US2929070A - Face guard for football players - Google Patents

Description

March 22, 1960 w. R. NOVAK 2,929,070

FACE GUARD FOR FOOTBALL PLAYERS Filed Sept. 9. 1957 William R. Novak INVENTOR.

BY WM 3M United States Patent O FACE GUARD FOR FOOTBALL PLAYERS William R. Novalt, Utica, Ill.

Application September 9, 1957, Serial No. 682,871

3 Claims. (Cl. 29)

The present invention relates to an improved face guard for a football player and has to do, more particularly stated, with an open-type mask-like guard which is applicable to and carried by a conventional-type helmet.

Persons conversant with the state of the art to which the present invention relates are well aware that many and varied styles and forms of face guards have been evolved and offered with a view toward affording reliable protection to the user thereof. On the basis of trial and error experiment certain prior art face guards have been adopted and are meeting with widespread usage. Others which have, apparently, failed to measure up to expectations and needs appear to have been discarded. With a view toward advancing the art, the instant concept ties in with a desire to promote progress in this line of endeavor and, in so doing, to provide a specially constructed adaptation which complies with practical manufacturing require ments and economies and, what is most important, is calculated to afford the wearer maximum protection.

In carrying out the ideas and intentions under advisement, the present invention features a construction Wherein a novel structural unit or entity embodies novelly located components which are well braced and stabilized by reason of the fact that the complete unit has four-point connection with the left and right cheek portions of a conventional helmet, making the guard a substantially firm and permanently attached part of the helmet.

By appropriating and using four widely separated and properly distributed suspension points and spacing the components from the wearers facial features the combination helmet and guard becomes an over-all safe and reliable protector for the wearer.

Briefly, the invention and the combination evaluation is characterized by a conventional-type helmet having cheek portions at its respective vertical sides, and a chin-strap having end portions fastened to said cheek portions; and a complemental mask-like face guard of openwork form embodying left and right upper jaw guard members, left and right lower jaw guard members, a nose guard, a chin guard, and a mouth guard, said guard as an entity being fabricated into a substantial unit and having four-point connection with spaced cooperating areas of said check portions.

Considered as an attachment to and for use in conjunction with a football helmet and somewhat more specifically construed the invention comprises an entity which may be interpreted as comprising an upper rubber covered bow having a median bend formed into an inverted U shaped portion constituting an upstanding nose guard, a companion lower bow having a similar median bend providing a second U-shaped portion and constituting a chin guard, portions of said bows to the left and right, respectively, of the U-shaped portions being welded together, said U-shaped portions being disposed in a plane generally common to each other, the terminal ends of said bows being formed with attaching eyes, and a short bow centrally bridging the space between said U-shaped portions and sewing as a mouth guard, the limb portions of said ice upper and lower bows providing upper and lower jaw guards.

Other objects, features and advantages will become more readily apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing, wherein like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the views:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the improved face guard and the helmet to which it is attached, showing the mode of construction and use of the same;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same, that is a view observing Fig. 1 in a direction from right to left;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the face guard by itself; and,

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken vertically through the central portion of the guard.

Referring now to the drawings and to Figs. 1 and 2, the conventional helmet is denoted by the numeral 6, the aforementioned vertical side or cheek portions being denoted at 8.

The guard is fashioned into a structural entity or unit wherein all of the components are joined together in predetermined relationship. As a unit the guard is denoted by the numeral 10. The'aforementioned upper bow is of suitable longitudinally curvate or arcuate form and the median portion 12 thereof is bent into inverted generally U-shaped form. The bight portion 14 thereof is of such curvature that when it is located it provides a highly eflicient nose guard. The end portions of the nose guard terminate in the approximate plane illustrated in the drawings and the rearwardly and upwardly curving limb portions 16 and 18 designate upper jaw guards or members. These members terminate in suitable eyes 20 which are superimposed upon the upper cheek portion and are riveted or otherwise securely fastened thereto as at 22 in Figs. 1 and 2.

The complemental lower bow likewise has a substantially U-shaped bend or portion 24 and the bight portion 26 is such that a highly satisfactory chin guard is provided. -In connection with this how the limbs or arms 28 and 30 are properly curved and placed to provide lower jaw guard members. Here again, terminal eyes 32 are superimposed upon and securedly riveted or fastened at 34 to the lobe 36 of the cheek portion 8. The respective end portions of the U-shaped bends or guards 12 and 24 merge together and are welded securely and in so doing diametrically opposite crotches are provided to accommodate the end portions of the smaller or third bow 38 which is centralized between the guards 24 and provides a guard for the wearers teeth and mouth, referred to broadly as a mouth guard.

In actual practice the bows are formed from segmental or equivalent rods, one of which is denoted at 40 in Fig. 3 and all of the rods are covered or coated with a suitable plastic or rubber.

It is within the purview of the invention to mold the entire unit from appropriate commercial plastics or nylon or requisite rigidity.

The design of the over-all construction is such that the guard offers maximum protection, greatest stability and rigidity, and a minimum of impairment of vision compared to any guard now on the market.

From the foregoing, the construction and operation of the device will be readily understood and further explanation is believed to be unnecessary. However, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A face guard for rigid attachment to a conventional-type football helmet comprising an upper rod longitudinally formed. into a. bowl and having avcentralized median U-shaped bend constituting an upstanding. nose guard,v adower. rodformed into. a bow having a similar median .Uv-shaped bend providing achin guard, portions of said bows to the left and right,. respectively of the U-shaped bends beingwelded together, said U-shaped bends being disposed and'cooperating ina plane generally common to each other, the terminal ends of said bows beingformed with attaching eyes, and a third but relatively short bow centrally bridging the space between said guard defining, and providing jaw protecting members andterminating at their respective outer ends in attaching and retaining eyes, a second rod a companion to said first named rod and constituting a lower rod and being longitudinally bowed'and'having a median U-shaped bend similar to the first named bend andhaving its open side registering with the open side ofthe first named U-shaped bend and the two bends together providing an impact receiving member, said U-bends being welded'together and being disposed generally in a plane which is common to each other, the lower U-shaped' bend constituting a chin guard and the portions of the rod between the ends thereof being formed intojaw protectingmembers and terminating in attaching and retaining eyes, the jaw protecting members to the left of the center being disposed in rearwardly convergent relationship and the corresponding members to the right being likewise disposed in rearwardly divergent relationship so that when the respective eyes are attached to predetermined portions of the supporting helmet a four-point suspension for the over-all guard is had, the respective connected end portions of the U-shaped bends definingrdiametrically opposite crotch-like seats, and a thirdrelatively short rod bridging the space midway between the bight portions of the nose guard and chin guard, respectively, and having its ends aflixed to said guards in line with the crotchlike seats.

3. A face guard expressly constructed and designed to be rigidly mounted on the usual cheek portions embodied in the vertical sides of a football helmet comprising an upper longitudinally bowed rod, the median portion of said rod being of inverted U-shape form and defining a nose guard, the portions to the-left'a nd'right of said nose guard defining and. providing, jaw protectingmembers and terminating at their respective outer ends in attaching and retaining eyes, a second rod. a companion to said first named rod and constituting a lower rod and being longitudinally bowed and having a median U-shaped bend similar to the first named bend and having its open side registering. with the open side'of. the first named U-shapedfbend and the twobends together providing an impact receiving member, said U-bends being welded together and being disposed generally in a plane which is common to each other, the lower U-shapedbend constituting a-chin guard and the portions of the rod between the ends thereof being formed into jaw protecting members and terminating in attaching and retaining eyes, the jaw protectingmembers-to the left of the center being, disposed in rearwardly convergent relationship and the' corresponding members to the right being likewise disposed inrearwardly divergent relationship so that when the respective eyes are attached to predetermined portions of the supportinghelmet a four-point suspension for the over-all'guardis had, the respective connected endfp'ortions of the U-fshaped bendsdefining diametricallyjo r posite crotch-like seats.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 379,655 OSullivan Mar. 20, 1888'" 2,105,607 McMillan Jan. 18, 1938' 2,351,752 Fay June 20, 1944 2,785,405 Snyder Mar. 19, 1957 2,790,175 Sowle Apr. 30, 1957". 2,881,442 Sowle Apr. 14, 1959'

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