EP0512193A1

EP0512193A1 - Helmet

Info

Publication number: EP0512193A1
Application number: EP92100904A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Kiyoshi c/o Arai Helmet Ltd. Kohno
Original assignee: Arai Helmet Ltd
Current assignee: Arai Helmet Ltd
Priority date: 1991-05-09
Filing date: 1992-01-21
Publication date: 1992-11-11
Also published as: JPH04127221U

Abstract

A helmet which allows a driver using spectacles to handle the spectacles easily when putting on and off the helmet is provided. The helmet is provided with a holding means for holding the temples of the spectacles nearly horizontally and removably in positions corresponding to the temples of the helmet wearer, in an interior padding (cheek pads) installed inside the helmet body.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION:

Field of the Invention:

This invention relates to a helmet worn by a driver of a motorcycle, an automobile, etc.

Description of the Prior Art:

Many a motorcycle or an automobile driver having a weak sight due to short or long sight or astigmatism, wear spectacles or contact lenses for purpose of correcting visual power. There is, however, such a problem that the driver wearing spectacles must take off the spectacles before putting on the helmet, and insert he spectacles through an eyeport formed into the front of the helmet after putting on the helmet, securing the temples of the spectacles between a interior padding and the sides of the skull of the helmet wearer.
That is, since it is necessary, as described above, to take off the spectacles before putting on and taking off the helmet, there is a problem about the handling of the spectacles removed.
The spectacles taken off are usually put in a breast pocket or a trousers pocket, or suspended by a temple thereof from the pocket. In this state the driver is apt to bend forward to put on, or to take off, the helmet, with the result that the spectacles will slip off the pocket and down to be broken. Also, the driver sometimes puts the spectacles on a seat or a gasoline tank of the motorcycle. In this case the spectacles are likely to slip down off the seat, being broken or impaired.
Furthermore, the driver puts on the spectacles after putting on the helmet. In this case, it is likely that the temples of the spectacles, forced in between the interior padding of the helmet and the sides of the head, will beimpaired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:

In view of the above-described various problems inherent to the heretofore known techniques, it is an object of this invention to provide a helmet which has solved such problems in handling the spectacles when putting on and off the helmet.
A technical means adopted by this invention in an attempt to accomplish the above object resides in the provision of holding means for removably holding both the temples of the spectacles nearly horizontally in specific positions of the interior padding used in the helmet body.
The helmet configuration of this invention may be either a full-coverage helmet or a jet type. The interior padding to which the holding means are attached includes cheek pads and ear cups.
The configurations of the above holding means are a tubular body open at both ends which is so formed as to allow the insertion of spectacle temples produced of such a flexible material as cloth, leather, etc., those having a holding piece produced of a flexible material and provided with longitudinal slits formed nearly parallelly at a specific spacing, or those having two button hole-like through holes at a specific spacing in covering members of cheek pads consitituting the interior padding, or further those having two loop-like rubber bands in specific places on the outer surface of the covering member in the cheek pad, a frame body flexible resin molded nearly in a sectional form of C. Further it should be noted that the holding means described above are not limited only to such a constitution that each holding member is attached by sewing to the covering member of the interior padding, but may be those which are removably attached by means of a velvet-type fastener to the interior padding.
According to the above-described means, as the holding means for nearly horizontally and removably holding the temples of the spectacles are fitted on the interior padding of the helmet, the spectacles temples are inserted into the holding means to set in the helmet; when the helmet is put on, the spectacles will be positioned in the front of the face. The spectacles thus held with the holding means can be set in the optimum position by moving backward or forward.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:

This invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of this invention and wherein:

Fig. 1 is a partially cutaway side view showing an embodiment of a helmet according to this invention;
Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing a modified holding means for holding a tubular body used on an interior padding;
Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing a modified holding means for holding the tubular body used on the interior padding;
Fig. 4 is a side view showing a modified holding means for holding the tubular body used on the interior padding;
Fig. 5 is a side view showing another configuration of the holding means used on the interior padding;
Fig. 6 is a side view showing another configuration of the holding means used on the interior padding;
Fig. 7 is a side view showing another configuration of the holding means used on the interior padding;
Fig. 8 is an enlarged front view of the holding means shown in Fig. 7;
Fig. 9 is a perspective view showing another configuration of the holding means fitted on the interior padding.
Fig. 10 is a perspective view showing another configuration of the holding means provided on the interior padding.
Fig. 11 is an enlarged sectional view of the holding means shown in Fig. 10;
Fig. 12 is a side view showing the helmet worn on the head with the spectacles set on the helmet; and
Fig. 13 is a side view of the helmet in use.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT:

Hereinafter an exemplary embodiment of a helmet according to this invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Fig. 1 shows a helmet provided with a holding means for holding a tubular body. In this drawing, A refers to a full-coverage helmet body, and B denotes the holding means.
The helmet body A is generally well known in the art, comprising a helmet body 1 produced of FRP or other material, an impact absorbing liner 2 produced of polystyrene foam or a material having an impact absorbing performance equal to or higher than the polystyrene foam to be fitted inside of the helmet body 1, a chin guard 3, cheek pad 4, various cushions fitted to the inner surface of the impact absorbing liner 2, and a chin band 5. The cheek pads 4 comprised in the interior padding of the helmet body A have a holding means B removably fitted in positions corresponding to the temples of the helmet wearer. The cheek pads 4 are removably attached to the helmet body 1.
The above-described holding means B hold the right and left temples 21 of the spectacles C removably and nearly horizontally. The holding means B shown in Fig. 1 is of the configuration of a tubular body 6 made of such a flexible material as cloth, leather, etc., the tubular body 6 being fixed by sewing to a covering member 7 of the cheek pad 4.
The holding means consisting of the tubular body 6 may be removably, not fixedly, attached to the cheek pad 4 like the configuration shown in Figs. 1 to 4. This holding means can be removably installed as shown in Fig. 2 by, for example, forming a tubular part 9 by folding a band piece 8 produced of a flexible material, sewing parallelly with the folded part near the fold, attaching a male-side member 10 of a velvet-type fastener by sewing to the back side of the band piece 8, and attaching the male-side member 10 of the velvet-type fastener to the covering member 7 of the cheek pad 4. In Fig. 3, a tubular part 12 is formed by the similar manner as is shown in Fig. 2 in the band piece 11 made of the flexible material, and a male member 13 and a female member 14 of the velvet-type fastener are provided oppositely in the overlapped positions on both sides of the band piece 11, and the band piece 11 thus made is removably attached on the outer surface of the cheek pad 4 by inserting through a jaw band insertion hole formed in the cheek pad 4.
Furthermore, the holding means B may have the following configurations also. The configuration shown in Fig. 5 has two loop-like rubber bands 16 installed in specific places at a spacing in the longitudinal direction on the covering member 7 of the cheek pad 4; Fig. 6 shows a configuration having two button hole-like through holes 17 open at a spacing in the longitudinal direction in specific places of the covering member 7 of the check pad 4; Figs. 7 and 8 show a configuration having a molded frame 18 produced of a flexible resin nearly in a sectional form of C, which is attached by bonding or sewing to the outside surface of the covering member 7 of the cheek pad 4 with the open side directed inwardly; the configuration shown in Fig. 9 has vertical slits 20 nearly parallelly, front and rear, at a specific spacing in the holding means 19 produced of a flexible material, which is attached by sewing to the covering member 7; Fig. 10 shows a configuration using a holding piece 22 of such a flexible material as a soft cloth, leather, etc. cut nearly into a shape of trapezoid as viewed from the front and attached by sewing or bonding with the front and rear parts opened in the upper part of the surface of the covering member of the cheek pad 4 which comes in contact with the jaw when the helmet is worn. On the inside surface of the holding piece 22 is attached a flat plate 23 produced of a synthetic resin, and on the outside surface of the cheek pad 4 located opposite to the synthetic-resin flat plate 23 is installed a rubber sponge plate 14 having a great frictional resistance, so that the temples of the spectacles C may be inserted between the flat plate 23 and the rubber sponge plate 24. Since the holding means configuration shown in FIg. 10 has an inlet spreading out in a form of fan into which the temples of the spectacles C are inserted, it is not necessary to preset the temples in the holding means B; the spectacles temples can be inserted between the holding piece 22 and the cheek pads 4 through the eyeport of the helmet after the helmet is put on the head. The spectacles temples can be smoothly inserted because of use of the synthetic-resin flat plate 23 on the inside surface of the holding piece 22, and besides, after the insertion of the temples, the similar function as each of the embodiments of this invention previously stated can be displayed due to the frictional engaging force of the rubber sponge plate 24 on the check pad 4 side.
Next, the use of the above-described helmet will be explained. The spectacles C taken off from the face are first held nearly horizontally in the helmet with both the temples 21 inserted in the holding means B provided on the cheek pads 4 of the helmet, and then are pulled out to the vicinity of the eyeport formed in the front of the helmet (see Fig. 12). In this state, the helmet is put on, and thereafter the spectacles C that have been pulled out forwardly are pushed in toward the face, thus being set in proper position (see Fig. 13). When the helmet is taken off, the spectacles are first pulled out to the vicinity of the eyeport, and, in this state, the spectacles, being held on the helmet, will never drop when the helmet is taken off. The spectacles can be removed from the helmet by pulling the spectacles temples off from the holding means B of the helmet.
Since the helmet of the present invention is of the constitution as described above in detail, the spectacles wearer can set on and off the spectacles together with the helmet simply by first setting the spectacles to the holding means provided in the helmet. It is, therefore, possible to provide very easy-to-handle helmet that the driver is not required to do somewhat troublesome insertion and setting of the spectacles in the helmet after putting on the helmet.
Since the spectacles holding means is formed of a flexible material, drivers using as well as not using spectacles can wear the helmet just like a common-type helmet without feeling any excessive pressure to the head.
While a preferred embodiment has been described, variations thereto will occur to those skilled in the art within the scope of the present inventive concepts which are delineated by the following claims.

Claims

A helmet provided with holding means for holding both the temples of spectacles nearly horizontally and removably in positions corresponding to a wearer's temples in an interior padding fitted inside a helmet body.
The helmet as defined in claim 1, wherein said holding means are rubber tubular members open at both ends, front and rear, into which spectacles temples produced of a flexible material such as cloth, leather, etc. can be inserted.
The helmet as defined in claim 1, wherein said holding means are two loop-like rubber bands attached at a spacing provided in the longitudinal direction in specific positions in said interior padding.
The helmet as defined in claim 1, wherein said holding means is provided with two button hole-like through holes at a specific spacing in the longitudinal direction on a covering member constituting said interior padding.
The helmet as defined in claim 1, wherein said holding means is a molded frame formed of a flexible resin nearly in a sectional form of C.
The helmet as defined in claim 1, wherein said holding means has vertical slits, front and rear, formed nearly parallelly at a specific spacing in the holding piece made of a flexible material.