Patent ID: 8510870

Claim:
A helmet for use on a wearer's head having a frontal region, side regions, and a rear region, the helmet comprising: a hard outer helmet shell including a longitudinal dimension, a lateral dimension, and a longitudinal axis, and a front shell slidably joined with a rear shell, the rear shell including first and second lateral portions at least partially separated from one another by a slot extending longitudinally from the rear region toward the frontal region when on a wearer's head, the first and second lateral portions of the rear shell being configurable in at least one of a narrowed mode and a widened mode; a hard outer shell base joined with at least one of the front shell and the rear shell, the shell base being adjacent the rear region of the head of the wearer; and an adjuster including a manually operable adjustment element and a strap extending from the adjuster, the adjuster adapted to extend and retract at least a portion of the strap in response to manual operation of the adjustment element, the adjuster joined with the shell base, the strap extending forwardly and joined with the front shell, the strap adapted to move at least one of the first lateral portion and second lateral portion away from one another, to widen the slot, and to configure the first and second lateral portions from the narrowed mode to the widened mode so as to increase the lateral dimension of the hard outer shell, the strap adapted to slide the front shell forwardly, away from the base member so as to increase the longitudinal dimension of the hard outer shell; wherein the first and second lateral portions are pivotally joined with at least one of one another, the front shell, and the rear shell; wherein the first and second lateral portions pivot as the first and second lateral portions configure from the narrowed mode to the widened mode.