Protective insert for a head covering which has a covering portion in the form of a half shell

Abstract

A protective insert for a head covering which has a covering portion in the form of a half shell, having a plurality of coherent portions of a flexible, collapsible plastics material, which portions can be brought from a planar basic form into a use position that enables insertion into the covering portion, in which use position the protective insert has a half-shell form corresponding to the covering portion.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A protective insert for a head covering which has a covering portion in the form of a half shell, comprising a plurality of coherent portions of a flexible, collapsible plastics material, which portions can be brought from a planar basic form into a use position that enables insertion into the covering portion, in which use position the protective insert has a half-shell form corresponding to the covering portion. 
     
     
         2 . The protective insert according to  claim 1 , wherein the portions adjoin one another at the edge at least in certain portions in the use form. 
     
     
         3 . The protective insert according to  claim 1 , wherein a central Y-shaped portion is provided, which has three portion regions which, in the basic form, extend preferably symmetrically from the center in a Y shape to the side, and in that three further portions are provided, a respective one of which is positioned between two portion regions and in each case attached to a portion region, wherein the further portions are formed such that, in the half-shell form, they largely or completely fill the region between two portion regions. 
     
     
         4 . The protective insert according to  claim 1 , wherein two portions via a connecting web which is thinner in comparison with the thickness of the portions and shorter than the edges of both portions that lie adjacent to one another in the use position. 
     
     
         5 . The protective insert according to  claim 1 , wherein a portion which is positioned on the rear side of the covering portion in the inserted position has a curved cutout at the edge. 
     
     
         6 . The protective insert according to  claim 1 , wherein the portions have a thickness of 2-6 mm, in particular of 3-5 mm and preferably of 4 mm. 
     
     
         7 . The protective insert according to  claim 1 , wherein the thickness of at least some of the portions, preferably of all the portions, decreases toward the edge bounding the half-shell form. 
     
     
         8 . The protective insert according to  claim 7 , wherein the thickness decreases by at least 25%, in particular by at least 35% and preferably by at least 50%. 
     
     
         9 . The protective insert according to  claim 7 , wherein the thickness decreases over a length toward the edge of at least 1 cm, in particular of at least 1.5 cm and preferably of at least 2 cm. 
     
     
         10 . The protective insert according to  claim 1 , wherein at least some of the portions which bound the edge of the protective insert laid so as to form the half-shell form have a thinner edge portion at this edge than in the adjacent surface region. 
     
     
         11 . The protective insert according to  claim 10 , wherein the edge portion extends over at least 25%, preferably at least 50%, of the edge length and in particular over the entire edge length. 
     
     
         12 . The protective insert according to  claim 10 , wherein the edge portion has a width of 2-10 mm, in particular of 3-8 mm and preferably of 4-6 mm. 
     
     
         13 . The protective insert according to  claim 10 , wherein the edge portion has a thickness of 0.5-2 mm, in particular of 1 mm. 
     
     
         14 . The protective insert according to  claim 1 , wherein at least some of the portions, preferably every portion, has an open-pore structure. 
     
     
         15 . The protective insert according to  claim 14 , wherein the structure consists of round or polygonal structural elements which are coherent among one another, wherein the structural elements and/or regions between the structural elements have through-holes. 
     
     
         16 . The protective insert according to  claim 1 , wherein the plastic has a Shore A hardness of 40-100, preferably 60-95, or a Shore D hardness of 15-70, preferably 20-64. 
     
     
         17 . The protective insert according to  claim 1 , wherein the plastic is a thermoplastic elastomer. 
     
     
         18 . The protective insert according to  claim 17 , wherein the plastic is a thermoplastic urethane. 
     
     
         19 . A combination of a head covering with a covering portion in the form of a half shell and a protective insert according to  claim 1 . 
     
     
         20 . The combination according to  claim 19 , wherein the head covering is a baseball, cricket, golf or skateboarding cap.