Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
FIBLD O~ T~ INV~NTION
The present invention relates to a visor
attachment for use in combination with a conventional
safety helmet.
BACR~ROUND OF _~E INVE~TION
Several suggestions have been made for
providing a protective visor to a safety helmet as a
replacement of safety goggles which are considered less
than satisfactory. In the field of mining, for example,
; 10 where fragments of materials are sometimes sprayed into
a miner' face, eye protection is essential. Similar
protection is important in other fields of work in which,
if a visor is not used, the result can be painful to the
user and, in some cases, harmful, such as the loss of one
or both eyes.
This has resulted in various protectors having
been designed in which a transparent acetate visor is
mounted integrally with a safety helmet in a manner as to
be retracted all the way within or over the helmet.
However, these designs have been found costly in that the
entire helmet with visor must be replaced whenever the
acetate visor is damaged or scratched.
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OBJECTS AND S'rAT~MENT OF TH~ INVEM~ION
It is an object of the present invention to
provide a visor attachment which can be easily mounted to
or dismounted from present safety helmets. These helmets
have a front part usually displaying a brim which is
continuous with a rim extending along both sides and to
the back of the helmet; a slot is provided in the rim of
each opposite side for securing thereto accessories, such
as ear-phones.
The present invention consists in providing a
visor attachment for use in combination with these types
oE helmets that display rim slots. Basically, it
~ consists in mounting a separate visor attachment to the
'~ helmet with means for securing the visor in the rim
slots, the visor extending over the rear part of the
helmet. The helmet is thus worn front-to-back with the
visor adapted to extend over the user 7 S face.
The present invention, therefore, relates to a
visor attachment for use in combination with a
conventional safety helmet having a front brim continuous
with a rim extending alony each opposite side and the
back of the helmet and displaying a slot in the rim of
each opposite side theraof; the visor attachment
comprlses:
a) a body adapted to be removably mounted to
the helmet, including an arcuate portion for covering the
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back rim of the helmet and a pair of opposite side
extensions each including a connecting member adapted to
engage a corresponding rim slot and having a releasable
portion adapted to engage the rim slot; and
S b) a visor pivotally mounted to the body and
being retractable between the arcuate portion and the
back part of the helmet;
whereby the conventional safety helmet, when combined
with the visox attachment, must be worn front-to-back.
The present invention also relates to a visor
attachment for use in combination with a conventional
safety helmet having a front brim continuous with a rim
extending on each opposite side and the rear of the
helmet and displaying a rim slot in each opposite side
thereof. The visor attachment comprises: a body adapted
; to be removably mounted to the helmet, including a brim
portion extending along the rear rim of the helmet and a
pair of opposite side extensions each including a
connecting member adapted to engage a corresponding rim
slot of the helmet; the connecting member includes a
releasable portion adapted to engage the rim slot. A
visor is fixably mounted to the brim portion of the body;
link means connect the brim portion to the opposite side
extensions allowing the brim portion and the visor to be
extended frontwardly to bypass the back rim of the helmet
and, then, to be retracted inwardly towards the user's
face, whereby the conventional safety helmet, when
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combined with this visor attachment, is worn front-to-
' back.
In one preferred form of the invention, the
connecting member is formed of a resilient material so
that it may be manually moved in and out of engagement
with its associated rim slot.
In a further embodiment of the invention, the
connecting member has a stepped surface wherein each step
is adapted to engage an edge of the rim slot at various
heights thereof.
Yet, in another embodiment of the invention,
the visor attachment comprises, in each side extension,
a slotted connecting member so that accessories, such as
ear-phones or the like, may be attached thereto. The
i; 15 presence of these slots on the connecting members is to
; replace that of the helmet slots which are now used for
securing the above-described connecting members.
Other objects and further scope of
applicability of the present invention will become
;~ 20 apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter.
It should be understood, however, that this detailed
description, while indicating preferred embodiments of
the invention, is given by way of illustration only,
since various changes and modifications within the spirit
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and scope of the invention will become apparent to those
skilled in the art.
BRIEF D~SCRIP~ION OF T~E DR~INBS
Figure 1 is a side view of a visor attachment
made in accordance with the present invention, being
shown mounted at the rear of a conventional safety
helmet;
.: Figure 2 is an elevational cross-sectional view
showing the attachment with the visor in the retracted
position within the helmet;
Figure 3 is a view similar to figure 2 showing
the visor in the downward eye-covering position;
Figure 4 is an enlarged perspective view,
partly sectional, showing part of the side extension of
the visor attachment in engagement with an associated
part of the safety helmet (this figure is shown on the
sheet illustrating figure l);
Figure 5 is an elevational cross-sectional view
illustrating a second embodiment of the present
: 20 invention; and
Figures 6 and 7 are elevational views showing
two positions of a third embodiment of the present
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DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODINENT~
Referring to figures 1-3, there is shown a
first embodiment of D visor attachment, generally denoted
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10, being mounted at the back of a safety helmet 12. The
front of the helmet has a brim 14 (see figure 3) which
projects rearwardly when the safety helm~t is used in
combination with the visor attachment of the present
invention, This brim is continuous with a rim that
extends along both sides of the helmet and to the back
thereof.
Most conventional safety helmets include, in
the rim of each opposite side thereof, longitudinally
extending rectangular slots 16. The present invention is
particularly addressed to these types of helmets.
The visor attachment 10 comprises a body
defined by an arcuate front portion 18 and a pair of side
extensions 20 and 22, each extending rearwardly adjacent
a corresponding rim slot 16.
As illustrated in figure 4, each side extension
comprises a connecting member 24 which is defined by an
intermediate reinforcing wall 25 and an inner wall 26,
the lower part 27 of which has a downwardly extending
stepped surface 28 which adapted to slide in and out of
rim slot 16 of the helmet. The steps are configured to
engage an edge 30 of the rim slot. This stepped surface
allows for various height adjustments of the visor
attachment relative to the helmet. ~ block 32 ensures a
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tight engagement between the visor attachment 10 and the
helmet 12.
The outer wall of the connecting member 24
displays an integral outwardly projecting U-shaped member
34 defining a further slot 36 in which may be received
various accessories, such as ear-phones 38 having a lower
part 40 engageable with the slot. The purpose of slots
36 is to replace that of slots 16 which are now used for
mounting the visor attachment to the safety helmet.
The visor attachment 10 also comprises a
transparent acetate visor 40 which is pivotally connected
at hinges 42 and 44 to the lower rear part of the arcuate
body 18. A finger-gripping lever 46 is secured to t~e
upper part of the visor 40 and protrudes through a
vertical slot defined in a rounded projecting part 47
centrally provided on the arcuate portion 18 of the body.
The visor attachment also includes a brim 48
similar to brim 14 found on conventional safety helmets.
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Thus, the visor attachment of the present
invention may easily be mounted to a conventional safety
helmet by a simple downward sliding engagement of the
stepped surfaces 28 into their corresponding rim slots 16
of the safety helmet. Referring to figure 4, the removal
of the visor attachment 10 is easily carried out by
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applying inward pressure (in the direction of arrow 52)
on the lower edge 50 of the stepped surface, thus freeing
it from the lower edge 30 of the slot and, then, by
upwardly removing the visor attachment from the slot.
Referring to figure 5, there is shown an other
embodiment 60 of a ~isor attachment made in accordance
with the present invention. It comprises an arcuate
portion 62 with a pair of side extensions, one of which
is shown as 64. The side extensions each have an inner
depending wall 66 with a stepped surface 67 which is
adapted to engage the rim slot of a safety helmet 70 in
a manner similar to that described above in relation to
figure 4. The visor attachment 60 also includes an
acetate visor 68 which is adapted to pivot in and out of
position between the arcuate portion 62 and the helmet
70. In this embodiment, the visor 68 is equipped with a
pair of finger-gripping members 72 along the lower edge
of the visor on opposite sides thereof to allow the user
to manually move the visor between both positions, as
shown by the full and the dotted lines. Each member 72
has a rear portion 74 with a surface 76 defining a pair
of curved recesses adapted to receive the correspondingly
curved surface of a spring member 78 which serves to
secure the visor in the retracted position (shown in full
lines) or in the eye-covering position (shown in dotted
lines).
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The present invention is also adaptable with
visors which are moved from an "up" position, above the
brim of a safety helmet, to a "down" positi.on below the
brim (bypassing the brim) and inwardly thereof (towards
the face of the user)~ Figures 6 and 7 illustrate such
a visor attachment 80 which is adapted to be mounted to
a safety helmet 82 and which comprises a narrow arcuate
portion 84 linked to a connecting member 86 through an
arm 88. The latter has a first pivot connection 90, at
one end thereof, connecting it to the connecting member
86 and a second pivot connection 92, at the opposite end
thereof, connecting it to the side extension 94 of the
arcuate portion 84. In this embodiment, the visor 96 is
fixably attached to the arcuate portion 84 so that the
movahle parts, due to the actuation of the linking arm
88, are the arcuate portion and the visor. The
: connecting member 86 is structually and functionally
: similar to the connecting member 20 illustrated in figure
4 so that the visor attachment may be removably mounted
to the rear part of a helmet by inserting its downwardly
depending wall 98 (corresponding to wall 26 in figure 4)
in its corresponding slot in the rim of the helmet.
For the visor attachment 80 to move from the
position shown by the full lines in figure 6 to the
position shown by the dotted lines, the arcuate body 84
with its visor 96, must first be moved outwardly in the
direction indicated by arrow 100 so that the arcuate hody
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may bypass the back rim (not shown) of the helmet. This
outward horizontal movement is permitted by the two
pivots 90 and 92.
The user may adjust the relative position of
the visor to his face by actuating screw 102 which has
one end resting against a surface 104 at the frontmost
end of the connecting member 86.
Although the invention has been described with
respect to three specific forms, it will be evident to a
person skilled in the art that it may be refined and
modified in various ways. It is therefore wished to have
it understood that the present invention should not be
limited in interpretation except by the terms of the
following claims.
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