EP0906040A1

EP0906040A1 - Bicycle helmet

Info

Publication number: EP0906040A1
Application number: EP97926031A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Pertti TIHVERÄINEN; Jorma TIHVERÄINEN; Raimo TIHVERÄINEN
Original assignee: Epsira Oy
Current assignee: Epsira Oy
Priority date: 1996-06-17
Filing date: 1997-06-12
Publication date: 1999-04-07
Also published as: WO1997048298A1; FI100764B; NO985843D0; FI962504A; AU3095997A; NO985843L; CA2258807A1; FI962504A0

Abstract

The invention relates to a bicycle helmet comprising an outer shell for protecting the head of user from impacts. An additional cap is arranged to be attached to the outer shell of the bicycle helmet, wherein the use properties of the bicycle helmet can be adjusted according to the use conditions.

Description

Bicycle helmet

The present invention relates to a helmet, particularly a bicycle helmet, comprising an outer shell for protecting the user's head from impacts.

At present, helmets developed for use by cyclists are known. These helmets have a light construction but they still protect the cyclist's head when falling down and in other situations when the head can be sub- jected to impacts. It has been shown that the use of a helmet reduces significantly injuries of cyclists and reduces the occurrence of serious lesions. Although cyclists have been informed of the advantages of us¬ ing a helmet e.g. via the mass media, there are still many cyclists who will not wear a helmet. One reason for not wearing it is possibly the fact that the helmet is uncomfortable to wear. In warm weather, the helmet feels sweaty, particularly a helmet with a closed or almost closed outer shell. Thus sweat cannot be easily evaporated but is left inside the helmet. On the other hand, helmets in which sweating is taken into ac¬ count by forming air openings or the like in the outer shell, do not pro- tect from rain and cold, wherein the cyclist will prefer to wear headgear which nevertheless does not sufficiently protect the head from impacts.

Winter cycling has gained popularity recently, wherein the risks of cy¬ cling are multiplied compared to summer conditions. Thus it is even more important to wear a helmet. Nevertheless, presently known hel¬ mets are not sufficiently designed for changes in conditions, a factor discouraging cyclists to wear a helmet.

Canadian patent application CA-2,058,753 presents textile or cor- responding headgear that can be placed on top of the bicycle helmet. The headgear can have a visor as protection from sunbeams, as well as flaps for protecting the neck and the ears. A disadvantage of the headgear presented in the publication is that the headgear does not necessarily fit the helmet to be used in an optimal way. Also, the textile headgear can, particularly under windy weather conditions, pass air to flow between the headgear and the outer shell of the helmet, which will reduce the warming and wind-protecting effect of the headgear. More¬ over, flapping headgear is uncomfortable to wear. German patent publication DE-4205842 presents a protective helmet intended particularly for sports use. This helmet consists of a soft, im¬ pact-absorbing inner shell and a hard outer shell composed of two parts. The first part of the outer shell is fixed to the inner shell, and the second part is arranged to be movable in relation to the inner shell. The inner shell and the movable outer shell are provided with air openings, wherein the size of the air openings can be adjusted by moving the outer shell. The second part of the outer shell is rotatably connected at two connection points on opposite sides of the helmet to the first part of the outer shell which is arranged to be stationary. This publication pre¬ sents primarily a solution for adjusting the size of air openings in a stepless manner. However, this solution has the disadvantage that the connection pins or the like, making possible the rotation of the second part of the outer shell, require special measures for maintaining the im¬ pact resistance of the helmet particularly at these pins. On the other hand, this kind of a solution is not suitable for all applications of protec¬ tive helmets, particularly in cases when there is a need to protect the whole crown. This is particularly due to the fact that the second part of the outer shell is movable, wherein it cannot cover the whole crown si¬ multaneously but at least part of the crown is outside the area protected by the outer shell.

European patent application EP-217996 presents a protective helmet comprising a hard outer shell and an impact-absorbing liner. The hard outer shell and the impact-absorbing liner are designed to be separate and attachable to each other. Attachment is made using a band or the like which is wound through holes or other openings formed in the outer shell and in the liner. There are usually two or three connection points. Thus, this solution requires that both the outer shell and the liner are provided with a number of holes at least corresponding to the number of connection points. Furthermore, the bands must be tied or their loos¬ ening must be prevented in another way during use of the helmet. Con¬ sequently, the use of the helmet presented in the EP application publi- cation is extremely complicated.

Further, US patent 4,599,752 discloses still another helmet design in which an additional cap can be placed on top of the helmet. The at- tachment of an additional cap is arranged by means of snaps on both sides of the helmet and holes in corresponding locations in the cap, wherein when the interlocking cap is in its place, the snap is inserted into the hole in the interlocking cap and keeps the cap in its place. When manufacturing such a helmet, especially the structure of the snaps used as attaching points of the interlocking cap must be taken into account, because when such a point is subjected to a possible im¬ pact, it will easily result in a great stress on the snap and its attachment point in the protective helmet. On the other hand, the snap cannot be particularly flexible, because the interlocking cap must be kept in place during use of the helmet.

The puφose of the present invention is to eliminate the above-men¬ tioned disadvantages to a great extent and to provide a bicycle helmet whose use properties can be adjusted to be as functional and comfort¬ able as possible according to the conditions. It is specific to the inven¬ tion that an additional cap is arranged to be fixed in connection with the outer shell, wherein the properties of the bicycle helmet can be ad¬ justed according to the use conditions. The invention is based on the idea that an additional cap is placed on top of the outer shell of the helmet, the cap having preferably the same shape as the outer shell and being manufactured advantageously of the same material by com¬ pressing. Additional caps can be made for different conditions, e.g. by varying the size and number of air openings. For winter use, it is also possible to manufacture caps with no air openings. By varying the col¬ ouring of the additional caps, it is also possible to change the appear¬ ance of the helmet. Furthermore, the additional cap can be manu¬ factured of a heat insulating material, wherein the additional cap pro¬ tects better from cold.

The invention provides significant advantages to the bicycle helmets of prior art. The helmet according to the invention can be used under varying conditions by placing an additional cap suitable for the condi¬ tions on top of the outer shell of the helmet. Further, the visibility of the cyclist can be improved with the helmet of the invention, for example with a colourful or reflecting additional cap, which improves safety of cycling. O 97/48298 PC17FI97/00370

In the following, the invention will be described more closely with refer¬ ence to the appended drawings, in which

Fig. 1 shows a bicycle helmet according to the invention in a per- spective view,

Fig. 2 shows an additional cap for a bicycle helmet according to the invention in a perspective view, and

Fig. 3 shows a cross-section of the helmet of Fig. 2 along the line lit — III.

The outer shell 2 of the bicycle helmet 1 according to Fig. 1 is manu¬ factured of an impact-resistant material, such as reinforced plastic, ad- vantageously by compression moulding. The outer shell 2 can also be manufactured by injection moulding or casting into a mould. The outer shell 2 is provided with air openings 3, wherein the moisture and heat released from the cyclist's head is discharged from the internal vol¬ ume 4 of the helmet (Fig. 3).

The bicycle helmet 1 comprises also support means 5 which are fixed to the outer shell 2 and by means of which the helmet can be placed onto the user's head. The support means 5 are advantageously adjust¬ able, wherein the helmet 1 can be adjusted according to each user. At least some of the support means 5 are cushioned or manufactured of a resilient (soft) material, which will further absorb impacts onto the outer shell of the helmet. The structure and design of the support means 5 can vary e.g. according to the material they are made of. The support means 5 of the bicycle helmet 1 of Fig. 1 comprise an inner shell 5a made of e.g. polystyrene, and support pieces 5b which are placed against the cyclist's head. The support pieces 5b are attached to the inner shell 5a advantageously by adhesive tapes, wherein the attach¬ ment points and sizes of the support pieces 5b can be changed in order to achieve optimal fitting to the head.

The bicycle helmet 1 comprises still a jaw band 6 for securing the at¬ tachment of the helmet to the head. The jaw band 6 is provided with adjusting means (not shown) for adjusting the tightness of the jaw band so that the helmet is kept on the head but it is not too tight. In the jaw band 6, it is possible to use durable and substantially inextensible and inflexible bands known as such.

Figure 2 shows an additional cap 7 according to an advantageous em¬ bodiment according to the invention. The additional cap is designed to have a shape substantially identical with the outer shell 2, wherein the additional cap 7 can be easily and steadily placed on top of the outer shell 2. In Figure 2, the air openings 8 of the additional shell are formed at locations substantially corresponding to the air openings 3 of the outer shell, but in this embodiment the air openings 8 of the additional cap are smaller than the air openings 3 of the outer shell. Thus the additional cap 7 of Fig. 2 is intended particularly for rainy and windy cycling conditions. For winter use, it is possible to eliminate all the air openings 8 of the additional cap and to manufacture the additional cap 7 at least partly of a material with thermal insulation properties.

The additional cap 7 can be coated with different colours, and it is also possible to use a reflective coating, wherein the visibility of the cyclist is improved significantly, particularly in poor conditions of visibility, such as in dark and rainy weather.

The additional cap 7 according to the invention can be attached to the bicycle helmet for example with a flexible attachment band 9 which is arranged in a circular shape and placed around the outer shell 2, ad¬ vantageously close to the lower edge of the outer shell 2. The attach¬ ment band 9 is, at its surface to be placed against the surface of the outer shell 2, advantageously provided with an attachment groove (Fig. 3), wherein the additional cap 7, its outer edge, is provided with a lip 11 interlocking with the attachment groove 10. This can be made advantageously at the stage of manufacturing the additional cap. The additional cap 7 is placed on top of the outer shell 2, after which the attachment band 9 is fixed so that the lip 11 of the additional cap 7 is placed in the attachment groove 10. The removal of the additional cap 7 can be made e.g. by first removing the attachment band 9, wherein the additional cap 7 can be lifted from top of the outer shell 2. The bicycle helmet 1 is preferably designed so that the impact resis¬ tance of the bicycle helmet 1 is sufficient without the additional cap 7, wherein there is no need to be concerned about the impact resistance properties of the additional cap 7.

The invention is not limited solely to the embodiments presented above but it can be changed within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

Claims:

1. Bicycle helmet (1) comprising an outer shell (2) for protecting the user's head from impacts, an additional cap (7) being arranged to be attached to the outer shell (2), wherein the properties of the bicycle helmet can be adjusted according to the use conditions, characterized in that the attachment of the additional cap (7) is arranged to be made with a flexible attachment band (9) arranged in a circular shape, by placing it around the outer shell (2), advantageously close to the lower edge of the outer shell (2).

2. Bicycle helmet (1) according to Claim 1, characterized in that the attachment band (9) is, at its surface to be placed against the surface of the outer shell (2), advantageously provided with an attachment groove, wherein the additional cap (7), its outer edge, is provided with a lip (11) interlocking with the attachment groove (10).

3. Bicycle helmet (1) according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the additional cap (7) is manufactured of the same material as the outer shell (2).

4. Bicycle helmet (1) according to any of the Claims 1 to 3, character¬ ized in that the additional cap (7) is manufactured at least partly of a reflective material.