US3726620A

US3726620A - Form-fitted protective headgear liner mold

Info

Publication number: US3726620A
Application number: US00197551A
Authority: US
Inventors: W Morton
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1971-11-10
Filing date: 1971-11-10
Publication date: 1973-04-10
Anticipated expiration: 1990-04-10

Abstract

A method for fabricating form-fitting headgear liners which conform to an individual wearer''s head and which may be covered with a hard, rigid outer protective shell. The form fitting liners are fabricated by placing a headpiece such as a bathing cap, a rubber dam, and a rigid outer shell with openings drilled therein on an individual''s head, pouring in a material which will foam and fill the space between the headpiece and the outer shell, allowing the material to foam and harden, and then removing the rubber dam, bathing cap, and outer shell.

Description

United States atent n91 Morton [54] F ORM-FITTED PROTECTIVE HEADGEAR LINER MOLD [76] Inventor: William G. Morton. 22 Rue Royale,

Dayton, Ohio 45429 [22] Filed: Nov. 10, 1971 [21] Appl.No.: 197,551

Related U.S. Application Data [62] Division of Ser. No. 805,299, March 7, 1969.

[52] U.S. Cl .L ..425/2, 2/3 R, 264/222 [51] Int. Cl "B290 1/14, A42b 3/00 [58] Field of Search ..425/2; 264/222, 54,

[56] References Cited.

UNITED STATES PATENTS Oestrike ..264/222 X Keller ..425/2 [451 Apr. 10, 1973 10/1959' Miller ..2/3 R x 8/1962 Pierce ..264/54 X Primary Examiner-Robert L. Spicer, Jr. Attorney-Harry A. Herbert, Jr. et al.

[5 7] ABSTRACT A method for fabricating form-fitting headgear liners which conform to an individual wearers head and which may be covered with a hard, rigid outer protective shell. The form fitting liners are fabricated by placing a headpiece such as a bathing cap, a rubber dam, and .a rigid outer shell with openings drilled therein on an individuals head, pouring in a material which will foam and fill the space between the headpiece and the outer shell, allowing the material to foam and harden, and then removing the rubber dam, bathing cap, and outer shell.

7 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures RELATED U.S. APPLICATION This is a division, of application Ser. No. 805,299, filed Mar. 7, i969.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention is in the field of form-fitting protective headgear liners and their fabrication.

2. Description of the Prior Art Protective headgear are well known and used in many fields of endeavor such as firefighting, construction work, police work, and sports as well as by aircraft crew members. In many instances it is advantageous to have a liner which may be inserted between a hard outer protective shell and the individual wearers head and which will fit snugly and conform exactly to the shape of the wearers head. One such instance is in the case of an aircraft crew member who, in the course of his duty, is subjected to very large fluctuations in gravity pull. In the past, off the shelf type headgear worn by aircraft crew members have not had form-fitting liners and have tended to move from side to side or from back to front (or the reverse) when the wearer was subjected to fluctuations in gravitational pull. Such headgear movements have been known to cause injury to the wearer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A method has now been devised by which a lightweight, inexpensive, easily prepared, form-fitting protective headgear liner can be quickly fabricated by anyone given a smallamount of equipment. The method requires as equipment a cover for the wearers head, such as a bathing cap commonly worn by female swimmers, a flexible dam which will fit tightly around the wearers head just below the desired lower level of the formfitting liner to fill the space between head and lower rim of an outer shell, and a rigid outer shell. Also required is a foaming agent from which the liner is made. The use of the foregoing equipment will become obvious from the reading of the following description of the preferred embodiments and from the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a view of the dam and attached headpiece of this invention and shows a rigid outer shell spaced DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In practicing this invention, the head of the individual wearer is used as a perfect mold for that individuals form-fitting, protective headgear liner. A dam, which may be constructed of flexible foam rubber or an inflatable rubber bladder or any other material which will allow the dam to fit snugly between the wearers head and the lower rim of an outer shell, is placed on the wearers head. A suitable dam 2 is shown in FIG. 1 of the drawing. The dam 2 shown by FIG. 1 is constructed with two tightly fitting ear flaps 3 which serve to protect the wearers ears during the foaming operation described later. FIG. 1 also shows a tightly fitting soft rubber headpiece 1 over the top of the wearers head. A bathing cap of the type commonly worn by female swimmers is perfectly suitable as a headpiece 1. The bathing cap should be glued, or attached in some other manner, to the inner headband portion of the dam to prevent foaming agent from flowing through during the later described foaming operation.

FIG. 1 of the drawing also shows an outer shell 4 to be placed over the dam 2 of FIG. 1. The outer shell 4 should be the top portion of a protective headgear for which a formfitting inner liner is desired. For example, if one wishes to prepare form-fitting inner liners for aircrew headgear, one needs simply to remove the portions which normally cover the ears from one headgear, drill one large opening 5 of about it inch diameter in the top center of the crownand several small openings 6 of about 3/16 inch diameter around the perimeter of the crown, and one has an outer portion of a mold which is suitable for the preparation of many formfitting liners. FIG. 1 shows abrim' 7 attached to the outer shell 4. The brim is simply to prevent any foaming material from running over on to the wearer during the foaming step. The large .hole 5 is drilled for the purpose of allowing a foaming material to be poured in and the small holes 6 are to allow ambient air to escape during the foaming action; thus, allowing the foaming agent to fill the entire cavity between the wearers head and the inside of the protective headgear outer shell.

FIG. 2 shows the dam 2 with ear flaps 3 and headpiece I placed on a wearers head. FIG. 2 also shows the outer shell 4 placed over the dam 2. Points 8 and 9 and all points around the dam therebetween are of particular interest. The outer shell should fit snugly against dam 2 at points 8 and 9 and all points between 8 and 9 around the outer perimeter of the dam 2. The number s 10 is used to designate an open space formed between the headpiece 1 and the inside of outer shell 4.

To fabricate a form-fitting liner one simply places the apparatus shown by FIG. 1 together on the head of the ,wearer as shown in FIG. 2 and fills cavity 10 with a are particularly suited for this purpose. It is preferable that the foaming agent should foam without too great an exotherm. Temperatures above about 130F are uncomfortable to the wearer since the wearer has only a thin headpiece between his head and the foam while the foaming action is taking place.

If one wishes to cover the fabricated form-fitting liner with soft leather or some other material, after it has been fabricated, one may fabricate another head cover of the same thickness as the leather to be used and place this second head cover on the wearers head under the headpiece 1 while the foam-ing operation is being carried out. This second head cover may be fabricated from an insulating material to protectthe wearers head from any excess heat that-might be generated by the foaming action. If thisis done, the permissible foaming action exotherm may be greatly increased. A second headpiece 11 is shown on the wearers head in FIG. 2 of the drawing.

More than one large opening 5 may be drilled in the crown of the outer shell 4. The number of small openings 6 drilled in the upper crown of the outer shell will effect the density of the foam liner. Generally, the more holes, the less dense will be the finished foam liner. The number of small openings may be varied from 6 to 60 or more depending on the final density desired.

Before carrying out the foaming operation described above, all parts of the apparatus which will come into EXAMPLE OF A FOAMING FORMULATION AND ITS use A foaming material suitable for use in the practice of this invention may be prepared and used in the following manner. First, component I consisting of 190 grams of diphenylmethane diisocyanate and 21 grams of trichloromonofluoromethane is mixed in a first con-.

tainer. Second, component ll consisting of 160 grams of a polyoxypropylene polyol. having an average molecular weight of about 425, 2.4 grams of silicone glycol copolymer having an average molecular weight in the range of about 750 to 3,000, 48 grams of trichloromonofluoromethane, and 0.52 gram of dibutyl tin diacetate is mixed in a second container. After mixing, component I and component ll are poured together in a 1 to 1 ratio by weight and allowed to start a bubbling action. As soon as the bubbling action begins, a suitable amount of the mixed componentsiis poured through large opening 5 of the apparatus which has been previously fitted together as shown by FIG. 2 of the drawing. The foaming formulation described herein will foam to give a form fitting headgear liner which is very light and of excellent color and strength.

- The foaming action described herein produces a gas agent may be used which foams to give the properties desired and which does not produce temperatures above that which can be tolerated by the individual wearer. Shielding may be utilized if a foaming agent with a high exotherm is used. It should also be emphasized that, although a headgear liner for a headgear which will be worn by an aircrew member is used as the example in this specification, form-fitting headgear liners have applications in many other fields of endeavor.

Another embodiment of this invention should be pointed out. in all of the specification hereabove it has been assumed that the-rigid outershell was to be used over and over again as the outer portion of a mold for form-fitting inner liners. Now let us consider the case of an individual wearer who wishes to use his own headgear as the outer portion of a mold. This wearer could simply procure a dam, a bathing cap, a foaming agent, and his own headgear as the necessary materials for practicing this invention. He could then drill one or more openings in the top of his own headgear shell, remove any padding spacers, headband or other fitting devices which he had previously used, place a bathing cap, a dam and the headgear shell on his head as described above, and carry out the foaming step: The wearer would then have his won personal headgear shell fitted with a form-fitting liner inside of it. The wearer would never have to remove'the liner from inside of the headgear.

Another embodiment of this invention would permit the wearer to place an appropriate amount of foaming material in an article such as a soft plastic bag, place the bag over his head, place a hard outer shell over the bag, and allow the foaming material to foam. This method would do away with the necessity for a dam and with the necessity for drilling openings in the rigid outer shell. The plastic material of the bag can be easily said inner mold member to define a dome-shaped cavity between said inner and outer mold members, means forming an annular seal between said inner and outer mold members generally at the bottom of said cavity, and opening means for injecting an expandable plastics foam material into said cavity and for venting air from said cavity in response to expansion of the foam material within said cavity.

2. A mold as defined in claim 1 including means for releasably securing said outer mold member to said inner mold member.

3. A mold as defined in claim 1 wherein said opening means for injecting the expandable foam material into said cavity, comprise an opening located within said outer member.

4. A mold as defined in claim 1 wherein said opening means comprise a plurality of vent holes within said outer mold member.

5. A mold as defined in claim 1 wherein said means for supporting said outer mold member, comprise a head band mounted on said inner mold member adjacent the bottom of said cavity and forming said seal between said inner and outer mold members.

6. A mold as defined in claim 1 wherein said inner mold member comprises an elastic rubber-like cap having a substantially smooth outer surface and adapted to be stretched-fitted onto the individual s head.

7'. A mold as defined in claim 1 wherein said outer mold member comprises a shell of a helmet.

Claims

1. A mold for producing an expanded foam plastics liner for a safety helmet, said mold comprising a deformable cap-like inner mold member of substantially uniform thickness and being effective to conform to the contour of an individual''s head when placed on the head, a dome-shaped outer mold member having an inner surface of predetermined contour, means for supporting said outer mold member in spaced relation to said inner mold member to define a dome-shaped cavity between said inner and outer mold members, means forming an annular seal between said inner and outer mold members generally at the bottom of said cavity, and opening means for injecting an expandable plastics foam material into said cavity and for venting air from said cavity in response to expansion of the foam material within said cavity.

6. A mold as defined in claim 1 wherein said inner mold member comprises an elastic rubber-like cap having a substantially smooth outer surface and adapted to be stretched-fitted onto the individual''s head.

7. A mold as defined in claim 1 wherein said outer mold member comprises a shell of a helmet.