EP0477608B1

EP0477608B1 - Simplified dual visor operating mechanism

Info

Publication number: EP0477608B1
Application number: EP19910114872
Authority: EP
Inventors: George D. Hedges; Francis J. Kuna
Original assignee: Gentex Corp
Current assignee: Gentex Corp
Priority date: 1990-09-26
Filing date: 1991-09-03
Publication date: 1994-11-30
Anticipated expiration: 2011-09-03
Also published as: CA2050671C; EP0477608A1; DE69105434T2; CA2050671A1; DE69105434D1

Description

The present invention relates to a helmet and visor assembly including in combination a helmet shell, a first arbor secured to said shell at one side thereof, a second arbor secured to said shell at the opposite side thereof, a visor mounted on said arbors for movement between operative and inoperative positions, securing means for securing said visor to an associated arbor and manually operable releasing means for releasing said securing means and thereby moving said visor between said positions.
A helmet and visor assembly of this general type is known from GB-A-2 172 193. According to this document the securing means include two axially extending grooves in the associated arbor corresponding to the operative and inoperative position of the visor, respectively, for cooperation with a detent forming an element of a spring loaded slidable portion forming said manually operable releasing means and provided in an actuating arm attached to said visor.
Further, EP-A-0 270 368 discloses a helmet and visor assembly with twin visors movable between inoperative (raised) and operative (lowered) positions having a locking mechanism for each visor which automatically locks the visor in the raised or lowered position. A manually operable lever is provided for releasing the locking mechanism and then moving the visor from one to the other of its raised and lowered positions. Each locking mechanism of the known assembly comprises a cam plate fixed to the helmet shell and two pawls carried by the visor arm and spring biased to engage the cam to lock the visor in its respective positions.
Generally, there are known in the prior art protective helmets and the like which are provided with inner and outer visors which can selectively be moved from an inoperative position to a position in front of the wearer's eyes. Generally, one of the two visors is clear while the other is tinted. Various mechanisms are known for mounting the visors for movement between operative and inoperative positions and for actuating the visors between the two positions. Most of these mechanisms involve the use of tracks mounted on the helmet body, together with individual operating mechanisms for moving the inner and outer visors. Most of the mechanisms also are provided with means for adjusting the visor to intermediate positions in steps.
US-A-3,636,565 shows still another form of dual visor assembly in which opposite arms of tile respective visors have noncircular openings receiving respective noncircular shafts on opposite sides of the helmet shell. The other visor arms have circular openings receiving the noncircular shafts. Respective positive locking means associated with the shafts are adapted to be released by pushbuttons to permit the shafts to be turned by knobs.
While mechanisms of the type described above are generally satisfactory, they are relatively complicated and bulky. Owing to their complexity, the mechanisms also are relatively expensive to manufacture.
It is the object of this invention is to provide a dual visor operating mechanism which is simpler than are dual visor operating mechanisms of the prior art.
This object according to the present invention is accomplished by means of a helmet and with an assembly of the type indicated at the outset and being characterized in that said securing means comprises clamping means which comprises a C-ring coupled by coupling means to said visor, said C-ring being mounted on said associated arbor for clamping said visor to said associated arbor with a predetermined force and for rotary movement therewith around said associated arbor when released by said releasing means.
It is an advantage of this invention that it provides a dual visor operating mechanism which is compact.
It is a further advantage of this invention that it provides a dual visor operating mechanism which is less expensive to construct than are dual visor operating mechanisms of the prior art.
It is yet another advantage of this invention that it provides a dual visor operating mechanism which affords infinite adjustment of the individual visors and requires no further action on the part of the user to lock either visor in its position.
It is still another advantage of this invention that it provides a dual visor operating mechanism which affords an adjustable, pre-settable down-stop for either visor.
Other and further advantages of this invention will appear from the following description.
In the accompanying drawings to which reference is made in the instant specification and which are to be read in conjunction therewith and in which like reference characters are used to indicate like parts in the various views:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a helmet provided with our dual visor operating mechanism.
FIG. 2 is a horizontal section of the helmet shown in FIG. 1 looking up into the helmet.
FIG. 3 is a section with parts removed of the operating mechanism of one of the visors in the form of our invention shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 4 is a section with parts removed of the visor operating mechanism of one of the visors mounted on the helmet illustrated in FIG. 1.
FIG. 5 is a section of a modified form of a part of the operating mechanism illustrated in FIG. 4.
FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view illustrating the mode of operation of our dual visor operating mechanism.
FIG. 7 is a fragmentary view illustrating an adjustment provided by our dual visor operating mechanism.

Description of the Preferred Embodiment

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, a protective helmet indicated generally by the reference character 10 which may be provided with our dual visor operating mechanism includes a hard shell 12 carrying respective inner and outer visors 14 and 16 adapted to be moved between inoperative positions and operative positions in front of the wearer's eyes in a manner to be described hereinbelow.
The inner visor 14 is carried by a pair of inner visor arms 18 and 20 mounted on respective left side and right side arbors 22 and 26 secured to the sides of the shell by any suitable means such as pairs of screws 24 and 28 which prevent rotation of the arbors. As will be apparent from the description hereinbelow, the arm 18 is freely rotatable about the arbor 22 so that this arm may be termed a "coasting" arm. Further as will be apparent from the description hereinbelow, the arm 20 normally is clamped to the arbor 26 and is adapted to be released therefrom when the visor is moved so that it can be termed an "actuating" arm.
The outer visor 16 is carried by respective outer visor arms 30 and 32 supported on the arbors 22 and 26. As will be apparent from the description hereinbelow, outer visor arm 30 is an "actuating" arm while the outer visor arm 32 is a "coasting" arm.
We provide respective inner and outer visor actuating assemblies indicated generally by the respective reference characters 34 and 36. Since the actuating mechanisms 34 and 36 are substantially identical, only one of the two will be described in detail.
Referring now to FIGS. 3 and 4, the inner visor actuating arm 20 is secured to the visor 14 by any suitable means such as screws 38. We form arm 20 with a longitudinally extending slot 40 to create springiness in the flat plane of the arm.
A C-ring 42 surrounding the arbor 26 has legs 44 and 46. When the C-ring 42 is assembled on the arbor 26 its legs 44 and 46 are disposed between pre-loading pins 48 and 50 on the arm 20 on opposite sides of the slot 40 so that the ring 42 is tightly clamped to the arbor 26. The length of the slot 40 controls the spring rate of the arm and thus, in conjunction with the location of the pins 48 and 50, the level of clamping force of the pre-loading pins upon the C-ring legs. It will readily be appreciated that any attempt to rotate the arm 20 relative to the arbor 26 will be resisted by the force with which the C-ring 42 engages the arbor. Thus, the visor 14 is clamped to the arbor 26.
Referring now to FIG. 4, arbor 26 also carries an actuating ring 52 provided with an elongated slot 54. The arrangement is such that the shorter dimension of the slot 54 is approximately equal to the diameter of the arbor 26.
We provide the ring 52 with an actuating element 56 which is disposed in the space between legs 44 and 46 of C-ring 42 when the actuating ring is positioned on the arbor 26. The element 56 which is of non-circular cross-section is such that when the ring 52 shifts sideways relative to the arbor 26, it rotates about element 56 and thus causes element 56 to spread the legs 44 and 46 to release the clamping force of ring 42 on the arbor 26 to permit the arm 20 and the visor 14 to be moved. This action is illustrated in FIG. 6.
We provide ring 52 with a knurled knob 58 to facilitate turning of the ring 52 to release the clamping action of ring 42. It will readily be appreciated that the limit of movement of the ring 52 relative to the arbor 26 is equal to the distance d in FIG. 4.
The actuating element 56 may be any suitable shape which will accomplish the purpose of spreading the legs 44 and 46 upon rotation of the ring 52 relative to the arbor. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, it may be an oval actuating element 72.
It will further be appreciated that in some instances it might not be desirable to have ring 52 contact the arbor 26 at the limit of its movement. In order to avoid such an operation, the ring 52 may be formed with an elongated slot 74, as shown in FIG. 5. This slot 74 receives a tang 76 or pin on the visor arm to limit the movement of the actuating ring 52 relative to the arbor 26. It will of course be understood that sufficient clearance is provided between the hole 74 and the tang 76 that the C-ring 42 releases its grip by the time the limit position of the actuating ring is reached.
Preferably we provide the assembly with means for centering the actuating ring 52. For example, compression springs 78 and 80 may be inserted within the opening 54 between the arbor 26 and the ring 52. With this arrangement, the actuating ring is tightly held in position.
Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 7, we provide the visor actuating assembly 34 with a down-stop adjustment plate 60 attached to the arbor 26 by means of a screw 81 extending through a hole 80 of plate 60. We form plate 60 with an arcuate slot 82 carrying a fastener 85 adapted to receive one of the mounting screws 28 releasably to secure the fastener 85 in an adjusted position along the length of slot 82. We provide plate 60 with a tang 83 adapted to be engaged by the knob 58.
To make an adjustment, screws 81 and 28 are partially unscrewed to permit down-stop plate 60 to rotate. Plate 60 is then pushed rearward or clockwise as viewed in FIG. 7 to engage knob 58 with tang 83. The helmet is then donned and the wearer, by rotating the actuator knob 58 counterclockwise rotates the visor 20 and down-stop plate 60 into the desired lowest operative position. Then, screw 81 is tightened and the visor is rotated back to the inoperative position. The helmet is doffed and screw 28 is tightened, securing the down-stop adjustment plate 60 in the desired position, providing the wearer with a repeatable lowest operative position for the visor.
We provide the visor operating assembly 36 with a down-stop arrangement similar to that provided for assembly 34. A down-stop adjustment plate 86 similar to plate 60 and secured to arbor 24 by a screw 89 has a slot which carries a fastener 87 which receives a mounting screw 24. The operation of this adjustment is the same as that associated with assembly 34.
Referring again to FIG. 2, the outer visor operating mechanism 36 includes an outer visor C-ring 62 associated with another pair of pre-loading pins (not shown), an actuating ring 64 having an elongated opening 66 surrounding the arbor 22 and a knob 68. Ring 64 carries an actuator 70 disposed between the legs of the C-ring 62. The operation of the outer visor mechanism is the same as that described hereinabove in connection with the inner visor operating mechanism.
In operation of our dual visor operating mechanism, the inoperative position of the visors 14 and 16 is indicated by the dot-dash line in FIG. 1. With both visors in this position, should the wearer desire to lower the inner visor 14, he actuates knob 58 in a counterclockwise direction to cause the actuator 56 to spread the legs 44 and 46 of the ring 42 through a distance sufficient to release the ring clamping force. By continuing pressure on the knob, the visor 14 can be lowered. Release of the knob 58 causes the C-ring 42 to restore its clamping force on the arbor 26 to hold the visor in the position to which it has been moved. Mechanism 36 can be operated in a similar manner to raise or lower the outer visor 16.
It will be seen that we have accomplished the objects of our invention. We have provided a dual visor operating mechanism which is simple in construction for the results achieved thereby. Our dual visor operating mechanism is compact. It is less expensive to produce than are dual visor operating mechanisms of the prior art. Our dual visor operating mechanism permits of infinite adjustment of the inner and outer visors.
It will be understood that certain features and subcombinations are of utility and may be employed without reference to other features and subcombinations. This is contemplated by and is within the scope of our claims.

Claims

A helmet and visor assembly (10) including in combination a helmet shell (12), a first arbor (22) secured to said shell (12) at one side thereof, a second arbor (26) secured to said shell (12) at the opposite side thereof, a visor (14) mounted on said arbors (22, 26) for movement between operative and inoperative positions, securing means (42) for securing said visor (14) to an associated arbor (26) and manually operable releasing means (52, 56, 58) for releasing said securing means (42) and thereby moving said visor (14) between said positions,
characterized in that said securing means comprises clamping means which comprises a C-ring (42) coupled by coupling means (20, 40, 48, 50) to said visor (14), said C-ring (42) being mounted on said associated arbor (26) for clamping said visor (14) to said associated arbor with a predetermined force and for rotary movement therewith around said associated arbor (26) when released by said releasing means (52, 56; 58).
The assembly according to claim 1 in which said releasing means comprises an operating ring (52) having an elongated opening (54) receiving said associated arbor (26) for movement relative thereto between a home position and a releasing position and an actuator (56) carried by said ring (52).
The assembly according to claim 1 in which said C-ring (42) has a pair of legs (44, 46), said coupling means comprising a pair of spaced pre-loading pins (48, 50) on said visor (14), said C-ring legs (44, 46) being disposed between said pre-loading pins (48, 50).
The assembly according to claim 3 in which said visor (14) comprises an arm (20) having an opening for receiving said associated arbor (26), said pre-loading pins (48, 50) being disposed on said arm (20), said arm having a longitudinal slot (40) between said pins (48, 50).
The assembly according to claims 2 and 3 in which said C-ring (42) has a space between said pair of legs (44, 46) and in which said actuator (56) of said releasing means is disposed in said space.
The assembly according to claim 5 in which said actuator (56) has a first dimension greater than and a second dimension less than the space between said legs (44, 46), so as to spread said legs to release said clamping force upon rotation of said operating ring (52) carrying said actuator (56) into its releasing position.
The assembly according to claim 2 including means (74, 76) for limiting the movement of said operating ring (52) relative to said associated arbor (26).
The assembly according to claim 7 in which said movement limiting means comprises a second opening (74) in said operating ring (52) and a tang (76) on said visor (14) disposed in said second opening (74).
The assembly according to claim 7 including means (78, 80) for biasing said operating ring (52) to said neutral position.
A helmet and visor assembly (10) according to one of claims 1 to 9,
characterized in that a second visor (16) is mounted on said arbors (22, 26) for movement between operative and inoperative positions,
that securing means (62) are provided for securing said second visor (16) to an associated arbor (22) different from the arbor (26) to which the securing means (42) of the first visor are associated and that manually operable releasing means (64, 66, 68) are provided for releasing said second visor (16) and for moving it between said positions, and
that said second securing means (62) for said second visor (16) are designed identically with said securing means (42) for securing said first visor (14).
The assembly according to any of claims 1 to 10, characterized by including means (60, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85; 86, 87, 89) for adjusting the operative position of at least one of said visors (14, 16).
The assembly according to claim 11 in which said adjusting means comprises a stop element (60; 86) adapted to be engaged by said manually operable releasing means (52, 56, 58) in the operative position of said visor and means (82, 85; 89) for adjustably securing said stop element (60; 86) to its associated arbor (22; 26).