Field of the Invention

[0001 ] The present invention relates to a personal visor or sunshade, arranged primarily to shield a user's eyes from direct light.

Background to the Invention

[0002] There are many situations where direct light, particularly sunlight, can be shining into a person's eyes. In many cases, the presence of such light may simply prompt the person to move. In other cases, the person may have taken precautions against such light; for instance, by the wearing of a peaked cap.

[0003] There are some situations, however, where a person may be restricted in their ability to move, and where the impact of direct sun in their eyes may be a transient condition. One common experience is being a spectator at a sporting event. When the sporting event is played in the late afternoon or early evening, there may well be a period during which the sun is setting and those facing in a westerly direction may be impacted by the sun moving close to their line of vision.

[0004] Some of those impacted may be wearing hats or caps, or have brought hats or caps to guard against this eventuality. Others may not, and frequently such people are forced to resort to squinting, often through sunglasses.

[0005] The present invention seeks to provide a portable visor for use in such situations, although it will be understood that the visor can be equally useful in many other analogous situations.

Summary of the Invention

[0006] According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a visor formed from a plurality of rigid panels, each rigid panel being connected to at least one other of the rigid panels by a flexible connection, the visor including releasable engaging means, wherein the visor is moveable between a folded configuration and a deployed configuration, the panels being able to move about the flexible connections between the folded configuration and the deployed configuration, and the engaging means being moveable between a locked position in which the engaging means acts to maintain at least one pair of connected panels in a deployed configuration, and a released position in which the connected panels are able to move into the folded configuration.

[0007] The flexible connections may permit movement of connected panels through a relative rotation of up to 180°.

[0008] The engaging means may be formed by a flap, which is flexibly connected to the pair of connected panels. In a preferred embodiment the flap may be formed by two flexibly connected flap panels, such that the flexible connections between the two panels and between the two flap panels form a first continuous line, and the flexible connections between each panel and a corresponding flap panel form a second continuous line perpendicular to the first continuous line.

[0009] The flap may be arranged to engage with the panels by means of a snap-in connection.

[0010] It is preferred that the visor includes two engaging means. In a preferred embodiment, a peak of the visor is formed by three rigid panels comprising a central panel flexibly connected to two side panels, and an engaging means is associated with each flexible connection between a side panel and the central panel.

[001 1 ] In a preferred embodiment, the visor is arranged to connect to a pair of glasses, such as sunglasses, when in its deployed configuration. To this end, the visor may have side wings including a plurality of parallel flexible connections, arranged to permit a bending of the side wings about the arms of a pair of glasses. [0012] The side wings may include attachment means for attachment to a pair of glasses.

Discussion of Prior Art

[0013] US Patent Number 5,913,416 discloses a visor which is moveable between a folded configuration in which it represents a protective case for coupled eyeglasses, and a deployed configuration in which it acts as a visor over the eyeglasses. US 5,913,416 requires glasses as an integral structural component of the visor. In contrast, the engaging means of the present invention allows the visor to be locked in a deployed configuration whether or not eyeglasses are coupled thereto.

[0014] International patent publication number WO 03/077694 discloses a cap with a foldable peak. WO 03/077694 does not suggest any mechanism other than geometry and elasticity to maintain the cap peak in a deployed configuration. There is no suggestion of any engaging means which acts to lock the peak into the deployed configuration.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0015] It will be convenient to further describe the invention with reference to preferred embodiments of the present invention. Other embodiments are possible, and consequently the particularity of the following discussion is not to be understood as superseding the generality of the preceding description of the invention. In the drawings:

[0016] Figure 1 is an upper perspective of a visor in accordance with the present invention, shown in a deployed configuration;

[0017] Figure 2 is an upper perspective of the visor of Figure 1 , shown in a flat configuration;

[0018] Figure 3 is a lower perspective of the visor of Figure 1 , shown in the flat configuration; [0019] Figure 4 is a lower perspective of the visor of Figure 1 , shown in the deployed configuration;

[0020] Figure 5 is a perspective of the visor of Figure 1 , shown in a folded configuration;

[0021 ] Figure 6 is an upper perspective of the visor of Figure 1 , shown attached to a pair of glasses;

[0022] Figure 7 is a lower perspective of the visor of Figure 1 , shown attached to a pair of glasses; and

[0023] Figure 8 is a perspective of the visor of Figure 1 in use. Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments

[0024] Referring to the Figures, there is shown a visor 10 formed from a single piece of material, such as a rigid plastic. The visor 10 is formed as a plurality of rigid panels, connected by flexible connections. The flexible connections are made by grooves within the single piece of material. It is anticipated that these grooves will be formed during a moulding process. All of the flexible connections are located on an underside of the visor 10.

[0025] The visor 10 has a central panel 12, having a generally convex outer rim 14 and a generally concave inner rim 16. The central panel 12 is symmetrical about a centre line of the visor 10.

[0026] The visor 10 has two side panels 20, one on each side of the central panel 12. Each side panel 20 is connected to the central panel 12 by a first flexible connection 22. The first flexible connections 22 are each oriented at about 30° relative to the centre line of the visor 10; that is, they are oriented relative to each other by about 60°.

[0027] Each side panel 20 has a first flexible connection 22 at an inner side thereof, and five parallel second flexible connections 24 at an outer side thereof. The second flexible connections 24 are all parallel to the centre line. Adjacent second flexible connections 24 are spaced from each other by a short distance, such that the total length along the outer rim 14 represented by each group of second flexible connections 24 is similar to that represented by the corresponding side panel 20.

[0028] The visor has two wedge shaped side wings or outer portions 26, each one extending away from a corresponding group of second flexible connections 24.

[0029] Each outer portion 26 is formed by a front outer panel 28 and a rear outer panel 30. Each pair of front and rear outer panels 28, 30 is connected by a third flexible connection 32, perpendicular to the second flexible connections 24. The third flexible connections 32 are positioned such that they each intersect the second flexible connections 24.

[0030] Each rear outer panel 30 includes an aperture 36.

[0031 ] The visor 10 includes two engaging means formed by flaps 40. The flaps 40 are located about the first flexible connections 22, along the inner rim 16.

[0032] Each flap 40 is formed by an inner flap panel 42 and an outer flap panel 44. The inner flap panel 42 and the outer flap panel 44 are connected by a fourth flexible connection 46, which is formed as a continuation of a first flexible connection 22. Each first flexible connection 22 and its associated fourth flexible connection 46 define a first continuous line, which is oriented about 30° relative to the centre line of the visor 10.

[0033] Each inner flap panel 42 is connected to the central panel 12 along a fifth flexible connection 48. Each outer flap panel 44 is connected to an associated side panel 20 along a sixth flexible connection 50. Each pair of fifth and sixth flexible connections 48, 50 associated with a flap 40 define a second continuous line, perpendicular to the first continuous line. [0034] Each inner flap panel 42 includes a projection 52 on its underside. The central panel 12 includes two receiving apertures 54, each one arranged to receive an associated projection 52 in a snap-in connection when the flap 40 is folded around the fifth and sixth flexible connections 48, 50.

[0035] Each side panel 20 includes a projection 56 on its underside. Each outer flap panel 44 includes a receiving aperture 58, arranged to receive an associated projection 56 in a snap-in connection when the flap 40 is folded around the fifth and sixth flexible connections 48, 50.

[0036] Use of the visor 10 will now be described.

[0037] Figures 2 and 3 show the visor 10 in a flat configuration, where none of the flexible connections are bent. From here, the visor 10 can be placed into the folded configuration shown in Figure 5. This is done by folding each side panel 20, along with its connected outer flap panel 44, nearly 180° about the first flexible connection 22 (and associated fourth flexible connection 46). Similarly, the rear outer panels 30 can be folded around the third flexible connections 32 in order to tuck them within the folded visor 10.

[0038] When the visor 10 is required for use, it can be moved into the deployed configuration shown in Figures 1 and 4. In order to do this, it is first returned to the flat configuration by opening out the first and fourth flexible connections 22, 46.

[0039] From here, the flaps 40 are folded about the fifth and sixth flexible connections 48, 50; and the projections 52, 56 snapped into their respective receiving apertures 54, 58. In this way the side panels 20 are fixed rigidly relative to the central panel 12, and are unable to bend about the first flexible connection 22. The snapping of the projections 52, 56 into their respective receiving apertures 54, 58 acts to lock the side panels 20 in a deployed configuration relative to the central panel 12. [0040] The outer portions 26 can be folded down around the arms 62 of a pair of glasses 60 by virtue of the second flexible connections 24. An attachment means 64 is fixed through the apertures 36, and takes the form of an elasticated loop arranged to hold the outer portions 26 of the visor onto the arms 62 of the glasses 60. The visor 10 is arranged so that its inner rim 16 rests atop the glasses 60.

[0041 ] The visor 10 can thus be worn in conjunction with glasses 60 to protect the eyes of a user 70 as shown in Figure 7.

[0042] When the user 70 no longer wishes to wear the visor 10, the arms 62 of the glasses 60 can be removed from the attachment means 64. The flaps 40 can be released by pulling the projections 52, 56 from their respective receiving apertures 54, 58. This has the effect of allowing the visor 10 to be returned to its folded configuration.

[0043] Modifications and variations as would be apparent to a skilled addressee are deemed to be within the scope of the present invention.