JPS5810099B2 - Suritsutsuki Boudonge Kayo Ganmen Mask - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to surgical face masks, and more particularly to surgical face masks designed to prevent moist exhaled air from rising from the top of the mask and fogging the mask wearer's glasses. .

Surgical face masks are used by operating room staff for significant periods of time during surgical procedures.

The purpose of this face mask is to prevent germs exhaled by the surgeon and other operating room staff from contaminating the patient undergoing surgery.

The face mask contains a filtration medium (P-material) of sufficient small pore size to prevent bacteria from flowing through the mask.

They were made from old face masks folded with materials such as linen and gauze, and had relatively low air resistance, but were also poor at filtering out bacteria.

Face masks that have since emerged are better at harboring bacteria, but they are also generally made of materials that have higher air resistance than older masks.

The latter type of mask has often caused problems for users who wear glasses.

As the air resistance of the mask increases, the moist exhalation exhaled by the wearer tends toward the face, allowing it to escape through the top of the mask.

The exhaled air is moister and warmer than the surrounding air, so it condenses on the glasses worn by surgeons and other people in the operating room, causing them to fog up. No. 50-78182, a related application, discloses an outer face mask that substantially reduces eyeglass fogging without substantially reducing the germ filtration efficiency of the mask.

This is achieved by using an air-impermeable element at least in the upper part of the mask.

This air-impermeable material prevents exhaled air from rising from the mask and fogging the wearer's glasses.

Although such masks are highly effective at substantially preventing eyeglass fogging, some wearers may find that the mask feels more comfortable during use than a similar mask that does not contain an air-impermeable element. I found that it was slightly inferior in terms of quality.

The inventors have now discovered a simple method of making a surgical face mask that alleviates the above problems while still retaining the "anti-fog" properties of the facial masks of the related applications mentioned above.

This is achieved by providing slits in the air-impermeable element.

It has been found that the slits in the air impermeable element must be designed and arranged to prevent exhaled air from flowing upwardly from the mask.

There is no limit to the number, shape, or arrangement of slits, so long as they are effective in directing substantially all exhaled air passing through them away from the eyes of the mask wearer. It can be changed.

According to the present invention, the main body includes a filtration medium for filtering out bacteria and has upper and lower parts; means for fixing the mask so as to cover the wearer's mouth and nose; An external face mask defined by a sheet of air-impermeable material extending across an upper portion of the body, the sheet of air-impermeable material directing the flow of exhaled air to the eyes of the mask wearer. An improved surgical facial mask is provided having a slit forming a flap that is movable outwardly under the action of exhaled air to provide a passageway directed away from the mask. be done.

The present invention can be used with any known surgical facial mask or preformed three-dimensional facial mask, such as the flat facial mask of the present invention.

The planar mask has two major surfaces, an inner major surface and an outer major surface, and a body containing a suitable filtration medium.

The body portion may optionally further include a facing (eg, a nonwoven fabric) disposed on one or both major surfaces of the filtration media.

Flat facial masks may be pleated or unpleated as desired.

The body includes a filtration media that filters bacteria.

The filtration media may be formed from, for example, fibers of glass fibers, polyester, polypropylene, vignon fibers, and similar materials, singly or in combination.

As used herein, the term "outer" or "outer surface" refers to the side of the mask (or any aspect thereof) opposite (furthest from) the wearer's face when the mask is put on. ) refers to the part of the mask (or surface) that contacts or faces the wearer's face when the mask is worn; any element)
The part size or surface of

"Top" means the part of the mask (or any element thereof) that is near the wearer's nose and eyes when the mask is worn; ``Lower j'' refers to the part of the mask (or any element thereof) that is closest to the wearer's chin when the mask is worn.

Referring to FIG. 1, a first embodiment 20 of the face mask of the present invention is illustrated for enhancing the wearer's face.

The facial mask 20 includes a main body part 21, the upper edge of the main body part 21 is wrapped in a binding 24, and the lower edge is wrapped in a binding 25.

The edges on both sides of the main body portion 21 are also wrapped in edges 23, which extend further from the corners of the mask if desired, as shown at 26 in FIG. 1 to secure the mask in a desired position. A tie lace 28 may be formed which can be tied at the back 3 of the wearer's head.

As is well known in the art, the side edges 23 and laces 28 may be bias-cut cloth tape and may be stretchable if desired.

A sheet 30 of an air-impermeable material is provided on the surface of the upper row of the main body portion 21, and this sheet U has a slit 30 having a generally arcuate shape.

A nose clip 27 is attached to the top of the mask 20.

This may be formed, for example, from an elongated aluminum foil.

A first embodiment of the present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 2-4.

With particular reference to FIG. 2 (outer surface), body portion 21 is folded to form pleats 29.

These pleats open up when the mask is put on, allowing the mask to better conform to the wearer's face.

To prevent the wearer's exhaled air from rising and fogging the wearer's glasses, the mask includes a sheet 3 of air-impermeable material placed across the upper outer surface of the mask from side to side.
0 is the default.

Sheet 30 may be secured to body portion 21 by any suitable securing means (described in more detail in the above-mentioned related applications).

In the specific example shown in FIG. 2, it can be seen that the upper edge of the sheet 30 is fastened to the upper border 24.

It is located between the hem body portions 21 on both sides of the sheet 30 and the edges 230 on both sides and is held in place by the stitching indicated by dotted lines 18.

A number of slits 31 are cut in the sheet 30, which slits form downwardly projecting flaps 32, as best seen in FIG.

The shape of the slit 31 is approximately circular arc, and the size of the circular arc is l/l of the circumference of a circle with a diameter of 5/16 inch (0.8 cm).
The size is approximately equal to 3.

As shown in FIG. 2, the slits 31 are arranged in two rows passing through the mask on the left and right.

The slits in each row are arranged in pairs, with six pairs of slits per row.

In the example of FIG. 2, the distance between one slit of a pair and an adjacent slit of the next pair is about three times the distance a between the slits of a pair.

The dimensions of the sheet 30 are approximately 1.5 inches vertically (3 degrees 8 degrees).
The width measured inside the edges of both sides is approximately 6.5 inches (16.5 cm), and 24 arc-shaped slits 31 are cut in this sheet.

The inner surface of the first specific example (see Figure 3) has a border 23,
24 and 25, and these edges correspond to portions simply folded back from the corresponding edges on the outer surface of the mask.

The folded edger is fastened to the main body 21 by a switch indicated by a dotted line 18 in FIGS. 2 and 3.

The sheet of air-impermeable material 30 can be seen folded back along the top edge of the mask 20 and left hanging over the inner surface of the mask.

There are no slits in the portion of the sheet 30 that is on the inner surface side of the mask.

The sheet 30 is only fastened to both the inner and outer surfaces of the mask along its top and side edges, so that the sheet 30 has a "flap-like" arrangement, as best seen in FIG. It becomes like this.

The flag-like arrangement of sheets 30 is described in more detail in the related applications mentioned above.

It should be noted here that the sheet 30 of air impermeable material
The "flap-like" arrangement of the sheet 30 allows a large part of this sheet to move somewhat independently of the outer surface of the body 21, which is formed by cutting a slit 31 in the sheet 30. There should be a distinction between "flap" and "flap".

Referring now to FIG. 5, a side view, partially in section, of the mask of FIGS. 1-4 is shown in position on the wearer's face.

The flap 32 formed around the slit 31 is shown in a slightly raised position in FIG.

As shown by the arrows, these flags can move outward, thereby creating a passageway through which exhaled air can pass.

Because exhaled air flowing through this passageway is directed away from the wearer's glasses, the tendency for moist exhaled air to rise and cause the glasses to fog is substantially overcome.

Figures 6-8 illustrate various other examples of slit shapes and arrangements that are effective in providing a passageway for exhaled air while preventing fogging of the glasses.

In FIG. 6, a series of V-shaped slits have been cut in the sheet of air-impermeable material 34 to form a triangular flap 36 pointing toward the bottom of the apex kamasuf.

The length of one side of this V-shaped slit is approximately 3/16 inch (0.
, 48 cm), and the angle α between the two sides is approximately 90°.

■The length of one side of the mold slit is approximately 1/8-3/8 inch (
0.32-0.95 Cm) and the angle α may be within the range of approximately 75-115°.

The slits forming flap 36 are arranged in the same manner as described above for slit 31 in FIG.

In FIG. 7, slits have been cut in the sheet 44 of air impermeable material to form a rectangular flap 46 having vertical sides 46a and horizontal sides 46b.

The vertical sides are about 1/8 inch (032 cm) long and make a 90° angle with the horizontal sides, which are about 174 inches (o, 64 cm) long.

The length of side 46a may range from less than 1/8 inch to approximately 3/8 inch (0.95 am), and the length of side 46b may range from approximately 1/8 inch to 3/8 inch. That's fine.

As shown in FIG. 7, it is preferable that the length of the side 46b is longer than the length of the side 46a.

It is also possible to create another rectangular flag shape by changing the lengths of the sides 46a and 46b.

For example, the length of side 46a may be equal to the length of side 46b to form a square flap in sheet 44.

Other variations of the embodiment of FIG. 7 are also possible.

For example, the length of the side 46b of the flap 46 can be increased to form a horizontally long flap, or conversely, the length of the side 46a of the flap 460 can be increased to form a vertically long flap.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, 22-24 flaps are formed, and the flaps are preferably arranged in two rows.

The total number of flags should be in the range of about 10-26,
The exact number will of course depend on the shape and dimensions of the flap.

In the example of FIG. 1, the slits in a row are spaced one apart.

That is, it can be seen that they do not form pairs as described in the previous example, but are spaced apart from each other at equal intervals.

Referring now to FIG. 8, yet another embodiment of the present invention is shown.

The sheet 54 of air impermeable material is slit to form a modified rectangular flap 56 having sides 56a and horizontal sides 56b.

The length of the side 56a is approximately 1/8 inch (0.3zcm),
The length of the horizontal side 56b is approximately 1/4 inch (0.64 cm)
, and the angle β between the side 56a and the side 56b is 125°
It is.

The embodiment of FIG. 8 has a total of about 22-24 such flaps, arranged in two rows, one on each flap.

The angle β created by the intersection of sides 56a and 56b is approximately 90
It may be within the range -135°, with a range of about 115-135° being preferred.

Additionally, the lengths of sides 56a and 56 can be varied as described above, as can the total number and arrangement of flaps.

Flaps 36.46 and 56. Both of these modifications mentioned above are also effective in preventing fogging of the glasses while providing greater comfort to the mask wearer.

The sheet of air impermeable material may consist of a flexible film of plastic material such as polyethylene, polypropylene, poly(ethylene-vinyl acetate), polyvinyl chloride, or the like.

The air-impermeable material can be slitted in any heavy-duty manner.

It has been found that steel ties with the desired slit shape are suitable for this.

There is no definitive limit to the dimensions of the various slits, and they can be increased or decreased as desired, as described above.

Similarly, the shape of the flap formed by the slit is not particularly critical and can be varied as long as the flap serves to direct exhaled air away from the wearer's eyes.

It will be clear that the number of slits, the configuration of groups of slits, and the number of rows of slits may also vary from those described in the preferred embodiment above without departing from the invention.

As used herein, the term "slit" refers to a gap made in a sheet of air-impermeable material, generally with a sharpened instrument (eg, a razor blade or a thin-edged metal tie).

By selecting a cutting tool with a thin enough blade to make the slits in the sheet of plastic film, the width of the gap can be made so small that the cutting operation leaves virtually no blank gaps.

Of course, as the thickness of the cutting blade increases, the width of the gap also increases, and the blank gap created accordingly also increases.

In the present invention, it is preferred to form slits in the sheet of air impermeable material so that there are substantially no blank gaps.

However, slits that create blank gaps in the sheet of air-impermeable material are acceptable, as long as the slits form a flap that is effective in directing exhaled air downward and away from the eyes of the mask wearer. No words will be understood.

The present invention can be summarized as follows.

■) a body having an upper part and a lower part and containing a filtration medium for filtering bacteria; means for securing over the mouth and nose of the wearer; The exhaled air comprises a sheet of air impermeable material across the upper portion, the sheet of air impermeable material providing a path for directing the flow of exhaled air away from the eyes of the mask wearer. A surgical face mask having a plurality of slits forming flaps that are movable outwardly under the action of.

2) The face mask according to item 1), wherein the slit forms an arc-shaped flap.

3) The face mask of item 2, wherein the slits are arranged in rows.

4) The face mask of item 3, wherein the slits in each row are arranged in pairs.

5) The facial mask of paragraph 1, wherein the slit is generally V-shaped and forms a triangular flap with the apex pointing toward the lower portion of the mask.C6) The slit forms a rectangular flap. 7) The facial mask of item 1), wherein the slit forms a modified rectangular flap.

8) the slit forms a flap with three sides;
one of the sides is substantially horizontal and the remaining two sides are approximately vertical, each of the remaining two sides forming an angle of approximately 90=135° with the horizontal side; Section 1 face mask.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a drawing showing a specific example of the face mask of the present invention in a position where it is applied to a wearer's face. 2 is a partially cutaway plan view showing the outer surface of the mask of FIG. 1; FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway plan view showing the inner surface of the mask of FIG. 1; FIG. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 4--4 in FIG. FIG. 5 is a side view, partially in section, showing the mask of FIG. 1 in position on the wearer's face. 6-8 are plan views showing deformation of the shape of the slit. 20: Mask, 21: Mask main body, 23° 24.25
: Border, 28: Knot string, 30°34.44,54
: Air-impermeable notebook, 32°36.46,56: Flap.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A surgical face mask comprising: (h) an upper portion that comes near the wearer's nose and eyes when worn in a predetermined position; and a lower portion that comes near the wearer's chin. , a top lip 24, a bottom lip 25, and a pair of side lips 23, and includes a swaging medium for removing bacteria; (b) the wearer's mouth; and means 2 for fixing the mask on the nose.
8; and (C) a sheet 30 made of an air-impermeable material and having an upper edge, a lower edge, and a pair of side edges, wherein the upper edge of the air-impermeable material is connected to the main body. the air impermeable material is fixed to an upper portion of the body, the lower edge of the air impermeable material is between the upper edge and the lower edge of the body and is not fixed to the body; a sheet of permeable material extends from one side edge of the body to the other side, the sheet of air impermeable material having a plurality of slits 31 forming a plurality of downwardly projecting flaps; the flap is capable of moving outwardly under the action of exhaled air so as to provide a path for the flow of exhaled air to be directed away from the eyes of the mask wearer. surgical mask.