Total contact helmet

Abstract

A total contact helmet, including a body that is customizable to contact surface contours of an individual's head and is made of a rigid material. A total contact helmet insert, including a body that is customizable to contact surface contours of an individual's head and is made of a rigid material, the total contact helmet insert being insertable under an existing helmet or as an inner shell as part of an existing helmet. A method of protecting the head of a user by the user wearing the total contact helmet, and when receiving an outside impacting force to the total contact helmet, distributing the force of impact over the surface area of the total contact helmet, wherein the total contact helmet remains undeformed after receiving the force.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A total contact helmet, comprising a body that is customizable to contact surface contours of an individual's head and is made of a rigid material. 
     
     
         2 . The total contact helmet of  claim 1 , wherein said body is capable of distributing force of impact to a large surface area of said body. 
     
     
         3 . The total contact helmet of  claim 1 , wherein said rigid material has a Shore D value of at least 60 or a Rockwell value of at least 60. 
     
     
         4 . The total contact helmet of  claim 3 , wherein said material is chosen from the group consisting of hard plastic, carbon fiber, carbon composites, fiberglass, and thermoplastics. 
     
     
         5 . The total contact helmet of  claim 1 , wherein said total contact helmet does not provide a space between a surface of a user's head and said body. 
     
     
         6 . The total contact helmet of  claim 1 , wherein said total contact helmet is customizable based on a mechanism chosen from the group consisting of a cast and mold, and 3D scanning. 
     
     
         7 . The total contact helmet of  claim 1 , wherein said body is configured in a manner chosen from the group consisting of being made of at least two pieces and held together by at least one interlock and being a single piece. 
     
     
         8 . The total contact helmet of  claim 1 , wherein said body covers at least a portion of an individual's face. 
     
     
         9 . The total contact helmet of  claim 1 , further including cut outs located in areas of the body that are configured to correspond to areas of the user chosen from the group consisting of face, mouth, nose, ears, chin, neck, ponytail, and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         10 . The total contact helmet of  claim 1 , further including a ventilation mechanism chosen from the group consisting of holes and slits. 
     
     
         11 . The total contact helmet of  claim 1 , further including a hard outside shell made of a material chosen from the group consisting of plastics, thermoplastics, fiberglass, and carbon composites. 
     
     
         12 . The total contact helmet of  claim 11 , further including an energy absorption mechanism disposed between said hard outside shell and said body chosen from the group consisting of foam, matrices, springs, shock absorbing materials, and magnetic forces from opposing magnets. 
     
     
         13 . A total contact helmet insert, comprising a body that is customizable to contact surface contours of an individual's head and is made of a rigid material, said total contact helmet insert being insertable under an existing helmet or as an inner shell as part of an existing helmet. 
     
     
         14 . The total contact helmet insert of  claim 13 , wherein said rigid material has a Shore D value of at least 60 or a Rockwell value of at least 60. 
     
     
         15 . The total contact helmet insert of  claim 14 , wherein said material is chosen from the group consisting of hard plastic, carbon fiber, carbon composites, fiberglass, and thermoplastics. 
     
     
         16 . The total contact helmet insert of  claim 13 , wherein said total contact helmet insert does not provide a space between a surface of a user's head and said body. 
     
     
         17 . The total contact helmet insert of  claim 13 , wherein said total contact helmet insert is customizable based on a mechanism chosen from the group consisting of a cast and mold, and 3D scanning. 
     
     
         18 . A method of protecting the head of a user, including the steps of:
 the user wearing a total contact helmet that includes a body that is customizable to contact surface contours of an individual's head and is made of a rigid material; and   when receiving an outside impacting force to the total contact helmet, distributing the force of impact over the surface area of the total contact helmet, wherein the total contact helmet remains undeformed after receiving the force.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein said distributing step is further defined as reducing the force over the entire portion of the body that the total contact helmet covers. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the total contact helmet is worn during an activity chosen from the group consisting of baseball, umpires, hockey, football, bicycling, motorcycling, boxing, wrestling, rugby, field hockey, skiing, snowboarding, skateboarding, military uses, and construction uses. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 18 , further including the step of increasing energy absorption between the total contact helmet and a hard outside shell and decreasing the impact of the outside impacting force on the brain.