Appeal No. 97-0828
Application 08/445,540
position by an elastic strap 36 which extends around the
helmet and is connected to the sides of the face mask by belt
straps 38. The foregoing construction allows the head gear to
be quickly and easily doffed by “hinging the face mask 18
forward and raising the protective head gear upward and
backward to remove same” (column 2, lines 55 through 57).
As is implicitly conceded by the examiner, the Hale head
gear does not meet the limitation in claim 1 requiring
“elastic strap means connected between opposite sides of said
helmet adjacent to said face area and opposite sides of said
facemask for permitting said facemask to be slid from a first
position over said face area to a position over said top
portion” of the helmet. While Hale’s elastic strap 36 and
belt straps 38 arguably constitute elastic strap means
connected between opposite sides of the helmet adjacent its
face area and opposite sides of the face mask, these elements
would not permit the face mask to be slid from a first
position over the face area to a position over the top portion
of the helmet, at least in part due to the presence of the
belt strap 20.
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