Helmet with tiltable visor

• US 4,242,757 A
• Filed: 06/14/1978
• Issued: 01/06/1981
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/1978
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Pierluigi Nava
• Original Assignee: Pierluigi Nava
• Inventors: Nava, Pierluigi
• Primary Examiner(s): Schroeder, Werner H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Falik, A.
• Application Number:
  US05/915,376
• Time in Patent Office: 937 Days
• Field of Search: 2/10, 2/424, 2/6, 2/9, 2/423, 2/427, 2/436, 2/437
• US Class Current: 2/10
• CPC Class Codes: A42B 3/222 in an articulated manner, e.g. hinge devices

Abstract

The helmet, at its face opening, is provided with a peripheral abutment in which the edge of a transparent shield is housed, such that the visor when closed is flush with the surface of the helmet. Such shield is connected to the helmet structure by articulation members which are connected to members such as multiple hinges comprising links or the like. The length of the hinge members can be varied to allow the shield to be moved away and removed from the peripheral abutment and then tilted.

Claims

1. A helmet assembly, in particular for motorcyclists and the like, comprising:

a helmet;

a transparent visor hinged to the helmet to removably cover an opening in the helmet, with the perimetral edge of the visor being housed in an outward facing peripheral recess defining the peripheral edge of said opening in said helmet, such that said visor is flush with and not projecting from the outer surface of the helmet; and

hinging means located between the outer ends of said visor and said helmet, said hinging means including elongated guide means on said helmet extending along said helmet toward said peripheral edge of said helmet opening,

and pivot means on said outer ends of said visor engaging said elongated guide means on said helmet and being movable forwardly therealong for guiding forward displacement of said visor out of said flush position on said helmet and into a position spaced forward of and disengaged from said peripheral recess,

said elongated guide means including camming surfaces extending therealong and inclined to move the outer ends of the visor away from each other as said pivot means move forwardly therealong,

said pivot means pivotally supporting said visor on said elongated guide means for swinging of said visor about a substantially horizontal axis.

2. The assembly of claim 1 in which said helmet includes tongues at the peripheral edge of said opening and cooperable with said hinging means for positively limiting forward movement of said visor away from said helmet.

3. The assembly of claim 1 in which said hinging means comprises a plate and backing plate and a clamping member pivotally interconnecting same together, the opposed faces of one of said plate and backing plate having a cylindrical boss retained in a bore in the adjacent end of the visor.

4. The assembly of claim 3 in which one of said plate and backing plate carries a pivot pin having an axis parallel to the pivot axis of said plate and backing plate, said helmet having a tongue opposing said end of said visor and carrying a slot in which said pivot pin is slidably engaged, said guide means and pivot means respectively comprising said slot and pivot pin.

5. The assembly of claim 1 in which said hinging means includes locking means for locking said visor in its flush, opening covering position, said locking means being formed by conventional resilient male and female cups fixed one to said helmet and the other to said visor.

6. The assembly of claim 1 in which the helmet includes tongues having parallel planes on opposite sides of the helmet at the periphery of the helmet opening, each said tongue retaining a respective hinging means, said guide means comprising a slot in each tongue, said pivot means including a pivot for said swinging of said visor about a substantially horizontal axis, said pivot being slidable along said slot to achieve said displacement of said axis to disengage the visor from the helmet opening.

7. The assembly of claim 6 in which said slot in said tongue is horizontal, said pivot having a polygonal head slidably and nonrotatably engaged in said slot, said hinging means further including resilient locking members providing a frictional interengagement between relatively movable surfaces associated with said visor and helmet to resiliently maintain said visor in a predetermined position on said helmet.

8. The assembly of claim 7 in which the front part of said slot in said tongue includes an inclined plane engageable with the portion of said resilient locking members on said visor for allowing disengagement of the visor from said peripheral recess bounding said helmet opening, said inclined plane defining the corresponding one of said camming surfaces.

9. The assembly of claim 6 in which each said end of the visor carries a head, said head being bored to receive said pivot and a coil spring engaged between said head and said pivot for resiliently urging said head against the surface of said helmet.

10. The assembly of claim 9 in which said head has on its face opposing said helmet at least a hemispherical boss engageable with one of a plurality of notches arranged along arcs at opposite ends of said slot in said helmet tongue.

11. The assembly of claim 6 including coacting locking members respectively fixed to the helmet tongue and the overlying end of the visor and mutually engageable to maintain said visor in said peripheral recess of the helmet opening, the edge of said visor adjacent the corresponding locking member having an arcuated notch graspable by the user to move the visor away from the helmet surface for thereafter permitting said displacement and swinging of said visor with respect to said helmet.

12. A helmet assembly, in particular for motorcyclists and the like, comprising:

a helmet;

a transparent visor hinged to the helmet to removably cover an opening in the helmet, with the perimetral edge of the visor being housed in an outward facing peripheral recess defining the peripheral edge of said opening in said helmet, such that said visor is flush with and not projecting from the outer surface of the helmet; and

hinging means located between the outer ends of said visor and said helmet,

said hinging means including a multiple element hinge connecting each visor outer end to said helmet, said multiple element hinge having end elements fixed with respect to said visor outer end and helmet and hingedly connected through a pair of hinge axes by at least one intermediate element rotatable on said pair of hinge axes for guiding forward displacement of said visor out of said flush position on said helmet and into a position spaced forward of and disengaged from said peripheral recess, said hinging means further supporting said visor for swinging of said visor about a substantially horizontal axis.

13. The assembly of claim 12 in which said hinging means has its multiple elements hinged in series between said helmet and visor, and including locking means on one of said hinge elements for locking said visor in its flush position covering said helmet opening.

14. The assembly of claim 12 in which said hinging means has its multiple hinge elements in series connecting the visor end to said helmet for said displacement of said horizontal axis, each end of said visor having a bore, the adjacent one of said hinge elements having a boss engaged in said bore and retained therein by a clamping member.

15. The assembly of claim 14 in which said multiple element hinge has its hinge axes extending in a direction substantially perpendicular to the axis of said bore and boss, said bore and boss defining said substantially horizontal axis about which said visor can swing.

16. The assembly of claim 12 in which said end elements of said multiple element hinge are integral portions of said visor and helmet respectively, and said intermediate element is directly connected through separate pivots at said pair of hinge axes to said visor and to said helmet.

17. The assembly of claim 16 in which said hinging means includes locking means for releasably fixing said visor in its flush position covering said opening in said helmet, said intermediate element of said hinging means supporting said visor on said helmet at least for said displacement of said horizontal axis to disengage the visor from said helmet opening, said locking means being formed by a boss and cooperating notch provided on said intermediate element of said hinging means and on the opposed surface of said helmet, said boss being interposed between said helmet and visor during said forward displacement of said visor for moving the outer ends of said visor away from each other, said intermediate element being pivoted about one said hinge axis on said helmet for movement in a plane parallel to said helmet surface, the other said hinge axis being coaxial with said horizontal axis.

18. The assembly of claim 12 in which at least one of the hinge axes is formed by a flexible plastic material.

19. The assembly of claim 12 in which said hinging means includes means for locking said visor in its flush position covering said helmet opening, said locking means comprising a resilient boss cooperating with a nose, wherein said resilient boss and nose are fixed to said helmet and visor.