CA2263028A1 - Protective guard - Google Patents

Description

PROTECTIVE GUARD
The present invention relates to protective guards for body parts.
It is common, particularly in athletics endeavors, to provide protection for vulnerable parts of the body such as arms, shoulders and legs. In those sports involving intensive physical contact, such as football, hockey and lacrosse, plastic guards have been utilized with a lining to provide a comfortable fit on the user and straps to secure the guard in the required location on the user.
In hockey, it is conventional to attach a guard to the shin to avoid injury upon contact with the hockey stick. These guards do avoid injury up to certain limits but the force of the blow may be transmitted through the guard to cause discomfort or bruising of the limb or offer limited protection for off centre blows.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a guard in which the above disadvantages are obviated or mitigated.
In general terms the present invention provides a guard for a body part having inner and outer shells. The shells are maintained in spaced relationship by a spring that deflects upon application of the load to permit resilient movement of the one shell toward the other.
In preferred embodiments the spring may be a coil spring or elasticmatic material that allows relative motion between the two shells.
Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: -Figure 1 is a front perspective view of a shin and calf guard.

2 Figure 2 is a front perspective view of a shin guard split along its longitudinal axis to provide sectional view of a portion of that guard.
Figure 3 is a rear perspective view of the guard shown in figure 2.
Figure 4 is a side perspective view showing the calf guard in exploded form.
Figure 5 is a rear perspective view of the calf guard shown in figure 4.
Referring therefore to Figure 1, a guard for protecting the lower portion of a leg of a player includes a shin guard 10 and a calf guard 12. The shin guard 10 extends upwardly to a protective kneecap 14.
The construction of the shin guard can best be seen in Figure 2 and includes an outer shell 18 and an inner shell 20. The outer shell 18 is formed from a rigid plastics material having suitable impact resistance that can readily be molded.
Similarly, the inner shell 20 is formed from a rigid plastic molding and has a visco-elastic lining material 22 (Figure 3) at strategic locations. The outer shell 18 and inner shell 20 are separated by coil springs 24 that are spaced at selected locations between the two shells.
As may be seen by comparing figures 2 and 3, the springs are distributed in three rows, one centrally disposed at the front of the guard 10 and one at each edge of the shells 18, 20 although other distributions may be adapted. The ends of the springs may be embedded in the plastic or otherwise secured to the shells.
The kneecap 14 is similarly formed from an outer shell 26 and an inner shell separated by springs 30.
Refernng to figures 4 and 5, the calf guard 12 is of similar construction to the shin guard 10 having an outer shell 32 and an inner shell 34. Visco-elastic lining 36 is secured to the inner shell at strategic locations. Springs 38 separate the two shells.
Straps 40 are secured to the outer shell and pass around the leg to secure the guards to the leg.
However other configurations may be adapted.

3 It will be appreciated that the contours of the shells 18, 20 and 32,34 are molded to conform to the general configuration of the portion of the body to which the guard is to be secured.
In use, the shin guard and calf guard are strapped around the lower leg of the player so that the outer shells 18, 34 form a substantially contiguous shield.
The inner shields are maintained snug against the limb with the visco-elastic lining providing comfortable shock absorbing support at strategic locations. The shin and calf guards can of course be used separately if preferred with appropriate straps provided.
Upon an impact, the outer shell is able to deflect by compression of the springs 24, 38 that allows relative movement between the inner and outer shells. This is particularly beneficial in a lateral blow where relative lateral movement between the two shells provides protection for the calf.
It will appreciated that whilst coil springs have been illustrated, other springs that allow relative movement between the components could be utilized. For example relatively flexible rubber inserts may be utilized or leaf springs or other elastic devices.
As a further modification, fabric pockets may be provided at desired locations extending out from or extending away from the edges of the inner shells. Air bladders may then be inserted into such pockets to provide additional cushioning and to customize the protection afforded. Preferably the fabric pockets are made of a tear resistant material.

Claims