AU718710B2 - U.V. protection cover for helmets - Google Patents

Description

P/00/011 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 S

ORIGINAL

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Invention Title: PROTECTION COVER FOR HELMETS" The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: 2 FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention is concerned with improvements in protective helmets and to a means for providing sun protection for helmet wearers.

Particularly, although not exclusively, this invention is concerned with sun protection for wearers of equestrian riding helmets and safety helmets.

BACKGROUND ART Helmets including safety helmets are now an accepted necessity in many forms of recreation and employment. With increasing use of S: 10 helmets, manufacturers have turned to materials of suitable protective capacity and light construction to produce modern helmets which are a lightweight and easily worn. Helmets designed for use in such pursuits as cycling, skateboarding, roller blading and rock climbing have also been presented with a fashionable and attractive appearance to appeal to potential purchasers.

Use of helmets has been further promoted by legislation in some jurisdictions which makes compulsory the wearing of protective headgear while engaged in certain activities such as cycling on public roads.

Industrial codes have long dictated the use of appropriate headgear in working environments in which there is a risk of head injury from work related activities. The prevalence of personal injuries claims in negligence has also placed pressure on sporting organisations to introduce rules of competition requiring suitable protective gear in organised activities such as roller blading, skateboarding and equestrian events.

The design of helmets has typically been such that they are produced with the minimum weight compatible with effective head protection. As a result, helmet manufacturers have concentrated on protection of the head from impact with little or no emphasis on shade protection of the wearers exposed skin around the face, ears and neck.

Usually, a typical helmet will have little or no brim other than perhaps a peak at the front of the helmet. These comments clearly do not apply to helmets of a type similar to a full motor cycle helmet. The present 10 invention is directed to those helmets which leave substantial parts of the wearers face, ears and neck exposed to the sun's rays.

*aaa.: The public is becoming increasingly aware of the incidence of o* oo.9 harmful effects of solar radiation on the human skin. The occurrence of pathological skin diseases such as melanomas, basal cell carcinomas, 9*a*9a squamous cell carcinomas and allied dermatoses is cause for considerable alarm. Recognition is also being given to other changes which are non-pathological but aesthetically significant such as accelerated skin ageing which is caused or aggravated by solar exposure.

Provision of adequate shade by appropriate head cover is an effective preventative of or limitation on many of the adverse changes caused by chronic solar irradiation of a persons head and neck.

The needs of wearers of helmets in sunlight may be well met by a single head cover or combination of components of head covering gear which provide adequate protection from impact while at the same time providing suitable shade protection of the head and neck region. Ideally, such head cover should also be fashionable enough to be readily accepted by its target market. This latter consideration is particularly important in light of the fact that many sports requiring head protection are predominantly performed by youthful participants for whom considerations of fashion may be significant.

Various methods have been tried in an attempt to provide 3600 shade protection around the wearers head. However, these previous *10 methods have not been completely successful due to a failure to provide adequate shade or a failure to provide an acceptable fashionable style or due to inconvenience in use or due to any combination of these deficiencies.

Helmets have been produced with peaks at the front. These 15 helmets however only serve to shade the face. They are even limited in their ability to protect the wearers face when the sun is directly overhead.

At any time, such a helmet leaves the wearers neck, lower face, sides of face and ears exposed to sunlight and its component ultra violet radiation.

Legionnaire style caps have been developed which can be worn over or under a helmet. Such a cap again offers a peak for the front of the face and also a neck drape. As previously described, the peak does not offer protection to the ears or sides of the face. A neck drape is susceptible to movement by wind resulting in the back of the neck being exposed to sunlight. A further problem with caps of this style is that they tend to be particularly unattractive.

Another variation occurred with the development of a detachable brim made of cloth or other material with a foam insert. This detachable brim is an oval shape with a hole in the middle into which a helmet is inserted. The brim is then attached to the bottom of the helmet's outer shell. The brim is completely flat with no style or appealing shape. The brim tends to be small and therefore not in proportion to the bulk of the helmet and due to its lack of size is deficient in the amount of shade it S: 10 provides. If a brim were to be constructed in proportion with the helmet, it would be too heavy and bulky to attach to the restricted site provided by the bottom edge of a helmet. Due to its design being intended to provide a single brim for various sizes and styles of helmet, this style of brim is not an exact fit when attached to any helmet and suffers from instability in its 15 attachment to a helmet. As this style of brim may require cleaning, the effect of any laundering may be such as to distort the shape and even possibly render the brim unusable due to obstruction of the vision of the wearer. Such a style of brim has been found to be generally poorly accepted by the market to which the product is directed.

While it has been proposed to provide a riding helmet or safety helmet with a detachable brim portion or a large crowned brimmed hat which attaches over the helmet, such proposals are singularly unattractive.

6 In particular, earlier proposals for a brimmed hat attachment necessitated a disproportionately large crown portion to accommodate the crown of the helmet. In order to impart some sense of style to the hat, the crown portion was formed as a cylindrical shape with an indented top portion. When fitted over a generally hemispherical helmet, the crown portion looked disproportionally tall. Attempts were made to improve the appearance by placing a crown crease in the top of the crown. However any improvement in appearance was more than offset by the detriment of the extra height required to allow insertion of the crown crease.

The disproportionate shape was further accentuated by the fact that the brim of the hat was often positioned about 25mm above the lower edge of the helmet crown in order to be positioned above the wearers ears or alternatively was positioned so that it partially occluded the ear recesses in a helmet.

is OBJECT OF THE INVENTION It is an aim of the present invention to overcome or alleviate at least some of the disadvantages of prior art sun protection systems for helmet wearers while at the same time providing a stylish reasonably proportioned appearance of a brimmed hat.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a protective cover for a helmet which cover comprises: a crown for attachment over the helmet; a brim; a crown crease substantially in a plane that intersects angularly with an upright central axis of the crown wherein said crown crease has an upper fold and a lower fold and the folds are located intermediate the brim and a highest point of the crown.

10 In a preferred embodiment the crown crease does not completely 0 encircle the crown.

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In a further preferred embodiment, the folds of the crown crease are tapered convergently in a direction towards terminal points on opposite sides of the crown.

15 In a further aspect of the invention, the brim and an adjoining lower portion of the crown have ear recesses located on opposite sides of the crown. The ear recesses may extend upwardly from the plane of the brim or outwardly of the brim.

In a further aspect of the invention, the region between the crown and the brim is arcuate.

In a further aspect of the invention, the rearward portion of the crown is shaped to complement a corresponding portion of the helmet to which it is to be attached.

8 In a further aspect of the invention, the protective cover has attachment means for attachment to a helmet which attachment means may include one or more of the types of attachment means known as stud clips, self adhesive velcro, suction cups or a tail of material attached to the brimmed hat attachment and which, in use, is tucked inside the helmet between a wearers head and the helmet.

In a further aspect the invention resides in a protective cover for a helmet where the cover comprises: a crown for attachment over the helmet; *i 10 a brim; ear recesses located on opposite sides of the crown and situated on the brim and an adjoining lower portion of the crown.

BRIEF DETAILS OF THE DRAWINGS 0oo..: 0 15 FIG 1 is a front isometric view of one embodiment of the protective cover of the invention; FIG 2 is a rear isometric view of the embodiment.

FIG 3 is a side view slightly tilted, of the embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Referring to Figures 1 and 2, a protective cover 1 is shown comprising a brim 2 and crown 3. The crown has an upright central axis 4.

The protective cover 1 may be of any suitable material such as felt, cotton, nylon, canvas or other materials.

A crown crease 5 has an upper fold 6 and a lower fold 7. The crown crease commences at a terminal point 8a on the side 9a of the crown 3 and runs in a curved fashion to the front 10 of the crown 3 and continues to the opposite side 9b before terminating at a terminal point 8b. The folds 6, 7, of the crown crease 5 are tapered convergently as they run from the front 10 of the crown 3 toward the back 12 of the crown 3.

The crown crease 5 lies substantially in a plane that intersects the upright V central axis 4 angularly and is located intermediate a highest point 13 of 0 the crown 3 and the brim 2.

The effect of the crown crease 5 being located as described is to break the high front 10 of the crown 3 and thereby create an impression a that the protective cover 1 is lower, more proportioned and more stylish than if the crown crease 5 was on top of the protective cover 1.

A rearward portion 14 of the crown 3 is shaped in a curved fashion so as to correspond with the shape of a helmet (not shown) to which the protective cover 1 is to be attached. With matching contours between a helmet and the rearward portion 14, the protective cover 1 is better able to minimise wasted space between the protective cover 1 and the helmet.

The relevant dimensions of the crown 3 can then be decreased to a minimum. The described feature also creates a stylish line to the protective cover 1 especially when compared to prior art helmet covers which were made with cylindrical shaped crowns with steep high sides and a top section applied only when the height of the crown of the cover was substantially greater than that of the crown of a helmet.

The region 16 between the bottom portion 15 of the crown 3 and the brim 2 describes a curve. This feature further breaks the severity of s the angle between the crown 3 and the brim 2 and creates an impression of less height in the crown 3.

The brim 2 has two ear recesses 17a and 17b located on areas of the brim 2 that correspond approximately with ear recesses on a helmet (not shown) to which the protective cover 1 is to be attached or 10 alternatively said ear recesses 17a and 17b are located on areas of the brim 2 that correspond approximately with the location of a wearers ears.

The ear recesses 17a and 17b are defined by curves in the brim 2 and bottom portion 15 of the crown 3 which curve upward towards the highest point 13 of the crown 3. The ear recesses 17a and 17b also extend away .CSCe6 from the central axis 4 towards the edge 18 of the brim 2. The presence of the ear recesses 17a, 17b allows the protective cover 1 to be applied so that it sits lower on a helmet and thereby creates an impression of proper integration and proportion with a wearer as opposed to appearing to sit too high on the wearer's head. Alternatively when positioned lower on a helmet, the protective cover will not obstruct ear recesses which may be a feature of the helmet.

Figure 3 is a side view slightly tilted of the protective cover 1.

Figure 3 also illustrates the ear recesses 17a and 17b as seen from 11 below the protective cover 1.

It is readily apparent to a skilled addressee that the preferred embodiment can be readily modified to alternative embodiments of the invention. For example, ear recesses may extend upwardly from the plane of the brim or they may extend outwardly from the crown.

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Claims (10)

1. A protective cover for a helmet, said cover comprising: a crown for attachment over the helmet; a brim; a crown crease substantially in a plane that intersects angularly with an upright central axis of the crown and wherein said crown crease has an upper fold and a lower fold and the folds are located intermediate the brim and a highest point of the crown.

2. The protective cover of claim 1 wherein the crown crease does not completely encircle the crown.

3. The protective cover of claim 2 wherein the folds of the crown crease taper convergently in a direction towards terminal points on opposite sides of the crown.

4. The protective cover as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the 15 brim and an adjoining lower portion of the crown have ear recesses located on opposite sides of the crown.

5. The protective cover as claimed in claim 4 wherein the ear recesses extend upwardly from the plane of the brim.

6. The protective cover as claimed in claim 4 wherein the ear recesses extend outwardly of the crown.

7. The protective cover as claimed in claim 4 wherein a region between the crown and the brim is arcuate.

8. The protective cover as claimed in any previous claim wherein the i, 13 rearward portion of the crown is shaped to complement a corresponding portion of the helmet to which it is attached.

9. The protective cover of any preceding claim including attachment means for attachment to a helmet.

10. A brimmed hat attachment means substantially as described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings. DATED this Twenty-ninth day of November 1999 COUNTRY SAFE PTY LTD By their Patent Attorney FISHER ADAMS KELLY *oo 0* o• go*g o* o*o*