Baseball batter's helmet with adjustable protective padding system

Abstract

A baseball batter's helmet includes a shell; a protective padding including crown and arcuate pads; an adjustment assembly including a split ring including two elongate end openings, a first toothed section formed on a top edge of one opening, a second toothed section formed on a bottom edge of the other opening, a rear plate including a recess having a toothed member and a transverse channel with the openings inserted thereinto to form a crossing relationship, a disk including a gear meshed with the toothed sections, and two opposite hooks engaged with the toothed member, and a rotatory knob mounted on the shell and secured to the disk, the split ring, and the rear plate; and a knob protector. Clockwise turning the knob to cause the openings to move toward each other by activating the gear mechanism will tighten the crown pad to decrease a diameter of the arcuate pad.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]1. Field of Invention[0002]The invention relates to protective helmets and more particularly to a baseball batter's helmet having a gear-based mechanism for adjusting a protective padding so as to accommodate different sizes of user's heads.[0003]2. Related Art[0004]Baseball helmets are required for play because a hard thrown baseball striking a batter's head may cause injury and even death. Typically, helmets are available in different sizes and a player may purchase a fit one. However, some players such as Little League players do not have individually sized helmets due to financial cause. Thus, adjustable baseball batter's helmets are needed.[0005]There have been numerous suggestions in prior patents for adjustable baseball batter's helmets. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,847 describes an one-size-fits-all helmet. In use, a wearer may pull strap end portions to tighten the entire strap which draws rear, forward, and side protective pad portions ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008]To achieve the above and other objects, the present invention provides a baseball batter's helmet comprising a shell including a forwardly projecting visor, one or two ear flaps extending downwardly and forwardly, and a rear first opening, padding means including a crown protective pad extending from a front to a rear, the crown protective pad being adhered to an inner surface of the shell, an arcuate protective pad being open to the rear having its front center interconnecting a front end of the crown protective pad, and a separate rear padding member; an adjustment assembly including a split ring open to the rear and adhered to the arcuate protective pad, the split ring including two elongate second openings at both ends, a first toothed section formed on a top edge of one second opening, a second toothed section formed on a bottom edge of the other second opening, a front plate adhered to the padding member, a rear plate adhered to the front plate and including a circular recess having a toothed member along its inner edge, and a transverse channel with both the first and second openings inserted thereinto to form a front to rear crossing relationship to each other, a disk including a gear formed on its front surface and being in gear mesh with the toothed sections, and two opposite hooks having a projecting latched end engaged with the toothed member as the disk mounted in the recess, and a rotatory knob mounted in the first opening and rotatably secured to the disk, the knob including a front central shaft inserted through the disk and the rear plate into the front plate for fastening the knob, the disk, the split ring, the rear plate, and the front plate together; and a protective member mounted on the first opening for concealing the knob; whereby opening the protective member to expose the knob and either turning the knob in a first direction to cause the second openings to further move toward each other will tighten both the split ring and the crown protective pad to decrease a diameter of the arcuate protective pad or turning the knob in a second direction opposite the first direction to cause the second openings to move away from each other will loosen both the split ring and the crown protective pad to decrease the diameter of the arcuate protective pad.

Problems solved by technology

Baseball helmets are required for play because a hard thrown baseball striking a batter's head may cause injury and even death.

However, some players such as Little League players do not have individually sized helmets due to financial cause.

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