Guard assembly for protecting parts of a person's body and method of use thereof
View Patent ↗A guard assembly for protecting part of a person's body from impact injury or stud injury. The guard assembly includes a rigid shield and a liner selectively detachably engaged with one another. The shield is fabricated from recycled post-consumer plastics. The liner may be fabricated from a shock absorbing material, particularly a sustainable material. The liner is placed against the person's skin and the shield overlays the liner. Protrusions extending from an outer surface of the liner are received through complementary holes defined in the shield, thus interlockingly engaging the shield and liner with one another. The protrusions extend for a distance outwardly beyond the shield's outer surface. When the guard assembly is used as a shin guard assembly, the protrusions will contact the inner surface of a sock, sleeve, or athletic tape and aid in frictionally retaining the shin guard assembly and sock, sleeve or athletic tape in place.
1 . A guard assembly for protecting a part of a person's body comprising: a shield; a liner interlockingly engaged with the shield; wherein the liner comprises: an outer surface and an inner surface opposite one another; a first end and a second end opposite one another; a first side and a second side opposite one another; wherein the liner is arcuate in cross section; wherein the inner surface of the liner is configured to abuttingly contact the part of the person's body; wherein a peripheral region of the liner extends for a distance outwardly beyond an exterior perimeter of the shield; and wherein the liner is selectively detachably engaged with the shield to allow for the liner to be disengaged from the shield and replaced with a new liner.
2 . The guard assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the liner is fabricated from one of a recyclable material and a sustainable material.
3 . The guard assembly according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a plurality of holes defined in one of the shield and the liner;
a plurality of protrusions defined in the other of the shield and the liner; and
wherein each protrusion of the plurality of protrusions is receivable through an associated hole of the plurality of holes.
4 . The guard assembly according to claim 3 , wherein the plurality of protrusions received through the plurality of holes interlockingly engage the shield and liner with one another.
5 . The guard assembly according to claim 3 , wherein one or more protrusions of the plurality of protrusions is of a size smaller than a size of one or more holes of the plurality of holes.
6 . The guard assembly according to claim 3 , wherein the plurality of holes are defined in the shield and each hole of the plurality of holes extends from an outer surface of the shield to an inner surface of the shield.
7 . The guard assembly according to claim 6 , wherein the liner contacts the inner surface of the shield and the plurality of protrusions extend through the plurality of holes of the shield; and wherein the plurality of protrusions project for a distance beyond the outer surface of the shield.
8 . The guard assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the shield is fabricated from recycled post-consumer plastics.
9 . The guard assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the shield is fabricated from a rigid material and the liner is fabricated from a shock absorbing material.
10 . The guard assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the guard assembly is a sports guard assembly, the shield is reusable for one or more sports seasons and the liner is replaceable after less than one sports season.
11 . The guard assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the peripheral region of the liner is free from engagement with the exterior perimeter of the shield.
12 . A guard assembly for protecting a part of a person's body, said guard assembly comprising:
a shield formed from a material capable of withstanding blunt force impact and/or stud impact;
at least one hole defined in the shield, wherein the at least one hole extends from an outer surface to an inner surface of the shield;
a liner formed from a shock absorbing material;
at least one protrusion extending outwardly from an outer surface of the liner;
wherein the at least one protrusion of the liner is received through the at least one hole in the shield when the outer surface of the liner is brought into abutting contact with the inner surface of the shield;
wherein when the at least one protrusion of the liner is received through the at least one hole in the shield, the at least one protrusion extends outwardly beyond the outer surface of the shield; and
wherein engagement of the at least one protrusion in the at least one hole retains the liner and shield in engagement with one another.
13 . The guard assembly according to claim 12 , wherein the at least one protrusion is of a size relative to the at least one hole that when the at least one protrusion is received in the at least one hole, movement between the shield and the liner relative to one another is prevented or limited.
14 . The guard assembly according to claim 12 , wherein the liner is fabricated from one of a sustainable material and a recyclable material.
15 . The guard assembly according to claim 12 , wherein the shield is fabricated from recycled post-consumer plastics.
16 . A sports guard assembly kit comprising the guard assembly according to claim 12 , wherein the guard assembly comprises a single shield and a plurality of liners that are interchangeably engageable with the single shield.
17 . The guard assembly according to claim 12 , wherein the at least one protrusion are configured to frictionally engage an inside surface of a sock, sleeve, or athletic tape worn over the shield to inhibit movement of the guard assembly under impact loads.