Southern Miss Develops Technology Used in NFL, College Football Helmets

I became aware of a cushioning system. That potentially had application in athletic protective
devices. A number of years ago. And I had an opportunity at one point to sit with some
senior executives at Rawlings sporting goods. And present to them the idea of possibly looking
at a cushioning system which I felt was appropriate for helmets. And what we did here was we developed
prototype cushion systems which could be evaluated in helmets. The technology that is in these
new Rawlings helmets is radically different than and other cushioning technology on the
field today. The primary difference is what we call the secondary cushioning system which
protects athletes in high impact environments. The new technology is based upon a cushioning
system which we refer to as pneumatic which are basically pressurized air bladders that
are placed behind the foam cushioning that were able to very precisely control the amount
of air pressure so that as an impact occurs it takes over the cushioning performance of
the helmet. The technology and science in this particular application is the ability
for these polymer bladders to be inflated to a particular pressure and maintain that
exact pressure over the lifetime of the product. From what I understand athletes like the feel
of the helmet. And Rawlings has very high expectations for the helmet. So from Rawlings
point of view it has been an extremely successful product launch.