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Collapsible Motorcycle Helmet

 Compact!
  (+3, -4)
(+3, -4) 		  [vote for,
against]

This helmet is made of the regular helmet material, but as hinged plates. One dons a compressible soft cap of foam, then opens out the collapsible helpmet and pins it in place. The pins are superhard. It unfolds like an origami balloon. The collapsibility makes the helmet easy to carry and store.

Plus the angular look is somewhat like a bird of prey, and is nifty in and of itself.

—bungston, Jul 05 2007

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       Wouldn't the foam core be just as big as the regular helmet? (Minus a millimeter or so of plastic.)
—Galbinus_Caeli, Jul 05 2007
   

       I think the pins should be supertough and superstrong. Being superhard suggests that they would be superbrittle.
—Texticle, Jul 05 2007
   

       Wouldn't a collapsible helmet mean (in the event of an accident) a collapsible skull?
—neutrinos_shadow, Jul 05 2007
   

       The foam core can be scrunched up.
—bungston, Jul 05 2007
   

       Um, I prefer the foam core of my skull to be unscrunched.
—Galbinus_Caeli, Jul 05 2007
   

       I think the pins should have super powers.
—normzone, Jul 05 2007
   

       As a motorcyclist, my biggest annoyance is what to do with my helmet. Do I leave it clipped to my bike and worry about the elements, or do I carry it around like a security blanket?   

       "Regular helmet material" relies on the helmet structure as a whole to absorb impacts, which prevents collapsible design.   

       Could we accomplish this using nanotechnology? Imagine a sheet of foam wrapped around a membrane of carbon nanotubes. When you press a membrane on opposite sides of the helmet, a circuit is closed in two places (redundancy), the nanotubes realign themselves, and the helmet collapses to something shaped like a frisbee.
—ed, Jul 05 2007
   

       [+] I know nothing about motorbike helmets, but I can imagine that some degree of collapsability (with the necessary locks and catches) could be achieved, and I can imagine the result being easier to carry or store.
—MaxwellBuchanan, Jul 05 2007
   

       Thinking about this again, a 2 part helmet with a lower section that screws into the upper section would still be very sturdy but much more storable - for example, I do not think a standard helmet would fit in a school locker. But 2 helmet halves probably would.
—bungston, Jan 26 2011
   

       It happens that I was just snarling at my TV for showing Iron Man or someone of his ilk, with a helmet that rose up out of his collar and assembled itself into a gleaming and seamless smooth curve.   

       This idea almost gets a bone for similar reasons. Just wishing for a collapsible helmet doesn't make it so. I refrain from a fishbone, though, because it does mention the angular look.   

       But it needs more before I unfold a croissant for it.
—baconbrain, Jan 27 2011
   

       Once you are out of the woods on this, please apply this most excellent idea to the humble construction workers hard hat/safety helmet. I was thinking that the operation of the collapse would be like those squash flat camping mugs. My idea would be to make it collapsible in the opposite direction to a falling brick or typical construction hazard impact direction. It would make the public transport travelling hard hat carrier truly hands free and most grateful.
—SrTronosco, Oct 05 2019
   

       [baconbrain] Engneering tolerances now days are truly incredible, especially cutting with electrons.   

       A Hoberman helmet seems feasible but the calculation of force vectors to make sure the helmet doesn't fold in a way that causes more damage will be not short of complex.   

       I think some sort of material state change is needed between collapsed and unfolded. Maybe electricity, correct electron positioning is needed for material to fold.
—wjt, Oct 05 2019
   


 

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