A garment worn by a wearer has an exterior shell and an interior shell with various impact absorbing material between the exterior shell and the interior shell. The impact absorbing material includes multiple structures, such as rods or filaments, capable of deforming when force is applied then returning to its state prior to application of the force. In various embodiments, the impact absorbing material is manufactured using injection molding to allow positioning of various structures in the impact absorbing material relative to each other during manufacture. During manufacturing, one or more living hinges are included in portions of the impact absorbing material to allow certain portions of the impact absorbing material to be accurately positioned relative to each other. Other manufacturing methods may be used, such as three-dimensional printing may be used to include structures in the impact absorbing material.

A personal impact protection device (10) with a first mechanical member (12) that may be a shell, ring or housing, and a second mechanical member (14) that may also be a shell, ring or housing. The two mechanical members (12, 14) are nested and spaced from one another. One or more elastomeric energy-absorption members (16) are mechanically coupled to and span the distance between both of the mechanical members (12, 14) to absorb energy from impacts to the outer mechanical member (12) that displace the outer member (12) relative to the inner member (14).

An impact-absorbing structure that includes a plurality of interconnected cells forming a sheet, each cell having a sidewall and a longitudinal axis. Each cell may be configured to absorb energy through plastic deformation in response to an applied load, and a sidewall of at least one cell may include a geometric perturbation that is oriented in a direction that is not parallel to the longitudinal axis of the cell. The geometric perturbation may reduce the load required to cause plastic deformation of the cell.

The present invention provides a protective headgear having a multi-layered shell to attenuate amplitude of incident mechanical waves of a blunt trauma to a human head by inducing destructive interference with the incident mechanical waves through phase reversal of reflected mechanical waves reflecting off a boundary between two adjacent layers of the protective headgear, and by coaxially converging the phase-reversed reflected mechanical waves with the incident mechanical waves. The multi-layered shell is configured to equally protect people having a similar size of head but with a range of body weight.

A bicycle helmet that fits over a surface of a head of a user generally includes at least one segment of flexible cell structures that form a radial honeycomb matrix movable between a folded condition where each side of the at least one segment is disposed generally parallel and an expanded condition where the radial honeycomb matrix of the at least one segment is configured to be expanded at least partially over the head of the user and arranged radially relative to the surface of the head of the user.

A football helmet comprising a one-piece shell and an energy absorbing layer includes a crown portion, a front portion, a left side portion, a right side portion, and a rear portion. The shell has a non-linear channel spaced in its entirety from an edge of the shell that partially surrounds and defines a shell section within the front portion such that the shell section is moveable relative to the remainder of the shell upon the shell section receiving an impact energy to dampen the impact energy.

A shock reducing helmet includes a helmet body made of an outer and inner shell, ear openings, and face shield or visor that connects flush to the helmet body.

The outer shell is formed from the strongest and lightest weight materials, such as polycarbonate, or other plastics, Kevlar, carbon fiber, or metal, to provide a high strength to weight ratio and minimize fracture.

The inner chamber includes shock absorbing structures made from materials such as a nickel-titanium shape-memory alloy, polycarbonate, other plastics, Kevlar, carbon fiber, or metal. Some variants have a viscous or gaseous layer around the springs to increase stability upon linear and rotational impact.

The face shield or visor is made of a clear polycarbonate that connects flush with the outer shell to eliminate visibility interference and rotational injuries caused by competitors pulling the metal bars commonly present in football helmets.

A force attenuating helmet construction including a rigid layer generally conforming to the wearer's head. A plurality of force absorbing and reacting portions extend from locations of the rigid layer such that, in response to an impact event experienced by the helmet, the absorptive and reactive forces minimize impact forces transferred to the user's head and spine. The helmet can include inner and outer rigid layers, or shells, and which are spatially supported by a plurality of force attenuating components. A dual compression coil is associated with each of opposite end mounting portions of a face mask with the outer shell for providing for bi-directional force absorbing displacement of the mask portion.

The present invention relates to a bulletproof, shock-absorbing helmet and, particularly, to a bulletproof, shock-absorbing helmet having undulations formed in a surface of an outer helmet so that incoming shells are deflected by sloped surfaces of the undulations, and having shock absorbing means provided in a space between the outer helmet and an inner helmet to absorb shocks and prevent injury due to shocks that would otherwise be transmitted to a head and a neck of a wearer when the shells are deflected.

A system for mitigating an impact force is provided. The system a helmet having a face mask attached thereto, and the face mask includes a first portion; and a second portion. The first portion and the second portion are separated by a gap and held together via a biasing member. A force received by the first portion is at least partially transferred to the second portion via the biasing member, wherein a fraction of the transferred force is returned to the first portion, the fraction being less than the force received.