Abstract:
A protective helmet comprising having a protective shell, and a headgear mounted to the protective shell, wherein the headgear includes a tilt mechanism, the tilt mechanism comprising a tilt arm having a spring secured to the tilt arm, the spring having free portion disposed between a first portion and a second portion, the first portion and second portion being secured to the tilt arm and the free portion being free from the tilt arm.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    Devices and apparatuses consistent with the present invention relate to tilt control mechanisms for protective helmets, including welding helmets. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0004]    Welders often wear welding helmets with a protective darkened window to prevent injury to the welder&#39;s face and eyes during the welding operation. Such welding helmets often have tilt mechanisms that allow the welder to tilt the protective shell portion of the welding helmet between an up position, i.e., to place the protective shell portion so that it is no longer in front of the welder&#39;s face, allowing the welder a relatively unobstructed view of a workpiece, and a down position, i.e., the protective position. 
         [0005]    Conventional welding helmets have a problem in that conventional tilt mechanisms do not allow the welder to adjust the position of the protective shell portion of the welding helmet when tilted, i.e., the protective shell&#39;s degree of rotation, and do not sufficiently secure the shell portion when in the up position, allowing the protective shell portion to return to a down position unexpectedly. Such unexpected movement is aggravated over time as the welder tilts the welding helmet between an up position and down position with high frequency, causing wear on the components used in conventional tilt mechanisms. Thus, there is a need in the art for a welding helmet having an improved tilting mechanism. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    The presently disclosed invention includes a protective helmet comprising a protective shell, and a headgear mounted to the protective shell, wherein the headgear includes a tilt mechanism, the tilt mechanism comprising a tilt arm having a spring secured to the tilt arm, the spring having a free portion disposed between a first portion and a second portion, the first portion and second portion being secured to the tilt arm and the free portion being free from the tilt arm. 
         [0007]    The invention also comprises a tilt mechanism for use in protective helmets, the protective helmet having a protective shell and a headgear mounted to the protective shell with the tilt mechanism mounted to the headgear, the tilt mechanism comprising a tilt arm; and a spring secured to the tilt arm, wherein the spring has free portion disposed between a first portion and a second portion, the first portion and second portion being secured to the tilt arm and the free portion being free from the tilt arm. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0008]    The above and/or other aspects of the invention will be more apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
           [0009]      FIG. 1  illustrates a welding helmet with the protective shell portion in both a down position and in an up position. 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  illustrates a rear view of a welding helmet and illustrates the headgear of the welding helmet. 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  illustrates a first view of a tilt arm in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0012]      FIG. 4  illustrates a perspective view of the tilt arm of  FIG. 3 . 
           [0013]      FIG. 5  illustrates a view of the tilt angle adjustment member. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS 
       [0014]    Exemplary embodiments of the invention will now be described below by reference to the attached figures. The described exemplary embodiments are intended to assist the understanding of the invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention in any way. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. 
         [0015]      FIG. 1  depicts a diagrammatical representation of an exemplary embodiment of welding helmet  10  in the down position and in the up position. The down position is the position a welder would place the helmet  10  while welding. The up position is a position a welder would place the helmet  10  when the welder is not welding. 
         [0016]    Although this invention is described with respect to welding helmets, the scope of the invention is not limited to welding helmets. The invention described herein can be applied to any type of protective helmet. 
         [0017]    As can be seen in  FIG. 1 , welding helmet  10  includes a protective shell portion  11 . Protective shell portion  11  is designed to protect the welder&#39;s face from sparks and debris, and to protect the welder&#39;s eyes from light from the welding operation. Integral to protective shell portion  11  is a protective lens  12 . A variety of protective lenses are known in the art. Protective lens  12  can be any type of lens, including an auto-darkening lens. 
         [0018]      FIG. 2  shows a rear view of a welding helmet  10 . As illustrated in  FIG. 2 , a welding helmet  10  includes a headgear  15  and a tilt mechanism  13 . A welder is able to place welding helmet  10  in an up position without removing welding helmet  10  due to a tilt mechanism  13 . Headgear  15  comprises any number of straps, brackets and other structures to allow the helmet  10  to securely fit onto a welder&#39;s head. A wide array of headgear types and styles are known in the art, and the present invention is not limited in this regard. 
         [0019]    As shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 , an exemplary embodiment of the tilt mechanism  13  comprises a knob  131  for securing the headgear to the shell portion  11  and for controlling the rate of movement of the shell portion  11  between the up and down positions, a spring  132 , and a tilt arm  133 . Spring  132  is securely attached to tilt arm  133 . In one exemplary embodiment, spring  132  is located in a trough  134  located in tilt arm  133 . 
         [0020]    Spring  132  has a free portion  132   a.  Free portion  132   a  is not secured to tilt arm  133  and is able to deflect. Both end  132   b  and  132   c  of spring  132  are secured to tilt arm  133 . The securing of end  132   c  to tilt arm  133  has not previously been performed in the prior art. 
         [0021]    The spring  132  and ends  132   b  and  132   c  can be secured to the arm  133  by any known means. For example, the spring  132  can be molded into the arm  133 . Alternatively, the spring  132  can be secured via an adhesive or mechanical means, or can be integrally formed with the arm  133 . 
         [0022]    In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, spring  132  can be made from metal or hard plastic materials. 
         [0023]    Further, it is noted that the present invention is not intended to be limited to the configuration and appearance shown in the figures. The figures are merely intended to be exemplary. For example, in the embodiment shown, the spring  132  curves around the bottom of the arm  133  as shown, and arm  133  has an open portion positioned adjacent to the free portion  132   a.  However, the present invention is not so limited. 
         [0024]    In an exemplary embodiment, spring  132  includes a detent  132   d.  Detent  132   d  is designed to cooperatively engage a protrusion on headgear  15 . The protrusion is located on headgear  15  such that the protrusion engages detent  132   d  when welding helmet  10  is rotated to the up position. When the helmet  10  moves from a down position to an up position, the protrusion first encounters spring  13  near end  132   c.  Because spring  13  is fixed at both ends  132   b  and end  132   c,  the protrusion is firmly held in detent. The fixing of both end  132   b  and end  132   c  allows the welding helmet  10  to remain in the up position until a welder desires the welding helmet  10  to be placed in a down position. A welder can easily move the helmet  10  from an up position to a down position. During this operation, the force of the welder urging welding helmet  10  into a down position moves protrusion out of detent, allowing the helmet  10  to rotate into the down position. Because end  132   c  is fixed to tilt member  13 , the tilt mechanism  13  maintains its ability to hold helmet  10  in an up position even after prolonged use. Further, additional force is required to move the helmet  10  over prior known systems thus aiding in the prevention of inadvertent moving of the helmet  10 . 
         [0025]    Tilt arm  133  can also include a tilt angle adjustment member  14 . Tilt angle adjustment member  14  is configured to engage one or more tilt angle adjustment slots  135  located on the protective portion  11 . A welder can move the tilt angle adjustment member  14  into any of the tilt angle adjustment slots  135 , thereby changing the viewing angle and the helmet  10  down stop, i.e., the position of the helmet  10  in the down position. 
         [0026]    Implementing various embodiments of the welding helmet  10  and its tilt mechanism  13  are well within the capabilities of those of ordinary skill in the art. 
         [0027]    While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, the invention is not limited to these embodiments. It will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.