Protective sports helmet with advanced visor system, lower chin bar assembly and energy attenuation system

Abstract

An innovative protective football helmet includes a durable shell having an impact attenuation system, a visor system with a visor, a lower chin bar assembly, and internal impact attenuation assembly. The connection of the visor to the shell is 'tool-less,' meaning that no unique tool is required for coupling or removing the visor system. The visor system is not coupled to the lower chin bar assembly, which allows the visor to independently flex and independently elastically deform relative to the chin bar assembly. The visor is configured to match a substantial extent of the frontal shell region, thus the visor does not need to be substantially deformed during the installation process, which eliminates the introduction of additional stresses on the visor during the installation process. The visor also replaces a significant upper extent of a conventional facemask that is both heavy and costly to manufacture. Due to the design of the helmet and visor system, there is a significant increase in the player's field of view through the frontal helmet opening and the visor. This increase in the field of view provides greater situational awareness for the player and allows the player to reduce the amount of head rotation necessary to see objects or other players when the player is engaged in playing the sport.