Patent Publication Number: US-9427040-B2

Title: Headgear support device having front-back adjustment

Description:
This invention relates to headgear support device for use with protective headgear having a face shield, and more particularly, a headgear support device which provides front-back adjustment. 
     Protective headgear typically includes headgear supports with headbands or head straps that are adjustable to provide the headgear with a comfortable fit on a wide range of head sizes. The headgear may also include a visor or mask shell which serves to protect the user. The visor is typically rotatably mounted onto a helmet or other protective headgear to enable rotation of the visor up and away from the user&#39;s face. It has been found such visors provide discomfort to the user when the visor is in the down position. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a headgear arrangement which provides greater comfort to the user. 
     A headgear support device for supporting a visor is disclosed. The device includes a headband having an elongated slot and a pivot element which is affixed to the visor or mask shell. The pivot element is slidably located within the slot to enable translational movement of the visor or mask shell. The pivot element is also rotatable within the slot to enable rotational movement of the visor or mask shell. The device also includes a retaining element for retaining the pivot element in the slot to enable translational movement of the pivot element and visor. 
    
    
     
         FIG. 1  depicts a head top support system. 
         FIG. 2  depicts a headgear support device in accordance with the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  shows the headgear support device and a pivot link. 
         FIG. 3 a    shows a rear portion of the pivot link. 
         FIG. 4  is a view of the headgear support device and a pivot stop located in a substantially vertical position. 
         FIG. 5  is a view of the pivot stop in a substantially horizontal position wherein a peg is received in a lower recess. 
         FIG. 6  is a view of a portion of a visor attached to the headgear support device. 
         FIG. 7  depicts a knob for tightening or loosening the visor. 
     
    
    
     Before any embodiments of the invention are explained in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the following drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of “including,” “comprising,” or “having” and variations thereof herein is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items. Unless specified or limited otherwise, the terms “mounted,” “connected,” “supported,” and “coupled” and variations thereof are used broadly and encompass direct and indirect mountings, connections, supports, and couplings. Further, “connected” and “coupled” are not restricted to physical or mechanical connections or couplings. In the description below, like reference numerals and labels are used to describe the same, similar or corresponding parts in the several views of  FIGS. 1-7 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a head top support system  10  is shown which is constructed in three sectional pieces. The system  10  includes an overhead support band  14 , a frontal head support band  16  and a rear head support band  18 . The overhead support band  14  and rear head support band  18  moves independently relative to the frontal head support band  16 . The three section headgear support is designed to be used with a variety of different types of protective headgear. Representative functional protective structures include welding, brow guard face protection visor, air fed face shield, combinations of these structures, and the like. 
     The overhead support band  14  is positioned approximately ninety degrees from the frontal head support band  16 . The overhead support band  14 , frontal head support band  16  and rear head support band  18  are connected at a first and second common connection area. The common connection area allows the three sections to move relative to each other while maintaining restrictions within that movement. The overhead support band  14  preferably has an angular range of movement of from about ten degrees or less from the frontal head support band  16 . This range of movement allows proper adjustment of the system  10  on the head of the wearer of the protective head covering while permitting balance and comfortable fit of the protective head covering. The rear head support band  18  has an angular range of movement of from about forty-five degrees or less relative to the overhead support band  14 , allowing the rear support band  18  to properly adjust at the base of the back of the user&#39;s head. Preferably, both the overhead support band  14  and rear support band  18  include a length changing mechanism. In the rear support band  18  a ratchet mechanism is preferred and used to ensure that the rear support band  18  is inhibited from moving too far up the user&#39;s head, regardless of size, which would compromise the reliability of the user to retain the protective head covering during use. Length adjustment of the overhead support band  14  allows proper fitting of the system  10  on multiple users with different head sizes. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , a headgear support device  100  in accordance with the present invention is shown. The device  100  includes a headband  106  for accommodating a user&#39;s head (only a portion of the headband  106  is shown). The headband  106  includes a pivot stud  120  which is located within an elongated slot  103 . The pivot stud  120  is slidable within the slot  103 . In accordance with the present invention, translational movement of the pivot stud  120  toward a front end  105  of the slot  103  moves a mask or visor shell either further from a user&#39;s face. Conversely, translational movement of the pivot stud  120  towards a rear end  107  of the slot  103  moves the visor closer to a user&#39;s face. In  FIG. 2 , the translation movement of the pivot stud  120  is shown by arrow  200  to denote front to back adjustment. Thus, a user may adjust the visor as desired in order to provide greater comfort. In one embodiment, the range of the front to back adjustment is approximately 25 mm. 
     Top  109  and bottom  111  portions of a perimeter portion  113  of the slot  103  include a plurality of spaced apart sunken or subsurface portions which serve as adjustment stops  110 . The adjustment stops  110  offer guidance to a user regarding a position of a visor or mask shell (collectively referred to as a face shield) relative to the user&#39;s face. The pivot stud  120  further includes a round shoulder  115  which rotates relative to an inner surface  117  of the perimeter portion  113  to also enable rotation of the pivot stud  120  relative to the headband  106 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , the headgear support device  100  further includes a pivot link  132  (shown in a semi-transparent view) which is located on the pivot stud  120 . Referring to  FIG. 3 a   , a rear portion of the pivot link  132  is shown. The pivot link  132  includes a hole  133  which is adapted to mount on the round shoulder  115  of the pivot stud  120 . The pivot link  132  includes upper  135  and lower  137  guide elements which fit over and accommodate the top  109  and bottom  111  portions of the perimeter portion  113  to thus enable the pivot stud  120  to slide within the slot  103 . An internal surface of the pivot link  132  includes raised portions  130  (shown in  FIG. 3 a   ) which serve to engage with the sunken or sub surfaces of the adjustment stops  110  to thus locate the pivot stud  120  in the slot  103  relative to the headband  106 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 4 , the headgear support device  100  also includes a pivot stop  140  located in a substantially vertical position. The pivot stop  140  is attached to a mask or visor shell of a helmet or other protective headgear. The pivot stop  140  includes a hole  141  for accommodating the round shoulder  115  of the pivot stud  120  to enable rotation of the pivot stop  140  and thus the mask or visor shell relative to the headgear  106 . The pivot stop  140  includes upper  143  and lower  145  recesses having a substantially semicircular shape for accommodating a stationary location peg  128  which extends from the pivot link  132 . In  FIG. 4 , the peg  128  is shown located within the upper recess  143  to thus stop rotation of the visor when the face shield is in the down position. 
     Referring to  FIG. 5 , the pivot stop  140  is shown rotated in a substantially horizontal position wherein the face shield is in the up (raised) position. In this position, the peg  128  is received in the lower recess  145  to thus stop rotation of the face shield when the face shield is in the up position. The lower recess  145  further includes an upturned end portion  147  (see  FIG. 4 ). The lower recess  145 , upturned end portion  147  and peg  128  are configured to retain the peg  128  such that face shield is held in the up position. In one embodiment, the design and natural spring of the material used to fabricate the pivot stop  140  create a retaining force on the peg  128 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 6 , a semi-transparent view of a portion of a face shield  160  is shown attached to the headgear support device  100 . In particular, the visor  160  includes a square location hole  155  which receives a square portion  152  of the pivot stud  120 . As previously described, the pivot stud  120  rotates relative to the headband  106 . This causes corresponding rotation of the square portion  152  and the face shield  160 . The face shield  160  includes a location pin  142  which is adapted to engage one of a plurality of location slots  149  formed in the pivot stop  140 . In particular, positioning of the locating pin  142  in the location slots  149  from a front locating slot  151  to a rear locating slot  153  progressively opens the face shield  160  by increasingly larger amounts to provide angular adjustment of the face shield  160  relative to the user&#39;s face. 
     Referring to  FIG. 7 , a knob  170  is secured to a projecting portion  158  of the pivot stud  120 . The knob  170  serves to tighten or loosen the face shield  160  relative to the headgear support device  100 . In operation, a user turns the knob  170  counterclockwise to loosen the headgear support device  100  to enable translational (front to back)  200  adjustment of the headgear support device  100  within the slot  103  such that the visor  160  is positioned a desired distance from the user&#39;s face. In addition, the user can rotate the pivot stop  153  and face shield  160  such that the locating pin  142  is inserted into a desired location slot  149  to provide a desired open or closed position for the face shield  160 . The user then turns the knob  170  clockwise to tighten the visor  160  to fix the location of the headgear support device  100  within the slot  103  (and thus the front to back adjustment) and the locating pin  142  in a selected slot  149 . 
     While the invention has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications, permutations and variations will become apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the foregoing description. Accordingly, it is intended that the present invention embrace all such alternatives, modifications and variations.