Impact-absorbing sound-attenuating earcup

Claim 1

A sound attenuating earcup for insulating the ear of a wearer from ambient sound while inhibiting transmission to the wearer's head through the earcup of shocks of impact from severe bumps or the like which might otherwise injure the head of the wearer comprising a discrete hollow cup-shaped crushable shell forming a cavity for the wearer's ear to provide a sound-attenuating chamber around the ear, said shell having a periphery toward which stress resulting from a shock of impact travels along a path from a point of impact adjacent to the center of the shell, said shell being formed with stress concentrators, each of which has an appreciable extent in a direction across said path from said point of impact toward said periphery, said shell being formed of such a material and of such a thickness as to maintain its rigidity in ordinary use and to collapse upon impact from such severe bumps or the like to dissipate energy at an applied force less than that required to crush the skull of the wearer, said stress concentrators forming recesses in said shell, the surface of said shell having a center point, said recesses having edge portions extending generally tangentially relative to a line perpendicular to said path of stress resulting from a force applied at said point.