| 主权项 |
1. A protective helmet comprising:
an outer shell having an exterior surface and an interior surface; an inner shell having an exterior surface and an interior surface, wherein said inner shell is nested inside of and connected to said outer shell such that said interior surface of said outer shell and said exterior surface of said inner shell are opposing surfaces and said interior surface of said inner shell is conformed to fit over the head of a user; and dampening elements disposed between said inner and outer shells, wherein said dampening elements comprise disk-shaped male dampening elements attached to one of said opposing surfaces and disk-shaped female dampening elements attached to the other of said opposing surfaces, wherein each of said female dampening elements comprises an opening that is configured to receive and corresponds to one of said male dampening elements, thereby forming mated pairs of dampening elements between said inner and outer shells, which connect said inner and outer shells, wherein said mated pairs of dampening elements space apart said inner and outer shells, wherein at least one of said mated pairs of dampening elements comprises a compressible biasing element that biases said male dampening element of said mated pairs of dampening elements to a coaxial position in said female dampening of said mated pair of dampening elements, thereby biasing said outer shell towards a rest position relative to said inner shell, wherein said dampening elements are configured to move translationally and rotationally relative to one another, thereby enabling said outer shell to absorb the energy of an impact by converting said energy into at least one of rotational and compression energy, wherein during actual use of said helmet, said dampening elements absorb the energy from an impact to said helmet and reduce rotational acceleration that would otherwise be transmitted to the inner shell by said impact to said outer shell. |
