Patent Publication Number: US-2004052068-A1

Title: Helmet having warning device

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001] The present invention relates generally to a safety helmet, and more particularly to a helmet having warning device.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002] While riding motorcycles or bicycles or other vehicles, people should be aware of no speeding, wearing safety helmets, and turning on the vehicle lights in the dusky environment, thus, it&#39;s safe for the riders and other people whom can be warned of the jeopardy.  
       [0003] When the riders use the foregoing vehicles in the dusky environment, such as in tunnels or at night, front lamps of motorcycles or additional lamps of bicycles are taken as limited illumination for the riders to get clear frontal view and for other people from the back to get fuzzy view. Although the motorcycle is equipped with rear lamps, the rear lamps&#39; illumination is not bright enough to warn other people from the back of the riders in a distance. As for bicycles, rear reflecting panels, which is the only warning device, mounted behind the frames of the bicycles fail to be diametrically effective in warning.  
       [0004] Accordingly, in addition to original vehicular lamps and reflecting panels, most of practitioners and riders will attach a reflecting sticker  2 , as shown in FIG. 1, on a safety helmet  1  by increasing reflective area to have warning effects. However, the reflecting sticker  2  has to be projected by the light in a short distance so as to be reflective, so that it&#39;s not the best choice.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0005] The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a helmet, which has an illuminator mounted on the helmet to automatically generate illumination in accordance with the brightness of outside environment to have warning effects.  
       [0006] Another objective of the present invention is to provide a helmet, which can be controlled forcibly to maintain illuminating by means of a switch while the illuminator generates illumination.  
       [0007] A further objective of the present invention is to provide a helmet, which absorbs solar energy and converts it into electrical energy supplying the illuminator with required electricity. According to the foregoing objectives of the present invention, the helmet provided by the present invention includes a helmet body having a hard shell and a lining, at least one illuminator mounted on the hard shell of the helmet body, a solar power supplying device mounted on the helmet body and having a solar panel, which is fixedly mounted on the hard shell, to absorb solar energy, a control circuit board for converting the solar energy into the electrical energy, and an accumulator for saving the electrical energy, which supplies the illuminator with required electricity to generate illumination, and a switch. The control circuit board is able to detect if there is any solar energy so as to automatically control the illuminator to generate illumination or not. The switch is electrically connected with the control circuit board and is able to be activated or not to forcibly keep the illuminator generating illumination while the control circuit board controls the illuminator to generate illumination. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0008]FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a prior art safety helmet adhesively mounted with reflecting stickers;  
     [0009]FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0010]FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0011]FIG. 4 is a top view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0012]FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing that illuminators don&#39;t generate illumination;  
     [0013]FIG. 6 similar to FIG. 5 shows that the illuminators generate illumination;  
     [0014]FIG. 7 is a schematic electrical representation of a circuitry of the preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0015]FIG. 8 is a schematic view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention applied in the dusky environment;  
     [0016]FIG. 9 is a perspective view of another preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing that a switch has a button externally mounted on a hehnet body; and  
     [0017]FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing that the switch has a switchable keypad externally mounted on a helmet body.  
    
    
     DETAIL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
     [0018] Referring to FIGS.  2 - 7 , a helmet  100 , which is a full-masked safety helmet for riding a motorcycle, is composed of a helmet body  10 , illuminators  20  made of light emitting diodes (LEDs), a solar power supplying device  30 , and a switch  40 .  
     [0019] The helmet body  10  has an integrally formed hard shell  11 , a pad  12 , a lining  13 , and a transparent panel  14 .  
     [0020] The hard shell  11  has a top surface, which is recessed with a receiving chamber  111  thereon. The hard shell has a plurality of holes  112  around the receiving chamber  111 . The transparent panel  14  is covertly disposed on an opening of the receiving chamber  111  and has an approximately arced top surface to be formed with an outer surface of the hard shell  11  as a continuous surface. The transparent panel  14  has a bottom to be spaced apart from a bottom of the receiving chamber  111  such that a space is defined between the transparent panel  14  and the bottom of the receiving chamber  111 .  
     [0021] The pad  12 , which is made of polystyrene with a predetermined thickness, has a side contacting an inner side of the hard shell and recessed with a first recession  121  and a second recession  122 , wherein the first recession  121  is in a position under the receiving chamber  111 . The pad  12  further has a third recession  123  recessed on an opposite side corresponding in location to the first recession  121 .  
     [0022] The lining  13  is a flexible cloth, which is attached to the curved inner surface of the pad  12 , making a user feel comfortable while his or her head touches it. Additionally, the lining  13  has a flexible leather mat corresponding in location to the third recession  123 .  
     [0023] The LEDs  20  are respectively received in the holes  112  of the hard shell  11  and have tops extending out of the holes  112  so as to completely emit the illumination, which is generated by the LEDs  20 , outside the helmet body  10 .  
     [0024] The solar power supplying device includes a solar panel  31 , a control circuit board  32 , and an accumulator  33 .  
     [0025] The solar panel  31  is received in the space between the transparent panel  14  and the receiving chamber  111  and has a side facing upward to absorb solar energy.  
     [0026] The control circuit board  32  is fixedly mounted under the receiving chamber  111  and is received in the first recession  121 . The accumulator  33  is received in the second recession  122 . Additionally, the control circuit board  32 , which is electrically connected with the LEDs  20  and the solar panel  31  and the accumulator  33 , can convert the solar energy into the electrical energy and save it to the accumulator  33 , which supplies the LEDs  20  with the required electricity for the lamps generating illumination.  
     [0027] Furthermore, the control circuit board  32  can automatically control the LEDs  20  to generate illumination by means of the solar panel  31  detecting if there is any solar energy. Namely, if there is solar energy outside to be absorbed by the solar panel  31 , the control circuit board  32  will break circuits OFF, which connect to the LEDs  20 , so that the LEDs  20  will not generate illumination and the electrical energy converted from the solar energy is directly saved to the accumulator  33 . On the contrary, in the environment of no sunshine, such as in tunnels or in rainy days or at night, the control circuit board  32  keeps the circuits ON such that the LEDs automatically generate illumination.  
     [0028] The switch  40 , which is covertly received in the third recession  123 , is electrically connected with the control circuit board  32  and can be activated by an external force to forcibly keep the LEDs  20  generating illumination. The operational process is described hereunder.  
     [0029] As shown in FIG. 5, the switch  40  includes a controller  41  and an elastic contact piece  42  having an end, which is defined as a touch end  421 , to contact against the leather mat  15  and having the other end connecting to the controller  41 . In general, when the touch end  421  is not pressed, that is, the safety helmet  100  is not worn by the user, the touch end  421  is located at a first position P 1 , meanwhile, the controller  41  forcibly breaks the circuits OFF, so that the lamps  20  don&#39;t generate illumination. Additionally, the leather mat  15  is taken as a medium between the switch  40  and the user&#39;s head such that the user feels soft and comfortable while wearing the safety helmet  100 . Alternatively, the leather mat  15  is not necessarily required in the present invention.  
     [0030] Referring FIG. 6, while the user wears the safety helmet  100 , the touch end  421  is indirectly pushed so as to be shifted from the first position P 1  to a second position P 2 . In the meantime, the controller  41  is activated to keep the circuits ON, so that lamps  20  can generate illumination.  
     [0031] The operational process of controlling the LEDs  20  of the present invention is described hereunder:  
     [0032] Firstly, when the user rides a motorcycle with the safety helmet  100  on his or her head in the outdoor sunshining environment, the solar energy is absorbed by the solar panel  31  and converted into the electrical energy by the control circuit board  32  and then saved to the accumulator  33 , which keeps charging. Under this condition, the control circuit board  32  synchronically controls the LEDs  20  not to generate illumination to prevent the electricity of the accumulator  33  from losing. Moreover, though the touch end  421  of the switch  40  remains being pushed to the second position P 2 , referring FIG. 6, the switch  40  functions only when the LEDs  20  generate illumination. In the dusky environment of inside tunnels or rainy days or night, when the accumulator  33  still has the electricity and the touch end  421  of the switch  40  remains at the second position P 2 , the control circuit board  32  keeps the circuits ON so as to actuate the lamps  20  to generate illumination, which brightness is high enough to draw other people&#39;s attention, as shown in FIG. 8. Alternatively, the LEDs  20  can generate blinking or flashing illumination.  
     [0033] Secondly, when the user enters a room with the safety helmet  100  on his or her head and the LEDs  20  still automatically generate illumination, and then the user takes off the safety helmet  100 , the touch end  421  of the switch  40  is not pushed by the user&#39;s head so as to return to the first position P 1 , so that the controller  41  forcibly breaks the circuits OFF. Accordingly, the LEDs  20  do not generate illumination anymore and the accumulator  33  does not ever consume the electricity as well.  
     [0034] Therefore, the present invention can convert the solar energy into the electrical energy and take charging and save the electrical energy, meanwhile, the LEDs  20  under control of the circuit board  32  don&#39;t generate illumination. But when in the dusky environment, the control circuit board  32  controls the LEDs  20  to automatically generate illumination to warn other people. Likewise, when the user takes off the safety helmet  20  in the dusky environment, the switch  40  can forcibly control the LEDs  20  to stop generating illumination to avoid losing the electricity.  
     [0035] Additionally, when the user parks his or her motorcycle in the outdoor sunshining environment without sunshade, the safety helmet  100  of the present invention can be hung on a rear mirror of the motorcycle and a frame of the rear mirror keeps pushing the touch end  421  to stay at the second position P 2 , so that the solar panel  31  can continually absorb the solar energy and the accumulator  33  can keep charging as well.  
     [0036] Referring to another preferred embodiment of the present invention in FIG. 9, the difference between the foregoing embodiment and the present embodiment lies in that the switch  50  has a button  51  externally mounted on the hard shell  11 , wherein the button  51  can be pressed to forcibly break the circuits and to deactivate the LEDs  20  not to generate illumination anymore under condition of the LEDs  20  automatically illuminating.  
     [0037] Referring to a fuirther preferred embodiment of the present invention as shown in FIG. 9, the difference between the foregoing embodiments and the present embodiment lies in that the switch  60  has a switchable keypad  61  externally mounted on the hard shell  11 , wherein the switchable keypad  61  can be pressed to forcibly break the circuits and to deactivate the LEDs  20  not to generate illumination anymore under condition of the LEDs  20  automatically illuminating.  
     [0038] In addition, the illuminator of the present invention can be constructed by a transparent tube and an LED lamp or LED. The transparent tube is mounted on the periphery of the hard shell  11  of the safety helmet  100  and has an end approaching the LED lamp or the LED. Accordingly, when the LED lamp or the LED generates illumination, the transparent tube looks like a beam of light around the helmet  100  and it works like the LEDs  20  of the foregoing embodiment of the present invention.