TODAY’S PATENT – FOOTBALL FACE GUARD

This invention “Football face guard” was invented by Delby C. Humphrey and Robert D. Humphrey and then was assigned to Schutt Manufacturing Co which was granted patent on 2^nd May, 1976 by the USPTO bearing patent grant number US4086664A to the patentee. The present invention is composed of numerous curved and overlapping bar-like parts. The components include metal cores that are joined by welding when the components pass over one another. The guard additionally has a support element that is attached to the guard elements and is designed to fit along the edge of a helmet’s face opening. The guard is made up of support and guard components, and it is completely covered in a rubber-like coating that is quite thick.

The present invention relates to face guards, particularly football face guards, and is concerned with an improved method of constructing the face guard and connecting it to a helmet. Face guards of the type addressed by the present invention are well known and generally consist of a grid of interconnected bar elements that form the face guard and connecting elements that connect the face guard to a helmet. The guard’s bar elements are advantageously formed of wire or tubing, with the wires or tubing interconnected where they cross over, as by welding. The entire face guard is then coated with a thick, resilient rubber-like coating.