Faceguard

Abstract

A faceguard to be mounted on a football helmet which greatly reduces the ability of an opposing player to penetrate the exterior surface of the faceguard and grasp, with his / her hands, the faceguard and rotate the wearer's head in such a way as to cause injury to the wearer's head, neck, or spine. Furthermore, the faceguard will accomplish the above stated while still providing appropriate ventilation for the wearer and allow the wearer to receive water from a standard squeeze type sports water bottle. The faceguard is provided with a flush elastomeric mounting bushing to make the faceguard simpler to manufacture and easier and less awkward to mount to a football helmet. The flush elastomeric mounting bushing provides shock absorption between the faceguard and the helmet at the mounting points. The flush feature of the mounting bushing provides an additional safety benefit of decreasing the likelihood that the mounting will be caught on a player's uniform or cause any puncture or scrape to the skin of another player. The flush feature also makes it difficult for an opposing player to grip or hold the facemask of the wearer. The faceguard is constructed of a single body of injection molded clear or tinted plastic which can withstand high-impact in order to sustain the abuse required of such a device in the game of football.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD[0001]The present invention relates to the field of protective faceguards and facemasks for use on protective helmets worn by participants playing various sports such as football, rugby, lacrosse, and hockey.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Various activities in industry, the military, and sports require the use of a helmet with a faceguard. The faceguard must protect against the anticipated hazards while providing for maximum achievable vision, appropriate ventilation, and communication. A wide variety of faceguards accommodate these needs by use of metal rods welded together with spaces between the rods to allow for visibility, ventilation, and communication. Others are constructed of non-metallic materials which replace the metal rods. Finally, some are constructed of durable, transparent material that has strength, impact resistance, melting point, and other characteristics that protect against the anticipated hazards.[0003]A variety of fasteners are used to secur...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010]The present invention provides an injection molded one piece faceguard with a clear viewing surrounded by a frame area reaching down over the mouth and chin. The area covering the mouth is provided with slots or otherwise shaped apertures which are too small for finger penetration but allow a drinking straw to pass through and provide for breathing without fogging of the viewing area and for easy communication with others. The faceguard is shaped so that when it is mounted onto a standard football helmet, the edges are tapered and / or contoured to blend in with the general shape of the helmet so that the resulting interface is generally smooth with minimal irregularities or protruding edges or points. Even the fasteners are attached in such a way as to minimize irregularities or protruding edges. It is expected that the faceguard will be attached in a fixed manner such that it will not easily detach or pivot during use. The overall shape of the faceguard is somewhat streamlined to blend in with the smooth streamlined nature of a football helmet.

Problems solved by technology

If Jarvis were to extend his faceguard down to protect these areas of the face, breathing would cause fogging, communication would be impaired, and the wearer would have difficulty drinking without removing the faceguard.

However, DuVall fails to address the fact that grabbing can, in fact, still occur to the left and right of the wearer's upper face opening and that the penetration that is allowed by the mask (as shown in FIG. 3) may still be enough to cause injury to the wearer.

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