Non-epaulet shoulder pad

Abstract

An epaulet-free athletic shoulder pad arrangement covers the shoulders of an athlete and has a pair of arches of rigid moldable material made up of a chest panel, a back panel and a curved crest connected between the chest and back panels. The crest is shaped and sized to cover one shoulder of the athlete and has an outer end for covering an outer end of the shoulder. The chest and back panels are connected to each other over the chest and back of the athlete and no portion of the arrangement is over or above an upper surface of the crest so that there is no epaulet needed or present in the arrangement.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application claims priority on U.S. Provisional Patent Application 60 / 927,341 filed May 3, 2007, and is a national phase of PCT / US2008 / 061840 filed Apr. 29, 2008 which is incorporated here by reference.FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates generally to the field of protective garments for athletics, and in particular to a new and useful pad arrangement for protecting the shoulders of an athlete, particularly a football player.[0003]Shoulder pads for football have always had a separate attached epaulet at the top of the arch on each side of the known pads. This is in conjunction with crests of each arch that only cover part of the athlete's shoulder, the remaining out part of the shoulders being covered by the epaulets that also partly overlap the crests. These separate epaulets were thought to be essential for protecting the outer area of the athlete's shoulders against impact. These same epaulets ha...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0004]The inventor has found that by extending the crest of each arch out to cover the outer end or tip of the athlete's shoulder, there is no need for an epaulet. This defines the shoulder pad arrangement of the invention as a non-epaulet or epaulet-free pad arrangement. The area of the arch that extends over and above the shoulders is corrugated with no epaulet attached to the top of the arch. By removing the epaulet a clean lower profile appearance is achieved. With no epaulet attached to the arch this removes the part that can be garbed by other players or hang up with another piece of equipment. It also eliminates maintenance and repairs by eliminating these parts.

[0005]It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide an epaulet-free athletic shoulder pad arrangement that covers the shoulders of an athlete and that has a pair of arches of rigid moldable material made up of a chest panel, a back panel and a curved crest connected between the chest and back panels. The crest is shaped and sized to cover one shoulder of the athlete and has an outer end for covering an outer end of the shoulder. The chest and back panels are connected to each other over the chest and back of the athlete and no portion of the arrangement is over or above an upper surface of the crest so that there is no epaulet needed or present in the arrangement for a lower clean profile with no epaulets that can be grabbed by an opponent.

[0007]Another object of the invention is to provide an athletic shoulder pad arrangement that has arches with crest, chest and back panels that each have one or more corrugations that form air chambers on inner surfaces of the panels. The corrugations increase the rigidity of the crest, chest and back panels and each corrugation advantageously includes one or preferably multiple vent holes for venting air and moisture that accumulates in the chambers, across each crest or panel and out of the chamber, that is, from below the corrugation of the crest or chest or back panels near the athlete's body, through the corrugations and outwardly away from the athlete. The movements of the athlete while wearing the shoulder pad arrangement of the invention cause the volume of each corrugation chamber to change and this effectively helps to actively pump the moist air out of the chambers through the vent holes.

Problems solved by technology

These same epaulets had the adverse effect of providing the athlete's opponent with a handhold for grabbing the athlete and also gave the athletes wearing these pads with epaulets a high, unnatural looking profile at the shoulders.

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