provide substantially complete shielding and protection for the wearers face against wind, rain, and sun. Although the 'visor means can be permanently mounted to the helmet 10, it can be and preferably is rernovably mounted on the conventional helmet 10. Moreover, the shield 22; is pivotable upon 'its band 24 for quickly moving the shield 22 upwardly out of its normal, overlying relationship with respect to the face of the wearer.

It has also been demonstrated that the band 24 can be quickly snapped into position upon the helmet to facilitate rapid mounting of the shield 22 thereon. In addition, the greater length of the band 24, compared to the distance between the existhing helmet outer fasteners 20, provides a means for mounting the shield 22 farther to the rear for increased protection of the helmet wearer. Thus, the shield 22 is arranged in substantially complete, overlying relationship with the wearers face to provide optimum protection against the elements.

Various modifications and changes may be made with regard to the foregoing detailed description without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the following claims.

We claim:

1. A visor helmet assembly, comprising:

(a) a helmet having a plurality of projecting fastener elements on the forehead portion thereof;

(b) an elongated, flexible, curved strip adapter band which extends across the forehead portion of said helmet and around the sides thereof;

(c) said adapter band having a plurality of lateral slots and cooperating fastener elements slirlably mounted in said slots and into which said projecting fastener elements are detachably mounted, said lateral slots making it possible for the adapter band to fit different helmets where the spacing of said projecting fastener elements may vary; 2

(d) additional fastener elements mounted to the extremities of said band;

(e) a curved elongated visor which extends to the sides of said helmet and has an extent sufiicient to substantially cover the face of the wearer of said helmet;

(i) said visor having a plurality of complementary fastener elements adjacent the upper edges of its side margins which detachably and pivotally engage said additional fastener elements; and

(g) stop means on said adapter band which is engageable with said visor to hold it in position over the face of the wearer of said helmet.

2. The visor helmet as set forth in claim ll, wherein (a) there are three of said projecting fastener elements on said helmet, one of said projecting fastener elements being located at the center of said forehead portion of said helmet; and

(b) said adapter band includes a central cooperating snap fastener element fixedly secured thereto and into which said one center projecting fastener of the helmet is detachably received, said cooperating fastener elements in said lateral slots on said adapter band detachably receiving the other projecting fasten er elements on said helmet.

3. The visor helmet assembly as set forth in claim 1,

wherein (a) said stop means is a central projecting stop element; and

(b) said visor has an opening adjacent the top edge thereof adapted to receive said projecting stop element to thereby hold said visor in position over the face of the wearer of the helmet.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,421,427 6/47 Mamlin et al. 2-1O X 2,610,323 9/52 Johnson a 2-8 2,763,006 9/56 Amundsen 28 3,039,108 6/62 Lohrenz 2-3 JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

Claims

1. A VISOR HELMET ASSEMBLY, COMPRISING: (A) A HELMET HAVING A PLURALITY OF PROJECTING FASTENER ELEMENTS ON THE FOREHEAD PORTION THEREOF; (B) AN ELONGATED, FLEXIBLE, CURVED STRIP ADAPTER BAND WHICH EXTENDS ACROSS THE FOREHEAD PORTION OF SAID HELMET AND AROUND THE SIDES THEREOF; (C) SAID ADAPTER BAND HAVING A PLURALITY OF LATERAL SLOTS AND COOPERATING FASTENER ELEMENTS SLIDABLY MOUNTED IN SAID SLOTS AND INTO WHICH SAID PROJECTING FASTENER ELEMENTS ARE DETACHABLY MOUNTED, SAID LATERAL SLOTS MAKING IT POSSIBLE FOR THE ADAPTER BAND TO FIT DIFFERENT HELMENTS WHERE THE SPACING OF SAID PROJECTING FASTENER ELEMENTS MAY VARY; (D) ADDITIONAL FASTENER ELEMENTS MOUNTED TO THE EXTREMITIES OF SAID BAND; (E) A CURVED ELONGATED VISOR WHICH EXTENDS TO THE SIDES