Sep 24, 2019Football facemask clip designed to reduce impact earns patent
Mayfield Athletics, a Michigan-based sports equipment company, earned a patent for its flagship product, S.A.F.E.Clip, a facemask clip proven to reduce impact to the head by up to 35% for football players. The company recently announced a second patent is currently pending for its Generation 2 design.
“We have spent years perfecting our design and investing in the proper testing to achieve our ultimate goal of increasing the well-being of all football players,” said Justin Summerville, chief executive officer of Mayfield Athletics. “We recognize and understand our product has the potential to revolutionize the game of football, and we take that responsibility very seriously.
“In our minds, achieving a patent was crucial to further solidify our product’s innovative and effective design. Partnered with our patent, we have received valuable feedback from our various test sites throughout the country, as well as our current customers, to develop our Generation 2 S.A.F.E.Clip, which is currently patent pending.”
S.A.F.E.Clip stands for Shock Absorbing Football Equipment. It is a facemask clip designed to effectively absorb impact and redistribute it through the clip and facemask. This helps to diminish impact from reaching the head or neck area, ultimately improving the efficacy and performance of a football helmet.
“S.A.F.E.Clip allows the facemask to slightly move backward and absorb impact forces through a shock absorbing insert inside of the clip,” described Rich Williams, co-founder and coo, Mayfield Athletics. “These forces are absorbed and reduced, and then the facemask returns to its original position. All of this happens within a fraction of a second. It’s remarkable in its simplicity and effectiveness.”
Independent testing at NOCSAE-approved laboratories demonstrated the S.A.F.E.Clip dampened blows to the face and diminished the g-forces before they could reach head/neck area by up to 35%. S.A.F.E.Clip can be retrofitted to more than 95% of existing helmet and facemask configurations without any alteration, and takes only a few minutes to install.
S.A.F.E.Clip gained fully patented status first in 2017. A second patent is currently pending for its Generation 2 design.
