US2939149A - Nose guard for helmets - Google Patents

Description

June 7, 1960 MORGAN, JR 2,939,149

NOSE GUARD FOR HELMETS Filed Dec. 26, 1957 INVENTOR. zmmw I. Mam/w JA.

United States iPatent O NOSE GUARD FOR HELMETS Gerard E. Morgan, Jr., Glenview, 111., assignor to John T. Riddell, Inc., Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Filed Dec. 26, 1957, Ser. No. 705,248

7 Claims. c1. 2- -3 This invention relates to a protective device for athletes and the like, particularly to a nose protector or guard adapted to be detachably secured to a head-protecting helmet.

It is common practice in many sports and in certain hazardous occupations for the participant to wear a headprotective helmet. Such helments may be made of metal, of a synthetic resinous material or of other suitable substances. In helmets designed to protect the head of a wearer from unduly severe blows the shell of the helmet is generally mounted on the head in such way that it is suspended at a suitable distance from the surface of the head so that the main force of the blow received on the outer surface of the shell is absorbed either by the suspending mechanism itself or by padding which can be located between the shell and the surface of the head. The type of helmet worn generally depends to some ex tent upon the type of activity in which the individual is engaged.

One particular type of helmet worn largely by football players and aviators, and to some extent by baseball players, consists of a semi-rigid, flexible shell made from a suitable synthetic resinous substance which covers the wearers head above the approximate level of the eyebrows and which extends at the back downward over the wearers neck. Suitable dependent sections of the shell are generally provided to cover the jaws of the wearer and such helmets are often fitted with an arcuate face guard which is secured to the jaw sections and which encircles the face at a suitable distance therefrom at about mouth level. Such helmets are often supported on the head by a series of tensioned chordal straps encircling the head of the wearer at approximately the normal hatband level with the outermost strap being riveted at a number of points to the helmet shell and the innermost strap being dimensioned to fit on the wearers head in much the same manner as an ordinary hntband. Crown straps are provided, one end of each of which is secured to the helmet shell. The crown straps extend upward in the helmet and generally terminate at their upper ends in loops or other suitable arrangements through which is passed a loop of cord which can be loosened or tightened to adjust the size of the crown formed by the crown straps. Gne such suspension is described in considerable detail in US. Letters Patent No. 2,250,275 issued July 22, 1941 to John T. 'Riddell. In some instances a single crown strap extends from one rivet upward and through an adjustable cord loop and then back to another rivet so that each of its two ends are riveted to the helmet shell.

Helmets of the type just referred to are generally retained on the head by a chin strap which encircles a wearers chin with the ends of the strap being secured firmly to the dependent jaw sections of the shell. Means are generally provided inside the shell at the back of the wearers neck to absorb the shock of blows received on the neck section of the helmet shell and the dependent jaw sections of the shell are generally provided with internal pads which are effective in absorbing the force of eyebrows, is forced downward into sharp impact with the ridge of the wearers nose. This can be extremely painful in addition to-the danger of fracturing the bones in the nose. It has been recognized that this is one serious disadvantage'of helments of this type which has not heretofore been overcome and it is apparent that any means for overcoming this disadvantage and for eliminating the possibility of injury to the wearers nose by the tipping forward of the helmet would be of great value.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide means for protecting the nose of a wearer of a helmet from injury due to the tipping forward of the helmet on the wearers head.

An additional object is to provide apparatus which can be used in conjunction with a helmet having a head encircling shell and a tensioned chordal strap suspension which will prevent impact of the edge of the shell with a wearers nose should the shell be tipped forward violently on the wearers head.

An additional object is to provide a helmet having a semi-rigid shell and a suspension composed of tensioned chordal straps which is equipped with a device for absorbing the force of the impact of the forward edge of the shell with a wearers nose should the shell be tipped violently forward.

An additional object is to provide a nose guard which can be attached to or detached from a helmet having a semi-rigid shell and a chordal strap suspension which will eifectively protect the nose of a wearer of the helmet from impact with the forward edge of the helmet shell shock-absorbing element or member, such as a roughly cylindrical length of the material from which the sheet is made having longitudinal holes through it to increase its shock-absorbing properties. The shock-absorbing element is usually formed so that it lies entirely on one side,

of the flexible sheet in a manner such that, when the flexible base sheet is placed in surface contact with the inside surface of the forward section of a helmet shell with the shock-absorbing element protruding outwardly of the shell along its edge, it will form an effective guard or bumper and soften greatly the impact of the edge of the shell upon a wearers nose should the shell be tipped violently forward. With the device just described mounted in the way described on the helmet shell immediately above a wearers nose, a sharp tilting forward of the shell on the head will bring'the elongated shockabsorbing element, rather than the hard edge of the helmet itself into contact with the wearers nose and injury will thus be prevented. Adequate means, which will be described, are provided to secure the device to a helment with the shock-absorbing element located above a wearers nose. 7 i

The invention can be understoodreadily by reference to the accompanying drawing wherein, inthe interest "of clarity, certain features are shown on a somewhat exaggerated scale and wherein 1 9 Figure 1 is a plan view of a-nose guard embodying features of the invention which can be detachably secured toahelmet; f

Figure 21s :a side elevation taken along the line II -II of Figure 1,:

Figure-3 v havinga nose guard oftheinvention secured to it,

Figure .4 isa vertical elevation, ':partially in section,

taken-alongstheline IV--I-V of :Figure'3f- Figure .5 is a vertical elevation;:partially in section, taken along the line-V'V of Figure- 3, and a is an elevation of :a head protecting helm t:

Figure 6 is a partial elevation; with certain of-the-parts partially cut. away, taken alongthe Iine-NI- -Y'I of Figure 5.

Themodificationof-the nose guard of the invention-- illustrated in Figures 1 and2 comprises a flexible resilientbase sheet 11- of rubber or other suitably flexible -andresilient: material having ashock-absorbing element 12 secured along one of its edges 13.

In view of... the fact that .the' device of-Figure l is mounted in ;a helmet with' the base sheet 11 extending upwardly away from the shock-absorbing'element '12, his convenient to refer toithe edge 13 of: the sheet adjoining the element 12 as zits ilower edge, tor-its edge 18 opposite the lower edge as its upper edge and to the two remaining edges 16: as its lateral edges. Although the-base sheet may beessentially square or rectangular, it is convenientto' referto its longitudinal dimension as extending bedimension as extending between its lateraledges 16.

' In practice, the base sheet 11 and the shock-absorbing element '12 are conveniently formed of the same material and. are molded integral with one another. The shockabsorbing element 12 is preferably formed-so that it lies tweenthe lower and rupper edges and to"its1lateral entirelyon oneside of the sheet 11 in the manner illustrated ,in Figure 2.

of material extending across the entire width of the sheet In a convenient form the shockabsorbing element 12 is formed as a roughly circular-body 11. andhaving a number of longitudinal holes 14 extending through it; However, the shock-absorbing element can be:-of any other suitable construction, if desired, and

may even be formed separately from the sheet 11 and t then secured thereto in any convenient and suitable man flexible sheet 11 extending in each direction from a point midway between. the lateral edges 16 of the sheet for a suitable distance toward the lateral edges 16 along a line parallel with and removed a suitable distance from the lower edge 13 of the sheet. The sheet is also provided with a longitudinal slit 17 extending from the midpoint of the lower laterally extending slit 15 to the upper edge 18 of the sheet, thus dividing the. portion of the sheet above the slit 15 into two half sections. An upper laterally extending slit 19 is also provided in the A lower laterally extending slit 15 is provided in the their bases by an unslitted lateral section 25 of the sheet.

Theupper tonguesM-are provided with means for se- I curing them together. One convenient means comprises a snap fastener with the male and female parts of the fastener, 26 and 30, respectively, being attached to the two tongues 24 adjacent their facing ends. When using such a snap fastener the two tongues 24 are overlapped during the fastening operation thus drawing the ends of the laterally extending slit 19 closer together. For this reason it is convenient to make the upper laterally extending slit 19 longer than therlo'wer -laterally extending slit 15, the degree of slope being such that, when the two tongues 24 are fastened together as shown in Figure 6,-

the upper and lower edges ofone-of the tongues 24 are essentially parallel with the upper and lower edges, respectively, of the'other'of'the tongues 24. Undersuch con dit'ions a somewhat more rigid joining of the two tongues' 24 is obtained than would be the base if they sloped with respecttoone another when in their joined relation ship. It is, of course, entirely feasible to form the upper edge; 18 ofthe base sheet 11 and the slit 19 so that" they extend esentially parallel with the slit' 15 and this configuration is preferred" in instances-where the tongues 24" are'fastened together without being overlapped, e.g. as"

by a hook attached to one and an eyelet attached to theiot-her.

The lengths and locations of the'laterally extending slits 15 and19, areof some importance. Inasmuch as the noseguardof Figures 1 and 2 is adapted primarily to be used with a helmet of the'type previously mentioned having a shell, the lower forward edge of which extends essentially'horizontally above the level of awearers eyes and the suspension of which comprises tensioned sections of an outer chordal strap and a crown strap both se--' cured at the front center of the helmet shell by a rivet' passing through the shell and with the tensioned sections of the outer chordal strap adjacent the rivet lying entirely above the forward edge of the shell, it is convenient for the laterally extending slits 15 and 19 to be spaced from" one another a distance equal to, or just slightly greater than, the width of the tensioned sections of the outer chordal strap and for the lower laterally extending slit 15 to be spaced from the lower edge 13 of the flexible sheet 11 located between the lower laterally extending slit 15 and the upper edge 18 of the sheet and extending from the longitudinal slit 17' for a suitable distance outward'toward the lateral edges 16 of the sheet. Small circular holes 21 are preferably formed in the sheet at the ends of the laterally extending slits 15 and 19 to reduce'the tendency for the sheet to tear at the ends of the,

slits. A similar hole 22 can also be formed at the intersectionzof the upper laterally extending slit 19. and the longitudinal slit '17, if desired, to facilitate the slitting operation, the holes 21 and 22 generally being formed prior to the, slitting operation.

It will be noted that the laterally extending slits 15 and I 19.divideeachhalf section of the sheet 11 lyingabove thelowerilaterally extending slit 15 into lower and upper tongue- like sections 23 and 24, respectively, each of which projects toward the corresponding tongue-like section of the ppposite half. section, ,.and iwhich are. joined along sheet 11 by a distance equal to or just slightly less than the vertical distance between the lower edge of the tensioned outer chordal strap and the edge of the helmet shell just below the rivet. As will be apparent later, the incorporation of these provisions in the nose guard of Figure l insures the shock-absorbing element 12 being" held firmly and snuglyagainst the lower edge of'the helmet shell immediately abovethe 'wearers nose and avoids any possibility of its being displaced from this location short of removal from the helmet or of actual injury. When properly mounted on a helmet'it will be observed from Figure 3 that the shock-absorbing element 12 extends transversely immediately above the wearer's nose and that it lies along the lower edge) of the helmet shell 27 and protrudes forwardly past the edge of the shell in a position such that, should the helmet shell be tipped forward on the wearers head, it is the soft shock-absorbing element 12 which comes into contact with the ridge" of the wearers nose and not the hard lower edge of the 4 shell.

The relationship of the nose'pro't ector to the parts of the helmet, and the manner in which it is secured in place; are illustratedin Figures 4, '5 and.6. In Figure 4, which wit,"

sesame g is a view looking upward into a helmet of the type under consideration from a plane just above the level of a wearers eyes, it will be observed that the helmet shell 27 is fitted internally with an outer chordal strap 28 which is secured at several points, usually six points, to the in terior of the shell by rivets 29, the rivet at the front of the shell being obscured in Figure 4 by the shock-absorbing element 12 but being visible in Figure 5. The shell is also fitted with a plurality of crown straps 31, usually six in number, which are secured to the helmet shell by the same rivets 29 which secure the outer chordal straps to the shell. The crown straps 31 extend inwardly and upwardly with respect to the helmet shell and are secured in adjustable manner at their upper ends, thus forming a network of straps which rest upon the crown of the wearers head. In the illustration of Figure 4 each two adjacent crown straps are formed as a unitary strap, the ends of which are secured to the shell by adjacent rivets and the central part of which passes through a loop of cordage 32. By adjusting the size of the loop of cordage 32, the fit of the helmet on the crown of the wearers head can be adjusted in suitable fashion. It is convenient and usual for the lower ends of the crown straps 31, which are secured to the helmet shell by the rivets 29, to lie between the helmet shell and the outer chordal strap 28 in the region of the rivet. A tensioned inner chordal strap 33 is fastened securely, eg by sewing as at 34, to the outer chordal strap at points equidistant between the rivets 29 and is of such a length that it forms a suitable headband encircling the head of a wearer of the helmet. A part or all of the inner chordal strap can, if desired, be covered with soft leather 35, or the like, in the interest of comfort.

It will be noted further from Figure 4 that the shockabsorbing element 12 of the nose guard lies along the lower edge 40 of the forward portion of the shell 27 and that it juts forward for some distance beyond the rim of the helmet. It will also be noted from Figures 4 and 5 that the lower tongues 23 are folded inwardly of the helmet shell and outwardly away from the longitudinal center line of the flexible sheet 11 so that they lie between the shell 27 and the tensioned sections of the outer chordal strap 28 on either side of the rivet 29 at the front of the helmet shell. Because of the resiliency of the tongues 23 and their tendency to straighten and extend toward one another, they press on the outer surface of the strap 28 and thus serve to keep the lateral sections 25 of the flexible base sheet pressed firmly and snugly against the interior surface of the shell. This relationship is illustrated especially clearly in Figure 5 which corresponds to the view of Figure 4 except that it is taken along a plane which includes the line of the lower laterally extending slit 15.

The relationship of the parts with the nose guard secured in place is also illustrated clearly in Figure 6, which is a view taken looking forwardly from inside the helmet from approximately the level of the rivet 29. It will be noted that the tensioned segments of the outer chordal strap 28 extend laterally with respect to the viewer and that a crown strap 31 extends from approximately the lower edge of the outer chordal strap upward into the helmet and that the straps are secured in this position by means of the rivet 29 and a convenient metal plate 36 extending essentially across the chordal strap 28 to maintain it under tension clear to its edges. The shockabsorbing element 12 lies snugly along the edge of the helmet shell. The unslitted side sections 25 of the flexible sheet extend upward on either side of the crown strap 31 between the helmet shell and the sections of the chordal strap 28 lying on either side of the rivet 29 and the tongues 24 are overlapped and secured together, by means of the snap fastener 26, above the strap 28 and between the shell 27 and the crown strap 31. The tongues 23 lying between the laterally extending slits 15 and 19 of Figure 1 are turned inwardly of the helmet and outwardly toward the lateral edges of the flexible sheet 11 and are positioned between the chordal strap 28 and the unslitted section 25 of the flexible sheet, the section 25 lying fiat against the inner surface of the shell 27. It will be noted in Figure 6 that, because the tongues are overlapped, the lateral edges of the flexible sheet con verge upwardly toward one another. However, because the upper edge 18 of the flexible sheet 11 and the upper laterally extending slit 19 are formed in the sloping manner illustrated in Figure 1, the upper and lower edges of the fastened tongues 24 are parallel with one another and the lateral sections 25 of the base sheet are retained snugly in position. Furthermore, it will be noted that, with the tongues 24 overlapping one another, the ends of the upper laterally extending slit 19 are brought closer to one another Whereas the ends of the lower laterally extending slit 15 are brought very little closer to one another, if at all, and the outer ends of the slits 15 and 19 are approximately on a line normal to the longitudinal axis of the shock-absorbing element 12 and to the planes of the edges of the chordal strap 28. For this reason the tongues 23 in their turned-back position, and with the tongues 24 in overlapping relationship, extend with their upper and lower edges essentially parallel with the upper and lower edges of the adjacent sections of the chordal strap 28 so that the turned-back tongues press smoothly and evenly against the strap 28 over its entire width.

-Although the invention is concerned primarily with a nose guard, such as that described previously, which can be attached and detached readily from a helmet comprise ing a rigid or semi-rigid shell and a tensioned chordalstrap suspension, it is pointed out that in its broadest aspect the invention contemplates any helmet having a hard rigid or semi-rigid shell, an edge of which extends essentially horizontally above a wearers eye level, provided with an elongated shock-absorbing element of suitable dimensions which is separate from the shell and positioned so that it extends horizontally just below the forward edge of the shell and projects forwardly thereof above the region of the wearers nose, and which is joined to a suitable base element which is in turn secured to the helmet in a manner to retain the shock-absorbing element in the position indicated. Although it is preferable that the nose guard be separably secured to the helme it is entirely feasible to provide a guard similar to that of Figure 1 except that thebase sheet extends upward only to approximately the location of the slit 15 and to then rivet the short base sheet to the inner surface of the helmet shell so that the shock-absorbing element '12 occupies the position illustrated in Figure 3. Alternatively the short base sheet can be adhered with a suitable adhesive in the position indicated. In the case of a helmet retained on a wearers head by means other than the particular kind of suspension illustrated in Figure 4, it is entirely feasible to construct the base element of the nose guard in suitable manner so that it can be secured to the helmet either separably or permanently with the shock-absorbing element in the position just described.

I claim:

1. In a head-protective helmet, the combination including: a semi-rigid shell surrounding at least the upper part of a wearers head and terminating at the front in a front edge extending essentially horizontally above the eye level of a wearer; a chordal suspension strap secured with a plurality of securing means inside the shell; an elongated shock-absorbing element separate from the shell extending for a suitable distance immediately below the forward edge of the shell .and projecting forwardly thereof above the region of the nose of a wearer of the helmet; and a base element joined along its edge with the shock-absorbing element and extending upwardly therefrom away from the edge of the shell between the shell and the chordal strap, the base element being slitted to provide sections thereof extending on opposite sides of a means securing the strap to the shell and the sections being separably joined to one another above the securing means whereby the shock-absorbing element is retained in its position.

2.'In a nose guard adapted to be detachably secured to a head-protective helmet comprising a helmet shell and a tensioned chordal strap suspension secured with a plurality of securing means inside the shell, the combination including: a'fiexible, resilient base sheet having lower, lateral and upper edges; a resilient, shock-absorbing element integral with the base sheet along its lower edge; a lower laterally extending slit formed in the base sheet extending parallel with and at a suitable distance from the lower edge of the sheet toward its lateral edges from a point midway therebetween; an upper laterally extending slit formed in the base sheet located a suitable distance from the upper edge of the sheet and extending toward its lateral edges from a point midway therebetween; a slit formed in the base sheet extending longitudinally of the 'base sheet from the midpoint of the lower laterally extending slit to the midpoint of the upper edge of the sheet and intersecting the upper laterally extending slit, the slits dividing the portion of the sheet above the lower laterally extending slit into two sections each of which comprises an upper and lower tongue integral at their bases with an unslitted lateral section of the sheet with each tongue facing a corresponding tongue in the other section; and means associated with the two upper tongues adapted to secure them together to secure the nose guard to a helmet with the upper tongues disposed immediately above the chordal strap, with the lateral unslitted sections of the flexible base sheet disposed on opposite sides of a means securing the chordal strap to the helmet shell, and with the lower tongues disposed between the chordal strap and the helmet shell with each tongue being folded inwardly of the helmet shell and outwardly away from the longitudinal center line of the base sheet.

3. A nose guard as claimed in claim 2 wherein the lower and upper laterally extending slits are separated 'by a distanceas great as the width of the chordal strap of the suspension of the helmet in which the guard is to be installed. 7 I

4. A nose guard as claimed in claim 2 wherein the ends of the upper tongues are overlapped when joined together and the upper laterally extending slit is longer than the lower laterally extending slit by a distance essentially equal to the length of overlap of the upper tongues.

5. A nose guard as claimed in claim 2 wherein the ends of the upper tongues are overlapped when joined together and theupper laterally extending slit is inclined on each side of the longitudinal slit toward the lower laterally extending slit by an amount to cause the lower edges ofthe upper tongues to extend approximately parallel with'the lower laterally extending slit when the upper tongues are secured to one another.

6. A nose guard as claimed in claim 5 wherein the base member is formed with its upper edge parallel on each side of the longitudinal slit with the upper laterally extending slit. 7

7. A nose guard as claimed in claim 2 wherein the shock-absorbing element secured along the lower edge of the base member is thicker than the base member and extends entirely on one side thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,522,952 Goldsmith Jan. 13, 1925 1,842,953 Turner Jan. 26, 1932 2,793,366 Kleinman May 28, 1957 2,878,478 Kleinman Mar. 24, 1959

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