FR2888729A1 - Padding module for safety helmet, has air pump comprising body that presents outer dimension such that body is fixed external of helmet and below rear edge so that user exert only manual pressure on chamber to inflate pouches - Google Patents

Abstract

The module has a padding element (3) comprising independent pouches (30, 31) housed within and respectively on the front and at the rear of a safety helmet (C). The pouches are made of flexible material for being internally inflated by an air pump (2) and connected to each other. The pump is connected to the pouch (31) and has a body provided with an inflatable chamber (21) actuatable by manual pressure. The body presents an outer dimension so that the body is fixed external of the helmet and below a rear edge so that the user exerts only manual pressure on the chamber to inflate the pouches. An independent claim is also included for a safety helmet comprising a padding module.

Description

2888729 1

  The present invention relates to a padding module for a protective helmet, and more particularly to a removable additional padding enabling the helmet to be adapted to the volume, shape and shape of the helmet. to the dimensions of the user's head. The invention also relates to the helmet equipped with such a padding module.

  Protective helmets used in various fields are already known and are worn by a wide variety of users such as cyclists, motorcyclists, firemen, skiers and others, such as pilots of aircraft or helicopters.

  All current helmets, regardless of their use, comprise an outer rigid shell having the general shape of a sphere, and the cavity thus formed comprises protective padding and comfort elements intended to fit and protect the head of the user, while making wearing the headset comfortable.

  Protective helmets must have appropriate internal dimensions and be in accordance with the size, shape, and volume of the user's head. Helmets being industrial products, it is not therefore possible, given the diversity of the heads of the carriers, to industrially manufacture specific helmets adapted to each user.

  Thus, the protective helmets are marketed in different sizes, but others include adjustment systems 2888729 2 to be adjusted and adjusted to the desired size and volume suitable for the user.

  Among these adjustable and adjustable adjustment systems, it is known, in particular DE 19938497, to line the inner surface of the helmet of one or more inflatable elements. All these systems of the prior art, which provide one or more inflatable elements have a number of disadvantages and in particular those of not being able to adapt to existing helmets with their upholstery lining, and to be expensive, unreliable, uncomfortable, and inconvenient to use for helmets whose forms are specifically defined to house them.

  The present invention therefore solves these disadvantages by providing a padding module adaptable to all types of helmets, of the inflatable element type housed inside the helmet and air pump advantageously removably attached to the helmet.

  For this purpose, the subject of the invention is a padding module for a protective helmet consisting of a manually operated air pump intended to be fixed to the helmet, and at least one padding element including a part of the element padding is intended to be housed inside and on the front of the helmet and another part on the inside and the back of the helmet, both parts of the padding element being made of flexible material to be inflated internally by the pump, characterized in that the two parts of the cushioning element are parts of at least one pocket intended to be connected to one another, in that the air pump is intended to be connected only to the rear part, and has a body provided with an inflation chamber operable by manual pressure, the body being of external dimensions such that it can be attached to the outside of the helmet and 2888729 3 below the rear rim so that the user equipped with the protective helmet can exert only manual pressure on the inflation chamber to inflate the pocket parts.

  According to an advantageous embodiment, the module comprises two independent pockets.

  Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the description which follows with reference to the accompanying drawings which are given by way of non-limiting examples.

  Figure 1 is a front view of the various unfolded elements of the padding module (1) according to the invention of a helmet; Figure 2 is a perspective view of a protective helmet according to the invention, to be equipped with the padding module according to the invention.

  Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the helmet according to Figure 2 equipped with a padding module according to the invention.

  FIG. 1 shows a protective helmet pad module with the general reference (1) consisting of a manually operated air pump (2) and at least one cushioning element (3), part of which (30) is intended to be housed inside and on the front of the helmet and another part (31) inside and behind the helmet (FIG. 3), the one and the other of the parts (30, 31) of the padding element being made of flexible material to be inflated internally by the pump (2).

  More specifically and according to the invention, the two parts of the padding element (3) are independent pockets (30,31) intended to be connected to one another, inside the helmet. In the illustrated embodiment 28887294, the front pocket (30) has an inflatable portion (300) surrounded by a peripheral reinforcement (301), an air inlet nozzle (302a), and an exit nozzle (302). air (302b), the rear pocket (31) has an inflatable portion (310) surrounded by a peripheral reinforcement (311), an air inlet (312a) and an air outlet (312b) . According to the illustrated embodiment, the tip (302a) is intended to be connected to that (312a) via a single pipe (7), and the end piece (302b) with that (312b).

  According to the invention, the air pump (2) is intended to be connected to at least one of the pockets (31), and has a body (20) provided with an inflation chamber (21) operable by manual pressure, the body being of external dimensions such that it can be attached to the outside of the helmet (C) and below the rear flange (80) (Figure 3) so that the user equipped with the protective helmet (C) can exercise alone manual pressure on the inflation chamber (21) to inflate the pockets (30,31).

  The protective helmet (C) intended to be equipped with the padding of the invention, represented by way of example in FIG. 2, is, for example, a skier's helmet which has a longitudinal plane of general symmetry (P). which comprises in known manner a main outer shell (8) comprising an inner padding, commonly called calotte (9). It is specified here that the cap (9) is represented with its internal cladding without any distinction being made on the figures.

  The main outer shell (8) consists of a substantially spherical wall of general vertical plane of symmetry (P) which is advantageously made of a composite material of the type comprising a stack of layers of reinforcing fibers, impregnated and bonded together by a matrix in resin. The fibers may be glass, aramid, nylon, polyethylene or carbon fibers, while the matrix 2888729 may be a thermosetting or thermoplastic type resin. Of course, the shell could be any other material such as, for example, steel.

  The cap (9) is constituted by a rigid synthetic foam layer such as expanded polystyrene foam or polyurethane foam or other such as polymers. The calotte (9) provides a first protection of the skull of the user by damping and therefore comprises a wrapping wall for the skull whose upper surface (90) matches a large part of the inner shape of the inner surface (81) of the shell (8), while its lower surface (91) substantially matches the shape of the skull.

  In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the air pump (2) is made by blowing into a single plastic material, such as Hytrel. In the also preferred embodiment, the pump (2) comprises removable attachment means (22) for removably attaching said pump to the outside of the helmet (C) and below the rear flange (80). Preferably, the removable attachment means comprise a VELCRO-type self-gripping textile fastening strip (22) intended to cooperate with a complementary VELCRO-type fastening strip fixed to the rear rim of the helmet.

  In the embodiment as illustrated, the pump body (20) comprises a plate (23) to be inserted below the outer shell (8) of the helmet to wedge the pump (1) relative to the helmet (C) (Figure 3).

  Also in the embodiment as illustrated, the module (1) comprises a tip (4) T-shaped, one of the branches (40) is connected to the inflation chamber (21) of the pump. air (2), of which another branch (41) is connected to a first non-return valve (50) having an outside air intake and the last of the branches (42) is connected to a second anti-return valve -return (51) itself connected to the rear pocket (31), the connection being such that, during a manual pressure on the inflation chamber (21), the first non-return valve (50) is closed and the second valve (51) open to bring air expelled from the inflation chamber (21) only into the rear pocket (31) while, upon pressure release on the inflation chamber (21), the first non-return valve (50) is open and the second valve (51) closed to bring air drawn from outside only into the inflation chamber (21) .

  Preferably, the inflation chamber (21) has a suction hole (210) intended to be fitted directly into the branch (40) of the tip (4) T. Advantageously, the module according to the invention (1 ) comprises an air exhaust valve (6) attached to the pump body (20) such that the user equipped with the protective helmet can manually operate only the valve to deflate the pockets.

  According to the illustrated embodiment, the two independent pockets (30, 31) are constituted by elongated elements intended to fit around the skull of the user equipped with the protective helmet (C) in order to achieve, once inflated , uncompressed support on the front and back of the skull.

  According to the illustrated and preferred embodiment of the invention, the lateral ends (302a, 312a and 302b, 312b) of the pockets are interconnected by means of a pipe (7) sufficiently narrow to be housed between the lining internal (9) and the outer shell (8) of the protective helmet.

  According to the illustrated embodiment, the protective helmet (C) equipped with a padding pad (9) housed inside the rigid outer shell (8) thus comprises a module whose pockets (30,31 ) are inserted between the upholstery pad (9) and the rigid outer shell (8) to provide additional padding and adaptable to each user's head.

  It goes without saying that if in the illustrated embodiment, the independent pockets (30, 31) are not in direct contact with the head or with the skin of the user by the existence of the existing padding, in other configurations the module according to the invention can be directly in contact with the skull of the user on the one hand and on the other hand with the rigid outer shell or shell of the helmet.

  Of course, the invention is not limited to the embodiments described and represented by way of examples, but it also includes all the technical equivalents as well as their combinations.

  For example, if in the illustrated embodiment, the module comprises two independent pockets, it can very well comprise a single pocket with a front portion and a rear portion interconnected by at least one narrower pocket portion and intended for be located inside the helmet.

  Similarly, another form of pump may very well be adapted to fit a profile or a particular cutout of the helmet, provided that its external dimensions allow it to be positioned at the back of the helmet under its outer rim and without this hindering the user in any posture.

  Similarly, if in the illustrated embodiment, the air pump is connected directly and only to the rear pocket (31), it may well be considered to connect the pump to either one (30) or 2888729 8 the other (31) pockets by connecting it to a pipe itself directly connected to each of the two pockets (30, 31).

Claims (3)

9 CLAIMS   1. Padding module (1) for a protective helmet (C) consisting of a manually operated air pump (2) for attachment to the helmet (C) and at least one padding element (3) of which a part (30) is intended to be housed inside and on the front of the helmet and another part (31) inside and behind the helmet, the one and the other of the parts ( 30,31) of the padding element being made of flexible material to be inflated internally by the pump (2), characterized in that the two parts (30, 31) of the padding element are parts of at least one pocket (30, 31) for connection to each other, in that the air pump (2) is intended to be connected to at least one of the parts (31), and has a body (20) provided with an inflation chamber (21) operable by manual pressure, the body being of external dimensions such that it can be fixed to the outside of the casing e and below the rear rim so that the user equipped with the protective helmet can exert only manual pressure on the inflation chamber (21) to inflate the parts (30, 31).   2. Padding module (1) for a protective helmet (C) according to claim 1, characterized in that the air pump (2) comprises removable fixing means (22) for removably attaching said pump to the outside the helmet (C) and below the rear rim.   3. cushioning module (1) for a protective helmet (C), according to claim 2, characterized in that the removable fastening means comprise a VELCRO fastening strip (22) intended to cooperate with a strip of VELCRO-type attachment attached to the rear rim of the helmet.   2888729 10 4. Padding module (1) for a protective helmet according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the pump body (20) comprises a plate (23) intended to be inserted below the hull outer helmet to wedge the pump (1) relative to the helmet (C).   5. padding module (1) for a protective helmet according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises a tip (4) T-shaped, one of the branches (40) is connected to the inflation chamber (21) of the air pump (2), of which another of the branches (41) is connected to a first non-return valve (50) having an outside air intake and the last of the branches ( 42) is connected to a second non-return valve (51) itself connected to the rear pocket (31), the connection being such that, during a manual pressure on the inflation chamber (21), the first valve the non-return valve (50) is closed and the second valve (51) is opened to bring the air expelled from the inflation chamber (21) only into at least one of the two pockets (30, 31) while at the pressure relief on the inflation chamber, the first non-return valve (50) is open and the second valve (51) closed to bring the air asp from the outside only in the inflation chamber.   6. padding module (1) for a protective helmet according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the inflation chamber (21) has a suction hole (210) intended to be fitted directly into the branch of the T-piece. 7. Padding module (1) for a protective helmet according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises an air exhaust valve (6) fixed to the body (20). ) pump such that the user equipped with the protective helmet can manually operate only the valve to deflate the pockets.   2888729 11 8. Padding module (1) for a protective helmet according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the two independent pockets (30, 31) are constituted by elongated elements designed to fit around the periphery of the skull of the user equipped with the protective helmet to achieve, once inflated, uncompressed support on the front and back of the skull.   9. Padding module (1) for a protective helmet according to claim 8, characterized in that the lateral ends (302a, 312a, and 302b, 312b) of the pockets are interconnected by means of a hose (7). ) narrow enough to fit between the inner liner and the outer shell of the protective helmet.   10.Case cover (C) equipped with a padding pad (9) housed inside the rigid outer shell (8) characterized in that it comprises a module (1) according to any one of the claims previous pockets whose pockets (30, 31) are inserted between the padding pad and the rigid outer shell to achieve additional padding and adaptable to each user's head.