Easily adjustable protective head gear

Claim 1

An article of protective headwear comprising a protective shell means formed of tough impact resistant plastic material dimensioned to fit over the human head including a forwardly extending protrusion housing unitarily formed as a part of said shell, an inwardly extending surface in said protrusion housing defining a forwardly facing aperture in the forwardmost portion of said protrusion housing, a crown cushion pad formed of soft cushioning material positioned in the uppermost portion of the interior of said shell, a flexible headband formed of an elongated length of thin strip material extending in a loop about the periphery of the interior of said protective shell and having first and second end portions positioned in adjacent spaced relationship adjacent said forwardly extending protrusioN housing, means connecting said headband to said shell member including rivet means extending inwardly through said shell means on each side of said shell means with each rivet means having inner portions on the interior of said shell slidably engaged with a guide surface in said headband with sufficient clearance being provided between said rivet means and the respective guide surfaces in said headband for enabling limited movement of said headband with respect to said rivet means, a headband cushion of soft foam material engaging the interior surfaces of said headband for engagement with the head of a wearer, cushion tab members extending unitarily upward from said headband cushion, adhesive means securing the upper ends of said cushion tab members to the interior surface of said protective shell means, a manually operable rotary knob positioned in said forwardly extending protrusion housing with a forward edge of said knob adjacent said aperture in said forwardly extending protrusion housing, threaded rod means extending horizontally in a coaxial manner from each side of said rotary knob means, means in said forward protrusion housing supporting said threaded rod means so that the axis of said threaded rod means extends horizontally in side-to-side orientation with respect to said shell, a connector tab connected to each of said end portions of said headband and extending forwardly from said end portions of said headband into said forwardly extending protrusion housing, threaded apertures provided in the portions of said connector tab members in said protrusion housing, wherein said rod means extending from each side of said rotary knob is threadably received in said threaded apertures in each of said connector tab members whereby rotation of said rotary knob moves said connector tabs toward or away from each other in accordance with the direction in which said knob is rotated to effect adjustment of the size of said headband so that the headband size can be adjusted by rotation of said rotary knob by the finger of a wearer of said article of protective headwear extending through said aperture in said forwardly extending protrusion portion for rotating said knob to effect adjustment of the headband size while the article of protective headwear is in position on the wearer''s head.