Safety helmet face shield

Claim 2

A FACE SHIELD COMPRISING: A HORIZONTALLY EXTENDING AND HORIZONTALLY CURVED MOUNTING MEMBER HAVING A FORWARDLY EXTENDING CENTRALLY LOCATED FLANGE; A NORMALLY VERTICALLY ARRANGED, TRANSPARENT, TRANSVERSELY BENT, SLIGHTLY FLEXIBLE FACE SHIELD PANEL HAVING ITS UPPER EDGE PORTION OVERLAPPING SAID MOUNTING MEMBER; PIVOT MEANS PIVOTALLY CONNECTING THE OPPOSITE, UPPER ENDS OF THE PANEL TO THE MOUNTING MEMBER FOR PIVOTALLY MOVING THE PANEL OUT OF THE VERTICAL POSITION TO A POSITION ABOVE THE MOUNTING MEMBER; A LATCHING TAB FORMED OF A PAIR OF VERTICAL, HORIZONTALLY SPACED APART SLITS FORMED IN THE UPPER EDGE PORTION OF THE PANEL AT THE CENTER THEREOF TO PROVIDE A NARROW STRIP HAVING ITS LOWER EDGE INTEGRAL WITH THE PANEL, THE STRIP BEING MANUALLY FORWARDLY BENDABLE OUT OF AND RESILIENTLY RETURNABLE INTO THE PLANE OF THE PANEL; A FLANGE RECEIVING GROOVE FORMED ON THE REAR SURFACE OF THE TAB NEAR ITS UPPER END FOR CLOSELY RECEIVING AND LATCHING THE TAB TO SAID MOUNTING MEMBER FLANGE FOR NORMALLY RETAINING THE PANEL IN ITS VERTICAL POSITION AND FOR RELEASING THE PANEL FOR UPWARDS PIVOTING.

Claim 3

A face shield as defined in claim 1, and said tab groove defined by a rearwardly extending tab flange formed integral with the tab for overlying said mounting member flange and an integral bead extending the width of the tab and spaced beneath said tab flange a sufficient distance to underlie the mounting member flange.

Claim 4

A face shield as defined in claim 2, and including an integral upward extension portion formed upon the upper edge of the tab for manually grasping and moving the tab.

Claim 5

A face shield as defined in claim 1, and said panel having a narrow, rearwardly directed, integral upper edge panel flange extending for substantially its full width, with the mounting member flange being horizontally elongated to support said panel flange in face-to-face contact for its full length.

Claim 6

A face shield as defined in claim 1, and said mounting member being in the form of a narrow, flat band, arranged against and fastened to the front lower portion of a safety helmet shell by means of a centrally located and two side located male snap fastener halves secured to the shell, and a central and two side openings formed through the band and being sized to tightly and resiliently receive and releasably connect to the male snap fastener halves.

Claim 7

A face shield for releasable connection to the center and two side male snap fastener halves secured to the front and side lower portions of a conventional safety helmet shell, comprising: a flat, narrow, thin band formed of a generally stiff, but slightly resilient material, horizontally curved to overlie the front and side portions of the helmet shell; a central opening formed in the band to closely receive and surround the central snap fastener half, and a pair of side openings formed in the band to receive the side snap fastener halves; each side opening being horizontally elongated to form an elongated slot and being of a height of slightly less than the diameter of the snap fastener halves, with the upper and lower edges defining the slot being cross-sectionally shaped to correspond to and mate with the outer shape of the received snap fastener half for thereby foRming a female type snap fastener half along the entire length of the slot for releasably connecting to the male snap fastener half anywhere along the length of the slot, and a normally vertically arranged, transparent,transversely bent, slightly flexible face shield panel having its upper edge portion overlapping said mounting member; pivot means pivotally connecting the opposite, upper ends of the panel to the band for pivotally moving the panel out of the vertical position to a position above the band; a latching tab formed of a pair of vertical, horizontally spaced apart slits formed in the upper edge portion of the panel at the center thereof to provide a narrow strip integral with the panel and manually bendable forwardly; a forwardly extending flange formed on the upper edge of the central portion of the band; and a flange receiving groove formed on the rear surface of the tab near its upper end for closely receiving and latching the tab to said band flange for normally retaining the panel in its vertical position and for releasing the panel for upwards pivoting.

Claim 8

A face shield for releasable connection to the center and two side male snap fastener halves secured to the front and side lower portions of a conventional safety helmet shell, comprising: a flat, narrow, thin band formed of a generally stiff, but slightly resilient material, horizontally curved to overlie the front and side portions of the helmet shell; a central opening formed in the band to closely receive and surround the central snap fastener half, and a pair of side openings formed in the band to receive the side snap fastener halves; each side opening being horizontally elongated to form an elongated slot and being of a height of slightly less than the diameter of the snap fastener halves, with the upper and lower edges defining the slot being cross-sectionally shaped to correspond to and mate with the outer shape of the received snap fastener half for thereby foRming a female type snap fastener half along the entire length of the slot for releasably connecting to the male snap fastener half anywhere along the length of the slot, and a normally vertically arranged, transparent,transversely bent, slightly flexible face shield panel having its upper edge portion overlapping said mounting member; pivot means pivotally connecting the opposite, upper ends of the panel to the band for pivotally moving the panel out of the vertical position to a position above the band; a latching tab formed of a pair of vertical, horizontally spaced apart slits formed in the upper edge portion of the panel at the center thereof to provide a narrow strip integral with the panel and manually bendable forwardly; a forwardly extending flange formed on the upper edge of the central portion of the band; and a flange receiving groove formed on the rear surface of the tab near its upper end for closely receiving and latching the tab to said band flange for normally retaining the panel in its vertical position and for releasing the panel for upwards pivoting.