Helmet comprising retractable visors for fast day/night reconfiguration

• US 6,820,285 B2
• Filed: 06/10/2003
• Issued: 11/23/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Thales SA
• Original Assignee: Thales SA
• Inventors: Meyer, Guy, Bataille, Alexandre
• Primary Examiner(s): Lindsey, Rodney M.
• Application Number:
  US10/450,047
• Publication Number:
  US 20040143888A1
• Time in Patent Office: 532 Days
• Field of Search: 2/63, 2/62, 2/64, 2/65, 2/67, 242/4, 2 1/0, 242/2, 359/409, 359/815
• US Class Current: 2/422
• CPC Class Codes: A42B 3/042 Optical devices night vision goggles G02B23/12
• CPC Class Codes: A42B 3/228 for military or aviation applications protection helmets F41H1/04; breathing masks or helmets A62B18/00
• CPC Class Codes: A42B 3/32 Collapsible helmets; Helmets made of separable parts ; Helmets with movable parts, e.g. adjustable

Abstract

The invention relates to a helmet with retractable visors for fast day/night reconfiguration.

For that, the helmet (1) is designed at the articulations of the visors to allow the use of articulations that can be disassembled without tools. The day visor (15) is thus made modular and removable and is mounted on the helmet by a translational movement in a direction (F) allowing the upper part (16) to engage in a saggital guide rail of the helmet and allowing rotation axes of the helmet to engage in the articulation part of the lateral arms (8) of the visor, locking being effected by hand using a pivoting lever (8). For night missions, the day visor is removed and replaced with a night module mounted on the helmet using the same type of articulation.

The invention applies in particular to helmets for aircraft pilots, allowing unprepared ejection.

Claims

1. A helmet comprising retractable visors for fast day/night reconfiguration, comprising:

a shell including a saggital guide rail with a central opening;

a night vision module and a retractable visor in front of the night vision module, a day visor and the night module being interchangeable rapidly and without tools and comprising an upper central part collaborating with said guide rail and lateral arms, each symmetrically equipped with an articulation to the shell of the helmet that can be disassembled without tools and in that each of said articulations about a common rotation axis comprises a first part secured to the shell, comprising at least one guide boss for guidance in a predetermined direction perpendicular to said rotation axis and an outer peripheral channel and a second part secured to the arm comprising at least one locking lever articulated in said second part to be immobilized in said channel.

2. The helmet as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

said first part comprises a bearing and guide piece secured to the shell having at least one bearing face perpendicular to said axis which it surrounds and said guide boss provides for guidance in said predetermined direction perpendicular to said rotation axis;

said second part comprises;

an intermediate piece including a washer equipped with a peripheral groove and with a slot extending from the center to the periphery of the intermediate piece, the respective shape and size of said slot and of said boss being tailored to one another so that when the intermediate piece comes to bear against said bearing surface of the bearing piece, the boss is engaged in the slot and prevents the intermediate piece from rotating;

said lever of semicircular overall shape pivoting about a pivot arranged in the groove of the intermediate piece and on the opposite side to the opening of the slot, said outer peripheral channel can be aligned with the groove of the intermediate piece when the latter is bearing against the bearing piece so that the internal edge of the lever, in the locked position, becomes inserted in the facing part of the groove and in the channel of the boss;

means of fixing the intermediate piece on said arm allowing these pieces a limited relative rotation about the rotation axis;

and in that said predetermined direction of each of the articulations lies in a plane containing said rotation axes and the center of the central opening of the rail.

3. The helmet as claimed in claim 2, wherein the second part further comprises an insert piece arranged between said intermediate piece and said arm and fixed to said intermediate piece to center said limited rotation about said rotation axis.

4. The helmet as claimed in claim 2, wherein said fixing means includes screws screwed onto the intermediate piece through oblong holes pierced in said arm in the shape of arcs of circles centered on said rotation axis in the locked position.

5. The helmet as claimed in claim 4, wherein the insert piece has a slot parallel to the direction of the slot of the intermediate piece and extending from the center of the insert piece to its periphery with dimensions such that it allows the passage of said rotation axis and centering on said rotation axis in the articulation locked position, and a centered pivot engaging in a corresponding housing in the arm to allow and guide its limited rotation, and in that said arm has a slot of roughly the same size as the slot and aligned with the latter in the unlocked position.

6. The helmet as claimed in claim 5, wherein the slots of the intermediate piece, of the insert piece and of the arm are aligned and parallel to said predetermined direction when said visor or said night module is being mounted and removed, the fitting or removal movement being effected parallel to said predetermined direction.

7. The helmet as claimed in claim 6, wherein said lever of each articulation comprises, at its opposite end to the pivot, an inclined plane such that, while the visor is being fitted, it collaborates with the boss to automatically move the lever away from its locked position and allow this boss and the rotation axis to engage into the bottom of the slots of the intermediate piece, of the insert piece and of the arm of the visor.

8. The helmet as claimed in claim 1, wherein the night module comprises a crown piece supporting a clear visor, arranged further forward on the helmet than the day visor so as to allow night vision equipment to be fitted between the helmet wearer'"'"'s face and the visor, and bearing the second parts of said articulations.

9. The helmet as claimed in claim 3, wherein said fixing means includes screws screwed onto the intermediate piece through oblong holes pierced in said arm in the shape of arcs of circles centered on said rotation axis in the locked position.

10. The helmet as claimed in claim 7, wherein the night module comprises a crown piece supporting a clear visor, arranged further forward on the helmet than the day visor so as to allow night vision equipment to be fitted between the helmet wearer'"'"'s face and the visor, and bearing the second parts of said articulations.