All weather hood and safety helmet liner for use with hearing protection ear muffs

Abstract

An all weather hood with adjustable cuff openings around each ear to accommodate earmuffs designed to provide hearing protection. Earmuffs are put on first, then the hood is pulled on over them and the ear cuffs are adjusted snugly around each earmuff. Also acts as a liner for safety helmets with attached hearing protection earmuffs. The helmet is worn over the hood, then the earmuffs are pulled down passing through the hood ear cuff openings to be placed directly over the ears. The hood ear cuffs are then adjusted snugly around each earmuff. Provides superior hearing protection compared to liners worn under hearing protection earmuffs and provides superior weather protection compared to liners worn over hearing protection earmuffs. The hood, when combined with a safety helmet having attached hearing protection earmuffs, work together as a single unit of personal protection equipment (PPE), for simple and efficient operation.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates in general to a hood / liner apparatus and method for use with hearing protection equipment, and in particular to an all weather hood / helmet liner apparatus for use with hearing protection earmuffs. [0002] People who work in environments with excessive noise must use some type of hearing protection to reduce the risk of injury to their ears. In northern climates, where such work environments occur outdoors, protection from the cold is also necessary during the winter months. Oftentimes such work environments also include overhead hazards. To ensure worker safety under such conditions, the use of Personal Protection Equipment, referred to as PPE, is necessary. Typical PPE for these people include: (1) earmuffs for hearing protection against loud noises; (2) standard cold weather hood or safety helmet liner for head and neck protection against frost bite and to retain body heat; (3) safety helmets for head protection again...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0012] It is an object of the present invention to provide a hood / liner apparatus which provides weather protection.

[0013] It is another object of the present invention to provide a hood / liner apparatus which is simple and easy to use.

Problems solved by technology

Oftentimes such work environments also include overhead hazards.

The goal of complete head protection is not achieved however because previously mentioned PPE for (1) hearing and (2) warmth interfere with each other, thus not allowing either standard earmuffs or hoods / liners to provide their individual maximum protection.

However, when used in combination with a liner, the liner is typically placed on the head first and the earmuffs are placed on the head second, causing the earmuffs to ride up on the liner, and thereby failing to form a protective seal around the ears.

In scenarios where the earmuffs are placed over the liner, the earmuffs are no longer in direct contact with the head and excessive noise is not effectively blocked.

The result to the wearer is poor hearing protection.

The problem with this method is the liner no longer fits snugly on the wearer's head around the earmuffs, which hold the liner away from the head, forming large gaps between the liner and the head around the ears and face, allowing for significant cold air intrusion.

The result to the wearer is good hearing protection but a cold head due to improper liner fit.

This method is typically never used because of limitations in liners: they are not typically large enough to allow earmuffs to fit under the liner.

Simply making conventional liners larger is not the solution because making the liner large enough to accommodate the earmuffs underneath would result in a liner too large to fit under a safety helmet.

These covers does not accommodate hearing protection earmuffs and are not designed for use without a hard hat or safety helmet.

These hoods / liners are not designed to accommodate hearing protection earmuffs, with or without a safety helmet.

There is no prior art for cold weather liners with provisions to allow earmuffs to be used for maximum hearing protection while also delivering maximum warmth when both liners and earmuffs are used together, or in combination with a safety helmet.

There is no prior art allowing all 3 PPE (liner, earmuffs, helmet) to be handled and managed as a single PPE.

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