US2706983A - Flexible construction in respirator mask facepiece - Google Patents

Description

April 26, 1955 J. N. MATHESON ETAL FLEXIBLE CONSTRUCTION IN RESPIRATORMASK FACEPIE Filed Sept. 15, 1951 FLEXIBLE CONSTRUCTION IN MASK FACEPIECE James N. Matheson, West Reading, and William J. Wiswesser, Kutztown, Pa., assignors to Willson Products, Inc., Reading, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application September 15, 1951, Serial No. 246,806 3 Claims. (Cl. 128-146) RESPIRATOR The present invention relates to improvements in a respirator of protection against gases and vapors of various kinds. An outstanding disadvantage of common designs of the above type of respirator is that they are not comfortable to wear. Therefore, even after they are worn a relatively short time, substantial discomfort results which oftentimes impels the wearer to remove the respirator and thereby expose himself to the deleterious effects of breathing dust and noxious fumes.

A further disadvantage of commonly used types of respirators is that in view of variations in the contours of the nose of the wearer at different levels, the nose bridge portion of the respirator will provide a good fit only when worn at a given level.

A still further disadvantage of commonly used types of respirators is that they are generally complicated in construction, requiring special stiffening material, such as metal wire, bands or straps, and are adaptable to fit a limited number of nose bridge or facial contours, thus requiring the stocking of a number of different sized respirators.

An object of the present invention is to provide a novel respirator which is devoid of the above named disadvantages of common types of respirators.

A further object of the invention is to provide a respirator having a face piece which is extremely comfortable, yet snug fitting, self-adjusting and providing floating, cushioned engagement of the nose, thereby enabling the face piece to be worn low, in cases wherein goggles are to be worn by the wearer, or high, as desired by the wearer without sacrificing air-tightness.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a study of the following description, taken with the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of a respirator embodying the principles of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken along line 2-2 of Figure 1 and more clearly showing the pleated nose bridge portion of the respirator embodying the principles of the present invention, and

igure 3 is a cross-sectional view similar to Figure 2 of a modification of the pleated nose bridge portion, showing a single instead of a triple pleat with a portion broken away.

Referring more particularly to Figure l of the drawing,numeral 1 denotes of rubber or similar flexible material and which is cup- ,shaped and somewhat triangular or pear-shaped in con- .tour.Face piece 1 is designed to cover the nose, mouth and chin of the wearer and adapted for air excluding contact between the face-contacting periphery thereof and the face of the wearer.Face piece 1 has a top convexnose bridging portion 2 and two sideconcave portions 3 which surround the nose. of the lower lobes offace piece 1 are a pair of readily Attached to each 2,706,983 Patented Apr. 26, 1955 detachable and replaceable filter or cartridge units denoted generally by the numeral 4. The lowermost portion of the face piece surrounds the chin, and adjacent thereto is an exhalation valve 5 comprising, for example, a rubber diaphragm which is as a screw threaded connection between the base of the and the receptacle or support attached to the respirator may, of course, be substituted. The respirator is held against the face of the wearer by means ofstraps 9.

feature of the invention resides in the of theface piece 1 along the face conport1on thereof and,

An important specific shaping tacting marginal the nose bridge nose bridging portion in to fit varying nasal contours and in order to permit the respirator to be worn either high or low on the nose with equally eflicient face-contacting, air-excluding engagement without discomfort. The inwardly turned, facecontacting edge portion is greatly reduced in thickness about the bony nasal region.

n order to provide even greater cushioning and automatic ad u fort in spite of long periods during which the respirator is worn.

The pleats may extend throughout an angle of perhaps to 90 from a vertical plane at right angles to Figure 2, preferably through an angle of about'35 with the vertical. The pleats may extend about an arc of about 85 in the plane of Figure 1 or between 5 and 150", or perhaps even greater, so as to provide adjustment and cushioning about the entire perimeter of the nose engaging portion. The outermost limit of the pleats in the plane of Figure 2 may be at a level of about inch above the uppermost level of the in-turned marginal portions, and the total height of the pleats may be of the order of 1 inch.

Although three pleats are shown in Figure 2, for purposes of illustration, it will be apparent that other numbers of pleats may be selected, such as two, four, or more, or perhaps a single pleat such as shown in Figure 3.

The single pleat shown in Figure 3 extends through an arc in the plane of the drawing of about 35 from the vertical although it will be apparent that the arcuate movement of the pleat may be anywhere between 5 up to about 90 to allow any desired range of pivotal movement of the nose bridging portion relative to the remainder of marginal portion about a forward arc of the nose bridging portion of the mask or face piece.

Thus, as the respirator is pressed against the face of the wearer or moved downwardly, the nose bridging portion, because of its inclusion of pleats, will readily collapse to allow a forward hinging motion of the nose bridging portion and of the inwardly turned marginal edge portion surrounding the nose and thereby provide a readily yieldable and comfortable fit in a gas-tight manner about any part of the nose or about any nasal contour of the wearer.

Thus it will be seen that we have provided a highly efiicient face piece construction for a respirator or similar apparatus, having a face-engaging cushioned and extremely comfortable fit and having a pleated nose bridge portion which is readily collapsible, thereby providing a yieldable fit with the nose of the wearer regardless of whether the respirator is Worn high or low on the nose and regardless of varying nasal contours of different wearers and which insures a perfectly gas-tight fit with amazing comfort of wear irrespective of the fact that the respirator may be worn over long periods of time.

While we have illustrated and described two embodiments of our invention, it will be understood that these are by way of illustration only, and that various changes and modifications may be made within the contemplation of our invention and within the scope of the following claims.

We claim:

1. A respirator comprising a face piece of resilient material of substantially cup shape having a marginal portion adapted to surround the nose, cheeks and chin of the wearer, and having a pleated portion of said marginal portion comprising a plurality of pleats running over the nose piece spaced at the nose axis and terminating at points on either side of the nose piece such as to give an accordion effect and to allow said marginal portion surrounding the nose to pivot forwardly, as the result of collapsing movement of the pleated portion, at an angle with respect to the remainder of said marginal portion, thereby providing a yieldable, cushioned fit between the respirator and the face of the wearer, particularly about the nose.

2. A respirator as recited inclaim 1 wherein said pleated portion extends about the nose through an angle of about 150 and extends forwardly of the wearer through an arc of the order of 35 and wherein said pleated portion tapers to hinge points on opposite sides of the nose surrounding portion.

3. A respirator as recited inclaim 1 wherein said pleated portion comprises a plurality of pleats extending forwardly of the wearer throughout an arc of between 5 and and having a periphery about the nose of the wearer which extends through an arc of between 5 and and wherein the pleats terminate at hinge points opposite the nose surrounding portion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Great Britain Apr. 18, 1929

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