Protective headwear
A protective headwear comprising a first shell half and a second shell half coupled to each other by first and second elastic strips. The combination of first and second shell halves forms a protective cage for protecting a person's head. A plurality of pads is coupled to an inner surface of the protective cage. The pads are positioned to contact strong areas on the person's head when the protective cage is worn and to provide spacing between the cage and the person's head. A baseball cap may be coupled to an outer surface of the cage to form a lightweight, unobtrusive, and protective headwear.
1. A protective headwear for non-intrusive integration with a non-protective headwear, comprising:
a first shell half and a second shell half each comprising a plurality of rails positioned in a generally circumferential direction between a first vertical rail and a second vertical rail, the first shell half and the second shell half coupled to each other by a first stretchable material and a second stretchable material, the first stretchable material positioned in a first gap formed between a first end of the first shell half and a first end of the second shell half, the second stretchable material positioned in a second gap formed between a second end of the first shell half and a second end of the second shell half, and integrated with the non-protective headwear to form a protective cage adapted to circumferentially surround a person's head when the non-protective headwear is placed in a worn position on the person's head; and
a plurality of pads coupled to an inner surface of said protective cage, and adapted to contact a plurality of strong areas on the person's head when said protective cage is in the worn position.
2. The protective headwear of claim 1 , wherein said first shell half and said second shell half each comprise gaps for ventilation and for weight reduction.
3. The protective headwear of claim 1 , wherein:
said strong areas on the person's head comprise a forehead area, a zygomatic bone area at the top of the person's jawbone, an area in a lower portion of the person's parietal bone above the person's ear and an area in the rear of the person's head.
4. The protective headwear of claim 3 , wherein each of said first shell half and said second shell half comprises:
a first set of rails having a first shape and a first position adapted to make contact with the forehead area through a first pad in the plurality of pads and with the zygomatic bone in the person's head through a second pad in the plurality of pads;
a second set of rails having a second shape and a second position adapted to make contact with the area in the rear of the person's head through a third pad in the plurality of pads; and
a third set of rails having a third shape and a third position adapted to make contact with the zygomatic bone through the second pad and the lower portion of the person's parietal bone above the ear through a fourth pad in the plurality of pads.
5. The protective headwear of claim 4 , wherein:
each of said first set of rails, said second set of rails and said third set of rails define gaps in said first shell half and said second shell half.
6. The protective headwear of claim 4 , wherein:
the non-protective headwear is a baseball cap having a hat portion adapted to cover the person's head and a brim portion extending forward from the hat portion.
7. The protective headwear of claim 6 , wherein:
the third set of rails comprises a hat attachment area for attaching the hat portion of the baseball cap to the protective cage, and the first set of rails comprises a brim attachment area for attaching the brim portion of the baseball cap to the protective cage.
8. The protective headwear of claim 4 , wherein:
a first end of said first set of rails is connected to the first vertical rail in a front overlap area of the protective cage adapted to be positioned at the forehead area;
a second end of said first set of rails is connected to said third set of rails in a jawbone overlap area of the protective cage adapted to be positioned at the zygomatic bone area at the top of the person's jawbone;
said third set of rails is connected to said second set of rails in a temporal overlap area of the protective cage adapted to be positioned in a temporal region; and
said second set of rails is connected to the second vertical rail in a rear overlap area of the protective cage adapted to be positioned in the rear of the person's head.
9. The protective headwear of claim 4 , further comprising:
an ear guard coupled to a second end of one of the first set of rails and to the second set of rails at a side of said protective cage.
10. The protective headwear of claim 1 , wherein the protective cage extends below a lower end of the non-protective headwear.
11. The protective headwear of claim 1 , wherein the second gap has a width that is larger than a width of the first gap.
12. The protective headwear of claim 1 , wherein the first stretchable material fills the first gap and the second stretchable material fills the second gap.
13. A non-protective baseball cap with a non-intrusive integrated protective headwear, comprising:
a first shell half and a second shell half each comprising a plurality of rails positioned in a generally circumferential direction between a first vertical rail and a second vertical rail, the first shell half and the second shell half coupled to each other by a first stretchable material and a second stretchable material, the first stretchable material positioned in a first gap formed between a first end of the first shell half and a first end of the second shell half, the second stretchable material positioned in a second gap formed between a second end of the first shell half and a second end of the second shell half, and integrated with the non-protective baseball cap to form a protective cage adapted to circumferentially surround a person's head when the non-protective baseball cap is placed in a worn position on the person's head; and
a plurality of pads coupled to an inner surface of said protective cage, and adapted to contact a plurality of strong areas on the person's head when said protective cage is in the worn position.
14. The protective headwear of claim 13 , wherein:
said strong areas on said person's head comprise a forehead area, a zygomatic bone area at the top of the person's jawbone, an area in a lower portion of the person's parietal bone above the person's ear, and an area in the rear of the person's head.
15. The baseball cap of claim 14 , wherein each of said first shell half and said second shell half comprises:
a first set of rails having a first shape and a first position adapted to make contact with the forehead area through a first pad in the plurality of pads and with the zygomatic bone area in the person's head through a second pad in the plurality of pads;
a second set of rails having a second shape and a second position adapted to make contact with the area in the rear of the person's head through a third pad in the plurality of pads; and
a third set of rails having a third shape and a third position adapted to make contact with the zygomatic bone area through the second pad and the lower portion of the person's parietal bone above the ear through a fourth pad in the plurality of pads.
16. The baseball cap of claim 15 , further comprising:
an ear guard coupled to a second end of one of the first set of rails and to the second set of rails at a side of said protective cage.
17. The baseball cap of claim 15 , wherein:
a first end of said first set of rails is connected to the first vertical rail in a front overlap area of the protective cage adapted to be positioned at the forehead area;
a second end of said first set of rails is connected to said third set of rails in a jawbone overlap area of the protective cage adapted to be positioned at the zygomatic bone area at the top of the person's jawbone;
said third set of rails is connected to said second set of rails in a temporal overlap area of the protective cage adapted to be positioned in a temporal region of the person's head; and
said second set of rails is connected to the second vertical rail in a rear overlap area of the protective cage adapted to be positioned in the rear of the person's head.
18. The baseball cap of claim 15 , wherein:
the third set of rails comprises a hat attachment area for attaching a hat portion of the baseball cap to the protective cage, and the first set of rails comprises a brim attachment area for attaching a brim portion of the baseball cap to the protective cage.
19. The baseball cap of claim 15 , wherein:
each of said first set of rails, said second set of rails and said third set of rails define gaps in the first shell half and the second shell half.
20. The baseball cap of claim 13 , wherein the second gap has a width that is larger than a width of the first gap.