Abstract:
Goggles include a goggle frame, a goggle lens to be detachably fitted in a groove formed on the inner peripheral portion of the goggle frame. The front and rear walls constituting the groove have ventilating openings opposing each other. Either a goggle lens which covers the opening of the rear wall or a goggle lens which allows the openings of the front and rear wall to communicate each other can be fitted in the groove.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to goggles, and more particularly to goggles used for skiing and snowboarding  
         PRIOR ART  
         [0002]    This type of goggles usually has a ventilation section to prevent inner surfaces of goggle lenses from becoming clouded up with a skier&#39;s body temperature, sweating or the like, which allows to avoid accidents due to poor visibility during sliding.  
           [0003]    This ventilation section, for example, has a construction in which air is let to be in through holes provided above goggles lenses fitted in a goggle frame. This type of goggles has the following drawbacks; first of all, providing a ventilation section narrows the field of the vision by that size. Secondly, anti-fog effect is enhanced in slow and middle-slow sliding such as skiing, however, in case they are used under a high speed such as in a downhill race and a jumping race, a large amount of air enters at a high speed from the holes provided above the goggle lenses and this causes problems such as hurting the eyes of a wearer.  
           [0004]    Therefore, skiers and the like have desired improvement of goggles in which a wide field of vision can be guaranteed without enlarging goggle frames and the amount of air-flow from ventilation sections can be easily controlled.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0005]    It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide goggles in which a wide field of vision can be guaranteed without enlarging goggle frames and the amount of air-flow from ventilation sections can be easily controlled.  
           [0006]    Goggles according to the present invention include a goggle frame and a goggle lens detachably fitted into a groove formed on the inner peripheral portion of the goggle frame. The groove of the goggle frame is constituted with a front wall and a rear wall, and the walls are provided with respective ventilation openings which are opposing to each other. The goggles can include either a goggle lens which closes the opening on the rear wall or a goggle lens which allows the openings on the front and rear walls to communicate each other.  
           [0007]    The goggle lens which allows the openings on the front and rear walls to communicate in the goggles according to the present invention may have cuttings at the portions corresponding to the openings.  
           [0008]    Goggles according to the present invention may further be prepared for with plural goggle lenses having cuttings in varying sizes, so that changing lenses to be fitted in the groove of the goggle frame allows the amount of air-flow into inside of the goggle lens to be changed.  
           [0009]    The opening on the front wall in the goggles according to the present invention may be formed with plural gratings or alternatively covered with a filter.  
           [0010]    The embodiments of goggles of the invention stated above will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]    [0011]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of goggles in one embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 2 is a front view of the goggles;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 3 is a top view of the goggles;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the goggles;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 5 is a front view showing the goggles with a goggle lens for a competition fitted in the goggle frame;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 6 is a front view showing the goggles with a goggle lens for general use fitted in the goggle frame;  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 7 is a section view showing air-flow in case a goggle lens for competition is fitted in the goggle frame; and  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 8 is a section view showing air-flow in case a goggle lens for general use is fitted in the goggle frame. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0019]    [0019]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of skiing goggles G. FIG. 2 is a front view of a goggle frame  1  of the goggles G. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the goggles G include a goggle frame  1 , arms  2  provided on the right and left end portions of the goggles frame  1 , an expandable, elastic band  3  coupled to the goggle frame  1 , and a goggle lens  4  detachably fitted into the goggle frame  1 .  
         [0020]    The goggle frame  1  is made of soft material such as an elastic synthetic resin, rubber or the like. As shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and  7 , the goggle frame  1  includes a lens fitting edge  1   a,  a face abutment section  1   b  and a peripheral wall section  1   c  connecting the lens fitting edge  1   a  to the face abutment section  1   b.  The goggle lens  4  is detachably fitted into the lens fitting edge  1   a.    
         [0021]    As shown in FIG. 6, the lens fitting edge  1   a  is provided with a groove  10  in which an outer peripheral edge of the goggle lens  4  is received. The groove  10  is constituted with a front wall  11  and a rear wall  12  (FIGS. 7 and 8) in which ventilation openings  13  and  14  are respectively provided. In this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 7, the opening  13  of the front wall  11  is formed in a oval shape in a front view and provided with vertical gratings. The opening  14  of the rear wall is formed by cutting. In the groove  10 , as shown in FIG. 2, is provided with protrusions  15  and  16  for positioning the goggle lens  4  and preventing removal of it.  
         [0022]    The face abutment section  1   b,  as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, is provided with a close contact material  17  such as sponge or monte plane in order to give comfortable close fitting to a wearer&#39;s face.  
         [0023]    The peripheral wall section  1   c,  as shown in FIGS.  1  to  3 , is provided with ventilation sections  18  and  19  formed with plural holes on the upper and lower constitutional walls. The ventilation sections  18  and  19  are respectively designed to be closed by and covered with thin sponge plates S 1  and S 2 . The reason for closing and covering the ventilation sections  18  and  19  by the sponge plates S 1  and S 2  is to prevent snow and/or dust other than air from entering inside of the goggles.  
         [0024]    The arms  2  are formed with the goggle frame  1  in one body. As shown in FIGS.  2  to  4 , the arms  2  are shaped matching with the shape of the right and left end portions of the front face of the lens fitting edge  1   a.  One end  20  of each arm  2  extends outwardly from the front face of the upper portion of the frame of the lens fitting edge  1   a  and the other end  21  thereof extends outwardly from the front face of the lower portion of the frame of the lens fitting edge  1   a.  The arms  2  in a non-used state extend substantially along with the front face of the upper and lower portions of the frame of the lens fitting edge  1   a.  As seen from FIG. 2, the arms  2  do not stand within the goggle frame  1  in a front view. The arms  2  have positions to receive the expandable, elastic belt  3  at their free ends. More concretely, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the expandable, elastic band  3  is attached to the each arm  2  in a fashion that the end portion of the band  3 , forming a cylindrical shape, surrounds a bar  22 . The expandable, elastic band  3  includes band bodies  30  and  30  which are made elastic. They are attached to respective arms  2  and designed to be coupled together by means of a buckle  31 .  
         [0025]    The goggle lens  4  is made of synthetic resin plate (cellulouse propionate, triacetate, polycarbonate and the like) and has a high anti-scratch property and prevents ultra violet rays. And the inside surface of the lens is provided with an anti-fog treatment.  
         [0026]    For the goggles G in this embodiment, a goggle lens  4   a  for a competition, shown with the thick line in FIG. 5, and a goggle lens  4   b  for general use, shown with the think line in FIG. 6, are prepared.  
         [0027]    The thick line in FIG. 5 shows the outline of the goggle lens  4   a  for a competition. In a state where the lens  4   b  is fitted in the groove  10  of the lens fitting edge  1   a,  as shown in FIGS. 5 and 7, the opening  14  of the rear wall  12  is covered.  
         [0028]    The thick line in FIG. 6 shows the outline of the goggle lens  4   b  for general use. The lens  4   b  has cuttings  40  at the positions corresponding to the openings  13  and  14 . Therefore, in the state where the lens  4   b  is fitted in the groove  10  of the lens fitting edge  1   a,  as shown in FIGS. 6 and 8, the openings  13  and  14  of the front and rear walls  11 ,  12  is communicating each other through the cuttings  40 .  
         [0029]    The goggle lenses  4   a  and  4   b,  as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, respectively have recesses  41  and  42  matching with the foregoing protrusions  15  and  16 . The stopping force between the protrusions  15  and  16  and the recesses  41  and  42  reliably fixes the goggle lens  4   a  or  4   b  at the certain position of the goggle frame  1 .  
         [0030]    When the goggle lens  4   a  for a competition is set to the goggle, as stated above, the opening  14  of the rear wall  12  is covered by the goggle lens  4   a  and the amount of air-flow into inside of the goggle lens  41  lessens so that the influence of wind against the eyes of a wearer can be alleviated.  
         [0031]    When the goggle lens  4   b  for general use is set to the goggle, as stated above, the openings  13  and  14  of the front and rear walls  11  and  12  are communicating each other, and the amount of air-flow into inside of the goggle lens  4   b  increases so that anti-fog effect is enhanced.  
         [0032]    In the goggles of this embodiment, the ventilation section is formed on the goggle frame  1  per se, not a ventilation section is added within the area of the goggle frame  1  which was described in the section of Prior Art. Therefore the field of vision is not narrowed.  
         [0033]    The present invention should not be limited to the above embodiment. In addition to the goggle lenses  4   a  and  4   b,  a goggle lens  4  which has smaller cuttings than those of the goggle lens  4   b  may be prepared for the goggle. When this goggle lens  4  is set to the goggle frame  1 , the amount of air-flow into inside of the goggle lens  4  can be controlled in a middle degree between those of the goggle lenses  4   a  and  4   b.  Therefore, provision of goggle lenses with cuttings in varying sizes allows to control the amount of air-flow into inside of the goggle lenses.  
         [0034]    The opening  13  in the above embodiment may be covered with and closed by a sponge plate as filter. Furthermore, the shape and size of the openings  13  of the front wall  11  and those of the openings  14  of the rear wall  12  can be freely determined.  
         [0035]    The goggles of the present invention are not limited to ski goggles, but can be applied to goggles for other purposes, such as dust-protective goggles, goggles used for cold weather districts.  
         [0036]    With the construction stated above, the present invention can provide goggles in which the wide field of vision can be guaranteed without enlarging the goggle frame and the amount of air-flow from the ventilation sections can be easily controlled.