Abstract:
An educational youth fireman helmet includes a scaled replication of a working fireman&#39;s helmet and is provided with a pivoting face visor, a pair of headlights controllable by the wearer, and a selectable voice messaging system providing recorded messages relating to fire safety.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims the benefit under 35 USC 121 of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/380,430 filed on May 15, 2002 in the name of Felix Batts and entitled “Educational Youth Fireman Helmet”. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to educational toys and, in particular, to a fireman&#39;s helmet for recreational and educational use by children. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Although fire safety is taught to children in most schools, quite often many of the rules are not remembered when presented in the teacher-student type format. 
     With the loss of so many firemen in the Sep. 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York, there has been an increased awareness among children as well as adults as to what firemen do. While always heroic figures to children, public safety officials, particularly firemen, are authoritative in their messages. 
     As in other educational pursuits, whenever learning can be made fun, such as playing games and the like, then the lessons will be longer remembered or even never forgotten. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides a realistic fireman&#39;s helmet for youth equipped with features identifying with the fireman&#39;s attire for general recreational activities and an educational messaging system for teaching and reinforcing important lessons relating to fire safety. The helmet is a scaled replication of a fireman&#39;s helmet, complete with a pivoting clear safety visor and a two light vision system. A voice synthesizer carried in the helmet provides an instructive series of important fire safety lessons for the child. The helmet makes the rules of fire safety fun to learn by designating the child or youth as a junior fire marshal with a fireman&#39;s hat that can be adjusted to fit their head. When the student sees himself in the mirror wearing a functioning fireman&#39;s helmet including a functioning headlight system and face shield, the student becomes excited and will be in a learning frame of mind. 
     Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide fireman&#39;s helmet for children that is realistic and instructive. 
     Another object of the invention is to provide a replicated fireman helmet having a messaging system for teaching a child fire safety lesson. 
     A further object of the invention is to provide an educational device in the form of a fireman&#39;s helmet, which may be worn for realistic fireman&#39;s play activities and provides educational messages for the wearer related to fire safety. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The above and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following description of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an educational youth fireman helmet of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a front view of the helmet shown in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a side view of the helmet shown in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 4 is a rear view of the helmet shown in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 5 is a top view of the helmet shown in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 6 is a bottom view of the helmet shown in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 7 is a schematic view of the lighting system and message system for the helmet; and 
     FIG. 8 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken along line  8 — 8  ion FIG. 6 showing the guide lugs for routing the wires at the head harness. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to the drawings for the purpose of describing a preferred embodiment of the invention and not for limiting same, FIGS. 1 through 6 show an educational youth fireman helmet  10 , generally in a scaled replication of a firefighters helmet, suitable for educational and recreation use by children in the ages of about 6 to 12 years. The helmet  10  is provided with a twin headlight assembly  14  for illumination under the control of the child and a messaging system  16 , FIG. 6, for presenting audible messages regarding fire safety. The helmet  10  carries a clear face visor  18  that may be rotated from the illustrated normal position in front of the face of the child and a raised position overlying the top of the helmet. The helmet  10  is formed of a relatively rigid molded plastic material. The visor  18  is formed of a clear plastic material. 
     The helmet  10  is a thin walled, molded construction exteriorally characterized by a dome shaped crown  20  surrounded by a slightly downwardly turned integral brim  22  carrying a peripheral rubber brim band  23 . Typically, the crown  20  and brim  22  are yellow and the band a contrasting black. Indicia  23  in the form of stripes or legend may be placed in various locations on the exterior surfaces of the helmet. 
     The brim  22  has a relatively constant wide front section  24  and side sections  26  blending with a rear section  28  of greater width. A pivotable D-ring  19  is attached to the rear of the brim that allows the helmet to be hung on a hook when not in use. 
     The crown  20  includes a central medial projecting rib  30  extending longitudinally from the rear section  28  to the twin headlight assembly  14 , which is positioned slightly above the front section  24  on the central front face of the crown  20 . 
     The headlight assembly  14  includes a frontally projecting light housing  30  having a pair of frustoconical light pods  32 . The light pods  32  have forwardly opening cavities carrying light units  34 . Each light unit  34  includes a conventional reflector, a light bulb carried at the base of the reflector, and a circular frontal lens  40 . 
     The visor  18  includes a constant width frontal section  50  surrounding the frontal section  24  of the brim  22  terminating with upwardly directed side tabs  52 , which are pivotally connected to a mounting bracket  54  carried on the side sections  26  of the brim  16  and adjustably compressively held in desired rotation thereat by an adjusting knob  60  and washer  62 . By adjusting the knob  60 , the visor  18  can be selectively controlled in movement between positions. A pair of inwardly projecting tabs  64  are attached to the upper rear surface of the frontal section  50  of the visor  18  and engage the upper surface of the brim  22  to limit downward rotation of the visor  18 . 
     Referring to FIG. 6, the inner surfaces of the crown  20  and the brim  22  define a downwardly opening head cavity for the child and include a head support harness  70  for adjustably conformably positioning the helmet on the head of the child during educational and recreational use. The support harness  70  includes a webbed head cap  72  and an adjustable head band  74 . The cap  72  includes a central generally rectangular base  76  having a plurality of peripherally disposed, outwardly and downwardly extending arms  78 . The arms  78  distally terminate with end tabs  80  that are received and secured within slotted brackets  82  formed integrally with the inner surface of the crown  20  adjacent the brim  22 . 
     The head band  74  includes an elongated collar  90  having bracket portions  92  provided with slots  94  for slidably receiving the arms  76  of the cap  70 . One end of the collar  90  adjacent the rear section  28  of the brim  22  is provided with an integral buckle  96 . The other end of the collar is provided with a belt end  98  inserted through the buckle  96  and providing an adjusting mechanism for conforming the collar  90  to the head size of the wearer. 
     The base  76  of the cap  72  includes a rectangular battery housing  100  defining a battery compartment covered by a battery lid  102  held in place by a threaded fastener. The compartment includes conventional terminals for AA batteries  104 . 
     Referring additionally to FIG. 7, a two-wire electrical cable  106  leads from the battery compartment along one of the side arms  76  to an on/off control switch  110  carried on an L-shaped side arm  112  located slightly to the rear of the mounting bracket  54  for the visor  18 . The switch  106  includes a downwardly projecting switch arm  114  whereby the switch  110  can be conveniently activated during use between “on” and “off” positions. One of the wires of the cable  106  is connected with branch cables  120  leading along the front arms of the cap. The branch cables  120  are routed through an aperture in the crown registering with the light pods  34  and electrically connected in parallel to the light bulb of the respective light source. The two bulbs provide independent light sources that will allow one bulb to continue to work in case of failure of the other bulb. As shown in FIG. 8, the outwardly facing surfaces of the arms  76  are provided with spaced pins  102  for locating and retaining the cable  106 / 120  in assembly. 
     The messaging system  16  includes a commercially available self powered voice synthesizer  130  carried on the lower surface of the rear section  28  of the brim  14  that is operatively connected to a control switch  132  disposed at the side section  26  of the brim  22  opposite the switch  106  and interconnected by a two wire electrical cable  134 . The switch  132  is releasably connected to the side section  26  by a hook and loop fastener  136 . The synthesizer  130  is releasably connected to the rear section  28  by hook and loop fastener  138 . The switch  132  includes a switch button  140  easily accessed for activation by or on behalf of the wearer. 
     Depressing the switch button  140  activates the voice synthesizer to sequentially repeat a prescribed message, such as for illustrative purposes the following: 
     (1) Hello Junior fire Marshal, let&#39;s have fun with fire safety. 
     (2) Here are 9 items you should never play with or touch—matches—lighter—heater—electrical outlet—fireplace—grill—radiator—candles—iron. Why? Because they all bum. 
     (3) What do you do when your clothes catch on fire? Don&#39;t run. Stop, drop and roll. 
     (4) What do you do when there is smoke in the house? Put one hand on the wall and crawl. 
     (5) Why do you crawl? Because smoke has poison gas in it. 
     (6) What happens if you breath the poison gas? You will surely pass out. 
     (7) If a door is hot, do you open it? No way! Feel the door with the back of your hand to see if it is hot. 
     (8) If you can&#39;t get out through your bedroom door, how do you get out? Through the window. 
     (9) What if your window is high above the ground, what do you need? You need a rope or ladder. 
     (10) When you get out, do you go back in? No way! 
     (11) Suppose your pet is still in the house, do you go back in for it? No! No! No! 
     (12) Well, if you don&#39;t go back into the house, where do you do? To a meeting place outside. 
     (13) Why do you go to the meeting place? To let everyone know that you are safe. 
     The message is repeated in its entirety whenever the button  130  is depressed beginning with the first statement. 
     The messages that are broadcast from the message module can be made to sound like the voice of a fireman. This will excite the youth using the helmet to listen to the messages over and over, which, along with the excitement of wearing a functioning fireman-type helmet will cause the youth to retain the messages which could be a lifetime memory which can be repeated to others to continue the learning process of fire safety. 
     The present invention may, of course, be carried out in other specific ways than those herein set forth without departing from the spirit and essential characteristics of such invention. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, and all changes coming within the meaning and equivalency range of the appended claims are intended to be embraced therein.