Abstract:
A removable flat flexible disabling insert is disposed between interengaging members which are provided for registry with one another in opposed displaceable surface portions of adjustable shell portions of an adjustable helmet. The disabling insert prevents interengagement of the interengaging members but permits adjustable displacement of the shell portions. The disabling insert, when removed, permits engagement of the interengaging members. Particularly, but not exclusively, the insert is used with a hockey helmet having front and back adjustable shell portions.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD  
       [0001]     The present invention relates to adjustable helmets having front and back adjustable shell portions provided with complementary connectors which can be clamped together with the shell portions adjusted to a wearer&#39;s head and more specifically to a disabling insert which permits adjustment of a helmet on a wearer&#39;s head at the point of sale of the helmet.  
       BACKGROUND ART  
       [0002]     Adjustable helmets are known and examples of these are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,477,929, 4,539,715 and 5,956,776. Usually, these helmets are formed of two shell portions, namely, front and back shell portions which are interconnected together by engaging members such as ribs formed in overlapping regions of the front and back shell portions and on opposed sides of the helmet. The usual practice is to purchase the helmet and adjust it on one&#39;s head by the intended user by simply disabling the connectors and positioning the shell portions for close fit on the head and then enabling the connectors.  
         [0003]     It is desirable to provide a means wherein the helmet can be adjusted to a person&#39;s head at the point of sale and usually by trained personnel. Therefore, there is a need to facilitate this adjustment without having to disassemble the helmet. There is also a need to provide a connector which is easily and quickly engageable.  
         [0004]     With the above-referenced prior art there is disclosed the use of wedging elements to facilitate the activation of the connectors. The problem with these wedging elements is that they become easily disconnected particularly if the wearer hits a solid object, such as ice, side boards and side board Plexiglas surfaces or people collide with one another during a sports activity, such as hockey. A further disadvantage of the above-mentioned prior art is that often it is required to remove screws to adjust and connect the shells together. Screws are desirable as they provide a more reliable interconnection. However, it is difficult for a person to adjust the helmet on his head as the screws are not visible to him. Therefore, the helmet must be removed and the screws tightened and this is a tedious and often improper way of adjusting the helmet shell portions.  
       SUMMARY OF INVENTION  
       [0005]     It is therefore a feature of the present invention to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art and to fulfill the above required need to make the adjustment simple, quick and reliable without the need to remove connecting screws.  
         [0006]     According to the above feature, from a broad aspect, the present invention provides a removable flat flexible disabling insert which is adapted to be disposed between interengaging members provided for registry with one another in opposed displaceable surface portions of adjustable shell portions of an adjustable helmet whereby to prevent interengagement of the interengaging members but permitting adjustable displacement of the shell portions. The disabling insert, when removed, permits engagement of the interengaging members.  
         [0007]     According to a further broad aspect of the present invention there is provided an adjustable helmet which comprises front and back shell portions. The front and back shell portions are movable relative to one another along guide means. Adjustable engagement means is provided and constituted by interengaging members positioned for registry with one another in opposed displaceable surface portions of the shell portions. Shell clamping means is provided to urge and retain the interengaging members of the shell portions in arresting relationship to prevent displacement of the shell portions. A removable disabling insert is disposed between the shell portions and in obstructing relationship between the interengaging members in the opposed displaceable surfaces to prevent the clamping means to urge the interengaging members in arresting relationship while permitting adjustable displacement of the shell portions. The removable disabling insert when removed permits the arresting relationship of the interengaging members with the shell portions disposed at a desired position relative to one another. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       [0008]     A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:  
         [0009]      FIG. 1  is a side view of a hockey helmet fitted with the disabling insert of the present invention;  
         [0010]      FIG. 2  is a side view, slightly in perspective, illustrating the construction of the disabling insert;  
         [0011]      FIG. 3  is a fragmented side view illustrating the construction of the interengaging member disposed on opposed sides of the back shell portion;  
         [0012]      FIG. 4  is a fragmented view showing the construction of the interengaging member disposed on opposed sides of the front shell portion and disposed for registry with the interengaging member of  FIG. 3 ;  
         [0013]      FIG. 5A  is a top section view showing the position of the interengaging members of the front and back shell portions with the disabling insert disposed therebetween and also showing the connectors associated with the slots, one in an engaged position and the other in an exploded view position;  
         [0014]      FIG. 5B  is a sectional side view showing the construction of the bolt fastener connectors and the position of the ribs constituting the interengaging members; and  
         [0015]      FIG. 6  is a side view showing the position of the disabling insert relative to the connectors and interengaging ribs and the method of use. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0016]     Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to  FIG. 1 , there is shown generally at  10 , an adjustable helmet which is comprised of a front shell portion  11  and a rear shell portion  12  which are adjustably displaceable with respect to one another to provide proper fitment on a wearer person&#39;s head  13 . As hereinshown, a pair of connector bolts  14  and  14 ′ are provided in a rearwardly extending connecting arm  15  formed integral with the front shell portion  11  and disposed on opposed sides of the adjustable helmet  10 . Only one side is hereinshown in  FIG. 1 .  
         [0017]     Located behind the connecting arms  15  there is provided an adjustable engagement means which will be described hereinafter and the present invention is constituted by a disabling insert  16  which is removably positioned between the connecting arms  15  and an outer surface  12 ′ of the rear shell portion  12  whereby to disable the adjustable engagement means thereby permitting the shells to be displaced relative to one another while on the intended wearer&#39;s head  13  with the connector bolts in place.  
         [0018]     As shown in  FIG. 2 , the disabling insert  16  is formed from a flat flexible plastic sheet material having a connector obstructing portion  17  and a finger grasping portion  18  to permit positioning and removal of the disabling insert between interengageable members of the adjustable engagement means. The finger grasping portion  18  constitutes an extension tab which is readily accessible to the fingers  19  of a person, as shown in  FIG. 6 , to position and remove the disabling insert. A through hole  20  is provided to facilitate grasping of the tab by the fingers.  
         [0019]     With reference now to FIGS.  3  to  5 B, there will be described the adjustable engagement means. As shown in  FIG. 3 , there is provided on the outer surface  12 ′ of the rear shell  12 , one or more, herein a pair, of guide slots  21  and  21 ′ and a connector means disposed about the slots. The connector means is constituted by a plurality of equidistantly spaced ribs  22  disposed in side-by-side parallel relationship and defining troughs or valleys  23  therebetween. This rib formation is provided on opposed sides of the rear shell in identical locations. The slots  21  and  21 ′ are elongated slots of equal length and define the maximum displacement between the front and rear shell portions.  
         [0020]     As shown in  FIG. 4 , the connector arms  15  of the front shell portion  11  are provided on an inner surface  15 ′ thereof with one or more connecting ribs  24  which have the same spacing as the ribs  22  and are receivable in selected ones of the troughs  23  formed between the ribs  22  in the rear shell portion when locked therein by clamping means, which is constituted by the connecting bolts  14  and  14 ′. On opposed sides of these connecting ribs  24 , there is provided a through bore  25  and  25 ′ to receive the connecting bolts  14  and  14 ′ respectively. The connecting arms  15  are reinforced arms provided with integrally formed ribs such as contour rib  26  and other formations as is well known in the art, and this connecting arm  15  has an outer recess  27  to receive the head  14 ″ of the connecting bolt  14 , as shown in  FIG. 5A , to protect the connector head to prevent accidental disengagement. The connector head  14  has a slot  28  formed therein for engagement by a screwdriver tool. The connector also comprises a female part  29  having a threaded shaft  29 ′ and a collar  29 ″ having opposed flat parallel sections  30 , as shown in  FIG. 5B , for positioning the collar  29 ‘’ in close fit within a respective one of the guide slots  21  and  21 ′. The female connector has an enlarged flat head  32  which sits over the inner surface  12 ″ of the rear shell portion. The threaded rod  31  of the bolt  14  is threadably received within the threaded shaft  29  to urge the inner surface  15 ′ of the connecting arm  15  against the outer surface  12 ′ of the rear shell portion whereby the connecting ribs  21  can be urged into opposed troughs  23  of the connector formation formed about the slots.  
         [0021]     It is pointed out that these shell portions are provided with a thick inner protective hard foam material padding and these fasteners do not come into contact with the wearer&#39;s head.  
         [0022]     Referring now to  FIGS. 2, 5A  and  6 , the disabling insert  16  is hereinshown as having passage means in the form of two spaced-apart vertical slots  40  and  40 ′ extending upwardly from a bottom edge  41  of the insert. These slots are open ended slots and have a slight inner taper for ease of insertion, as herein illustrated. The spacing between the slots  40  and  41  is equivalent to the spacing between the bores  25  and  25 ′ which receive the pair of connecting bolts  14  and  14 ′ whereby the disabling insert  16  can be positioned, as shown in  FIG. 5A , between the inner surface  15 ′ of the connector arms  15  and the outer surface  12 ′ of the rear shell portions and in obstruction between the connecting ribs  24  and the troughs  23  formed in the connector formation on the rear shell. Accordingly, the connector bolts  14  and  14 ′ cannot cause engagement of the interengageable members.  
         [0023]     As shown in  FIG. 5A , connector  14 ′ is shown secured to the connector portion  29 , but only partly secured. Accordingly, with this disabling insert  16  in its position as shown in  FIG. 5A , the shell portions are displaceable with respect to one another as the ends of the ribs  24  and the ribs  22  will slide over the opposed slippery surfaces  16 ′ of the insert  16  permitting sliding adjustment. Once proper adjustment of the shell has been made on the wearer person&#39;s head  13 , the insert  16  is pulled out in the direction of arrow  45 , as shown in  FIG. 6  by grasping the tab portion  18  of the insert with the fingers  19 . The bolt fastener heads  14 ″ are then tightened to cause the ribs  24  to enter into the troughs  23  and prevent relative displacement between the two shell portions.  
         [0024]     It is pointed out that these helmets are packaged by the manufacturer with the disabling insert in position and the connecting bolts  14  and  14 ′ are fastened to an extent that it permits the shell portions to slide relative to one another. At the point of sale, a service person can adjust the helmet on a purchaser&#39;s head. All that is required is simply to place the helmet on the intended wearer&#39;s head, as shown in  FIG. 1 , and adjust the shell to a comfortable position as dictated by the intended wearer and then the disabling insert is removed and the screws tightened. The insert is then discarded and is recyclable having been constructed of plastics material. It is, of course, obvious that these inserts can be supplied to the merchandiser who can easily fit them on the specific adjustable helmet in question and then re-use these inserts.  
         [0025]     It is within the ambit of the present invention to cover any obvious modifications of the preferred embodiment described herein, provided such modifications fall within the scope of the appended claims.