Swimming goggles

Swimming goggles include left and right frame bodies installed with lenses, a connecting element, and protective pads and head strap bases. The left and right frame bodies each has inner and outer peripheral faces. The protective pads each has a connecting portion having a connecting face and an abutting face. Lip portions are respectively formed along the inner peripheral faces of the left and right frame bodies. The connecting faces integrally encompass the lip portions. The abutting faces are inclined with respect to face portions corresponding to an area above the eye socket and adjacent to an eyebrow, a side portion of a nose bridge adjacent to lacrimal gland at an inner side portion of the eye socket, an area adjacent to an under-eye bag below the eye socket, and an outer eye corner with respect to an outer side portion of the eye socket adjacent to a temple.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to swimming goggles, and particularly to swimming goggles capable of being fit for face portions with respect to peripheral portions of eyes, a nose bridge, and a wearer's head, and being worn comfortably without feeling pressure and causing water leakage, and can provide a better range of visual field in swimming.

2. Related Art

Swimming goggles are mainly designed to protect eyes and to be prevented from being leaked into water when swimming. As is well known, swimming goggles are worn on face portions corresponding to outer peripheral portions of eye sockets of a cranium. As bold lines shown inFIG. 10, each face portion is defined to correspond to an area60above an eye socket and adjacent to an eyebrow70, a side portion of a nose bridge adjacent to lacrimal gland71at an inner side portion61of the eye socket, an area62adjacent to an under-eye bag72below the eye socket, and an outer eye corner73with respect to an outer side portion63of the eye socket adjacent to a temple. The function of water leakage-proof for swimming goggles is known to be achieved by providing sponge-type protective pads at early times and currently suction-type protective pads. Those protective pads are being attached to the face portions to prevent water leakage through flexibility of a sponge material or a suction force of a suction-type pad. Contours of the face portions with respect to the outer peripheral portions of the eye sockets are not flat; however, a sponge-type protective pad of conventional swimming goggles has a same thickness in vertical cross section. As a result, conventional swimming goggles cannot be perfectly attached to the face portions unless the sponge-type protective pad is being compressed to fit the face portions by a greater force to tighten a head strap when wearing the conventional goggles. Likewise, as to the suction-type swimming goggles, a profile of a suction pad as viewed from a top or bottom angle is parallel with a lens and is without being curved to a front side of the lens, whereby a wearer also needs to use a greater force to tighten the head strap in order to make the suction-type protective pad tightly attached to the face portion, otherwise water leakage may occur. It can be expected from the above disclosure, either sponge-type or suction-type protective pads are likely to cause red circle eyes or even swollen eyes after taking off swimming goggles due to excessive attachment to the face portions with respect to the outer peripheral portions of the eye sockets and definitely make wearers uncomfortable in wearing.

Furthermore, tightening the head strap is necessary to enable protective pads to be attached to the outer peripheral portions of the eye sockets so as to avoid water leakage. Due to the relation between ears and eyes in position, the head strap cannot be adjusted horizontally but obliquely in a direction above ears. Consequently, connecting elements of swimming goggles for connecting the head strap, and the protective pads are being tilted upward in conjunction with the adjustment of the head strap and that results in an incomplete contact between the protective pads and the face portions where side portions of a nose bridge (inner peripheries of eye sockets) adjacent to lacrimal gland and corners of eyes (outer peripheries of eye sockets) may occur water leakage, especially for users having high nose bridges. In short, because the connecting elements are directly fixedly mounted to left and right frames of conventional swimming goggles, attachment of the protective pads to the face portions are affected when adjusting the head strap no matter the connecting elements are made of a hard or soft material.

Still further, conventional swimming goggles are needed to be taken off from a wearer to adjust a head strap, and therefore is very inconvenient. Although there is another type of swimming goggles that allows a head strap to be adjusted without being taken off, the adjustment of the head strap also affects the attachment of the protective pads to the face portions and may cause red circle eyes as well. What is more is conventional swimming goggles are equipped with buckles that are fixedly mounted to side portions of left and right frames and have engaging bars each is formed on a control plate (control button) to engage or disengage the head strap by pulling away the control plate (or pressing the control button). However, the buckles are being moved in conjunction with the action of pulling away the control plate (or pressing the control button) and thus directly affect positions of the protective pads of the left and right frames on the face portions. In this case, it may make eyes feel uncomfortable or even cause red circle eyes as the attachment of the protective pads is transiently away from the face portions.

Additionally, regarding conventional swimming goggles having lenses and left and right frames integrally formed together, the lenses are in a flat plan configuration having mold cores and mold lines with respect to the left and right frames. Portions of the lenses between the mold lines and the left and right frames tend to block visual fields of a wearer and increase water resistance in swimming. On the other hand, thicknesses of the left and right frames in vertical cross section are same at upper and lower edges thereof. As a result, the upper edges of the left and right frames are positioned further to the face portions than lower edges thereof (as shown inFIG. 10, the face portions with respect to the outer peripheral portions of the eye sockets) and thus block visual fields of corners of eyes in swimming.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide swimming goggles that are fit for face portions with respect to outer peripheral portions of eye sockets of a cranium so as to be worn comfortably smoothly without water leakage.

Another object of the present invention is to provide swimming goggles that are fit for various shapes of nose bridges and perfectly attached to face portions without being affected in attachment to face portions when being worn, so as to ensure that no water leakage occurs in swimming.

Another object of the present invention is to provide swimming goggles that are not affected in attachment to face portions when adjusting a head strap, and are capable of not causing red circle eyes or making eyes uncomfortable.

Still, another object of the present invention is to provide swimming goggles capable of reducing water resistance in swimming, preventing visual fields of eye corners from being blocked by goggle frames so as to provide a better and wider range of visual field in swimming.

To achieve the above-mentioned objects, the swimming goggles comprises a left frame body and a right frame body, each of the left and right frame bodies having an inner peripheral face and an outer peripheral face; lenses respectively integrally formed with the outer peripheral faces of the left and right frame bodies; a connecting element interconnecting the left and right frame bodies; and protective pads respectively attached to the inner peripheral faces of the left and right frame bodies. Each of the protective pads has a connecting portion comprising a connecting face and an abutting face. Head strap apparatus are respectively disposed on outer sides of the left and right frame bodies. Lip portions are respectively formed along the inner peripheral faces of the left and right frame bodies. The connecting faces of the connecting portions integrally encompass the lip portions, and each of the abutting faces of the connecting portions is inclined with respect to a face portion corresponding to an outer peripheral portion of an eye socket of a cranium. The face portion is defined to include an area above the eye socket and adjacent to an eyebrow, a side portion of a nose bridge adjacent to lacrimal gland at an inner side portion of the eye socket, an area adjacent to an under-eye bag below the eye socket, and an outer eye corner with respect to an outer side portion of the eye socket adjacent to a temple, whereby the swimming goggles being perfectly fit for the face portions with respect to the outer peripheral portions of the eye sockets so as to be worn comfortably without being leaked into water and a feeling of compression.

According to one aspect of the present invention, each of the protective pads further comprises a face contact portion coupled with the abutting face of the connecting portion, and having curved contours with respect to the face portion corresponding to the outer peripheral portion of the eye socket of the cranium. An upper half part of the face contact portion with respect to the eyebrow and a lower half part of the face contact portion with respect to the under-eye bag are curved at different angles as viewed from top and bottom plans.

According to another aspect of the present invention, each of the left and right frame bodies has an upper thickness with respect to the eyebrow and a lower thickness with respect to the under-eye bag in vertical cross section, and the upper thickness is less than the lower thickness so as to allow each of the left and right frame bodies to be fit for contours of the eyebrow and the under-eye bag, and prevent visual fields of eye corners from being blocked by frame bodies and thus provide a better visual field in swimming.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the connecting element has opposite two ends respectively forming connecting pegs, each of the connecting pegs comprising a neck portion and an engaging portion, one side of each of the left and right frame bodies integrally extends outward to form a connecting base, and the connecting base is defined with a connecting hole where the neck portion is pivotally installed therein with the engaging portion mounted over the connecting base so that the left and right frame bodies are rotatable with respect to the connecting pegs.

According to another aspect of the present invention, each of the head strap apparatus comprises a base, a strap buckle and a shaft rod. The bases integrally respectively extend from sides of the left and right frame bodies and respectively form axial holes thereon. The strap buckle comprises a coupling opening, a first connecting hole, a second connecting hole, and a strap through hole. The coupling opening is intended to accommodate the base and is defined with a limiting wall, a guiding peg is mounted to the second connecting hole to define the strap through hole, and the shaft rod passes through the first connecting hole to be installed in the axial hole so as to pivotally connect the strap buckle with the base, whereby the strap buckle being rotatable with respect to the shaft rod against the limiting wall.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring toFIGS. 1 to 6, swimming goggles1of the present invention comprise a left frame body20, a right frame body21, a connecting element22, lenses30and31received in the left and right frame bodies20an21, protective pads4, and head strap apparatus5. The left and right frame bodies20and21are made of polycarbonate resin and respectively have inner peripheral faces201and211and outer peripheral faces202and212, wherein the inner peripheral faces201and211are integrally formed with lip portions203and213(as shown inFIGS. 1 and 5B) for facilitating a grab for a plastic material when performing plastic injection molding. The lip portions203and213respectively are disposed along the inner peripheral faces201and211. In vertical cross section each of the left and right frame bodies20and21has a thickness m with respect to the eyebrow and a thickness n with respect to a lower side of the under-eye bag, wherein the thickness m is different than the thickness n (as shown inFIG. 5B). In this embodiment, regarding the right frame body21, the thickness m at an upper edge thereof is measured from the lip portion213to an outer surface of the lens31and is less than the thickness n at a lower edge of the right frame body21measured from the lip portion213to the outer surface of the lens31. Likewise, the thicknesses m and n of the left frame body20are measured in the same manner as described above. In this manner, the swimming goggles1are capable of perfectly fitting to contours of the eyebrows and lower sides of the under-eye bags.

The lenses30and31are made of polycarbonate resin and are respectively formed with the outer peripheral faces202and212of the left and right frame bodies20and21. Referring toFIGS. 4A to 4D, each of the lenses30and31has a flat portion301and311and a continuous curved portion302and312. The flat portion301and311is positioned in front of an eye from a nose bridge to an outer eye corner after being worn. The continuous curved portion302and312extends and smoothly curves from the flat portion301and311with numerous arc faces smoothly curving from each other and reflecting an area from the outer eye corner to a zygomatic bone in such a manner that the continuous curved portion302and312is being chamfered at a junction of a front side and lateral side of the lens30and31. More specific, each of the numerous arc faces of the continuous curved portion302and312is curved at different angles with slope continuity so as to fit for various face widths. That is, the lenses30and31together with the left and right frame bodies20and21are fit for contours of the nose bridge to the outer eye corners and the zygomatic bones with the configuration of the different thicknesses m, n. As a result, a water resistance to the swimming goggles is greatly reduced when swimming because of the streamlined shape of the lenses30and31, and visual fields of eye corners are not blocked by the left and right frame bodies20and21so as to provide a better and broad visual field in swimming.

The protective pads4are respectively attached to the inner peripheral faces201and211of the left and right frame bodies20and21. Each of the protective pads4has a face contact portion40and a connecting portion41both made of thermal plastic rubber (TPR) by means of double shot injection molding. Alternatively, the face contact portion40and the connecting portion41are capable of being made of different materials or different colors in order to manifest colors of the protective pads4. Additionally, the connecting portion41is harder than the face contact portion40. The face contact portion40is made of a softer material than that of the connecting portion41for providing a comfortable contact with a wearer's face. Each of the connecting portions41comprises a connecting face410and an abutting face411. Referring toFIG. 5B, the abutting face411has a recessed surface412comprising a long side4121portion and a short side4122extending and bending from the long side4121in cross section, the long and short sides4121and4122together provide a large area for being integrally molded with the face contact portion40, and the short side4122functions as a boundary side against a plastic material when performing injection molding so as to prevent burrs from being produced on the juncture of the abutting face411and the face contact portion40. The connecting portions41grab the lip portions203and213of the inner peripheral faces20and21over the connecting faces410(as shown inFIG. 5B) to integrally form the protective pads4with the left and right frame bodies20and21. Referring toFIG. 6in combination withFIG. 10, each of the abutting faces411is inclined with respect to a face portion corresponding to an outer peripheral portion of the eye socket. More specific, the face portion is defined to include an area above the eye socket and adjacent to an eyebrow, a side portion of the nose bridge adjacent to lacrimal gland at an inner side portion of the eye socket, an area adjacent to the under-eye bag below the eye socket, and the outer eye corner with respect to an outer side portion of the eye socket adjacent to a temple, whereby the swimming goggles being perfectly fit for the face portions with respect to the outer peripheral portions of the eye sockets. The face contact portion40is coupled with an end portion of the abutting face411and has curved contours with respect to the face portion corresponding to the outer peripheral portion of the eye socket of the cranium, wherein an upper half part of the face contact portion40with respect to the eyebrow and a lower half part of the face contact portion40with respect to the under-eye bag are curved at different angles as viewed from top and bottom plans. Because the face contact portion40and the abutting face411have corresponding profiles, when comparing with conventional swimming goggles in wearing, the face contact portion40is capable of being tightened with a less force to abut against the abutting face411so as to enable the swimming goggles1to be perfectly attached to the face portion.

In particular, as the face contact portion40and the abutting face411are inclined to the face portion corresponding to the outer peripheral portion of the eye socket, the face contact portion40is capable of being smoothly and perfectly attached to the face portion without being tightened in a great force. Moreover, unlike protective pads of convention swimming goggles that remain a large buffering area with the face portion and have to be worn with a greater tightening force, the face contact portion40of the present invention is attached to the face portion with a moderate force to provide a comfortable contact in wearing.

The connecting element22is pivotally connected to the left and right frame bodies20and21, and has connecting pegs221and222respectively formed on opposite ends of the connecting element22. Each of the connecting pegs221and222comprises a neck portion223and an engaging portion224. The engaging portion224has a non-round geometric shape; and in this embodiment the engaging portion224is formed in a rectangular shape. One side of each of the left and right frame bodies20and21integrally extends outward to form a connecting base207and217each defined with a connecting hole208(218) where the neck portion223is pivotally installed therein with the engaging portion224mounted over the connecting base207(217). The connecting holes208and218respectively are formed in a rectangular shape corresponding to the engaging portion224. Thus the connecting element22interconnects the left and right frame bodies20and21through the connecting pegs221and222, and enables the left and right frame bodies20and21to be rotatable around the connecting pegs221and222, respectively. Accordingly, the left and right frame bodies20and21are capable of being easily and quickly rotated to adjust positions by obliquely drawing a head strap in a direction above ears so as to fit for the side portions of the nose bridge adjacent to lacrimal gland (inner side portions of the eye sockets) and the outer eye corners (outer side portions of the eye sockets), regardless of various shapes of nose bridges. (Alternatively, the engaging portions224and the connecting holes208and218are in a triangle shape based on practical applications).

Each of the head strap apparatus5comprises a base50, a strap buckle51, a shaft rod52, a restraining device53and a head strap6having multiple engaging slots60. The bases50integrally respectively extend from sides of the left and right frame bodies20and21and respectively form axial holes501thereon. The strap buckle51comprises an coupling opening514, a first connecting hole510, a second connecting hole512, a third connecting hole515, and a strap through hole511. The coupling opening514is intended to accommodate the base50and is defined with a limiting wall5141for limiting the course of rotation of the strap buckle51. A guiding peg513is mounted to the second connecting hole512to define the strap through hole511. In assembly, the shaft rod52passes through the first connecting hole510to be installed in the axial hole501so as to pivotally connect the strap buckle51with the base50on a side portion of the left/right frame body20/21f. In this manner, the strap buckle51is rotatable with respect to the shaft rod52against the limiting wall5141so as to be fit for various sizes of heads.

The restraining device53comprises a positioning peg531and a restraining tab532. The positioning peg531is mounted to the third connecting hole515of the strap buckle51. One side533of the restraining tab532extends outward to form a positioning sleeve534(as shown inFIGS. 1 and 2) being pivotally mounted to the positioning peg531. At least a cantilever arm535is disposed adjacent to the positioning sleeve534, one end536of the at least a cantilever arm535is fixedly mounted to the restraining tab532and another end537thereof is bent to be propped against the strap buckle51. Moreover, an engaging tooth538is disposed on the one side of the restraining tab532and extends toward the strap through hole511. With the above structures, in a normal state the engaging tooth538is engaged with one of the engaging slots60of the head strap6to allow the head strap6to be drawn in a single direction in order to be tightened. When the restraining tab532is being pulled outward at an angle (as an arrow direction shown inFIG. 5A), with the end537of the cantilever arm535propped against the strap buckle51(as dashed lines shown inFIG. 1), the strap buckle51is driven to rotate about the strap rod52in a direction same as the restraining tab532being pulled until hits against the limiting wall5141of the base50, and therefore the engaging tooth538disengages the one of the engaging slots60so as to loosen the head strap6. That is, the cantilever arm535is being deformed to generate stored energy when being propped against the strap buckle51. The head strap6is allowed to move in a front or rear direction to a desired position without affecting the attachment of the face contact portion40to the face portion with respect to the outer peripheral portion of the eye socket. Consequently, the adjustment of the head strap will not make eyes uncomfortable or even cause red circle eyes as do the conventional swimming goggles.

As described above, the restraining device53is rotatably mounted to the strap buckle51and enables the strap buckle51to be rotatable individually. Therefore, the attachment of the face contact portion40to the face portion is not affected when the head strap6is being adjusted through the restraining device53without taking off the swimming goggles.

Referring toFIGS. 7A to 9illustrating a second embodiment of swimming goggles1′ of the present invention, in this embodiment the swimming goggles comprise a left frame body20′, a right frame body21′, a connecting element22′, lenses30′ and31′, protective pads4′ and face contact portions40′. The major difference between the first and second embodiment is that the protective pads4of the second embodiment only comprise connecting portions41′ having connecting faces410′ coupled with abutting faces411′, the face contact portions40of the first embodiment not provided in the second embodiment. The abutting faces411′, one of aspects of the present invention, are inclined with respect to the face portion corresponding to the outer peripheral portion of the eye socket. Referring toFIG. 9in combination withFIG. 10, in other words, each of the abutting faces411′ is inclined with respect to the face portion defined to correspond to the area above the eye socket and adjacent to the eyebrow70, the side portion of the nose bridge adjacent to lacrimal gland71at the inner side portion of the eye socket, the area62adjacent to the under-eye bag72below the eye socket, and the outer eye corner73with respect to the outer side portion of the eye socket adjacent to a temple. Thus the swimming goggles1′ are perfectly smoothly attached to the face portion.

Accordingly, the abutting faces411and the face contact portions40of the swimming goggles1of the first embodiment, and the abutting faces411′ of the swimming goggles1′ of the second embodiment are respectively inclined with respect to the outer peripheral portions of the eye sockets, whereby enabling the swimming goggles1and1′ to be comfortably and smoothly attached to the contours of the outer peripheral portions of the eye sockets, wherein the face contact portions40of the first embodiment remain a less buffering portion with the abutting faces411. As a result, unlike the protective pads of the convention swimming goggles that remain a large buffering area with the face portion and have to be worn with a greater tightening force, the face contact portions40of the present invention are attached to the face portions with a moderate force so as to provide a comfortable contact in wearing. Likewise, the swimming goggles of the second embodiment formed without the face contact portion are more easily to be attached to the face contact portions with respect to the contours of the outer peripheral portions of the eye sockets, whereby ensuring that the swimming goggles are worn comfortably without water leakage.

It is understood that the invention may be embodied in other forms within the scope of the claims. Thus the present examples and embodiments are to be considered in all respects as illustrative, and not restrictive, of the invention defined by the claims.