Protective sports helmet
An American football helmet including a crown energy attenuation assembly positioned within a crown region of the helmet shell. The crown energy attenuation assembly includes: a first energy attenuation element with a plurality of sidewalls arranged to form a hexagonal housing, wherein a first sidewall has a substantially planar configuration; a second energy attenuation element with a plurality of sidewalls arranged to form a hexagonal housing, wherein a first sidewall has a substantially planar configuration; and, a third energy attenuation element with a plurality of sidewalls that are arranged to form a hexagonal housing. A first crown gap is formed between the first and second energy attenuation elements. A second crown gap is formed between the second and third energy attenuation elements. A third crown gap is formed between an extent of the third and first energy attenuation elements. The crown energy attenuation assembly further includes a layer positioned adjacent to the plurality of sidewalls of the energy attenuation elements.
1 . An American football helmet comprising:
a helmet shell including a crown region, a pair of side regions depending downward from the crown region, a front region spanning a front portion of the side regions, and a rear region spanning a rear portion of the side regions; and
an energy attenuation assembly positioned within the helmet shell, the energy attenuation assembly including:
a side energy attenuation assembly having at least one energy attenuation element positioned in each of said side regions of the helmet shell;
an occipital energy attenuation assembly having at least one energy attenuation element positioned in the rear region of the helmet shell; and
a crown energy attenuation assembly positioned against an inner surface of the crown region of the helmet shell, the crown energy attenuation assembly including:
a first energy attenuation element having a first housing with an arrangement of linear side walls including at least a first linear side wall that extends from a second linear side wall, a third linear side wall that extends from the second linear side wall, a fourth linear side wall substantially parallel to the first linear side wall, a fifth linear side wall that extends from the fourth linear side wall; and
a second energy attenuation element having a second housing with an arrangement of linear side walls including at least a first linear side wall that extends from a second linear side wall,
wherein the first and second energy attenuation elements are arranged to define a first crown gap between an extent of the first linear side wall of the first housing and an extent of the second linear side wall of the second housing.
2 . The American football helmet of claim 1 , wherein when the football helmet is worn by a player, a substantial extent of said at least one energy attenuation element of the occipital energy attenuation assembly is positioned below an occipital protuberance of the player.
3 . The American football helmet of claim 1 , wherein an obtuse angle is formed between the first linear side wall of the first housing of the first energy attenuation element and the second linear side wall of the first housing of the first energy attenuation element.
4 . The American football helmet of claim 1 , wherein the first and second energy attenuation elements are arranged such that the first linear side wall of the first housing of the first energy attenuation element is substantially parallel with the second linear side wall of the second housing of the second energy attenuation element.
5 . The American football helmet of claim 1 , wherein the crown energy attenuation assembly further includes a third energy attenuation element having a third housing with an arrangement of linear side walls including at least a first linear side wall that extends from a second linear side wall.
6 . The American football helmet of claim 5 , wherein the first and third energy attenuation elements are arranged to define a second crown gap between the second linear side wall of the first housing and the second linear side wall of the third housing.
7 . The American football helmet of claim 6 , wherein the second and third energy attenuation elements are arranged to define a third crown gap between the first linear side wall of the second housing and the first linear side wall of the third housing.
8 . The American football helmet of claim 5 , wherein the first and third energy attenuation elements are arranged such that the second linear side wall of the first housing of the first energy attenuation element is substantially parallel with the second linear side wall of the third housing of the third energy attenuation element.
9 . The American football helmet of claim 5 , wherein the second and third energy attenuation elements are arranged such that the first linear side wall of the second housing of the second energy attenuation element is substantially parallel with the first linear side wall of the third housing of the third energy attenuation element.
10 . The American football helmet of claim 1 , wherein the first and second energy attenuation elements are arranged about and extend from a backing element that has a substantially planar configuration when the crown energy attenuation assembly is uninstalled from the helmet shell.
11 . The American football helmet of claim 1 , wherein the first energy attenuation element and the second energy attenuation element are arranged and adapted such that when an impact force is applied to the helmet shell, an impact response of the first energy attenuation element does not influence an impact response of the second energy attenuation element.
12 . The American football helmet of claim 1 , wherein the first and second energy attenuation elements are arranged adjacent to each other within the crown energy attenuation assembly whereby there are no intervening energy attenuation elements.
13 . An American football helmet comprising:
a helmet shell including a crown region; and
an energy attenuation assembly positioned within the helmet shell, the energy attenuation assembly including:
a crown energy attenuation assembly positioned against an inner surface of the crown region of the helmet shell, the crown energy attenuation assembly including:
a first energy attenuation element having a first housing with a polygonal arrangement of side walls, wherein the polygonal side wall arrangement of the first housing includes at least a first side wall that extends from a second side wall, a third side wall that extends from the second side wall, a fourth side wall substantially parallel to the first side wall, a fifth side wall that extends from the fourth side wall; and
a second energy attenuation element having a second housing with a polygonal arrangement of side walls, wherein the polygonal side wall arrangement of the second housing includes at least: a first side wall that extends from a second side wall, a third side wall that extends from the second side wall, a fourth side wall substantially parallel to the first side wall, a fifth side wall that extends from the fourth side wall,
wherein the first and second energy attenuation elements are arranged to: (i) define a first crown gap between an extent of the first side wall of the first housing and an extent of the second side wall of the second housing, and (ii) be adapted to behave independently in response to an impact force being applied to the helmet shell.
14 . The American football helmet of claim 13 , wherein the first housing of the first energy attenuation element of the crown energy attenuation assembly has six side walls that provide the first housing with a hexagonal configuration.
15 . The American football helmet of claim 13 , wherein an obtuse angle is formed between the first side wall of the first housing of the first energy attenuation element and the second side wall of the first housing of the first energy attenuation element.
16 . The American football helmet of claim 15 , wherein the first and second energy attenuation elements are arranged about and extend from a backing element that has a substantially planar configuration when the crown energy attenuation assembly is uninstalled from the helmet shell.
17 . The American football helmet of claim 13 , wherein the first and second energy attenuation elements are arranged such that the first side wall of the first housing of the first energy attenuation element is substantially parallel with the second side wall of the second housing of the second energy attenuation element.
18 . The American football helmet of claim 13 , wherein the crown energy attenuation assembly further includes a third energy attenuation element having a third housing with a side wall arrangement including at least a first side wall that extends from a second side wall.
19 . The American football helmet of claim 18 , wherein the first and third energy attenuation elements are arranged to define a second crown gap between the second side wall of the first housing and the second side wall of the third housing; and,
wherein the second and third energy attenuation elements are arranged to define a third crown gap between the first side wall of the second housing and the first side wall of the third housing.
20 . The American football helmet of claim 13 , wherein the first and second energy attenuation elements are arranged adjacent to each other within the crown energy attenuation assembly whereby there are no intervening energy attenuation elements.
21 . An American football helmet to be worn by a player while engaged in football activities, the football helmet comprising:
a helmet shell including a crown region, a pair of side regions depending downward from the crown region, a front region spanning a front portion of the side regions, and a rear region spanning a rear portion of the side regions; and
an energy attenuation assembly positioned against an inner surface of the helmet shell, the energy attenuation assembly including:
a side energy attenuation assembly having at least one energy attenuation element positioned in each of said side regions of the helmet shell;
a crown energy attenuation assembly positioned against the inner surface of the crown region of the helmet shell, the crown energy attenuation assembly including:
a first energy attenuation element having a first housing with an arrangement of linear side walls including a first linear side wall that extends from a second linear side wall, a third linear side wall that extends from the second linear side wall, a fourth linear side wall arranged parallel to the first linear side wall, a fifth linear side wall that extends from the fourth linear side wall, and a sixth linear side wall that extends from the fifth linear side wall; and
a second energy attenuation element having a second housing with an arrangement of linear side walls including at least a first linear side wall that extends from a second linear side wall,
wherein the first and second energy attenuation elements are arranged to define a first crown gap between an extent of the first linear side wall of the first housing and an extent of the second linear side wall of the second housing.
22 . The American football helmet of claim 21 , wherein the sixth linear side wall of the first housing is arranged parallel to the third linear side wall of the first housing.
23 . The American football helmet of claim 22 , wherein the fifth linear side wall of the first housing is located between the fourth and sixth linear side walls of the first housing.
24 . The American football helmet of claim 22 , wherein the fifth linear side wall of the first housing is arranged parallel to the second linear side wall of the first housing.
25 . The American football helmet of claim 21 , wherein the first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth linear side walls of the first housing are arranged to provide the first housing of the first energy attenuation element with a hexagonal configuration.
26 . The American football helmet of claim 21 , wherein the first energy attenuation element and the second energy attenuation element of the crown energy attenuation assembly are in an interconnected yet discontinuous positional relationship as provided by an intervening connection segment.
27 . The American football helmet of claim 26 , wherein due to the interconnected yet discontinuous positional relationship, said first energy attenuation element and said second energy attenuation element are adapted to behave independently in response to an impact force applied to the helmet shell.
28 . The American football helmet of claim 21 wherein the first energy attenuation element of the crown energy attenuation assembly includes a comfort pad material located within the first housing, wherein the comfort pad material is adapted to behave differently than a separate energy attenuating pad material of the crown energy attenuation assembly in response to an impact applied to the helmet shell.
29 . The American football helmet of claim 28 , wherein the energy attenuating pad material is adapted to provide at least approximately a 25% compression deflection under 8 pounds per square inch of load under the ASTM D-1056 Standard.