Protective Guard Apparatus

Abstract

A protective guard for a body part is disclosed herein. The protective guard includes a base, a first shell, and a second shell. The base includes an upper region, a lower region, and a middle region, where the middle region enables the upper region and lower region to move with respect to one another. The first shell may be disposed on the upper region, while the second shell may be disposed on the lower region. The first shell may be anatomically shaped to a body part of a person, such as a shin or an upper portion of the arm. The second shell may be anatomically shaped to a different body part, such as an ankle or an elbow. The first shell may have at least two areas, where the first area be more flexible than the second area.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A protective guard for sports, the protective gear comprising:
 a compressible base layer; and   a continuous, protective shell layer coupled to the base layer, the continuous shell including a layer of interconnected strands and a resin layer,   wherein the continuous shell defines a plurality of flexure regions including a first flexure region possessing a first degree of flexure and a second flexure region possessing a second degree of flexure that is greater than the first degree of flexure.   
     
     
         2 . The protective guard according to  claim 1 , wherein the resin layer coats the layer of interconnected strands. 
     
     
         3 . The protective guard according to  claim 2 , wherein the layer of interconnected strands is encapsulated within the resin layer. 
     
     
         4 . The protective guard according to  claim 3 , wherein the layer of interconnected strands comprises woven strands. 
     
     
         5 . The protective guard according to  claim 4 , wherein the strands are strands possessing a tensile strength of at least 1,000 MPa. 
     
     
         6 . The protective guard according to  claim 5 , wherein the strands are selected from the group consisting of aramid fibers, carbon fibers, glass fibers, and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene fibers. 
     
     
         7 . The protective guard according to  claim 6 , wherein the plurality of flexure regions comprise vertically oriented bands arranged in an array across the shell. 
     
     
         8 . The protective guard according to  claim 6 , wherein the flexure bands are oriented in alternating arrangement across the transverse dimension of the article of protective gear. 
     
     
         9 . The protective guard according to  claim 6 , wherein the durometer value of the resin within the first flexure region is at least 20 Shore D greater than the durometer value of the resin within the second flexure region. 
     
     
         10 . The protective guard according to  claim 6 , wherein:
 the resin within the first flexure region possesses a durometer value of approximately 60 to approximately 90 Shore D; and   the resin within the second flexure region possesses a durometer value of approximately 20 to approximately 50 Shore D.   
     
     
         11 . The protective guard according to  claim 6 , wherein:
 the resin within the first flexure region possesses a durometer value of approximately 75 to approximately 80 Shore D; and   the resin within the second flexure region possesses a durometer value of approximately 35 to approximately 40 Shore D.   
     
     
         12 . The protective guard according to  claim 11 , wherein the resin layer comprises a thermosetting polymer. 
     
     
         13 . The protective guard according to  claim 10 , wherein the thermosetting polymer is selected from the group consisting of polyester and polyurethane. 
     
     
         14 . The protective guard according to  claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of first flexure regions and a plurality of second flexure regions.