A NOSE AIR-FILTER DEVICEThe present invention relates to an air filtering device inserted in the nostrils of a wearer.
Polluted air can gradually cause fatal damage to the health of people, and this is best proved on people working in heavily polluted factories. Many profession-related ailments have already been related to unfavourable working conditions, especially to defiled air.
To alleviate the disadvantageous effects on the health, people have used various protective devices to prevent themselves from directly inhaling defiled air; the most commonly adopted device is mouth-muffles of various types. All of the mouth muffles are intended to prevent defiled air from coming directly into the nose by way of an air filtering means; and the muffle is attached to the mouth and nose of a wearer by a pair of resilient loops located behind the ears.
The use of conventional mouth muffles has the following disadvantages given as below:1. The repeated use of an unclean mouth muffle can easily cause the wearer to be affected.
2. The covering of the mouth and nose of a wearer can restrain him or her from normal conversation; and, particularly, the removal of the mouth muffle from a working person wearing heavy gloves is inconvenient.
3. The wearer of a mouth muffle may suffer from heat in a sweltering day.
4. The use of resilient loops to attach a mouth muffle to the conchas of the ears for a lengthy time can result in the hurting of the ears.
5. The wide covering of the face by a mouth muffle is not pleasant to the eyes.
Therefore, the primary object of the present invention is to provide a nose air-filtering device which is simple in structure, small in size, convenient to operate and free of the above-cited shortcomings.
The invention provides a nose air-filter device which is symmetrical and comprises two interconnected nasal inserts of hollow tubular form, each insert having a support projection on the inner wall to permit a cylindrical filtering element to be removably received therein and each being smoothly cornered to define an arcuate external surface with a flared opening at one end; the nasal inserts being connected to each other at the said one end to form a clamp for engaging the nasal septum.
In the accompanying drawings:Figure 1 is a top view of a nose filter device;Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view of the filter device; andFigure 3 is sectional diagram of the cylindrical filtering element.
A nose air-filter device is symmetrical and comprises two interconnected, hollow nasal inserts 10 which are in tubular form and have smoothly contoured external corners 17 defining an arcuate external surface. The bottom of each nasal insert 10 is a flared peripherally-disposed flange 12. A through hole 11 is located at the top center of each hollow nasal insert 10, and a peripheral support projection 13 is disposed on the inner wall, near the open bottom end thereof, so that a cylindrical filtering element 20 can be removably received therein and supported in place thereby.
The nasal insert 10 are connected to each other at their neighbouring walls at the bottom end thereof with a clamping opening 15 defined therebetween, and the mouth of the clamping opening 15 has two inwardly extending top corners 14 so to make the mouth narrower than the closed bottom. The clamp so formed engages the nasal septum of the wearer. An arcuate recess 16, conforming to the curvature of a human upper lip, is provided where the flanges 12 adjoin each other. Thus, the nose air-filtering device can be inserted in the nose easily and comfortably in either position.
The device is made of soft silicon material which does not cause any discomfort to the wearer. Moreover, various kinds of filtering element 20 are able to be mounted in the device in accordance with practical requirements, for instance, fragrant smelling or activated carbon filtering elements 20 can be used to either effect deodorization or removal of smoke.
The device is small in size and can be produced at low cost, and can be cleaned by water readily so to better protect the wearer from infection.