AU2002100570A4

AU2002100570A4 - A face guard

Info

Publication number: AU2002100570A4
Application number: AU2002100570A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Amit Desai
Original assignee: GRAY NICOLLS AUST Pty Ltd
Current assignee: GRAY-NICOLLS (AUST) Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2002-07-17
Filing date: 2002-07-17
Publication date: 2002-11-21
Anticipated expiration: 2010-07-17
Also published as: AU2002100570A8

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION INNOVATION PATENT Applicant GRAY-NICOLLS (AUST) PTY LTD Invention Title: A FACE GUARD The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us: 2 A FACE GUARD This invention relates to a face guard in particular for use with sporting helmets.

In the sport of cricket protective helmets are generally worn by batsman and occasionally fielders to protect the wearer's head from injury caused by ball contact. Most helmets traditionally include a protective face guard that is detachably secured to the helmet.

These face guardS usually comprise a wire frame that extends across the face of the user to protect the users face from direct contact. The frame is usually in an open latticework construction to provide as much viewing capacity as possible. Cricket is a sport that requires considerable hand to eye coordination and thus it is very important that helmets and protective face guards do not impede the vision of the batsman. Cricket is also a sport in which the batsman traditionally stand side on to the bowler, which means that particular care has to be taken to reinforce the side of the helmet, particularly below the level of the helmet in the ear, cheek and temple regions of the user.

Conventional metal protective face guards are cumbersome and heavy.

It is these issues that have brought about the present invention.

According to the present invention there is provided a face guard for a helmet comprising side panels adapted to be secured to the helmet and a grille secured to and across the side panels, the grille overlapping the side panels at the points of attachment, whereby the side panels and grille are moulded in plastics.

H \MCooper\Keep\Speci\A FACE GUARD.doc 16/07/02 3 In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a face guard for a helmet comprising side panels and a grille interconnecting the side panels whereby the side panels and grille are moulded in plastics.

The plastics is preferably polycarbonate.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a cricket helmet incorporating a face guard of the subject application, Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the face guard, Figure 3 is a front elevational view of the face guard, and Figure 4 is a plan view of the face guard.

As shown in Figure i, a cricket helmet comprises a protective head cover 11 having sides 13, 14 and a forwardly pointing peak 12. A face guard 20 is adapted to be secured to the sides of 13, 14 of the helmet.

The face guard 20 of the subject application is moulded in polycarbonate and comprises three major components, namely a front grille 21, and side panels 22 and 23 that act as ear/temple guards. Each side panel has a substantially rectangular mounting flange 25 that merges with a downwardly extending side plate 26 that terminates at the lower end in a pair of captive threaded nuts 8, 9.

The mounting flange 25 is slightly curved to assume the profile of the helmet and includes a pair of elongate slots 27, 28 spaced from mounting holes 29, 30 and 31.

The mounting holes are spaced in an array of pairs as H \MCooper\Keep\Speci\A FACE GUARD.doc 16/07/02 4 shown in Figure 1 to facilitate attachment of the side panels to helmets of differing sizes. The array of holes also allow the user to vary the distance of the guard from the face to improve comfort and visibility. Also as shown in Figure i, a pair of screws are adapted to locate through the slots 27, 28 and holes 29, 30 or 31 to screw into threaded recesses in each side 13 and 14 of the helmet 11. In this way the face guard 20 can be detachably secured to the helmet The grille 21 comprises a latticework of plastics members curved to be semi-circular in cross-section to extend from one side panel to another across the face of the user. The degree of curvature is shown with particular reference to the plan view of Figure 4. The latticework members comprise four transverse ribs 35, 36, 37, and 38 interconnected by substantially vertically extending cross members 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 and 45. As shown with particular reference to Figure 3, the arrangement of the transverse ribs 35-38 and cross members 40-44 provides a number of fairly large voids that ensure good visibility through the face guard. The framework of the grille is also translucent plastics which again improves the overall visibility.

The edges 47 and 48 of the grille are provided with a pair of apertures (not shown) that accommodate threaded inserts that locate in the captive nuts 8, 9 in the side panels 22, 23 to bolt the side panels to the grille 21. As shown in Figure i, the bolted construction is then covered by a foam plastics cover 52 that is bonded to the assembly on each side. It should also be noted from Figures 2 to 4 that the base of the side panels 22, 23 overlaps the ends of the grille 47, 48 to provide a double walled assembly as the sides of the face guard which is adjacent the temple of the user of the helmet.

Thus, the strongest component of the face guard is at the H:\MCooper\Keep\Speci\A FACE GUARD.doc 16/07/02 5 area where the greatest harm or injury could be inflicted on the wearer of the helmet.

As shown in Figure 2, when the helmet 10 is viewed from the side it can be seen that the side panels and grille form a C-shaped gap 50 of rectangular crosssections between the mounting flange of the side panel and the top surface of the grille. This gap 50 provides an improved viewing area from the front and the sides and again improves the visibility of the user.

The face guard 20 is in three components to ensure that the strongest bolted area between the side panels 22, 23 and the grille 21 is at the temple region.

It is considered that a single component face guard with integral grille and side panels would be too flexible and too likely to shatter on impact by a cricket bat.

The foam plastics covers 52 that cover the mounting points of the side panels and the grille are provided both to protect the user from contact with the fasteners and to provide a slightly cushioned abutment zone but also to deter tampering with the assembly by discouraging users to loosen, undo or tamper with the fasteners that hold the side panels 22, 23 to the grille 21.

The plastics face guard is considered light and versatile but sufficiently strong to protect the user whilst not impeding visibility.

H :\MCooper\Keep\Speci\A FACE GUARD.doC 16/07/02

Claims

1. A protective face guard for a helmet comprising side panels and a grille interconnecting the side panels whereby the side panels and grille are moulded in plastics.

2. The face guard according to claim 1 wherein the grille extends across the side panels and overlaps the side panels at the points of attachment.

3. The face guard according to either claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the side panels are adapted to be secured to the helmet and the grille is bolted to the side panels.

4. The face guard according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the grille projects forwardly of the side panels at a level below the side panels whereby there is a C-shaped gap between the side panels and the grille to improve visibility.

The face guard according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the grille and side panels are moulded in translucent polycarbonate.

6. A cricket helmet having a face guard according to any one of the preceding claims detachable secured thereto. Dated this 17 th day of July 2002 GRAY-NICOLLS (AUST) PTY LTD By their Patent Attorneys GRIFFITH HACK Fellows Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys of Australia \\melb_files\home$\MCooper\Keep\Speci\A FACE GUARD.doc 17/07/02