Shock attenuation system

Claim 1

Protective headgear comprising an outer shell of substantially rigid material adapted to be worn on the head, a plurality of shock-attenuating modules on the inside of the shell, and an inner liner of flexible resilient relatively slow-recovery cushioning material, portions of said inner liner being spaced from the shell to form pockets, said modules being disposed in said pockets between the shell and the liner thereby to locate the modules in fixed predetermined positions with respect to the inside of the shell, each module comprising a multiplicity of spaced-apart generally squat tubular columns of resilient synthetic resin material disposed with their axes generally at right angles to the shell, each column being constituted by an integrally formed one-piece tubular member having a slenderness ratio of less than 3.0, said slenderness ratio being the ratio of column length to column diameter, said columns being so dimensioned and configured that, when subjected to an axial impact force of predetermined magnitude, the walls of the columns are adapted resiliently to deform for attenuating the shock resulting from said impact force, said columns then being adapted resiliently to return substantially to their undeformed shape.