MOVABLE FOREHEAD SHIELD

Abstract

The present invention relates to a forehead shield for a ballistic protective helmet, which is adapted to move with a visor of the protective helmet when the visor is opened and closed.

Claims

1. A forehead shield for a ballistic protective helmet, which is adapted to move with a visor of the protective helmet when the visor is opened and closed.

2. Forehead shield of claim 1, wherein the forehead shield comprises means for removably and slidably attaching the forehead shield to the protective helmet.

3. Forehead shield of claim 2, wherein the means is an enclosure comprising means for pressing the forehead shield against an outer surface of a helmet dome of the protective helmet.

4. Forehead shield of claim 3, wherein the means is at least one tensioning element adapted to be attached to at least one visor bearing of the protective helmet.

5. Forehead shield of claim 4, wherein the tensioning element is secured closer to a side of the enclosure facing away from a visor of the protective helmet than to a side of the enclosure facing the visor.

6. Forehead shield of claim 3, wherein the enclosure is made of at least one flame retardant material.

7. Forehead shield of claim 2, wherein the means is at least one rail adapted to be attached to the visor and to slidably support a portion of the visor.

8. Forehead shield of claim 7, wherein the slidable part of the protective shield comprises a sliding element adapted to slide in the rail.

9. Forehead shield of claim 1, further comprising at least one visor attachment means for connecting the forehead shield to a visor of the protective helmet.

10. Forehead shield of claim 1, further comprising at least one fixation means to fix the forehead shield to the protective helmet.

11. Forehead shield of claim 9, wherein the visor fixing means and/or the fixation means is a hook-and-loop-fastener application.

12. Protective helmet, comprising: (a) a helmet dome; and (b) a forehead shield adapted to move with a visor of the protective helmet when the visor is opened and closed.

13. Protective helmet of claim 12, further comprising at least one fixation means to fix the forehead shield to the protective helmet.

14. Protective helmet of claim 13, further comprising at least one means cooperating with the fixation means of the forehead shield.

15. Enclosure for a ballistic element of a forehead shield for a ballistic protective helmet, the enclosure being adapted to receive the ballistic element and comprising means for pressing the ballistic element against an outer surface of a helmet dome of the protective helmet so that the ballistic element can be removably and slidably secured to the helmet dome.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0036] Aspects of the present invention are explained below with reference to the drawings, with reference to preferred embodiments of the invention. The drawings show:

[0037] FIG. 1A: Helmet according to the invention with an enclosure according to the invention, a forehead shield and a visor;

[0038] FIG. 1B: Detailed view of the helmet of FIG. 1A;

[0039] FIG. 2A: Side view of the embodiment example of FIG. 1A with visor in the closed state;

[0040] FIG. 2B: Side view of the embodiment example from FIG. 1A with visor in the open state;

[0041] FIG. 3A: Side view of a ballistic protective helmet in another preferred embodiment without visor with attached forehead shield;

[0042] FIG. 3B: Front view of the ballistic protective helmet of FIG. 3A; and

[0043] FIG. 4: Rear view of the helmet dome with rail structure to accommodate a forehead shield and/or enclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

[0044] FIGS. 1A, 1B, 2A and 2B show various views of a preferred embodiment of a forehead shield 3 according to the invention on a protective helmet 2. This is one of a number of ways in which the forehead shield 3 can be displaceably attached to the protective helmet 2, namely by means of an enclosure 9. The helmet 2 is a ballistic protective helmet, such as may typically be worn by emergency personnel, such as police or other emergency personnel, to protect themselves from firearm shot and/or force impacts of any kind from the outside. The embodiments of the present invention shown herein relate to ballistic protective helmets for special forces and police officers, but are not exclusively limited thereto, but are also applicable, for example, to protective helmets for military use.

[0045] The helmet dome 2 may be made of metal, of fiber-reinforced plastic and/or of a combination of both (hybrid helmet). The metal used is, for example, titanium and the fiber-reinforced plastic used is, for example, aramid and/or polyethylene fibers. The helmet dome 2 can be manufactured in a deep-drawing process, preferably from a one-piece titanium sheet, whereby a single-layer or multi-layer structure of the dome is possible. It is also possible to manufacture the helmet from steel or aluminum. Likewise, one or more layers of preferably a fiber composite material made of ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMW-PE) are optionally considered, but are not limited to these. Further layers with aramid fibers can be added to this. In addition to the preferred embodiment, other fiber composites may also be considered in principle. A combination of materials is referred to as a hybrid. The helmet dome 2 can also be made entirely of plastics and/or fiber-reinforced plastics.

[0046] A forehead shield 3 is attached to the ballistic protective helmet 2, which can be worn in combination with a visor 4 (e.g. sight visor). The forehead shield 3, or the actual ballistic element of the forehead shield, is thereby preferably manufactured in such a way that it fulfills certain requirements of the VPAM (Vereinigung der Prüfstellen für angriffshemmende Materialien and Konstruktion—Association of Testing Bodies for Attack Resistant Materials and Construction) testing guideline, but is not limited thereto. By attaching the forehead shield 3, it is possible to additionally protect the frontal or forehead portion of the head 1 of a wearer of the protective helmet 2 from impacts directed frontally (or aimed at the forehead portion) against the wearer, as may be necessary, for example, with frontal fire, but also with the use of cutting and stabbing weapons. Also other, not mentioned attacks on the forehead part covered by the shield, can thus be parried without damaging effects on the wearer of the helmet. In the preferred embodiment, the forehead shield 3 is made of a fiber composite material of high molecular weight polyethylene fibers (UHMW-PE), but can in principle also be made of other materials, such as titanium, aluminum, steel or fiber-reinforced plastic, e.g., aramid fibers. By means of the forehead shield 3, it is thus possible to provide an additional, optional protective effect if this is required or desired for the situation.

[0047] In the embodiment example of FIGS. 1A, 1B, 2A and 2B, the forehead shield, or the actual ballistic element 3, is accommodated in an enclosure 9, which may have, for example, a rubber enclosure band and prevents the forehead shield, or the ballistic element 3, from slipping or falling out by means of an additional rubber band 10. In order to prevent unintentional movement of the forehead shield/ballistic element 3, the forehead shield/ballistic element 3 is pressed against the surface of the helmet 2 by a tensioning element 8, which may be set up, for example, as a rubber band with a tab.

[0048] In addition to a rubber band as well as the tensioning element 8, it is also possible to realize the enclosure 9 in another embodiment, as can be achieved, for example, by a pocket-like enclosure which can completely or also only partially comprise and thus enclose the forehead shield or the ballistic element 3. The enclosure itself can, in addition to a rubber enclosure band, also have other constructions such as a textile element. Furthermore, a metallic embodiment of the enclosure is also conceivable, for example as a bent sheet metal part, in which the end plate is fastened, for example, by snap fasteners or a clip connection, the possibility of embodiments not being limited to the embodiments indicated.

[0049] Importantly, in the context of the present invention, the enclosure 9 and thus the forehead shield received therein or the actual ballistic element 3 is movable along the surface of the helmet dome 2 to allow a visor 4 attached to the helmet 2 to be moved up and down. In a preferred embodiment, the visor 4 is set up as an all-plastic visor (sight visor) according to VPAM2/VPAM3, although other types of visors can also be used with the disclosure according to the invention. The visor 4 may further be held by a visor bracket 5 and connected thereto to the rest of the protective helmet 2. The visor bracket 5 may be rotatably connected to the protective helmet. This can be achieved by laterally, on both sides of the protective helmet, mounted corresponding bearings 6 (e.g. visor bearings) around which the visor bracket 5 can be rotatably mounted/fixed. The bearings 6 are thereby preferably attached to the helmet 2 in such a way that these are realized on opposite sides. However, the present invention is not limited to this form of attachment.

[0050] In a preferred embodiment, the bearing 6 thereby provides at least one tab location so that the visor bracket 5 can assume different angles relative to the vertical axis of the wearer. This offers in particular the advantage that the visor 4 can be opened and the opened visor position can be locked and thus an undesired folding down of the visor, e.g. during a running movement of the wearer, can be prevented. Likewise, in a preferred embodiment, at least one further tab location is provided to stabilize the closed state of the visor 4. Possible embodiments of the tab locations are not limited to the configurations described above, but any other tab locations can be integrated into the bearing 6.

[0051] In a preferred embodiment, it is possible, by means of a hook-and-loop fastener application 7, to connect the visor bracket (and thus the visor 4) to the enclosure 9 (and thus the forehead shield or the ballistic element 3), although other attachment mechanisms are also possible. When the visor bracket 5 is rotated about the bearing 6, the visor 4 can thus be folded up or down, whereby the hook-and-loop fastener application 7 causes the forehead shield 3 to move along with the visor 4 as the forehead shield 3 slides on the surface of the helmet 2.

[0052] In a preferred embodiment, one or more of the helmet components helmet 2, protective shield or ballistic element 3, visor 4, visor bracket 5, bearing 6, hook-and-loop fastener applications 7, tensioning element 8, enclosure 9, and/or rubber band 10 can be made of one or more flame-retardant materials, such as leather, Nomex, Kermel, rubber, flame-retardant plastics according to UL94 V-0 and metals, in order to be able to increase the protective effect of the helmet accordingly.

[0053] The hook-and-loop fastener application 7 between the visor bracket 5 and the enclosure 9, can be arranged in such a way that a kind of hinge 11 results, which makes it possible to adjust an angle between the enclosure 9 as well as the visor bracket 5 (and the visor 4 connected thereto). The direction of rotation of the visor 4 may be from the head 1 of a wearer outwards (and vice versa).

[0054] In the context of the present invention, the protective helmet 2 may also be worn without a visor. In principle, static design forms are also conceivable, in which the forehead shield 3 is connected to the helmet dome 2, for example, by a further hook-and-loop fastener application 13. The forehead shield 3 can also be used as a retrofit item with respect to an already existing protective helmet, which has all the required fastening elements for accommodating the forehead shield, but can also be purchased in combination with a protective helmet as a kind of unit. In this case, the use of the forehead shield is possible both with enclosure 9 and without enclosure 9, whereby it is also possible to retrofit a protective helmet with an enclosure to accommodate a protective shield. The protective helmet, in combination with a movable forehead shield according to the invention (with or without enclosure), can thereby additionally be combined with a visor 4 (e.g. a sight visor), whereby the visor 4 can also be designed as an optional additional retrofit option. According to the invention, the retrofitted visor can also be set up with retrofitted forehead shield (with and without enclosure) as a unit movable on the surface of the helmet dome.

[0055] The at least one tensioning element 8 fulfills two relevant functions: Firstly, the tensioning element ensures that the enclosure 9 is pressed against the helmet dome 2. Furthermore, the at least one tensioning element 8 serves to enable a joint movement of the enclosure and visor over the helmet dome, whereby a lifting of the enclosure at its lower edge during the movement over the helmet dome surface, due to its non-spherical shape, is enabled. An elastic and tensionable material can be realized relatively easily, for example, by a rubber band or an elastic textile, e.g. based on Spandex. In a preferred embodiment, the tensioning element is thereby such that it has a loop-shaped structure 12 at at least one end, which can be used to hook it onto at least one bearing and thus, on the basis of the tensioning force, to press the forehead shield against the helmet dome with or without enclosure.

[0056] FIG. 3A shows a side view of a ballistic protective helmet 2 in a further preferred embodiment, in which the helmet 2 can be worn without a visor as well as the associated visor bracket. In this case, the forehead shield or its ballistic element 3 is also placed in an enclosure 9 and received by the latter. By means of a fleece 13, which is attached to the upper side of the helmet 2 (preferably by an adhesive connection), and via a fastening element 14 in the form of a hook-and-loop fastener pad attached to the fleece 13, the enclosure 9 is held in position. The fastening element 14, which may be connected to the enclosure 9, for example, via a strap, thereby protects the enclosure 9 from unintentional movement, such as slipping or falling down. In a preferred embodiment, the ballistic element 3 of the forehead shield can additionally be connected to the enclosure 9 by another fastening element 14, thereby preventing the ballistic element 3 from slipping or falling out of the enclosure 9. When wearing the protective helmet with visor 4, this retaining function is taken over by the hook-and-loop fastener application 7. By means of an additional hook-and-loop fastener application 16, which in a preferred embodiment is arranged to fold out, it is possible to establish an additional connection between the helmet 2 and the enclosure 9. For this purpose, in the preferred embodiment, the hook-and-loop fastener application 7 is connected to the hook-and-loop fastener application 16. This serves to prevent unintentional lifting and/or slipping of the enclosure 9, from the helmet 2.

[0057] FIG. 3B shows a front view of the ballistic protective helmet 2 of the further preferred embodiment of FIG. 3A, in which the protective helmet 2 is worn without a visor and only the ballistic element 3 of the forehead shield is attached to the helmet 2 in the enclosure 9 and is additionally held in place by the further fastening element 10. By means of the hook-and-loop fastener applications 7, 14, 15, 16, it is possible to prevent unintentional lifting and/or slipping of the enclosure 9.

[0058] FIG. 4 shows an alternative solution for a forehead shield which can be moved along with a visor. A rail structure 18 of the forehead shield is attached to the helmet dome 2, which in a preferred embodiment has a T-slot into which a movable part of the forehead shield is inserted. A corresponding recess 19 of the rail structure 17 allows the T-shaped sliding part 18 to be inserted. Via the rail structure 17, the movable part of the forehead shield, in particular its ballistic element, can thus be pulled forward to the visor bracket 5, to which the visor 4 is attached, and connected to it by means of the hook-and-loop fastener application 7. This rail structure 17 also allows the forehead shield 3 to move along the surface of the helmet dome 2. This alternative solution can also be used both with and without the visor. In this case, the rail structure can be permanently connected to the helmet dome (e.g. by direct bonding) or removably. In a removable attachment of the guide rail to the helmet dome, in a preferred embodiment a hook-and-loop fastener application can be used for temporary attachment. A stop for the T-shaped sliding part 18 can be provided on the side of the rail structure 17 facing the visor bracket 5, which serves in particular to prevent unintentional slipping of the forehead shield when the protective helmet 2 is worn without a visor. For this purpose, the hook-and-loop fastener applications 7 and 16 may be used for fixation.

[0059] In a further embodiment, a flexibly configured pair of guide rails, which can be attached to the helmet dome either permanently or removably, can also be used to movably mount the forehead shield. Plastics, flame-retardant plastics and/or impact resistant modified plastics according to UL94 V-0 as well as metals are particularly suitable for the mounting.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0060] 1 Head [0061] 2 Helmet/protective helmet/helmet dome [0062] 3 Shield/forehead shield/ballistic element [0063] 4 Visor/sight visor [0064] 5 Visor fastening means/visor bracket [0065] 6 Bearing [0066] 7 Hook-and-loop fastener application [0067] 8 Tensioning element [0068] 9 Enclosure [0069] 10 Rubber band [0070] 11 Hinge [0071] 12 Loop-shaped end of the tensioning element [0072] 13 Fleece [0073] 14 Fastening element [0074] 15 Fastening element [0075] 16 Hook-and-loop fastener application [0076] 17 Rail structure [0077] 18 T-shaped sliding part [0078] 19 Insertion opening for sliding part