AU2002100166B4 - Sunglasses - Google Patents

Description

527001P GEH:PFB P/00/009 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990

ORIGINAL

INNOVATION PATENT SPECIFICATION FOR AN INVENTION

ENTITLED

Invention Title: Name of Applicants: Address for Service:

SUNGLASSES

CHRISTOPHER JOHN ALBONICO, DEANNA HELEN ALBONICO, BEVAN JOHN BEAMES and SUSAN LOUISE BEAMES COLLISON CO. 117 King William Street, Adelaide, S.A. 5000 The invention is described in the following statement

SUNGLASSES

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a pair of sunglasses.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is recognised that long term exposure to sunlight and particularly the ultraviolet component of sunlight can have significant ill effects on the health of human beings, such as skin cancer. Medical evidence has shown that exposure to excessive amounts of sunlight; more particularly UV-B radiation is a cause of cataracts, a leading cause of blindness.

Cataracts are opacities that form in the lens of the eye and interfere with vision, and can cause blindness. In severe cases, the cataracts are removed surgically and replaced by an artificial lens. Cataracts have always been more common among elderly people and were initially thought to be a natural result of ageing. It is now thought that they are likely to be caused by prolonged exposure to UV radiation.

It is expected that there will be increasing occurrences of cataracts, and blindness due to ozone depletion, which will result in increased amounts of UV-B radiation reaching the surface. It is believed that the maximum ozone depletion (and increase in UV-B radiation) is likely to occur within the next years, thereafter, the ozone layer is expected to slowly recover over the next several decades. According to predictions of the Australia National Health and Medical Research Council, more than 36,000 additional cases of eye problems a year will occur as a result of ozone depletion.

UV radiation will also affect other parts of the eye. Short term exposure to UV radiation can damage the conjunctiva, while long-term exposure can cause it to thicken, forming a fleshy growth known as a pterygium. This condition can affect the vision when it overgrows the cornea. The only treatment is surgical removal.

Ultraviolet radiation can also damage the eye retina the delicate nerve-rich lining of the eye used for seeing. Most forms of retinal damage are irreversible.

For countries like Australia, there is an increased awareness of the damage caused by UV radiation, due to Government initiatives and in part due media focus on Antarctica, and the 'ozone hole' that forms above over it. Such is the awareness in Australia that weather forecasts typically include a mention of the UV risk.

As a result in Australia it is common to find adults and children using sunscreen and wearing sunglasses and hats in order to protect themselves from the harmful affects of the sun.

However, it can be difficult to protect infants who do not understand the necessity of the protection. Infants and young children will readily remove hats and sunglasses.

This can be worrisome to the parents of the child, since it is thought that young growing bodies may have an increased risk of harm. The Australian Optometrical Association believes that children are particularly at risk from UV radiation because they spend so much of their time outdoors and are not aware of the danger it poses. It recommends that parents should protect their children's eyes by ensuring they wear a hat and a good quality pair of sunglasses.

The difficulty of using a pair of traditional sunglasses lies in the ability of an infant to remove the glasses. A pair of sunglasses has a pair of lenses mounted within a frame, the frame includes portion that bears on the bridge of the nose of a wearer. The frame includes two arms, which in use are located over the ears of a wearer. An infant who pulls on the sunglasses will normally result in relocating the glasses so that glasses fall away and the lenses fail to protect the eyes.

One known solution to this problem involves the use of Catstraps®. This is a fixed length strap wherein the ends of the strap are formed of rubber with a hole therein. The end arms of sunglasses are forced into the holes such that the strap together with the glasses form a closed loop. The effective circumference of the loop is adjustable via a device fitted on the strap, and located at the back of the head. This arrangement allows the glasses to be restrained against the face when needed.

These devices are not particularly suitable for use by infants as the device for adjusting the effective circumference of the loop can distress a child, particularly if they bear down on it with the back of their head on the bottom of a pram.

Many known devices have an adjustment or the joining of the two straps at the back of the head. This produces a knob or increase in thickness is not particularly comfortable when the child is resting on a pillow or back of a pram, convertible pram or stroller or similar. This can bear on the back of the head on the soft area at the top of the spine.

Also many of the known sunglasses for infants and children are formed with rigid frames, which are not comfortable in not conforming to the shape of the child's face or head.

Many sunglasses for infants and small children have rigid wings or temples.

On children these often extend beyond the ears, and when a child is reclining or sleeping these are uncomfortable, and also by lying down, the wings may push the sunglasses off.

Examples of known sunglasses are shown in US patent specifications 5,268,710; 5,511,25, 4.930,885 and 5, 406.340. These sunglasses do not have wings or temples, and generally are not satisfactory for use by infants and small children. 5,268,710 discloses a pair of sunglasses, the frame being of flexible material. Thus the portion of the frame holding the lens is also flexible. This flexing of the frame applies stress and strain to the lens itself which thus distorts the lens. This stress and strain affects the optical qualities of the lens, either causing the lens to distort the images, or to affect the U.V.

5,268,710 discloses a pair of sunglasses having a lens-defining strip made of a thin flexible light transmitting plastic mounted in a non stress bearing frame made from a foam material. This overall flexibility can lead to either temporary or permanent distortion of the lens-defining strip. This distortion can effect the refractive properties of the lens-defining strip to the point where the sunglasses will no longer comply with the safety requirements as laid out in section 2.2 of the Australian Standards 1067.1 Sunglasses and fashion spectacles Safety requirements.

OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION It is the objective of the invention to provide a means of protecting the eyes of infants or other persons from the harmful effects of the sun.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A pair of children's sunglasses including a frame supporting a pair of sunlight restricting lens, the frame including a nose cradle adapted to engage the nose of a user, and an adjustable elastic strap attached to respective ends of the frame, the strap having a shaped portion wider than the remainder of the strap extending along the sides of the user's head, to engage the rear of the user's head to distribute the pressure of the strap to increase the comfort of the user of the sunglasses.

Preferably the shaped portion is two to three times wider than the band.

Preferably the strap is permanently secured to one side of the frame and releasable secured to the other side of the frame. Preferably the frame and nose bridge portion to contact the wearer's skin is provided with a foam like material.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention will now be described by reference to the Figures in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the invention, Figure 2 is a view of a further form of the invention, and Figure 3 is a view of a further embodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT.

Referring to Figure 1, a pair of sunglasses of the invention are shown. The glasses include a frame 1 and strap 2. The frame includes a nose cradle 3 that in use assists in positioning the frame on the face of a wearer. The nose cradle should be designed to fit about the bridge of the nose of a wearer. It is envisaged that a typical wearer will be an infant, and the nose cradle and frame would need be adapted to fit an infants face. However, it is believed that some types of disabled persons would find the glasses would also be useful.

The frame is shown with two lenses 4 mounted within a portion of the frame Alternatively the frame may only be connected to a portion of the perimeter of the lenses, or the lenses and frame may be formed from a single piece.

As the glasses are sunglasses, the lenses should restrict sunlight, passing therethrough. Preferably the lenses should restrict or prevent the passage of ultraviolet radiation, as this is thought to be a harmful component of sunlight.

Preferably the lenses will meet that requirement of Australian Standard 1067 which specifies how much UV radiation the lenses must block for general purpose situations.

The strap is shown attached to the respective sides of the frame via holes in the frame. One of the holes 15 is shown in the Figure.

Other methods of securing the members to the frame would be apparent to skilled workers in this field and are intended to be encompassed by the invention.

The strap 2 is intended to extend fully around the head of a wearer. The strap should be releasable adjusted in order to hold the frame in position on the face of a wearer. One method of adjusting the strap is the use of complimentary hook and loop fastener material, such as Velcro® positioned at 7 and 8 on the strap. Other methods could include a button and buttonhole arrangement.

As there will be variation in the head size of the wearer of the sunglasses, the sunglasses should ideally include a means for adjusting their fit. The sunglasses depicted in Figure 1 provide for this by the use hook and loop fastener materials at 7 and 8.

As shown in Figure 1 the single strap 2 is shown secured at one side of the frame 1.

The other end of the strap is adapted to be releasable secured to the other side of the frame through hole 15 and by using a hook and loop fastener system located at 7 and 8 on the strap. This arrangement allows for some variation of the size of the loop formed by the frame and attached strap.

Turning now to Figure 2 of the drawings, the strap 6 has the enlarged and widened portion 16 positioned to engage the rear of the child's head when worn. This widened portion 7 thus spreads the pressure of the strap over a wider area of the child's head thus virtually eliminating any excessive pressure which could be applied to the child's head, especially at the junction of the spine to the head. As shown in the drawings, the strap is widened by being extended both above and below the side portions of the strap, i.e. it is generally symmetrical of the strap. Preferably the widened portion is two to three times wider than the remainder of the band, although this may vary depending upon the width of the band. In any case the widened portion must be such that it supports the sunglasses over an area of the rear of the head to provide comfort to the wearer.

It is preferred the strap have limited elasticity to prevent the band being adjusted too small and when the sunglasses are being used and thus applying excessive pressure to the wearers head.

A still further embodiment of the invention is shown in Figure 3. To improve the comfort of the sunglasses on the child's head, in the area around the frame holding the lens, and preferably across the nose bridge, a soft foam like material 17 can be applied to these areas. This can be a polyurethane type foam material. This not only increases comfort of the glasses, but also prevents any of the sun's rays passing between the frame and the skin of the child. The foam can be applied by an adhesive to the frame or can be applied during manufacture of the frame.

Throughout the description and claims, the term 'child' is intended to include infants and also young children.

Whilst various embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, these are provided by way of example and not intended to be a limitation on the invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications can be made to the invention without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Claims (2)

1. A pair of children's sunglasses without wings and including a frame supporting a pair of sunlight restricting lens, the frame including a nose cradle adapted to engage the nose of the user, and an adjustable elastic strap attached to the respective ends of the frame, the strap being permanently secured to one end of the frame and adjustably secured to the other end of the frame, the strap having a shaped portion wider than the remainder of the strap extending along the sides of the user's head above the ears, the shaped portion being generally symmetrical to the remainder of the strap, the strap increasing in width on both sides of the strap to be two to three times wider than the remainder of the strap to engage the rear of the user's head to distribute the pressure of the strap and increase the comfort of the user of the sunglasses.

2. A pair of children's sunglasses as defined in claim 1 wherein the frame and nose bridge portion to contact the wearer's skin is provided with foam like material. Dated this 25 th day of August 2003 CHRISTOPHER JOHN ALBONICO, DEANNA HELEN ALBONICO, BEVAN JOHN BEAMES and SUSAN LOUISE BEAMES By their Patent Attorneys COLLISON CO