Download Eyesight very important each and every day to perform ordinary and

Eyesight very important each and every day to perform ordinary and complicated tasks, so
protecting one’s eyes is extraordinarily important. Threats to eyesight come in many different forms,
and protective eyewear comes in many shapes, sizes, and forms depending on the needs of the user.
We will specifically focus on one type of eyewear protection; protective goggles used in the game of
women’s lacrosse. We will discuss women’s lacrosse goggles in general as well as the particular aspects
of the DeBeer Vista Women’s Lacrosse Goggles.
Women’s lacrosse is a game that has slowly been growing in popularity in the United States over
the past few decades. In that time officials recognized that the most common injuries were to the eye
and the area right around the eye. Thus they introduced protective eyewear to the game ten years ago
and in 2004, the National Collegiate Athletic Association began requiring the use of protective eyewear
in its women’s lacrosse events. In a statement on the issue the NCAA said: “Continued research,
discussion, and continual reassessment of the most effective educational, administrative and equipment
interventions to decrease the risk of head/face/eye injuries in lacrosse” is a top priority (U.S. Lacrosse).
In order to fill this need, several companies began designing and producing acceptable eyewear for
women, however, since their introduction to the market the design of the goggles has changed only
slightly. Since the history of protective eyewear for women’s lacrosse is relatively short and there are
not that many different goggles on the market we also felt that there was the potential for innovation
that could stem from researching women’s lacrosse goggles.
Women’s lacrosse goggles fill a specific need for a specific group of people but even so, there
are different designs and not all of them look exactly like the other. Safety is the most important aspect
of all of the designs but there are also aspects of comfort and attractiveness that play a part in each of
the designs. Women’s lacrosse goggles are used by a wide range of women at every level of the game.
They are used by young girls in the early grades of elementary school who are just learning how to play
all the way through to women who compete at the highest level of the sport internationally. They need
to be comfortable as well as functional. Some women wear protective glasses that simply put look like
reinforced sunglasses that strap to their heads but a majority of women wear metal goggles. These
devices cover part of a woman’s face, more specifically the area from just above the eyebrows to the
bridge of the nose. The cage must be protective but not distracting during practices and games.
Lacrosse is played mostly in the air and a woman cannot be distracted by the cage around her face
because she might get hit in the head by a flying ball or not be able to play at her optimal level if she is
not focused on the game play. At the same time though, balls do get dropped, and a woman must also
be able to see the ground easily as well. The cage must also restrict a woman’s peripheral sight as little
as possible because an important aspect of the game is being able to see the entire field, specifically
where all of the players are located, something that is made exponentially harder if a woman has to play
with tunnel vision. All of these user needs are important aspects to consider when looking the design of
this device.
In the world of women’s lacrosse, there is a lot of competition in the goggle market between the
companies: DeBeer, STX, Cascade, and Brine. These companies market goggles for girls playing lacrosse
of all ages and there is a wide selection as to what girls can legally wear. They are marketed at a
reasonable price ranging from 20-100+ dollars depending on the quality and amount of protection
provided. It is estimated that there are about 500,000 girls playing lacrosse around the nation. Based off
of this statistic and the average price of goggles as $60, the industry sells about $30,000,000 worth of
goggles each year. This number is most likely inflated due to things such as girls playing with the same
pair of goggles for more than one year or people buying goggles on the cheap side of the average. Since
this is an immature industry there are still not a lot of statistics and numbers so these are all rough
estimates.
Women’s lacrosse goggles are not complicated devices to wear and they do not require special
background knowledge to be able to wear them properly, but they have a specific functional
requirement to the user. Women’s lacrosse goggles must protect a woman’s eye and the area right
around the eye, while at the same time not distracting her from the game at hand. The proper
procedure for putting any of the models of goggles on is to first place the mask on the face, stretch the
head band to the back of your head, and adjust the straps to the desired level of tightness. The goggles
then protect the wearer from being struck during play (see Figure 1).
The goggles that we chose to specifically investigate are the DeBeer Vista Women’s Lacrosse
Goggles. They are composed of four major parts: head band, head band adjuster, face cage, and face
pad. (see Figure 2) The head band and head band adjuster are used together to adjust the tightness of
the goggles by adjusting the length of the head band around the head. The head band is made of a
cotton and rubber weave and the adjuster is made out of molded polypropylene. Women’s lacrosse
goggles only come in one size for each model from each manufacturer so this is the aspect of the design
that makes it possible for women of all ages to wear the device. The face cage is used to protect the
face and eyes from being struck with lacrosse balls or sticks, and on the rare occasion an elbow. The
cage is made from powder coated steel that is constructed using a multistep process. First the steel is
made into wire by being drawn, then it is welded together in the cage shape, and finally it is powder
coated. The last component is the face pad which is important for comfort around the eyes. It is made
from molded silicon. All of these components fit together to create the goggles that we chose to
investigate. The exploded view (see Figure 4) shows all of the components in a hand drawn form and
the component diagram (see Figure 3) shows all of the components after we took the device apart. It is
important to note that the goggles are intended to be taken apart and put back together so this can be
done time after time.
Other design aspects of the DeBeer Vista goggles that are important to note are the specific
things the manufacturer points out about the design. They state that the True-Vi Vision System reduces
glare in the line of sight and at eye style wire increases vision. They also state that the goggles mean the
ASTM F803 Standards. These standards are defined by the National Collegiate Athletic Association
(NCAA) so users know what kind of protection they can expect from the goggles. The specifics about
these standards are discussed in more detail later in the paper in the discussion about Controversial
Reasoning.
While the Lacrosse mask is worn there are only two primary forces acting on it: The tension
force applied by the headband and the downward force
of gravity. The Force of gravity affects all objects on
earth and exerts a downward force on the mask with a
strength of mG where m is the mass of the mask and
G=9.8m/s2. To counter the downward pull of gravity on
the mask and to prevent it from falling off the face and
elastic band connected to the mask is worn around the
head and applies a Tension force on the mask in the
direction of the face. This tension causes the mask to
exert a force on the face causing there to be a force of
friction opposing its motion. The friction between the
mask and the face causes there to be a normal force
opposing the force of gravity in the upward direction.
We know that there must be a normal force since the
mask does not fall to the ground meaning that there is
some equal and opposite force to the force of gravity acting on the mask.
The main purpose of women’s lacrosse goggles
is to protect the face and eyes from being struck
directly by a lacrosse stick or ball. Since NCAA
regulations require women’s lacrosse goggles to
withstand and protect the face from the force of impact
of a lacrosse ball moving at 26.822m/s, we determined
how much energy would be transferred to the mask if it
was struck head-on by a ball at this velocity. Since we
know that momentum must be conserved in this
interaction it is possible to estimate the energy transfer
to the mask based on how much momentum was lost
by the ball when it strikes the mask. Since a ball
moving at this speed has a initial momentum of 3.88J and we know that after the impact the ball has a
new momentum of 2.88J we can determine that approximately 1J of momentum was transferred to the
mask since momentum must be conserved across the system. The mask then disperses this 1J of energy
across all points of contact to the face spreading out the impact energy and reducing the amount of
localized force felt by the player. In this way the Lacrosse mask protects the face by diverting the energy
of the ball to the skeletal structure of the face and away from the more vulnerable eyes and nose which
could be easily injured by the blunt trauma of being struck by a ball at this speed.
Problem Statement:
To develop a comfortable form of eye protection for women's lacrosse that will successfully protect a
person’s eyes and face without hindering the wearers eyesight.
Controversial Reasoning: why did we do it? As lacrosse grows nationally, more kids will pick it
up and the need for better equipment will also grow. As of now there is not a lot of women's specific
lacrosse equipment. They are overshadowed in the world of lacrosse and even though the game is not
as hard hitting and aggressive as the men’s version, many women are still getting hurt due to lack of
protective equipment. One common injury that occurs in the game is when a player receives a blow to
the face either by a ball or another players stick. Currently the only form of protection are cheaply made
eye glasses. They provide just as much protection as any dollar store pair of sunglasses. Thus the need
for an effective pair of eye protection is a must. Our design will provide players with substantially more
protection without blocking their vision and without breaking any of the guidelines set in the rules of
lacrosse. We believe that our cage design will catch on rapidly and will soon be on the face of women
lacrosse players across the nation.
Current standards for protective eyewear in women’s lacrosse are defined by the National
Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The NCAA states that protective eyewear should be able to
withstand forces generated by a ball traveling 60 miles per hour during official NCAA lacrosse events and
meet current American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM) specifications. Compliance with this
standard allows the eyewear to be considered legal for play in official women’s lacrosse events,
however, U.S. Lacrosse, the governing body of Lacrosse in the United States, must receive independent
confirmation from an approved third party testing facility that the eyewear meets the set standards.
While developing our product we found it necessary to set out our objectives as well as define
the constraints of our project to frame the task at hand.
Protective women's lacrosse eye-ware objectives:
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effectively reduce force of impact to the eye area
comfortable on the face
Must be adjustable for sizing and comfort
visually appealing
should be able to withstand forces generated by a ball traveling 60 miles per hour
should protect the nose from impact with a stick or ball
Design Constraints:
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Must be durable
Must be able to resist moister
does not interfere with vision
must meet NCAA standards
Must meet ASTM specifications
must only cover the eyes and bridge of the nose