Firefighter Eye Shield Bracket Stop Surface Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing eye protectors for firefighters and emergency rescue workers do not effectively limit the movement of eye shields beyond their usage position, potentially compromising protection against hazards.
Innovation Solution
An eye protector system with a bracket-mounted stop surface mechanism that includes unitary molding stop surfaces on both the bracket and eye shields, preventing excessive movement of the eye shields beyond their usage position, ensuring consistent protection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If eye shields are designed to be manually movable between storage and usage positions, then ease of operation is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to inability to limit movement beyond usage position
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary anti-action by incorporating stop surfaces on the bracket that prevent the eye shields from moving beyond their intended usage position. This preemptive constraint ensures that even though the shields are manually movable for ease of operation, they cannot exceed the safe operational range, thereby maintaining reliability and consistent protection.
2Reliability
If eye shields are made stable in both storage and usage positions, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases due to additional stopping mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the stopping function directly into the bracket structure by forming stop surfaces as integral parts of the bracket. This integration achieves reliable positioning of the eye shields in both storage and usage positions while minimizing additional complexity, as the stop surfaces are combined with the existing bracket rather than being separate components.
3Ease of operation
If eye shields can move freely between positions, then ease of operation is improved, but object-affected harmful factors worsen due to potential mispositioning
Solution Approach 1:
The stop surfaces on the bracket preemptively prevent the eye shields from moving into positions that would compromise protection. By limiting the range of motion to only safe and effective positions, the system maintains ease of operation while eliminating the risk of mispositioning that would expose the wearer to sparks, liquids, and particles.
Data Source
AI summary
An eye protector (16) is provided for mounting to a protective helmet (10) of the type worn by a firefighter or other emergency worker. The protective helmet (10) has a brim (14), and the eye protector (16) includes a bracket (20) mounted to the brim (14), a first stop surface (38) carried on the bracket (20), an eye shield (18) attached to the bracket (20) for movement between a storage position extending along the brim (14) and a usage position extending downward from the brim (14) to shield the eye of the wearer, and a second stop surface (37) carried on the eye shield (18) and abutted against the first stop surface (38) with the eye shield (18) in the usage position to limit movement of the eye shield (18) beyond the usage position.