An embodiment of a safety helmet for protecting the human head against repetitive impacts, moderate impacts and severe impacts so as to significantly reduce the likelihood of both translational and rotational brain injury and concussions includes an outer shell, an outer liner disposed within and coupled to the outer shell, and an inner liner disposed within and coupled in spaced opposition to the outer liner by a plurality of isolation dampers for omnidirectional movement of the inner liner relative to the outer liner and the outer shell.

Compressible conical springs with unsecured tabs are positioned between an outer helmet and an inner rigid liner to absorb and distribute impact forces to minimize concussion risks and other head injuries.

In one embodiment, a protective helmet includes an outer shell and an inner liner provided within the outer shell, the liner comprising an energy absorber including a first layer, an opposed second layer, and a plurality of energy absorbing columns provided between the layers, wherein the columns include relatively long columns that are attached to both the first and second layers and relatively short columns that are attached to only one of the first and second layers.

In one embodiment, a tether system for use with a protective helmet worn by a user includes multiple tethers, each tether having a first end adapted to attach to a shell of the protective helmet and a second end adapted to attach to an article worn by the user, wherein the tethers limit movement of the helmet.

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.

An energy diverting football helmet is disclosed. The helmet contains the shell having an inside and an outside, padding positioned against the inside of the shell. There is also a face mask attached to the front of the football helmet, and a chin strap. On the outside of the shell there is a plurality of flexible energy divergent baffles (FEDB) attached to the outside of said shell. The flexible energy divergent baffle comprises a base, a flat top, and an offset baffle connecting the flat top with the base. On top of the base is a wafer, upon which resides an energy transferring bumper.

An impact protection and shock absorbing device includes a support surface, and a plurality of flexible spines, configured of one or more sizes, each having a length defined from a base portion at the support surface to a distal portion thereof, and whereby each spine extends in one or more longitudinal directions outwardly from the support surface, at one or more angles less than 90 degrees. Sufficient deflecting of one or more spines by impact force causes impinging and deflecting of one or more other spines thereby dispersing and reducing impact forces.

A helmet that can effectively reduce the rotational acceleration of an impact and at the same time also effectively reduce translational acceleration is provided. A helmet has an outer shell including a hard material and a shock absorbing liner (14) disposed inside the shell. The shock absorbing liner (14) includes a main body liner (16), a recessed portion (30) provided at an inner surface of the main body liner (16), an insert liner (18) fitted into the recessed portion (30), and a central raised portion (42) (central support member) disposed between a bottom surface of the recessed portion (30) and a bottom surface of the insert liner (18). When the helmet receives an impact, the insert liner (18) swings about the central support member as a fulcrum, thereby reducing the impact.

A helmet comprising and outer liner and an inner liner slidably coupled to an interior surface of the outer liner is disclosed. The outer liner comprises an interior surface and the inner liner comprises an exterior surface. The inner liner is composed of an elastically deformable material. A majority of the interior surface of the outer liner and a majority of the exterior surface of the inner liner are both substantially parallel to a pseudo-spherical surface having a coronal cross section that is circular with a first radius and a sagittal cross section that is circular with a second radius different from the first radius. The inner liner is elastically deformable along the interior surface of the outer liner in response to rotation of the outer liner relative to the inner liner caused by an impact to the helmet.

A helmet comprising and outer liner and an inner liner slidably coupled to an interior surface of the outer liner is disclosed. The outer liner comprises an interior surface and the inner liner comprises an exterior surface. The inner liner is composed of an elastically deformable material. A majority of the interior surface of the outer liner and a majority of the exterior surface of the inner liner are both substantially parallel to a pseudo-spherical surface having a coronal cross section that is circular with a first radius and a sagittal cross section that is circular with a second radius different from the first radius. The inner liner is elastically deformable along the interior surface of the outer liner in response to rotation of the outer liner relative to the inner liner caused by an impact to the helmet.