CA2124780A1 - Remote control helmet visor - Google Patents

Remote control helmet visor

Info

Publication number
CA2124780A1
CA2124780A1 CA 2124780 CA2124780A CA2124780A1 CA 2124780 A1 CA2124780 A1 CA 2124780A1 CA 2124780 CA2124780 CA 2124780 CA 2124780 A CA2124780 A CA 2124780A CA 2124780 A1 CA2124780 A1 CA 2124780A1
Authority
CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
motor
visor
helmet
helmet according
open
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Abandoned
Application number
CA 2124780
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Evan W. Fisk
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Individual
Original Assignee
Individual
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Individual filed Critical Individual
Priority to CA 2124780 priority Critical patent/CA2124780A1/en
Publication of CA2124780A1 publication Critical patent/CA2124780A1/en
Abandoned legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A42HEADWEAR
    • A42BHATS; HEAD COVERINGS
    • A42B3/00Helmets; Helmet covers ; Other protective head coverings
    • A42B3/04Parts, details or accessories of helmets
    • A42B3/18Face protection devices
    • A42B3/22Visors
    • A42B3/221Attaching visors to helmet shells, e.g. on motorcycle helmets
    • A42B3/222Attaching visors to helmet shells, e.g. on motorcycle helmets in an articulated manner, e.g. hinge devices

Landscapes

  • Helmets And Other Head Coverings (AREA)

Abstract

A protective e helmet for use by persons riding motorcycles, snowmobiles, ATV's and the like has a power operated visor. A motor is mounted on the helmet and drives the visor through an appropriate drive train. The motor is actuated through a radio control link by a transmitter mounted on the vehicle. The transmitter is in turn actuated by a rocker switch positioned on the vehicle adjacent the hand grips. Mechanisms are provided for disengaging the motor and engaging a click stop mechanism for manual operation of the visor.

Description

212478~

REMOTE CONTROL HELMET V~SOR
The present invention relates to l~rotecti~e helmets of the type used by persons riding on motorcycles, snowmobiles, all terrain vehicles and the like. The invention relates more particularly to a helmet of this type having a power operated visor.
Motorcycle and the like helmets are frequently equipped with visors that open and close over at least part of the face of a wearer. Opening and closing the visor while in motion involves the release of one hand from the vehicle steering and other controls. This is not recommended practice. The present invention proposes a power operated visor that can be operat~ed without rele~ing the vehicle controls.
According to the present invention there is provided a protective helmet having a visor mounted on the helmet for movement between an open position for exposing at least part of the face of a wearer of the helmet and a closed position extending across the face of a wearer, and a visor opel~ting system comprising:
motor means mounted on the helmet and engaged with the visor for moving the visor between the open and closed positions;
motor ~ctu~ting means adapted to be mounted at a position remote from the helmet for selective manual actuation, the motor ~ctu~ting means generating motor control signals in response to manual actuation thereof; and comml~niç~tion means communicating between the motor ac~ting means and the motor means for lr~n~ g the motor control signals from the motor actl-~ting means to the motor means for operating the motor.
Preferably, the motor ~hl~ting means is a radio frequency tr~n~miner mounted on the vehicle and controlled by a readily ~cces~ihle switch, for example on the handlebars. A receiver in the helmet receives the signals tr~nsmitted and causes the motor 212~7g~

to raise or lower the visor according to the signal received.
It is prerelled to include a manual override so that the visor can be operated by hand when necessary. This may include a mechanism for di~ngaginP the motor and eng~inp a m~ch~ni~ t, preferably in the form of a click stop mech~nism. Anescape m~ch~ni~m for relP~cing the drive train when excessive force is applied to the visor may also be included.
In the accolllpanying drawings, which illustrate an exemplary embodiment of the present invention:
Figure 1 is a front view of a helmet according to the present invention;
Figure 2 is a side view of the helmet;
Figure 3 is a right side view of the helmet with the right side cowling removed;
Figure 4 is a view along line 4-4 of Figure 3;
Figure S is a view along line 5-5 of Figure 4;
Figure 6, on the same sheet as Figure 3, is a left side view of the helmet with the cowling removed;
Figure 7 is an electrical sc~ em~tic of the vehicle mounted electrical system;
and Figure 8 is an electrical schem~tic of the helmet mounted electrical system.
Referring to the accompanying drawings, there is illustrated a helmet 10 having a hard helmet shell 12 lined with shock absorbing m~t~ri~l in the usual way. The helmet has a face opening 13 on the front side that may be closed by a transparent visor 14. The visor is mounted on the helmet for pivotal movement between a closed position shown in solid line in Figure 2 and the open position shown in broken line in that Figure.

The helmet is equipped with a right side cowling 16 and a left side cowling 18 mounted externally on the helmet and enclosing the components of an operating system for controlling movement of the visor.
On the bottom of the right side cowling is an on-off toggle switch 20 for the visor operating me~h~ni~m. Imm~li~te1y in front of the toggle switch is a pilot light 22 that is illumin~ted when the operating mech~nism is on. Imme~ t~1y in front of the pilot light is a motor release lever 24. This lever is mounted on the helmet, as will be described more fully in the following, and projects through a slot (not shown) in the cowling 16.
On the left side of the helmet, a manual visor l~llaint lever 26 projects through a slot in the bottom of the cowling 18 as will be described more fully in the following.
Referring to Figures 3, 4 and 5, the right side of the visor 14 has a lug 28 at the upper rear corner that extends over a circular boss 30 (Figure 4) on the side of the helmet. A pivot shaft 32 projects from the boss through a hub 34 fixed to the visor lug 28.
On the outer side of the hub is a spur gear 38. This meshes with a smaller pinion 40 below the gear 38. The pinion is mounted co-axially with a bevel gear 42 on a slide 44. The slide also carries a motor 46 driving a second bevel gear 48, meshing with the bevel gear 42. The motor is a small servo type motor modified to rotate continuously in both directions. The motor has an integral shut off system for shutting off the motor when the driven element, in this case the visor, reaches the end of its travel.
The slider 44 is mounted on a slide base 50 fixed to the side of the helmet below the visor pivot 42. This slide base includes a channel S2 that receives a rail 54 mounted on the slide 44 so that the motor and the drive train con~i~ting of bevel gears 48 and 42 and pinion 40 slide up and down towards and away from the gear 38 to cause engagement and di~eng~gement of the gears 40 and 38.
At the bottom of the slide base 50 is a flange 56 that projects outwardly below the slide 44 and motor 46. A rod 58 projecting downwardly from the motor extends through a bore 60 in this flange. A spring 62 surrounding the rod 58 is compressed between the motor 46 and flange 56 to bias the slide and the components carried on it upwardly from the flange 56, thus urging the gears 38 and 40 into engagement.
A tension link 64 is connected to the slide 44 and extends downwardly to an arm 66 projecting from a rotary shaft 68. The shaft carries the release lever 24. A spring clip 72 acts as a retainer for the lever 24 to hold the lever, the slide, the motor and the drive train in a released position with the gear 40 out of engagement with the gear 38, against the force of the spring 62.
Mounted on the side of the helmet imm~liatP.Iy behind the slide base 50 is a radio fre~uency receiver 74. This receiver is of the type used in radio controlled model aircraft. It is intended to receive a coded signal from a tr~n~mitter, to decode the signal and to produce motor control signals for driving the motor 46.
As illustrated in Figure 6, on the left side of the helmet the visor 14 has a visor lug 75 collt;sponding to the lug 28 on the right hand side. The lug is pivotally mounted on a pivot shaft 76 co-axial with the pivot shaft 42 on the opposite side. A
toothed disc 78 is secured to the lug to rotate with it. Tmm~i~tP1y below the toothed disc is a brake block 80 with a convex upper surface 81 formed with teeth 82. The teeth 82 engage the teeth on the disc 78 to retain the visor in position. The brake block 80 is fixed to the end of a rod 84 that slides in a bore in a mounting block 86 fixed to the side of the helmet below the brake block 80. Two coil springs 88 extend between the mounting block 86 and the brake block 80 to bias the brake block 80 upwardly into engagement with the 21247~
_ 5 disc 78.
A lower end of the rod 84 is connected eccentrically to a disc 90 rotatable on a shaft 92 fixed to the helmet. The disc 90 also carries a boss 94 that serves as an actuator for a micro switch 96. The re~iner lever 26 is fa~tene~ to the disc 90 so that as the lever is moved backwards and forwards it will either pull down on the rod 84, rel~ing the brake block 80 from the disc 78, or release the brake block to move upwardly under the influence of springs 88. In the released position, when the springs are coll-plessed, the lever 26 engages a spring clip 97 to hold the components in this released condition.
Mounted on the side of the helmet imm~Ai~t~ly behind the brake block 80 and mounting block 86 is a battery pack 98 .
Figure 7 is an electrical schematic of a part of the system that is mounted on the vehicle to be ridden. The vehicle has a battery 100 with a negative ground and a horn circuit 102 connected to the positive battery terminal. The present system is tapped off the horn circuit. It includes a voltage regulator 104 that provides a regulated voltage to an encoder circuit 106. Three lines 108, 110 and 112 lead from the encoder circuit to a single pull double throw switch 114. This is preferably a rocker switch with a neutral position in which neither of the switch contacts is closed. Line 108 is a power line leading to the pole of the switch. The line 110 delivers an "up" signal to the encoder 106 when the switch is closed to deliver power to that line. Similarly, line 112 delivers a "down" signal to the encoder 108 when the switch is closed to deliver power to line 112.
The encoder delivers encoded up and down signals to a tr~nsmitt~r 116 which tr~n~mit~ the signals locally using an ~ntenn~ 120. This entire system is mounted on the vehicle, e.g. a motorcycle, with the switch 114 ~dj~,ent one of the hand grips so that it can be thumb oper~ted without rele~ing the hand grip. Apart from the physical mounting of the components, the only interconnection to the vehicle system is the connection of the positive lead of the regulator to battery power, and the grounding of the regulator.
The cil~;uilly of the helmet mounted system is illustrated in Figure 8. The battery 122 is carried by the battery pack 98 on the left hand side. The negative terminal of the battery is connected to a ground line 124, which is in turn connected to the pilot light 22 and the receiver 74. The positive terminal of the battery 122 is connected through the on/off toggle switch 20 to the pilot light 22 so that when the switch is closed the light will be on. In series with the on/off switch 20 is the microswitch 96 which in turn delivers power to the receiver 74. The receiver is electrically connected to the motor 96 to drive the motor in opposite directions according to the signals received from the tr~nsmitter.
The micro~ilch 96 is closed when the brake block 80 is released from the toothed disc 78 to allow normal operation of the motor. When the brake block is engaged, the power to the receiver is shut off so that the motor will not operate against the brake.
Returning to Figures 3 and 4, these drawings illustrate the normal drive condition of the motor drive train. Moving the lever 24 draws the motor and drive train away from the gear 38 to di~ng~ge the drive. This leaves the visor free to pivot up and down. To prevent unwanted free movement of the visor, the lever 26 is pushed to the rear to engage the brake block 80 with the toothed disc 82. This provides a click stop type of r~ ~nt on the movement of the visor, with the teeth of disc 82 c~mming the teeth of the brake block downwardly so that the visor can be placed in a partially open position if desired.
With the brake block 80 diseng~ged and the gears 38 and 40 engaged, excessive force on the visor tending to either open or close the visor with the motor inactive will cause the teeth of the gear 38 to cam over the teeth of pinion 40, displacing the gear 40 and the slide 44 downwardly against the spring 62. The gears then act as a ratchet clutch providing an override or release function to prevent damage to the motor and drive train when the visor is raised or lowered manually while the drive train is engaged.
As will be observed from the foregoing, the remote mode of operation of the helmet visor requires that both of the levers 24 and 26 are in the folwar~ position. For manual operation, both levers are in the rear position, ~1i~ng~ging the motor and eng~ging the manual latch mechanism.
While one embodiment of the present invention has been described foregoing, it is to be understood that other embo liment~ are possible within the scope of the invention, which is to be ascertained solely by reference to the appended claims.

Claims (11)

1. A protective helmet having a visor mounted on the helmet for movementbetween an open position for exposing at least part of the face of a wearer of the helmet and a closed position extending across the face of a wearer, and a visor operating system comprising:
motor means mounted on the helmet and engaged with the visor for moving the visor between the open and closed positions;
motor actuating means adapted to be mounted at a position remote from the helmet for selective manual actuation, the motor actuating means generating motor control signals in response to manual actuation thereof; and communication means communicating between the motor actuating means and the motor means for transmitting the motor control signals from the motor actuating means to the motor means for operating the motor.
2. A helmet according to Claim 1 wherein the motor actuating means comprise actuator mounting means for mounting the actuating means on a vehicle for operation by a vehicle operator.
3. A helmet according to Claim 2 wherein the actuator mounting means comprise means for mounting the motor actuating means on vehicle handle bars.
4. A helmet according to Claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein the communication meanscomprise a radio frequency transmitter mounted on the vehicle and responsive to operation of the motor actuating means for selectively transmitting visor open and visor close radio signals, and a radio frequency receiver mounted on the helmet for receiving the visor open and visor close radio signals and for controlling the motor to open and close the visor respectively in response to the radio signals.
5. A helmet according to any one of Claims 1 through 4 including means for disengaging the motor from the visor.
6. A helmet according to Claim 5 including visor restraining means engageable between the helmet and visor for restraining the visor against free movement between the open and close positions.
7. A helmet according to Claim 6 wherein the restraining means comprise a brake.
8. A helmet according to Claim 1 including a drive train coupling the motor to the visor, the drive train including force limiting means releasable to disengage the drive train in response to the exertion of a predetermined force upon the visor.
9. A helmet according Claim 8 wherein the force limiting means comprise resilient means biasing two gears in the drive train into engagement.
10. A helmet according to any one of Claims 1 through 9 wherein the motor is a reversible electric motor.
11. A helmet according to Claim 10 wherein the motor includes shut off means responsive to the visor reaching the open or closed position thereof for shutting off the motor.
CA 2124780 1994-05-31 1994-05-31 Remote control helmet visor Abandoned CA2124780A1 (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA 2124780 CA2124780A1 (en) 1994-05-31 1994-05-31 Remote control helmet visor

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA 2124780 CA2124780A1 (en) 1994-05-31 1994-05-31 Remote control helmet visor

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA2124780A1 true CA2124780A1 (en) 1995-12-01

Family

ID=4153709

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA 2124780 Abandoned CA2124780A1 (en) 1994-05-31 1994-05-31 Remote control helmet visor

Country Status (1)

Country Link
CA (1) CA2124780A1 (en)

Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US7080414B1 (en) 2003-11-26 2006-07-25 Montero Fabian Motorcycle helmet windshield control system and method
CN107322642A (en) * 2017-08-16 2017-11-07 南京六朝光电科技有限公司 A kind of mask drive device, mask and robot
US20180027916A1 (en) * 2016-07-29 2018-02-01 Ioan Smallwood Helmet
WO2020002742A1 (en) * 2018-06-29 2020-01-02 Luis Enrique Davila Hurtado Modular motorised helmet with remote-control device
US11134729B1 (en) * 2020-12-21 2021-10-05 University Of Puerto Rico Apparatus for safe eating and drinking in public during airborne contamination

Cited By (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US7080414B1 (en) 2003-11-26 2006-07-25 Montero Fabian Motorcycle helmet windshield control system and method
US7086096B1 (en) * 2003-11-26 2006-08-08 Montero Fabian Motorcycle helmet windshield control system and method
US20180027916A1 (en) * 2016-07-29 2018-02-01 Ioan Smallwood Helmet
US10842217B2 (en) * 2016-07-29 2020-11-24 Ioan Smallwood Helmet
CN107322642A (en) * 2017-08-16 2017-11-07 南京六朝光电科技有限公司 A kind of mask drive device, mask and robot
WO2020002742A1 (en) * 2018-06-29 2020-01-02 Luis Enrique Davila Hurtado Modular motorised helmet with remote-control device
US11134729B1 (en) * 2020-12-21 2021-10-05 University Of Puerto Rico Apparatus for safe eating and drinking in public during airborne contamination

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Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
FZDE Dead