Articles including protective gear for a variety of sports and activities provide protection from one or both of linear and angular forces that either directly or indirectly impact the gear when it is donned. The articles include at least two layers of material that provide multimodal energy dissipation to minimize the extent of transmission of impact forces to tissue.

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.

A protective helmet having multiple protective zones, including an inner shell having a first inner surface and a first outer surface, an outer shell having a second inner surface, a second outer surface, and at least one window defined by said outer shell, said outer shell functionally attached to said inner shell, an elastomeric zone between said first outer surface and said second inner surface, a plurality of sinusoidal springs positioned in said elastomeric zone, each of the plurality of sinusoidal springs including a first end, and a second end, a force indicator tab in operative contact with said second end of at least one of said plurality of sinusoidal springs, wherein said force indicator tab is displaced in said at least one window by said second end when said helmet is impacted with sufficient force, and a transmission device.

A bicycle helmet that fits over a surface of a head of a user generally includes a segment of flexible cell structures that form a radial honeycomb matrix movable between a folded condition where each side of the segment is disposed generally parallel and an expanded condition where the radial honeycomb matrix of the 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. The bicycle helmet includes a first and second side frame disposed respectively at the first and second ends of the honeycomb matrix. A sliding latch permits selective translation of the first and second side frames.

A force transfer system includes a body and an article. The article includes a first portion forming a first lateral axis and a second portion forming a second lateral axis, the axes being offset. An intermediate member is disposed between the first portion and the second portion, and holds the second portion to the first portion. A stimulus received by the first portion causes a temporary alteration of the intermediate member from an initial condition, the alteration of the intermediate member thereby causing a change in a characteristic of the second portion. The intermediate member subsequently returns to the initial condition, thereby causing a change in a characteristic of the first portion, which is influenced by the change in the characteristic of the second portion. The change in the characteristic of the first and second portions prevents at least a portion of the stimulus from reaching the body.

Various embodiments are directed to a protective helmet comprising: a protective shell having a substantially dome-shaped configuration, the protective shell comprising: an outer shell surface; an inner shell surface; and at least one groove extending along at least a portion of the inner shell surface, wherein the at least one groove is embodied as a material recess within a wall thickness; wherein a ratio of the shell thickness at a first shell location adjacent the at least one groove to the groove depth of the at least one groove is at least a predetermined threshold value. In various embodiments, a protective helmet may further comprise an impact cap and/or an inner ring, one or both of which may comprise a respective groove configuration. In various embodiments, the one or more groove configurations may be configured to reduce the helmet weight of the invention by at least 15%.

A wearable impact protection system is provided that includes an inner layer of a first shear thickening material that faces a wearer in use, an outer layer of a second shear thickening material and an intermediate deformable layer. In one example the impact protection system is provided in the form of a helmet.

The invention relates to an impact protection structure, in particular for a helmet, to absorb kinetic energy during an impact, in particular a fall, comprising a plurality of cells arranged next to one another, wherein each cell has a hollow interior (1), which is delimited by at least one side wall (2), wherein cells adjoining one another have at least one common side wall (2), wherein the interior (1) and the side walls (2) run from an outer side (3) of the impact protection structure to an inner side (4) of the impact protection structure opposing the outer side (3), wherein at least one side wall (2) of a cell has at least one recess (5).

A garment worn by a wearer has an impact absorbing material comprising arrays of various hexagonal or other deformable polygonal-shaped structures positioned between an exterior surface and an interior surface. When force is applied to the exterior surface, the structures of the impact absorbing materials deform (e.g., buckle) in a desired manner, reducing the force received by the interior surface.