Bell Sports, Inc.

Flint Thorne

Michael Grim

Christopher Bullock

A helmet and method of making the same for allowing repeatably removable attachment of helmet accessories, that includes an inner liner member for substantially covering a wearer's head, and an outer shell member that includes an upper shell surface, a lower shell surface which substantially covers an upper liner surface of the inner liner member, and at least one mounting hole formed therethrough. A grommet is disposed along the upper shell surface and aligned over the mounting hole. A receptacle housing is disposed along the lower shell surface and has a receptacle aligned to and facing the mounting hole. Engagement prongs secure the grommet to the receptacle housing with the shell member therebetween. The helmet accessory has at least one mounting member, such as a protrusion or screw. The receptacle includes a device for removably engaging the mounting member when the mounting member is inserted through the mounting hole in order to removably mount the helmet accessory to the helmet. An anchor member is connected to the receptacle housing and extends into the inner liner member to engage with a significant volume of the inner liner to secure the receptacle housing in place.

Helmet with accessory mounting apparatus and method of making the same

A helmet and method of making the same for allowing repeatably removable and adjustable attachment of helmet accessories, that includes an inner liner member for substantially covering a wearer's head, and an outer shell member that includes an upper shell surface, a lower shell surface which substantially covers an upper liner surface of the inner liner member, and at least one mounting hole formed therethrough. A grommet with a access hole formed therethrough is attached to the outer shell so that the access hole is aligned with the mounting hole. A helmet accessory has at least one mounting member insertable through the access hole. An engagement member is rotatably attached to the grommet with a predetermined amount of friction therebetween, and has means for removably engaging the helmet accessory mounting member inserted through the access hole for removably mounting the helmet accessory to the helmet. The predetermined amount of friction is selected to be low enough to allow a wearer of the helmet to rotate the helmet accessory between various rotational positions, yet high enough to selectively hold the helmet accessory in any of the various rotational positions.

Growing community of inventors

Santa Cruz, CA, United States of America

Flint Thorne