Helmet with eyeshield

July 9, 1957

2,798,221

P. F. BAILEY ET AL

HELMET WITH EYESHIELD

Filed Jan. 19, 1956

Sheets-Sheet 1

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July 9, 1957

p. F. BAILEY ET AL

HELMET WITH EYESHIELD

2,798,221

Filed Jan. 19, 1956

Sheets-Sheet 2

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United States Patent Office „ 2,798,221

Patented July 9, 1957

2,798,221

HELMET WITH EYESHIELD

Preston F. Bailey and John H. Schneider, Glenshaw, and Janies A. Richard, Monroeville, Pa., assignors to Mine Safety Appliances Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania

Application January 19, 1956, Serial No. 560,097

Claims. (CI. 2—6)

This invention relates to protective helmets such as worn by aircraft pilots and the like, and more particularly to those provided with transparent eyeshields.

Although separate goggles or facepieces are often worn with helmets, it sometimes is desirable to provide a helmet with its own transparent eyeshield, which can be supported in front of the eyes or moved up out of the line of vision when it is not needed. Objections to such an eyeshield have been due to the fact that when it is not in operative position it is exposed to dirt and to scratching, and that it is difficult to remove and replace the eyeshield when that becomes desirable.

It is among the objects of this invention to provide a helmet with an eyeshield, which is protected when in retracted position, which can be lowered in front of the eyes any desired distance, which is held securely in place while in operative position, and which can quickly be removed and replaced.

In accordance with this invention, a protective plate is secured to the front of a helmet in spaced relation thereto in order to form an inverted pocket, which is open along its bottom along the front edge of the helmet above the eyes. The central portion of this plate has a slot extending vertically, through which retaining means extends for connection to the upper part of a transparent eyeshield disposed in the pocket. The retaining means normally is located at the upper end of the slot to hold the eyeshield up in the pocket, but is movable downwardly to suspend the eyeshield in operative position below the front edge of the helmet. The eyeshield is easily detached from the retaining means to permit the shield to be completely removed from the protective pocket and the helmet. The opposite ends of the eyeshield preferably are slidably mounted in grooved tracks, which have removable means at their lower ends for normally locking the eyeshield in the tracks when it is in its lower position. The retaining means is connected to the eyeshield in such a manner that by simply moving the retaining means a certain way the eyeshield can be separated from it, leaving the retaining means connected with the protective plate.

The preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front view of a helmet with the protective plate partly broken away to show the eyeshield up in the pocket;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the helmet;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary side view with portions of the plate and shield broken away;

Fig. 4 is a cross section taken on the line IV—IV of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged axial section through the retaining means as it slides along the slot;

Fig. 6 is a similar view of the retaining means turned to permit the eyeshield to be pulled away from it; and

Fig. 7 is a further enlarged cross section through the retaining means showing how it is connected to the eyeshield.

Referring to the drawings, the helmet 1 may be constructed of any suitable material and have any desired fi form, the one shown being a conventional type of crashhelmet. The front of the helmet comes down over the forehead and has an edge 2 extending across the brows above the eyes. Extending above and below this front edge at opposite ends thereof is a pair of tracks 3, each 10 of which is provided with a longitudinally extending groove 4. Connected to these tracks by screws 6 are the opposite ends of a thin protective plate 7 which extends across the front of the helmet and is molded to conform to the curvature of the helmet. Most of the lo plate is spaced from the helmet a short distance, but the upper edge of the plate is curved back into engagement with the helmet as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Consequently, an inverted pocket 8 is formed between the plate and the helmet, the bottom of the pocket being 20 open along the lower edge of the plate. Midway between the ends of the plate, it is provided with a slot 9 which extends vertically; that is, downwardly from a point near the top of the plate to a point near its lower edge. The opposite edges of this slot may be reinforced ²⁰ by binding strips 10.

Slidably mounted in the track grooves 4 are the opposite ends of a transparent eyeshield 12, which can be made of plastic, either clear or tinted. The eyeshield can be moved from an operative position in front of ^w the eyes up into pocket 8 when the shield is not in use. The central lower part of the eyeshield is provided with a large notch 13 for receiving the nose of the wearer when the shield is in its lower position.

In order to move the eyeshield up and down and to hold it in any desired position, retaining means are connected to it.. The retaining means include a retaining member, which extends through the upper part of the shield and the slot 9 in the protective plate. The inner end of the retaining member shank 15 has a head 16 that engages the inner surface of the eyeshield, while a flange 17 surrounds the shank between the shield and plate 7. As shown in Fig. 4, flange 17 carries a pair of diametrically spaced locking pins 18, which normally pro45 ject into a pair of holes 19 (Fig. 1) in the plate and the inner legs of binding strips 10 at opposite sides of slot 9 to hold the shield in the desired position. The shank of the retaining member is square and extends out through a square axial opening in a knob 21 in front 50 of the plate. The knob has a square hub 22, which fits in the plate slot to prevent the knob from turning normally. The knob also is provided with an outwardly opening recess 23, into which the shank 15 projects. The shank is provided with a threaded axial bore, in 55 which the stem of a button 24 is screwed. Compressed between the button and the back of the recess 23 is a coil spring 25, which urges the button and knob in opposite directions.

When it is desired to move the eyeshield from its 60 upper protected position to a lower or intermediate position, the button 24 is pushed inwardly to remove the locking pins 18 from plate 7, as shown in Fig. 5. While the button is held in this position, knob 21 can be slid down slot 9 until the eyeshield has been lowered to the 65 desired level. The button then is released to permit the locking pins to be projected by spring 25 into a pair of plate holes 19 in order to hold the shield in that position.

To prevent high velocity wind blasts from blowing the 70 eyeshield out of its tracks when it is in its lower exposed position, the opposite ends of the shield are provided with upwardly extending slits 27 beside the tracks as

2,798,221 the upper end of the slot to hold the eyeshield up in the pocket but being movable downwardly in the slot to suspend the eyeshield in operative positive below said front edge of the helmet, and tracks secured to the helmet in 5 the pocket at opposite ends of the eyeshield and provided with grooves slidably receiving said ends, the retaining means being rotatable to detach it from the eyeshield to permit the latter to be removed from the pocket and the lower ends of said tracks.

4. In the combination recited in claim 3, the opposite ends of the eyeshield being provided with slits extending along said tracks, and locking members removably mounted on the lower ends of the tracks and normally disposed in the path of said slits for locking the eye15 shield in the tracks when it is in its lower position.

5. The combination with a helmet, of a protective plate secured to the front of the helmet in spaced relation thereto to form an inverted pocket open at its bottom along the front edge of the helmet, the central portion 20 of the plate having a slot extending vertically, a transparent eyeshield in said pocket provided in its central upper part with a downwardly extending notch having an enlarged lower end, a retaining member extending through said slot and enlarged end of said notch and 25 having a head behind the eyeshield and an oblong portion in the notch normally extending lengthwise of the eyeshield to hold said member and shield together, and a knob on the outer end of the retaining member for moving the eyeshield from retracted position in the pocket 30 down to operative position below said front edge of the helmet, the retaining member being rotatable by the knob substantially ninety degrees so that the shield can be pulled down away from said member to remove the shield from the helmet.

6. In the combination recited in claim 5, the knob having a square hub normally fitting in said slot to prevent rotation of the knob, and the knob being movable outwardly on the retaining member to withdraw said hub from the slot.

7. In the combination recited in claim 5, the knob being movable axially on the retaining member, and a spring urging said member outwardly relative to the knob to engage the retaining member with said plate, whereby the retaining member can be moved inwardly to disengage it 45 from the plate so that the eyeshield can be moved up and down.

8. In the combination recited in claim 5, said plate being provided with spaced openings along the side of its slot, a pin carried by said retaining member, the knob 50 being movable axially on the retaining member, and a spring urging said member outwardly relative to the knob to project said pin into any one of said openings, the retaining member being movable inwardly to remove the pin from an opening when it is desired to move the eyeshield. 55 9. The combination with a helmet, of a protective plate secured to the front of the helmet in spaced relation thereto to form an inverted pocket open at its bottom along the front edge of the helmet, the central portion of the plate having a slot extending vertically, a transparent eye00 shield in said pocket, a retaining member extending through said slot and connected to the eyeshield, a knob slidably mounted on the outer end of said member, a button mounted on the outer end of the retaining member and spaced outwardly from the knob, a coil spring encir65 cling the retaining member between the knob and button, said plate being provided with spaced openings along the side of said slot, and a pin carried by the retaining member and normally held in one of said openings by said spring, said button being adapted to be pushed to remove 70 the pin from an opening so that the knob can be moved along the slot to move the eyeshield.

10. In combination, a helmet provided in its front with an inverted pocket open at its bottom along the front edge of the helmet, the central portion of the front wall of the pocket having a slot extending vertically, a transparent shown in Fig. 3. When the descending eyeshield approaches the lower ends of the tracks, these slits receive rigid tabs 28 (Fig. 1) on spring metal locking members 29 that are attached to the tracks by'screws 30.' The interfitting slits and locking member tabs prevent the ends of the shield from being pulled laterally out of the tracks.

Another feature of this invention is that the eyeshield can be quickly and easily removed from the helmet in order to replace it with another shield that may be in better condition or that may be tinted to reduce sun glare. Accordingly, the central upper part of the shield is provided with a keyhole shape notch 32 (Fig. 7). The portion 33 of the retaining member between its head 16 and flange 17 extends through the enlarged inner end of this notch. This portion 33 is oblong in a direction crosswise of the retaining member, the length of it being substantially as great as the width of the inner end of the notch, but the width of the oblong portion being small enough to permit it to pass through the narrow part of the notch.

When it is desired to remove the eyeshield from the helmet, the button 24 is pressed inwardly to release the locking pins from the plate, and then the knob 21 is pulled outwardly to remove its square hub from the plate slot. The entire assembly then can be rotated 90° by means of the knob to line up the oblong portion 33 of the retaining member with the shield notch as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 7. The eyeshield then can be pulled downwardly away from the retaining member. At the same time, the track locking members 29 are swung down out of the way, by first bending them out to remove their integral lugs 35 (Fig. 3) from depressions 36 in tracks 3, to permit the ends of the shield to be pulled down out of the lower ends of the tracks. This completely frees the eyeshield from the helmet, but the retaining means remains attached to the protective plate and therefore cannot become mislaid or lost.

According to the provisions of the patent statutes, we have explained the principle of our invention and have illustrated and described what we now consider to represent its best embodiment. However, we desire to have it understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.