EP1495785A1

EP1495785A1 - Respirator mask

Info

Publication number: EP1495785A1
Application number: EP03254362A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Cheng-Yuan Chien
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2003-07-09
Filing date: 2003-07-09
Publication date: 2005-01-12

Abstract

The present invention is related to a respirator mask which comprises a mask shell, a resilience strap and a buckle, wherein the mask shell having two through holes located at its two sides for the resilience s trap to p ass through is fitted over a nose and mouth portion of the face of the user, and is fasten against the face of the user by using the buckle installed around the resilience strap whose two ends pass through the through holes. Thus, the present invention can have effects of quick adjustment and fastening, as well as enhancing the edge fitness of mask simply by pulling two ends of the resilience strap to adjust the tightness.

Description

Background of the Invention

(a). Field of the Invention

The present invention is related to a respirator mask, more specifically, to a respirator mask that can achieve a preferred fitness by a single operation to rapidly adjust the position and tightness of the mask.

(b). Background of the invention

Nowadays, there are a variety of respirator masks made of different kind of materials on the market for a variety of usages according to its objective and location of use. Such variety includes an ordinary cotton mask for cold-protection and allergy relief, an active-carbon respirator mask with function of deodorization, and the industrial respirator mask with maximum dust filterable effect. Furthermore, whether a mask (especially, professional respirator mask) is able to achieve the effect expected is determined not only by the filtering effect of the mask shell, but also by the structure of resilience strap for fastening. If the structure of resilience strap can not hold the mask shell tightly against the face of user that consequently a gap is generated between the mask and the face, then the protection effect expected can not be achieved even with the best mask shell available.
Because the professional respirator mask requires a very strict demand for the fitness between the mask shell and the face of user, the method to fasten its resilience strap therefore is different from the traditional method using the human's ears for holding. Since human's ears are a kind of cartilaginous tissue that actually can not provide enough support for holding. Hence, the professional respirator masks currently on the market (as seen in Fig. 1) mainly use the two resilience straps 50, 51 encircling the head of user for a preferred holding effect, wherein a upper lugs 41 and a lower lugs 42 are installed at two sides of a mask shell 40, and a upper resilience strap 50 and a lower resilience strap 51 are formed by respectively attaching the two outer ends of each resilience strap on the two upper lugs located at both sides of the mask shell and on the two lower lugs located at both sides of the mask shell. A drawback is that the length of the resilience straps 50, 51 of the aforementioned structure are fixed and can not be adjusted, although each of the resilience straps 50, 51 has elasticity, it still lacks the advantage of adjustment. Since the head circumference is different in every user, for the user with bigger head circumference, the aforementioned structure is difficult to wear and will lead an uncomfortable feeling of constrain caused by over tightness; for the user with smaller head circumference, the aforementioned structure is not only too loose to fall off, but also that the overall filtering and protection effect is reduced because of the deteriorated fitness between the edge of the mask shell 40 and the user's face.
Consequently, a respirator mask (as seen in Fig. 2) with adjustable resilience strap structure is designed and fabricated by the manufacturer of the field that two upper buckles 61 and two lower buckles 62 are respectively installed at the two sides of the mask shell 60, so that an upper resilience strap 70 is installed by using both the two upper buckles 61, and a lower resilience strap 71 is installed by using both the two lower buckles 62. To put on the aforementioned respirator mask, the user first needs to fit the mask shell 60 over a nose and mouth portion of the face of the user and encircles around the head of the user with both upper and lower resilience straps 70 and 71, afterward adjusts the length of both upper and lower resilience straps 70 and 71 installed respectively on the upper buckle 61 and the lower buckle 32 for better fitness.
The aforementioned structure indeed can achieve the effect of flexible adjustment for resilience strap. But in the real world application, it is easy to know that the above respirator mask with adjustable resilience strap has the following drawbacks:
1. Higher cost: Because the above respirator mask requires 4 buckles 61, 62 to be set up at the right and the left side of the mask shell 60, though the upper bucker 61 and the lower buckle 62 located at the same side of mask shell can be molded in one manufacture procedure, the molding and manufacturing cost of the buckles and the cost for attaching the buckles onto the mask shell 60 will apparently increase the overall manufacturing cost.
2. It is difficult to wear and complicated in adjustment: Even when the length of the resilience straps 70, 71 has already been adjusted to a preferred position, a certain constrain force is still required to maintain a certain fitness, thus, it is unavoidable that the inconvenience happens, especially for those females with long or fluffy hair (The same condition will happen on the traditional respirator mask with fix resilience strap). That is, when the upper and lower resilience straps 70, 71 are required to be adjusted because of the inappropriate tightness of wearing, it is necessary to individually adjust the length of the upper resilience strap 70 and the lower resilience strap 71 in succession to achieve a preferred degree of comfort. The whole operating procedure is complicated and also extremely inconvenient.
Namely, from the above description, it is obvious that the respirator mask with adjustable resilience strap in the prior arts though possesses resilience straps that can be adjusted to acquire a preferred fitness and degree of comfort, still the aforementioned drawbacks need to be studied and improved further for the actual process of usage and operation.

Summary of the Invention

The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a respirator mask which comprises a mask shell, a resilience strap and a buckle, wherein the mask shell having two through holes located at its two sides for the resilience strap to pass through is fitted over a nose and mouth portion of the face of the user, and then is fitted against the face of the user by using the buckle installed around the resilience strap whose two ends pass through the through holes. Thus, the present invention can have effects of quick adjustment and fasten, as well as enhancing the edge fitness of the mask simply by pulling the two ends of the resilience strap to adjust its tightness.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a respirator mask which comprises a mask shell, a resilience strap and a buckle, wherein the buckle is composed of a main body and two U-shaped slots located at each end of the main body. The U-shaped slot is used to form an elastic buckling piece out of the main body, so that the effect of fastening can be achieved by using the elasticity of the elastic buckling piece for pressing and holding the resilience strap passing through the gap between the main body and the free end of the elastic buckling piece.
Yet another objective of the present invention is to provide a respirator mask which comprises a mask shell, a resilience strap and a buckle, wherein user can press the two outer sides of the main body of the buckle so that the elastic buckling pieces located at the right and the left side of the buckle can be loosened so as to rapidly increase the length of the resilience strap for the user to wear the respirator mask with ease.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The objects, spirits and advantages of the preferred embodiments of the present invention will be readily understood by the accompanying drawings and detailed descriptions, wherein:
FIG. 1 is a three-dimensional view showing a respirator mask with fix resilience strap according to the prior arts.
FIG. 2 is a three-dimensional view showing a respirator mask with adjustable resilience strap according to the prior arts.
FIG. 3 is a three-dimensional view according to the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a sectional schematic drawing depicting the combination of buckle and resilience strap according to the present invention.
FIG. 5 is an embodiment drawing according to the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a schematic drawing showing a resilience strap being loosened by pressing the buckle with fingers.
FIG. 7 is a three-dimensional view depicting another embodiment according to the present invention.

Detailed Description of the Present Invention

For your esteemed members of reviewing committee to further understand and recognize the objectives, the characteristics, and the functions of the invention, a detailed description in matching with corresponding drawings are presented as the following.
The respirator mask of the present invention comprises a mask shell 10, a resilience strap 20 passing through the two sides of the mask shell 10, and a buckle 30 for the two free ends of resilience strap 20 to pass through and for fastening the resilience strap 20. When a user wants to adjust the tightness of the resilience strap 20, all he needs to do is simply pulling the two free ends of the resilience strap 20 outward with both hands, and consequently, the quick adjustment of the tightness of the resilience strap 20 can be achieved.
Please refer to Fig. 3, which is a three-dimensional view depicting a preferred embodiment according to the present invention. The respirator mask of the present invention comprises a mask shell 10, a resilience strap 20 and a buckle 30, wherein the mask shell 10 can be a bowl shaped object or a three-dimensional object formed by propping up a flat mask that covers nose and mouth portion of user; the through holes 11 are installed at two sides of the mask shell 10 that is close to human ears for the resilience strap 20 to pass through, moreover, in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the through holes 11 is formed by folding the outer portion of a lug 101 protruding respectively at two sides of the mask shell 10 and fixing thereof on the mask shell 10, so that a through hole 11 is formed between the lug 101 and the mask shell 10 for the resilience strap 20 to pass through freely; and the resilience strap 20 is a elastic band whose two free ends pass through the through holes 11 located at two sides of the mask shell 10 and is fastened by the buckle 30 to form an upper loop 21 and a lower loop 22.
Yet another way to form the structure of the above through hole 11 is as seen in Fig. 7. First, an upper piercing hole 111 and a lower piercing hole 112 are set up respectively on the right and left side of the mask shell 10, and then on end of the resilience strap 20 is pierced through the upper piercing hole 111 from inside out and through the lower piercing hole 112 from outside in. Finally, the buckle 30 is used for fastening to achieve the same effect as aforementioned.
Please refer to Fig. 3 and Fig. 4, the buckle 30 as seen is a rectangle part made of plastic with U-shaped slots 32 located at its two opposite ends, where a elastic buckling piece 31 is formed out of the U-shaped slot 32 and its surrounding area, so that the effect of fastening can be achieved by using the elasticity of the elastic buckling piece 31 by pressing and holding the resilience strap 20 to pass through the gap between the main body and the free end of the elastic buckling piece 31.
As seen in Fig. 5 that the upper loop 21 and the lower loop 22 are formed out of a single resilience strap 20, therefore, the present invention with the above structure can allow the user to put the mask on simply by enlarging the lower loop 22 and wearing it on the neck of the user easily and rapidly, and then wearing the upper loop 21 on the user's head after adjusting the position of the mask shell 10,wherein the length and tightness of the upper loop 21 and lower loop 22 can be adjusted simultaneously by pulling the two ends of the resilience strap 20 with both hands for quick adjustment and fastening, as well as enhancing the edge fitness of the mask.
The buckle 30 of the present invention possesses not only the advantage of clamping and holding, but also the advantage of fast loosening. When the user wants to loose the resilience strap 20, all he needs to do is simply pressing the two ends of the buckle 30 with h is thumb and index finger (as seen in Fig. 6) and applying a small force to enlarge the gap between the outer side of the elastic buckling piece 31 and the main body of the buckle 30. By doing so, fast loosening can be achieved.
Yet, within the buckle 30 of the present invention, a serrated edge 311 can be added to the outer end of the elastic buckling piece 31, and the serrated edge 311 contacts the resilience strap 20 to increase the strength and stability for clamping and holding the elastic buckling piece 31.
From the above description, it is clear that the present invention possesses the following advantages through the design change of the resilience strap and the buckle:
1. Fewer components: The present invention needs only a buckle, a resilience strap and a mask shell to achieve the objective for adjusting the length and tightness of the resilience strap, so that the components required are obviously much less than the prior arts.
2. Lower cost: The present invention has fewer components and only uses a resilience strap passing through the through holes located at the two sides of the mask shell for fastening a buckle which are unlike the structures of the prior arts using two sets of buckle molded on the mask shell for the upper and lower resilience straps to pass. Therefore, the present invention can reduce the material and assembling costs by cutting down the components required, also can reduce the manufacturing cost by simplifying the method and steps of manufacturing, and consequently the production can be increased effectively to reduce the production cost at the same time according to the present invention.
3. Easy and fast wearing: The upper loop and lower loop formed out of two independent resilience straps according to the prior arts, even when used in the respirator mask with adjustable resilience strap of the prior arts as seen in Fig. 2, are not only inconvenient for adjusting, but also with the disadvantage that the length the resilience straps can extend is relatively restricted. On the contrary, the present invention uses a single resilience strap passing through the through holes located at the two sides of the mask to form the adjustable upper and lower loops, by which the lower loop can be easily enlarged to twice of it original size while wearing, and the advantage also includes that the length and tightness of the upper loop and lower loop can be adjusted simultaneously by pulling the two ends of the resilience strap to fit the user with small head circumference. On the other hand, for the user with larger head circumference, the user can simply press the two ends of the buckle with his thumb and index finger for loosening to increase the length of the resilience strap easily and conveniently.
While the present invention has been shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment thereof, and in terms of the illustrative drawings, it should be not considered as limited thereby. Various possible modification, omission, and alterations could be conceived of by one skilled in the art to the form and the content of any particular embodiment, without departing from the scope and the sprit of the present invention.
In summary, the respirator mask according to the present invention possesses the characteristics of simplicity in structure and low in cost. In addition, by changing the assembling method of the resilience strap and the mask shell plus changing the holding method of the resilience strap and the buckle, the present invention can effectively reduce its production cost and also achieve the function of adjusting the tightness of the resilience strap flexibly. On the other hand, comparing with other respirator masks with adjustable resilience strap according to the prior arts, the present invention possesses not only the advantage of ease to wear, but also is mush more simple, convenient and appropriate for practical usage in its operating steps for adjusting the tightness of the resilience strap.

Claims

A respirator mask, comprising:

a mask shell having at least a through hole located respectively at two sides of said mask shell;

a resilience strap which has two free ends respectively passing through said through holes located at the same side of said mask shell, and the resilience strap can be moved freely; and

a buckle which can be passed through by said two free ends of said resilience strap to clamp and hold said resilience strap
The respirator mask of claim 1, wherein said resilience strap is a band with elasticity.
The respirator mask of claim 1, wherein said through hole is further formed by folding the free end at a outer portion of a lug protruding respectively at two sides of said mask shell and said free end is fixed on said mask shell, so that said through hole is formed between said lug and said mask shell.
The respirator mask of claim 1, wherein said through hole is further formed by at least two piercing holes located at said two sides of said mask shell.
The respirator mask of claim 1, wherein said buckle is a rectangle part made of plastic with U-shaped slots located at two opposite ends of said buckle, where a elastic buckling piece is formed out of said U-shaped slot and surrounding area thereof, so that the effect of fastening can be achieved by using the elasticity of said elastic buckling piece by pressing and holding said resilience strap passing through t he g ap between t he main body and t he free end of said elastic buckling piece.
The respirator mask of claim 5, wherein said buckle is made of plastic material.
The respirator mask of claim 5, wherein a serrated edge is added to the outer end of said elastic buckling piece and said serrated edge contacts said resilience strap.