Patent ID: 8793816

Claim:
A protective headpiece for an athlete of a game using a projectile to protect at least a portion of the brow, temple and jaw of the athlete's head against impacts by the projectile, the protective head piece being releasably securable onto the athlete's head and comprising: a mask portion comprising at least one of an impact absorbing material and an impact resistant material and including: a front brow portion configured to substantially shield the athlete's brow area and having opposed sides; a side temple portion extending from each side of the brow portion and configured to substantially shield a temple area; the front brow and side temple portions having an upper terminal edge extending in a direction along the front brow portion and along each of the side temple portions and defining an unshielded crown opening extending from the front brow portion rearwardly between the side temple portions and an unshielded rear opening; a jaw portion extending from each of the side temple portions and configured to substantially shield one side of the athlete's lower jaw; the jaw portions being connected to define a front portion which includes an opening sized to permit frontal viewing of the athlete's mouth; together the front brow, jaw and side temple portions defining a substantially open vision aperture defined by an edge surrounding the entire vision aperture and sized to provide the athlete with a substantially unobstructed forward and peripheral vision; a separate substantially rigid reinforcement member secured to the mask portion having a perimeter edge designed to surround the entire vision aperture, the reinforcement member including a side extension extending from each side of the vision aperture to a position rearwardly of the vision aperture and over at least a part of each side temple portion wherein the perimeter edge is designed to encompass and reinforce the entire edge of the vision aperture; and a retainer secured to the mask portion and configured to removably retain the mask portion on the athlete's head.