Face guard for a sporting helmet
View Patent ↗The present invention is dedicated to a face mask for a sporting helmet, the face mask being an integral one-piece cast metal comprising a plurality of curved longitudinal members and a plurality of rising members joining each other thereby defining a plurality of apertures.
1. A face mask for a sporting helmet, said face mask being an integral one-piece cast metal comprising a plurality of curved longitudinal members and a plurality of rising members joining each other thereby defining a plurality of apertures, at least some of the plurality of rising members having an elliptical cross-section, major axes of the elliptical cross-sections being oriented in a direction perpendicular to a curvature of said plurality of longitudinal members or radially from a point inwardly.
2. A face mask according to claim 1 , wherein said metal is titanium.
3. A face mask according to claim 1 , wherein said plurality of curved longitudinal members have a circular cross-section.
4. A face mask according to claim 1 , wherein said plurality of curved longitudinal members have an elliptical cross-section.
5. A face mask according to claim 1 , wherein said major axes are all oriented in the direction perpendicular to the curvature of said plurality of longitudinal members.
6. A face mask for a sporting helmet, said face mask comprising at least two integral one-piece cast metal parts, each of said at least two integral one-piece cast metal parts comprising a plurality of curved longitudinal members and a plurality of rising members crossing each other thereby defining a plurality of apertures, wherein for each of said one-piece cast metal parts, at least some of the plurality of rising members have an elliptical cross-section with major axes of the elliptical cross-sections being oriented in a direction perpendicular to a curvature of the longitudinal members or radially from a point inwardly.
7. A face mask according to claim 1 , wherein the major axes are all oriented radially from a point inwardly.
8. A face mask according to claim 1 , wherein at least some of the elliptical cross-sections have a different shape from one another.
9. A face mask according to claim 6 , wherein said metal is titanium.
10. A face mask according to claim 6 , wherein the curved longitudinal members have a circular cross-section.
11. A face mask according to claim 6 , wherein the curved longitudinal members have an elliptical cross-section.
12. A face mask according to claim 6 , wherein for each of said one-piece cast metal parts, the major axes are all oriented in the direction perpendicular to the curvature of the plurality of longitudinal members.
13. A face mask according to claim 6 , wherein for each of said one-piece cast metal parts, the major axes are all oriented radially from a point inwardly.
14. A face mask according to claim 6 , wherein the elliptical cross-sections of at least some of the rising members differ from one another.