Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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VISIONED ENHANCED FACE GUARD FOR A SPORTS HELMET
Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to a headgear assembly and more
particularly to the guard assembly mounted to the headgear assembly, which
allows
for enhanced vision for the user.
t o Background of the Invention
Various types of protective headgear assemblies are worn in different types
of sports such as hockey, football, lacross, and baseball. The headgear
assemblies
can come in various shapes and forms and are often provided with a type of
face
guard. In general, these face guards can be a protective visor or cage. There
are
various disadvantages with the current available face guards as they often
impair the
vision of the user using the headgear assembly.
For example, due to the nature of most sports requiring protective headgear
2o and that the headgear assemblies must fit snugly around the user's head,
the user
often will perspire profusely from the head often resulting in impaired
vision.
Furthermore if the headgear assembly includes a protective visor, the
perspiration
will often cause fogging of the visor therefore impairing the user's vision.
Moreover impaired vision may result in the more injuries to the user since
their
vision is limited.
The user's vision may also be impaired when the headgear assembly includes
a face guard that is a cage. Typically the cage is mounted to the helmet
portion of
the headgear assembly and is usually painted. Traditionally the same colour of
paint
is used on both the outer surface and the inner surface of the cage. The
colours that
have typically been used have either been black or white. A disadvantage of
using
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the painted cage is that the user's vision is impaired when they look through
the
cage. Specifically, the user's the line of vision is distorted by the painted
lines or
wires of the cage that the user sees when looking through the cage. The
distortion
may result in loss of peripheral vision and could cause injury or the
inability to
participate in the sport at the user's optimum level.
Furthermore, most of the sports requiring these headgear assemblies are
played in lighted arenas or during daylight. The lighting often causes glare
on the
face guards which results in the impaired vision of the user. To combat the
glare, in
lo the case of the cage, the paint colour used on both the inner and outer
surfaces of
the cage has been black. The black surface on the outside of the cage reduces
the
glare from the lighting. However, the black surface on the inside of the cage
disrupts the user's vision which results in impaired vision.
Conversely, the use of white paint on the outside surface does not reduce the
glare from the lighting, yet may be less disruptive to the user's vision if
the surface
the user is playing on is white as in the instance of hockey. If the user is
playing on
grass as in the case of lacross or football, the white inside surface of the
cage will
also disrupt the user's vision.
Prior art headgear assemblies have been devised to address the some of the
aforenoted problems. For example, United States Patent No. 6,010,217 issued on
January 4, 2000 to Houston et al. This patent relates to an optically
corrected shield
for unitary lens eyeglasses or safety helmets. The shield is characterized by
an
optical centerline and a mechanical centerline, which intersect each other at
an
angle. The lens is oriented on the head of the wearer by a frame or helmet
that
maintains the lens in a position such that the optical centerline is
maintained
substantially in parallel to the normal sight line of the wearer.
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Joslin et al. is the owner of U.S. Patent No. 5,647,066 which issued on July
15, 1997. This patent relates to an adjustable safety helmet visor that
extends for
protection for the face by providing a simple one-piece adjustable add-on
visor that
will fit a multitude of helmet configurations. The visor is formed of a pre-
cut
deformable synthetic resin material that is removably secured to the helmet by
continuous bands of interengageable hook and loop material along its edges.
Smith, Jr. is the owner of U.S. Patent No. 5,966,744 which issued on
October 19, 1999. This patent relates to a helmet apparatus including a head-
covering assembly which has a top portion and a side portion extending
downward
from the top portion. A guard support is connected to the side portion of the
head-
covering assembly, and a guard assembly is connected to the guard support.
Thus a guard assembly for a headgear assembly having the ability to absorb
light or reduce the glare from lighting on the outside surface, while
enhancing the
user's vision by matching the inside surface of the guard assembly to the
playing
environment is desirable.
Summary of the Invention
An object of one aspect of the present invention is to provide an improved
guard assembly for a headgear assembly.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention there is provided a
headgear assembly for enhanced vision comprising of a guard assembly having an
inner surface and outer surface. The inner surface may be covered with a
vision
enhancing substance, while the outer surface may be covered with a light
absorbing
substance. Preferably the guard assembly is mounted to a helmet.
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Conveniently, the guard assembly may further comprise of a securing
means, a support means and a mask member each having an inner surface with a
vision enhancing substance applied to it and an outer surface with a light
absorbing
substance applied to it.
Preferably, the paint on the inner surface for enhanced vision matches the
environment viewed by a user wearing the headgear assembly and the paint on
the
outer surface had light absorbing qualities.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided a
method of enhancing the vision of a user wearing a headgear assembly
comprising
of wearing a helmet with a guard assembly. The guard assembly may have an
inner
surface and outer surface with the inner surface having a vision enhancing
substance
and the outer surface having a light absorbing substance.
In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention there is provided
the use of a headgear assembly comprising of a guard assembly having an inner
surface with a vision enhancing substance and an outer surface having a light
absorbing substance for use in hockey.
Advantages of the present invention are improved vision for the user as there
is no fogging of the cage as seen with visors, the environment blends into the
inner
surface of the cage so that the user's vision is not disrupted, improved
peripheral
vision during use of the headgear assembly, reduction of glare and reflected
light as
outer surface of the guard assembly has light absorbing properties.
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Brief Description of the DrawiW
A detailed description of the preferred embodiment(s) is(are) provided herein
below by way of example only and with reference to the following drawings, in
which:
Figure 1 in a side view, illustrates a headgear assembly for enhanced vision
in operation in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present
invention.
Figure 2 in a perspective view, illustrates the headgear assembly of Figure 1.
Figure 3 in a close-up cut away view, illustrates both the inner surface
having a vision enhancing substance and the outer surface having a light
absorbing
substance of Figure 1.
In the drawings, preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated by
way of example. It is to be expressly understood that the description and
drawings
are only for the purpose of illustration and as an aid to understanding, and
are not
intended as a definition of the limits of the invention.
Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment
Referring to Figures 1, 2 and 3 there is illustrated in a side, perspective
and
close-up views, a headgear assembly for enhancing vision 10 in accordance with
the
preferred embodiment of the present invention. The headgear assembly for
enhancing vision 10 includes a guard assembly 12 having an inner surface 14
and
outer surface 16. The inner surface 14 may have applied to it a vision
enhancing
substance 18. The outer surface 16 may have a light absorbing substance 20.
The
guard assembly 12 is mounted to a helmet 22.
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The guard assembly 12 may be further defined as having a securing means
24, a support means 26 and a mask member 28. The securing means 24, the
support means 26 and the mask member 28 may each have inner surfaces 14 with
vision enhancing substance 18 and outer surfaces 16 with light absorbing
substance
20. The securing means 26 may be further defined as an adjustable strap 30
that is
mounted to the helmet 22. The support means 26 may be further defined as a
chin
guard 32 that is moveably attached to the adjustable strap 30 and protects the
user's
chin. The mask member 28 may be further defined as a cage 34 that is mounted
to
lo the helmet 22.
Both the vision enhancing substance 18 and the light absorbing substance 20
may be paint that is painted on to the inner and outer surfaces, 14 and 16
respectively, of the guard assembly 12. The paint for vision enhancement
surface
may match the environment viewed by a user when wearing the headgear assembly
10. For example where the user of the headgear assembly for enhancing vision
10
is playing a sport such as ice hockey, the vision enhancing substance 18 or
paint
would be white to match the colour of the surface the user is playing on, in
this case
ice. Similarly the vision enhancing substance 18 can be any colour that
matches the
2o environment or background the user is playing in. Therefore the vision
enhancing
substance 18 may be coloured different colours to match the different playing
surfaces.
The purpose of the vision enhancing surface 18 on the inner surface 14 of the
mask member 28 is to improve the vision of the user through the mask member
28.
Currently the user's vision is disrupted by the mask member 28 or cage 34
since the
wires or lines 36 from the cage 34 are in front of the user's eyes. More
specifically
the user's eyes have difficulty focusing through the wires or lines 36 as the
wires 36
are traditionally a different colour than the environment that the user is
looking at
through the cage 34. The wires 36 are traditionally painted the same colour on
both
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the inner and outer surfaces 14 and 16 respectively of the cage 34, and
therefore do
not take into account the different playing surfaces the user may be playing
on.
By painting the vision enhancing surface 18 on the inner surface 14 of the
cage 34 so that it matches the environment or background that the user is
playing
on, for example ice, the lines 36 of the cage 34 blend into the environment.
Therefore the user's vision is improved and is not disrupted by the lines 36
of the
cage 34 as the lines 36 blend into the environment that the user is in.
The outer surface 16 may have a light absorbing substance 20 that absorbs
light so that the user does not experience light reflection or glare in the
eyes. By
reducing glare the user's vision is improved. The light absorbing substance 20
may
be a paint that is painted on to the outer surface of the mask member 28. A
dark
coloured paint such as black would absorb the light and reduce glare.
In operation, the user would place the headgear assembly 10 on their head
and adjust the adjustable strap 30 and chin guard 32 to the correct degree of
tightness for the user's comfort. The user would see through the cage 34
having the
vision enhancing substance 18 on the inner surface 14 of the cage 34 that
matches
the environment or playing surface that the user is playing in. The light
absorbing
substance 20 on the outer surface of the cage 34 will reduce the light
reflection or
glare the user experiences from the lighted environment.
In a another embodiment of the present invention there is provided a method
of enhancing the vision of a user wearing a headgear assembly 10 comprising of
wearing a helmet 22 with a guard assembly 12 having an inner surface 14 and
outer
surface 16. The method includes all previously disclosed attributes of the
headgear
assembly 10.
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In a further embodiment of the present invention there is provided the use of
the headgear assembly for enhancing vision 10 as described above for use in
hockey
and football.
s Other variations and modifications of the invention are possible. All such
modifications or variations are believed to be within the sphere and scope of
the
invention as defined by the claims appended hereto.
