Jaime C Garza

US Patent:

55376878, Jul 23, 1996

Filed:

Oct 15, 1993

Appl. No.:

8/137503

Inventors:

Jaime Garza - San Antonio TX

International Classification:

A42B 318

US Classification:

2 9

Abstract:

A protective facial mask system having an outer, high impact, rigid layer (of, e. g. , polycarbonate) and an inner, flexible, relatively soft layer of energy absorption and dissipating material (e. g. an unaerated viscoelastic polymer). The inner, soft layer preferably has variable or different thicknesses of material (e. g. , going from about an eighth of an inch minimum to about a quarter inch maximum thickness), affording greater protection to facial areas where the underlying bone structure is weaker (e. g. , the nasal region), which is where in the invention the inner layer is thickest, and thinner where the bone structure is stronger (e. g. over the flanking, supra-orbital/glabella regions). The inner soft layer thereby best absorbs, redirects and dissipates the energy from impact forces to the face, protecting the facial skeleton from, for example, fracturing. The mask, in all three of its embodiments (FIGS.