In many industrial, public safety, and recreational applications, it is often necessary or desirable to mount generally cylindrical tools or other objects to a helmet or other mounting surface to facilitate hands-free operation. Such generally cylindrical objects include, but are not limited to, flashlights of varying sizes or circumferences and made of different materials. It is often desirable to Mount flashlights to helmets or other headgear, so that as the wearer moves his or her head, the flashlight always projects light where the wearer is directing his or her vision. Conventional helmet mounting devices for lights or other objects can range from simple elastic bands to metal mounting devices. However, many such devices are limited in their ability to receive multi-sized objects and do not take into consideration the susceptibility of the outer surface of the objects to penetration or damage from the mounting devices themselves.
In particular, many conventional mounting devices utilize set screws that can dig into, mar, penetrate, and crack the body of a generally cylindrical object being mounted due to the softness of the material from which the objects are manufactured. This may be especially problematic for objects, such as flashlights, for which the integrity of the object's body is essential to maintain the safe use of the object, for example to isolate the internal electrical components of a flashlight from an explosive ambient environment. In order to achieve certain safety ratings for the use of a flashlight as a tool in potentially hazardous settings, a flashlight must meet several stringent specifications. Generally, the highest safety ratings require that a flashlight be made so that it is safe to operate in the presence of flammable gasses, liquids, or vapors. If the body of the flashlight were susceptible to static electricity, then it might become an ignition source in certain hazardous conditions. Materials have been identified which prevent this from happening, thereby allowing the flashlight to achieve an intrinsically safe rating. However, a problem often arises in that the materials that prevent static electricity in a hazardous setting also are soft and therefore susceptible to puncture or breach when a set screw is applied to mount a flashlight to a mounting surface.