Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
RESTRIOIED
~ he present invention relates to headgear to be worn by
per~onnel for protection against unpleasant or toxio substanoes in
their looal atmosphere~ suoh as radioaobive~ chemioal and/or
baoterial eubstanoes. AB it is fundamental to such headgear that
safe breathing supplies are maintained~ headgear in ao¢ordance
with the invention are hereinafter oalled respirators.
Co-pending UK patent applioation No 20135/76 de~cribes a
respirator for protection against undesirable substances in a
local atmosphere and whioh oomprises a hood and a visor both made
of material impervious to the undecirable substarce~ attaohed one
to another in a manner impervious to the undesirable substanoe
and adapted to fit and envelop closely the head of a wearer~ means
for permitting a wearer to breathe aooeptable air and/or oxYgen~
means for maintaining a gas pressure within the respirator greater
than looal environmental pressure~ and seal means for preventing
atmosphere outside thereof from reaching the interior of the
respirator via the neck Aperture thereof.
~ he primary utility of such respirators is in the proteotion
of aircrew~ particularly military airorew~ and it is a feature of
that invention~ and indeed of the invention the subjeot of the
co-pending Canadian Patent Application 316,108 that such respirators
may be used at all altitudes. Now a significant proportion of aircrew
find it necessary to unblock their ears during change of altitude
by occluding their noses. The present invention provides on a
respirator of the type described in British Patent 1,587,121 means
whereby a user may occlude his nose.
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Acoording to the present invention,
a respirator of the type comprising a hood and visor combination
for olosely enveloping the head of a user and an oronasal mask
contained or formed within the hood for delivering breathable gas
to the user~s nose and mouth~
has manually operable nose ocoluding means inoluding force
transmission means penetrating the hood/visor oom~ination, manipulable
handle means assooiated with the transmission means outside the hood/
visor oombination and nose impingement means associated with the
transmission means and within the hood/visor oombination, the arrange-
ment being suoh that in use manual operation of the handle means oan
bring about the impingement on the user~s nose and occlusion thereof
by the impingement means.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention the handle means is
located on a ~a~al region of the visor, the transmission means
oomprises a pair of pivots, and the impingement means oomprises a
yoke arranged to swing down onto the sides of the oronasal mask and
to pinoh it onto the noser ~he arms of the yoke may carry rollers
rotatable thereon to faGilitate a swinging and pinching operation.
In another embodiment of the invention the handle means is
located on the respirator in the region of a hood cavity gas supply
inlet~ and the nose impingement means comprises a pair of oranks
fitted within the mask and the arms whereof are operable in use to
swi~el one toward the other and pinch the user~s nose. The tran~-
mission means may oomprise an arm/pin linkage or oable~ oord~ or
ohain means perhaps with an assooiated spring for urging the
impringement means into a non-impingement oonfiguration.
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In yet snother embodlment of the invention the transmi~sion
means comprine a Bowden oable and the handle means a caliper de~ioe.
~ he impingement means are preferably readily adjustable so
that a user oan arrange them to oo¢lude his own nose in optimum
fashion. For this purpose the impingement yoke or arms may be
readily detachable~ bendable~ and/or oarry adjustable pads.
Hhere the transmission means~ or any other part of the
impingement apparatus, penetrates the respirator~ seals may be
included to prevent entry thereby of undesirable substances.
~ he occlusion means are particularly readily mountable on
respirators the vieors whereof are consti~uted by a mem~er forming
an exoskeleton for oovering substantially the whole of a user~s face.
A respirator nose ooclusion faoility in acoordanoe with the
invention will now be desoribed by way of example with reference to
the acoomp~nying drawings~ of whioh:-
Figure 1 is a front elevation of a respirator visor oarryinga nose ocoluder~ and
Figure 2 iB a side elevation of the respirator shown in
Figure 1.
Illustrated in the drawings is a visor 10 to Q respirator of
the type described in ~riti~h Patent ~o. 1,587,121
As oan be 6een the visor i~ a substantially rigid member formed
to oover su~6tantislly the whole faoe of a wearer. It is transparent
at least in the region ahead of the eyes and forms an exoskeleton
to the respirQtor as a whole. It oarried~ attaohed at a faoe plate 11
an oro-na~Ql mask 12 formed to cover the nose Qnd mouth of a wearer.
~he mssk 12 is made of a flexible rub~er msterial. Clamping mean~ 13
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also attaohed at the faoe pla-te 11 serve~ in oxobrt with an ~nohorage
on say an aircrewman~s helmet~ to urge the mask 12, via the visor 10,
to seal against the face of the wearer around the nose and mou-th.
~ he nose ocolusion faoility i8 mounted on the visor 10 in a
nasal region thereof. It comprises a pair of pivots 14 penetrating
the visor na~al region on a common lateral axis~ a pair of yoke arms 15
mounted on and projecting radially from the pivots 14 inside the
visor 10~ and a substant~ally V-shaped handle 16 attaohed to both
pivots 14 outside the visor. The arms 15 carry right cylindrical
beads 17 rotatable thereon. The pivots 14 are sealed to the visor.
In a non-engaged configuration the arms 15 project toward the
top edge of the visor 10 and the handle 16 rests against the top of
the face plate 11. This oonfiguration is as illustrated in Figure 1.
To operate the occluder the handle 16 is lifted, rotating the
pivot and bringing the arms 15 to bear on the sides of the nose
portion of the ma~k 12t ~0 that they pinoh the lobe~ of the wearar~s
nose. lhis operative oonfiguration is as illu~trated in Figure 2.
~ he arms 15 are made of a manually pliable metal so that an
individual wearer may bend them to maximise the efficiency of their
operation with respect to his own nose.
