Chest Protector

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a catcher's chest protector which includes, among other things, a harness with one strap holding the neck of the chest protector firmly against the neck of the player and a second strap to hold the chest portion of the protector against the chest. The harness is designed to be quickly adjustable and secure for a variety of body sizes and shapes so that the protector can rapidly be switched between different players while still fitting them all well. The catcher's chest protector may also forego any metal or leather components so as to be washable in a fabric care machine for simplified care. The catcher's chest protector may also include a specially designed neck guard designed to hold a cooling liquid or gel against the major blood vessels in the neck to help keep the catcher cool under all their protective gear. Further, the chest protector may also include a cross or other realignment mechanism which can help the pitcher to quickly return their gaze to the strike zone after watching other occurrences such as a potential base stealing runner.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED U.S. APPLICATIONS[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60 / 318,481 filed Sep. 10, 2001, the entire disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference.[0002] 1. Field of the Invention[0003] This disclosure relates to the field of chest protectors. In particular, to chest protectors for use in thrown ball games such as baseball or softball.[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art[0005] Baseball is a sport played by many people in a multitude of countries and under a multitude of conditions. The sport is played from the finely groomed fields of the Major Leagues, to playgrounds, to pickup games on sandlots or fields. Baseball can, however, be a dangerous sport. A baseball is generally thrown with a significant amount of force and can be hit with tremendous force, even by those who are very young and not playing in well organized games, or in professional settings.[0006] In order to protect the players from...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Baseball can, however, be a dangerous sport.

A baseball is generally thrown with a significant amount of force and can be hit with tremendous force, even by those who are very young and not playing in well organized games, or in professional settings.

Although the catcher will generally stop the ball with a specially designed glove, a pitch may nick the bat and be redirected into the catcher's body or a pitch can curve or move unexpectedly and miss the catcher's glove.

Both of these situations can happen unexpectedly and quickly.

If the protector is worn incorrectly, the protector can fail to dissipate the force but instead be driven into the body of the catcher without distribution of the force across the padding.

When players own their own equipment, this usually is not a problem, but for younger players and less organized games, it is often impractical.

In "little leagues" or sport clubs there are often multiple teams that share equipment because the club is on a limited budget.

As more catchers use the same equipment, the task of having to resize the protector over and over becomes arduous and may not be done effectively prior to the catcher needing to take the field.

Because younger baseball players also often have disparate body shapes and sizes, due to uneven growth, the task can become even more difficult.

Further, since the players in these games are often young children and the protective gear is owned by the club, the protective gear is often not treated well and may not be taken care of during, or after, the game.

This can result in two problems.

In the first, anything which is separable from the protector may be lost.

Straps which are not attached to the protector can be misplaced or forgotten by players who are not focused on the maintenance of their gear resulting in further degradation of the ability to effectively attach the protector to other players.

Secondly, the protector is generally not maintained or cleaned because no individual has sufficient motivation to perform necessary maintenance.

The problem is exacerbated because the protector is not easily cleaned in fabric care machines, but instead requires extensive hand cleaning.

The protector will often include metal rivets, buckles, rigid plates and / or leather straps which either are damaged by placement in a fabric care machine, or can damage the machine itself.

Because the protector can be so difficult to clean, cleaning is often skipped leaving the protector undesirably dirty.

Metal and other rigid components have previously been used to add strength to the protector (and to hold the "Y" harness securely), but in some cases can also lead to harm.

This buckle can then be hit by the ball leading to an aggravation of the impact from the ball instead of protection as rigid components form smaller areas of impact focusing the force from the ball instead of dissipating it.

The rigid attachment points for the straps (which are often metal riveted to provide a solid connection and are on the chest protector's padding) can also be hit by the ball resulting in a similar problem.

Yet another problem with the chest protector in younger players is that the protective gear is heavily padded and often insulative leading to it being hot to wear (as it is designed for protection, not comfort).

The problem with this is that younger players may be unlikely to see the benefit of wearing the protector compared with their discomfort from the increased heat of wearing the protector.

In addition to the problems with the use of the chest protector, it is also often a problem in younger players that a pitcher is more likely to throw wild pitches (that hit the catcher) as they are learning to throw to the strike zone.

However, the ability to refocus is a learned talent and while learning the pitcher is more likely to miss the strike zone and possibly hit the catcher leading to an increased risk of injury.

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