WO2002019851A1

WO2002019851A1 - Wide back protection for motorbikers

Info

Publication number: WO2002019851A1
Application number: PCT/IT2001/000467
Authority: WO
Inventors: Lino Dainese
Original assignee: Dainese SpA
Current assignee: Dainese SpA
Priority date: 2000-09-11
Filing date: 2001-09-10
Publication date: 2002-03-14
Anticipated expiration: 2003-03-11
Also published as: IT1316208B1; ITRM20000492A1; AU2001292226A1; ITRM20000492A0

Abstract

A wide back protection, to be used in particularly in dynamic sports, comprising a protective sheel (12) to be worn on the back. In turn, the shell (12) comprises a plurality of substantially stiff cross segments (14), which are vertically adjacent the ones of the others and are fastened to an underneath common flexible base member to be mutually hinged. Near segments have mutually resting means (16, 18), they allow arching the protection forwards and limit arching the protection backwards with respect to the erect position.

Description

"WIDE BACK PROTECTION FOR MOTORBIKERS" DESCRIPTION The present invention relates to a wide back protection, to be used in particularly in dynamic sports. As it is known, protective wearing for dynamic sports provides that protection is used to protect the body parts more exposed to danger of trauma in case of fall or impact against an obstacle.

The so-called "back protection" is surely one of the most important protecting accessories, since it defends an anatomical area which runs the risk of serious lesions, which may even be permanent or lethal.

In known art various kinds of protection to be worn are known to offer back protection in case of fall. Said protection is usually implemented with more or less stiff materials, aimed at absorbing and distributing the strengths caused by a collision. In known protections, the stiffness of the material and its extension on the back, however, is always the result of a compromise between the protection level which is wanted to be obtained, and therefore safety, and the comfort for the sporting motorbiker. In fact, an externally very stiff structure would be preferred to minimize the risk of serious distorting trauma to the detriment of the vertebral column and to increase the resistance to penetration in case of collisions against surfaces of reduced area, such as, in case, points or the like. On the contrary, upon increasing the stiffness, a rapid decrease in the use comfort corresponds, both as to comfort when protection is worn and as to easiness in putting it away when it is not used.

In view of said purpose, one has thought to implement, according to the invention, a wide back protection, to be used in dynamic sports, comprising a protective shell to wear on the back formed by a plurality of substantially stiff cross segments. Said cross segments are vertically adjacent the ones to the others by allowing arching the protection forwards and limiting arching the protection backwards with respect to the erect position. The lack of a direct joint between the cross segments further enables to fold up the structure on itself so as to make the overall dimensions of the back protection as small as possible when it is not used.

To make clearer the explanation of the innovative principles of the present invention and the advantages thereof compared to the known art, a possible exemplary embodiment applying said principles in the drawings will be described, with the help of the enclosed drawings:

- Fig. 1 represents a schematic view of a protection implemented according to the invention and placed on a user's back; - Fig. 2 represents a cross-section view taken along the II-II line of Fig. 1;

- Fig. 3 represents a cross-section view taken along the III-HI line of Fig. 1;

- Fig. 4 represents an enlarged view of a particular of Fig. 3; - Fig. 5 represents a cross-section view, similar to the one of Fig. 5, but with the protection in a folded-up position.

By referring to the figures, Fig. 1 shows a protection, in generic terms designated with 10, comprising a corset portion 11 to wear on the back and whereon a portion of protective shell 12 is present (for easiness, in the present text the word "shell" will be used to define the protecting member as a whole, even if, to say the truth, it is not a real shell in the sense that it contains something to be protected).

The protection may be for example a separate part, which may be laced up to the bust by means of belts 13 or other holding methods, or it may be part of more complete clothes, such as a jacket or a suit. As it can be well seen in Fig. 1, the shell 12 may extend on the back with an oval shape, broader towards the neck and narrower towards the bottom of the back. This allows to have a broad protection around the backbone without hindering the motions of arms and legs.

According to the principles of the invention, the shell 12 is formed by a series of cross segments 14, which, as it will be clearer hereinafter, are mutually hinged and rest the ones to the others so as to allow the shell bending forwards, but not backwards with respect to the erect position, hi other words, the protection behaves as a flexible assembly for the usual forward bendings of the bust, whereas it behaves as a stiff assembly if one tries to bend it backwards beyond the natural arching of the vertebral column. It has resulted to be advantageous if the segments are five in number, in order to allow a good flexibility forwards and to enable an adequate decrease in overall dimensions when the protection is folded up and not in use, together with an adequate protection of the vertebral column.

Advantageously, the shell edges are tapered to offer less resistance to sliding in case of fall on corners.

As it can be seen in the Figs. 2 and 3 and, more particularly, in Fig. 4, each segment is advantageously stratified, with an absorbing inner part or intermediate layer 15 made with a material chosen quite deformable but with enough density so as to be suitable for absorbing a fall's collisions. For said intermediate layer the use of an expanded material, such as polystyrene or polypropylene, with adequate density and resistance and less weight, has resulted to be particularly advantageous.

Outside the layer 15 there is a plate 16 in sufficiently stiff material so as to offer adequate protection against penetration of matters through the absorbing layer 15. The plate may advantageously be manufactured with few-millimeter thick plastic material with adequate resistance.

The stiff plate 16 further aims at distributing the stresses on the underneath absorbing layer, both in case of impact with a broad surface (for example road-bed) and in case of impact with a corner or a point.

The technology of expanded materials enables to make the plate in plastic material to adhere to the expanded material, or during the step of pressing the expanded material, or upon proceeding to the adhesivation in a step subsequent to the production.

To hinge segments, the intermediate layer 15, in turn, is fastened to a flexible base 17. Said base 17 is manufactured with a sheet of flexible material (for example, fabric or laminated) chosen to have an adequate resistance to traction, so as to avoid tear due to cross forces which generate when the shell members receive and distribute violent collisions after a fall.

The fastening of the segment to the underneath base, too, is advantageously implemented with proper adhesivation typical of expanded materials.

After a compression stress, the composed structure formed by the stratified segments and by the connecting flexible base reacts as a plate, wherein the compressed fibers are represented by the plates 16 in plastic material and the stretched fibers are represented by the base 17.

In the figures 4 (outstretched state) and 5 (fully folded-up state) a preferred embodiment of the resting means between the segments can be well seen, to guarantee the required stiffness of the shell. In particular, each segment 14 has the plate 16 formed with an edge 18 projecting from the underneath absorbing layer 15 towards the side-by-side segment. In the state of worn protection all edges 18 project downwards. Each edge 18 rests on the outer surface of the side-by-side segment, so as to hinder bending the protection towards outside and enable bending in the other way. This enables an easy folding up of the protection on itself too, as it can^* be well seen in Fig. 5, to decrease the overall dimensions thereof when it is not used.

The use of plates to implement a ledge between the side-by-side segments guarantees the necessary stiffiiess to the protection, which would not be present if one would rely on side resting between intermediate layers only, which for their nature are semirigid. To supply a high comfort in the use, the inner surface of the protection which is in contact with the back is shaped as the anatomy form corresponding to the erect position (not driving position). At this point it is evident how the pre-established objects have been attained.

The described structure enables to reach a high relationship resistance/weight without limiting the back forward arching during driving, still allowing to effectively stop the backward arching in case of impact within the protected surface. All this with a simple articulated, quite cheap and light structure.

The back protection according to the invention further offers a high comfort, which is a very important factor since a possible discomfort upon wearing the protection could make the motorbiker to renounce to its use, with consequent dangerous situation in case of accident. The use of technology of expanded materials, at last, enables to optimize the characteristics of resistance to impact. In fact, compatibly with the used thicknesses (which cannot be too big since the protection can be used under cloths) the resistance to impact may be calibrated in a simple and cheap way by properly chosing the density of the expanded materials, h fact, once a range of impact energy is given, it is possible to establish the density of the expanded material which guarantees a minimum value to the transmitted force, without causing the whole compression of the protection in the impact area.

Of course, the above description of an embodiment applying the innovative principles of the present invention is illustrated as example of said innovative principles and it has not to be a limitative example of the here claimed patent right.

For example, form and thicknesses of the back protection may vary according to practical needs.

Claims

1. Wide back protection (10), to be used in particularly in dynamic sports, comprising a protective shell (12) to be worn on the back showing a plurality of substantially stiff cross sections (14) arranged in adjacent way the ones to the others and hinged respectively, characterized in that said plurality of segments (14) has moreover mutually resting means (16,18) apt to allow arching the protection (10) forwards and to limit arching the protection (10) backwards with respect to the erect position.

2. Wide back protection (10) according to claim 1, characterized in that said plurality of cross segments (14) is placed over a flexible support (17) such as to make said plurality of segments (14) foldable on itself.

3. Protection (10) according to claim 2, characterized in that said flexible support (17) implements mutual hinging of said plurality of segments (14).

4. Protection (10) according to claim 1 or 2 or 3, characterized in that each segment (14) is stratified with an outer plate (16) with substantially stiff material and an intermediate layer (15), which absorbs collisions, with quite soft material.

5. Protection (10) according to the preceding claim, characterized in that said outer plate (16) of segment is manufactured with an edge (18) projecting from the underneath intermediate layer apt to rest on the outer plate (16) of a side-by-side segment (14).

6. Protection (10) according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the outer plate (16) is manufactured with plastic material.

7. Protection (10) according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the intermediate layer (15) is manufactured with expanded material.

8. Protection (10) according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the espanded material is chosen between polystyrene and polypropylene.

9. Protection (10) according to any of the claims 2 to 8, characterized in that said flexible support (17) is manufactured with a substantially inextensible material and formed by a plane structure chosen among the following ones: - fabric; or

- laminated.

10. Protection (10) according to any of the claims 2 to 9, characterized in that said flexible support (17) has at least a belt (13) for fastening in position the protection (10) on the person's body.

11. Protection according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that said shell (12) has a generically oval shape, broader upwards and narrower downwards with tapered edges.