Corrective lens system and support apparatus for use with protective eyewear devices

A corrective lens system and apparatus for use in protective eyewear devices such as ski goggles and sports shields is provided. In a preferred embodiment, a corrective lens assembly releasably snaps into place in multiple protective eyewear devices, allowing a user to own a single pair of corrective lenses for use with multiple devices. In preferred embodiments, the protective eyewear devices include a bridge support positioned behind the device lens for receiving and holding the corrective lens assembly. A nose clip embodiment is provided for use with ski goggles.

TECHNICAL FIELD 
This invention relates to systems and apparatus for corrective lenses used 
in conjunction with goggles, sports shields, and other protective eyewear 
devices. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Skiers, snowboarders, and motorcyclists commonly wear goggles to shield 
their eyes from sun, wind, and precipitation. Similar concerns by 
cyclists, in-line skaters, and others engaged in outdoor activities have 
led to the development and popularity of sports shields, a lighter weight 
athletic eyewear device typically having a polycarbonate lens which 
surrounds the eye region of the wearer's head to shield the eyes from sun 
and wind. Still other athletes wear sports goggles designed for activities 
such as basketball, soccer, and the like. 
Athletic eyewear devices such as those described above offer various 
features and capabilities tailored to the types of activities for which 
they are designed. For individuals who enjoy multiple activities, it is 
not uncommon to own multiple protective eyewear devices corresponding to 
the different outdoor activities enjoyed by the individual. 
While athletic eyewear devices have generally met the needs of users, they 
have not been entirely satisfactory for individuals who also must wear 
prescription lenses along with the protective eyewear. The shape and 
construction of the athletic eyewear devices typically make it impractical 
for the lenses of those devices to also provide correction for 
nearsightedness or farsightedness. Wearing a conventional pair of 
eyeglasses with corrective lenses along with an athletic eyewear device 
can be awkward or impractical. Attempts to offer custom arrangements for 
holding corrective lenses within goggles or sports shields have not been 
entirely satisfactory and, in any event, have required the owner of 
multiple pairs of protective eyewear to also own multiple pairs of 
specialized corrective lenses. 
Athletic eyewear devices such as those described above are typically 
designed and intended to provide limited protection from the sun, wind and 
precipitation. As such, they do not provide protection from impacts as do 
specially designed safety goggles or similar devices. As used herein, the 
term "protective eyewear device" includes both athletic eyewear devices 
and eyewear devices designed to provide impact protection. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
To overcome the deficiencies of the prior art, a corrective lens system for 
goggles, sports shields, and the like is provided. In a preferred system, 
multiple athletic eyewear devices are designed to receive a single 
corrective lens assembly. The corrective lens assembly includes a snap on 
bridge, with each athletic eyewear device including a bridge support for 
receiving and releasably holding the corrective lens assembly in the 
athletic eyewear device during use. 
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention 
illustrated herein, goggles are fitted with a nose clip which hangs from 
the existing dual thermal lens structure to support a corrective lens 
assembly. The bridge portion of the corrective lens assembly snaps onto a 
bridge support on the lower region of the nose clip. The bridge and bridge 
support are shaped to provide a snap fit which will hold the corrective 
lens assembly in shape yet allow removal by the user for use in other 
protective eyewear devices. 
In a sports shield preferred embodiment in accordance with the present 
invention, a corrective lens assembly as described above snaps in place 
behind the sports shield. The upper portion of the sports shield bridge is 
sized and shaped to receive and hold the corrective lens assembly bridge. 
The bridge and bridge supports are preferably shaped to easily snap into 
place, yet remain in place during use. In preferred embodiments, a bridge 
with a central concave portion and convex regions on either side is 
provided, with the bridge forming a spring. The bridge supports are shaped 
to receive and hold the bridge and include recesses in some embodiments to 
receive and hold the convex regions on the bridge. Ascending lips on the 
bridge support block fore-and-aft movement of the bridge.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
As shown in the preferred embodiments illustrated and described herein, the 
present invention provides a corrective lens system for goggles, sports 
shields, and other protective eyewear devices. A lightweight protective 
lens assembly 10 is provided which can be easily and securely snapped in 
place for use within, for example, ski goggles 20 or a sports shield 
product 80. As such, the present invention provides a user with a useful, 
efficient and attractive corrective lens arrangement for use in 
conjunction with athletic eyewear devices such as goggles or sports 
shields. Also, significantly, the user need not purchase multiple 
corrective lens devices for the various athletic eyewear devices used in 
different types of athletic and outdoor activity--a single corrective lens 
assembly releasably mounts in different types of athletic eyewear devices. 
The ability to use a single corrective lens assembly in multiple athletic 
eyewear devices offers considerable cost savings to users given the 
expense of corrective lenses. This is especially apparent in the case of 
users whose corrective lens prescription may change frequently. Another 
advantage of the preferred embodiments of the present system is that the 
athletic eyewear devices are fully functional when the corrective lens 
assembly is removed. This permits the athletic eyewear to be shared by 
different persons and permits individual users to wear both corrective 
eyeglasses and contact lens with the athletic eyewear devices. 
FIGS. 1-4 illustrate a pair of goggles 20 for use by skiers or 
snowboarders, for example, comprising a preferred embodiment of the 
present invention. The ski goggle portion of the embodiment of FIG. 1 is 
of standard construction. A frame 22 holds a goggle lens structure 24 
comprised of an inner lens 26 and an outer lens 28 separated by a 
closed-cell foam spacer 30. Ventilating holes 32, 58 extend through the 
outer lens 28 and inner lens 26 permitting fresh air to enter the region 
between the user's face (not shown) and the inner lens 26. As best seen in 
FIG. 2, a vent slide 34 resides in a slot 36 formed between the inner lens 
26, the outer lens 28, and the foam spacer 30. The vent slide 34 and the 
slot 36 are sized to permit the vent slide 34 to move left to right, 
allowing the user of the goggles to align holes 38 in the vent slide 34 
with respect to the holes 32 in the outer lens 28 and holes 58 in the 
inner lens 26, thereby regulating the flow of air through the goggles 20. 
The vent slide 34 includes a slide handle 40 extending forwardly from the 
central portion of the vent slide and extends through an elongated 
aperture 42 in the outer lens 28 to permit the user to grab the slide 
handle 40 while wearing the goggles and easily move the vent slide left to 
right. 
Although the present invention can be implemented in connection with 
various types of conventional ski goggles, the preferred embodiment 
illustrated herein is adapted from a V3 Regulator.TM. Model V34LCH goggle 
available from Smith Sports Optics Incorporated of Ketchum, Id., the 
assignee of the present invention. It will be appreciated, then, that 
various design aspects of the goggles described herein, including for 
example the adjustable ventilating system which is also the subject of 
U.S. Pat. No. 5,542,130, need not be implemented to practice the present 
invention. 
The improvements of the present invention are obtained in the embodiment 
illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 4 by the provision of a corrective lens 
assembly 10 which is releasably mounted on a nose clip 50 which has in 
turn been mounted to conventional ski goggles such as those described 
above. The nose clip includes an upper hanger portion 52 which is mounted 
over the top edge of the inner lens 26 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The 
hanger portion 52 includes a hook portion 56 which, when installed in the 
goggles 20, projects forwardly over the inner lens 26 and downwardly below 
the ventilating holes 58. Pegs 54 project rearwardly from the back face of 
the hook portion 56 and are received within ventilating holes 58 in the 
upper portion of the inner lens 26 to secure the nose clip 50 to the 
goggles. 
In the preferred embodiment of FIGS. 1-4, the inner lens 26 of goggles 20 
has existing ventilating holes 58. For nose clips 50 designed for use with 
goggles having existing holes, the pegs 54 are preferably spaced apart and 
sized to fit snugly within the existing holes. For other types of goggles, 
appropriately sized and spaced holes may be added to the inner lens or 
alternate securing means may be employed. 
The nose clip 50 extends downwardly from the hanger 52 via a support arm 60 
which is sized to minimize interference with the user's vision and to 
place the corrective lens assembly 10 at an appropriate height with 
respect to the user's eyes. The bottom portion of the nose clip comprises 
a bridge support 62, preferably formed integrally with the support arm 60, 
for receiving and releasably mounting the corrective lens assembly 10. As 
seen in FIG. 2, the bridge support includes a rear lip 63 which raises 
upwardly to block rearward movement of the bridge 70 of the corrective 
lens assembly 10 (described in more detail below). A front lip 65 is 
integrally formed with the lower portion of the nose clip 50 support arm 
60 to similarly block forward movement of the corrective lens assembly 10. 
The nose clip assembly in the preferred embodiment illustrated herein is 
fabricated of clear propionate plastic, although other alternative 
materials can be used. 
The corrective lens assembly 10 is comprised of a pair of corrective lenses 
64, each of which is mounted to a metal frame piece 66 in a manner known 
in the art. For example, the frame pieces 66 may be configured to hold the 
lenses in place alone (not shown), by placing a connector through the lens 
(not shown), or for example, with the aid of conventional nylon cords 68 
or the like which extend from the frame pieces 66 around the corrective 
lenses 64 to secure the corrective lenses with respect to the frames in a 
manner known in the art. The frame pieces 66 may be constructed of any 
suitable material as is known in the art. The frame pieces shown here are 
fabricated of optical grade stainless steel. 
The corrective lenses 64 are of conventional construction and may be of 
various shapes. The shape used in the preferred embodiments illustrated 
herein was selected because it is believed to work well and present an 
attractive appearance with the corresponding ski goggles 20 and sports 
shield 80 embodiments illustrated herein. Alternative shapes can be used 
in these or other embodiments. Indeed, where a user's prescription 
dictates relatively thick corrective lenses 64, it may be desirable to use 
smaller lenses to yield a lighter weight corrective lens assembly 50 and 
avoid distortion which can occur when looking through the outer portions 
of larger, thicker lenses. 
The frame pieces 66 holding the corrective lenses 64 are joined by a bridge 
70. The bridge 70 in the preferred embodiments illustrated herein includes 
a central region 72 which is generally concave as viewed from the 
underside (as worn by a user) of the goggles 20, as best shown in FIG. 4. 
As the bridge extends outwardly from the central region 72 toward the 
frame pieces 66, there is a convex region 74 on each side proximate the 
corresponding frame piece 66. In combination, the concave central region 
72 and convex regions 74 provide a configuration that enables the 
corrective lens assembly to be snapped in place over a correspondingly 
shaped region of the bridge support 62. The bridge 70 is preferably 
fabricated of lightweight metal and shaped to form a spring, such that in 
operation the convex regions 74 are biased inwardly to thereby assist in 
holding the bridge 70 on the bridge support 62. In the preferred 
embodiment illustrated herein, the bridge is fabricated of optical grade 
stainless steel. The shape of the bridge 70 permits the weight of the 
corrective lens assembly 10 to be supported by the bridge support 62 and 
to restrain lateral movement of the corrective lens assembly 10 with 
respect to the nose clip 50. 
It will be appreciated that in certain situations it may be desirable to 
provide a means for wearing the corrective lens assembly 10 without 
wearing a protective eyewear device such as the ski goggles 70. For 
example, a user may desire to remove ski goggles during a lunch break, yet 
continue to wear the corrective lens 64. It will be appreciated that 
various conventional eyeglass frame technologies could be adapted to meet 
this need. For example, conventional frames (not shown) could be adapted 
to include a nose clip 50 as described herein to hold the corrective lens 
assembly 10. Alternately, a half-frame (not shown) such as is used for 
reading glasses could be fitted with a nosepiece 88 of the type described 
below including a bridge support 90 for holding the corrective lens 
assembly 10. 
FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate a preferred embodiment of the present invention 
comprising a sports shield device 80 to be worn by users for bicycling, 
in-line skating, or other comparable outdoor activities. The system and 
apparatus of the current invention can be implemented with various 
conventional sports shield devices and comparable products. The embodiment 
illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6 has been adapted from a conventional 
MOAB.RTM. II sports shield product, Model No. MB3NBBHP, available from 
Smith Sport Optics Incorporated, of Ketchum, Id., assignee of the present 
invention. Side pieces 82 extend forwardly over a user's ears to support a 
central frame member 84. Depending from the central frame member 84 is a 
polycarbonate lens 86 designed to shield the user from sun and wind. A 
nosepiece 88 is mounted to the bottom of the central portion of the lens 
86, as shown in FIG. 5, to permit the user's nose (not shown) to support 
the sports shield 80 during use. 
As best seen in FIG. 6, the rear portion of the nosepiece 88, positioned 
behind the lens, includes a bridge support 90 shaped to receive and 
securely, releasably mount the bridge 62 of the corrective lens assembly. 
This arrangement is advantageous because it allows easy mounting and 
removal of the corrective lens assembly 10 within the sports shield 
product 80. Further, when the corrective lens assembly is removed, the 
sports shield product 80 remains fully functional, and thus can be used by 
the original wearer with contact lenses, for example, or by another person 
without any corrective lens. 
In particular, the bridge support 90 of the preferred embodiment of FIGS. 5 
and 6 includes an upper region 92 which supports the central region 72 of 
the bridge and a lower portion 94 which is positioned below the convex 
portion 74 of the bridge 62 to provide vertical support an additional 
securing therefore when the central region 72 is mounted within the 
nosepiece 88. The upper region 92 and portion 94 on each side of the 
bridge support 90 define recess portions 93 which receives the 
corresponding convex portion 74 of the bridge 62. The bridge support 90 of 
the nosepiece 88 also includes a rear lip 96 and a front lip 98 which 
extend upwardly on the front and back sides of the bridge support 90 to 
restrict rearward and forward movement of the bridge 70 of the corrective 
lens assembly 10, as seen in FIGS. 5 and 6. 
Although the system and apparatus of the present invention have been 
described with respect to the preferred embodiments illustrated and 
described herein, the invention is not intended to be limited to or by 
these embodiments, but rather is defined by the claims which follow. It 
will be appreciated by those of skill in the art that the invention can be 
implemented in various embodiments. Further, although the invention has 
been described with respect to ski goggles and sports shield embodiments, 
it will be appreciated that the invention can be implemented with respect 
to various athletic and other protective eyewear devices.