Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
Lt~
This invention relates to an emergency mask,
and more par-tic-ularly to an emergency mask which
detachably holds a canister containing air-purifying
antidote, such as ca-talyzer and adsorbent, for removing
noxious gas in the case of flre and other emergency.
Recently, emergency mask for use in case of
05
fire and o-ther emergency are req~lired to remove not
only white smoke and black smoke, but also noxious
gases, such as carbon monoxide, hydrochloric acid,
cyanic acid, chlorine, ammonia, benzene, aldehydes,
nitrogen oxide, and the like. Various kinds of emergency
masks have been proposed to cope wi-th the noxious gas.
For instance, emergency masks capable of detachably
holding canisters loaded wi-th antidote have been
developed.
Af-ter havin~ carried ou-t vario~ls -tes-ts on the
emergency masks proposed hereto-fore, the inventors have
found out that the emergency masks of the prior art
have a shortcoming in that -the air-p-urifying ability of
the antidote in the canister is rapidly deteriorated
when the moist air expired from a person wearing the
emergency mask (to be referred to as the "user's expira-
tion", hereinafter~ enters the canister.
The invention is based on the above findlng
of the inventors, and an object of the present invention
is to obviate the above-mentioned shortcoming of the
~5
prior art by providing an improved emergency mask in
which the user's expiration is utilized so as to close
~;
~3~
an intake check valve disposed in the passage oE intake
air through an air-purifying canister, whereby the
user's expiration is prevented from entering the canister
- and the effectiveness of the an~idote in the canister is
maintained for a long period of time over the maximum
life time thereof.
05
Another object of the invention is to provide
an emergency mask having such a canister-holder which
not only holds firmly an air-purifying canister in an
airtight fashion without allowing any bypass of noxious
gas therein, but also ensures its steady coupling with
a respiratory member, such as a mouth piece or a nose
cup (to be referred to as "face piece" hereinafter), of
the mask.
A further object of the invention is to
provide an emergency mask having a hood covering at
least the face of a person wearing the emergency mask
(to be referred to as "the user", hereinafter).
Another object of the invention is to provide
an emergency mask set having a handy carrier bag which
carries an emergency mask of the above-mentioned type
packed in a dampproof envelope and wrapped by a fle~ible
plastics sheet.
In one embodiment, the present invention is
therefore dieected to an emergency mask comprising: a
hood covering at least the Eace of a user and having an
air passage hole; a face piece attached to the inside of
the hood so as to engage the nose and mouth of the user
. ~
and having a tubular coupling end; a canister containing
air-purifying antidote therein and havinq two opposed
ends, with an intake hole being disposed at one end and a
discharge hole being disposed at the other end; an inlet
check valve; and an outlet check valve; characterized in
that the mask further comprises: a substantially
cylindrical sealing member made of soft non-flammable
flexible material and having one end thereof airtightly
secured to the periphery o~ the air passage hole of said
hood; a canister-holder having a tubular coupling end
thereo~ airtightly coupled with said tubular coupling end
of the face piece, with said sealing member being
interposed between said tubular coupling end of said
canister-holder and said tubular coupling end o~ said face
piece so as to create an airtight seal between said hood,
said face piece and said canister-holder; said
canister-holder having an inside chamber defined therein
which chamber communicates with said face piece through
said coupling end thereof and has an inlet opening and an
outlet opening; and a connecting means for airtightly
connecting said canister to said canister-holder in a
detachable manner with the discharge hole of the canister
facing the inlet opening of the canister holder; the
connecting means having a loop rib projecting toward said
canister arounder the inlet opening of the canister-holder,
and a clamp means pivotally secured to said canister-holder
so as to selectively engage and urge the canister toward
said loop rib ~or causing airtight coupling between the
- 3a -
`` ~2~
other end of the canister and the canister-holder around
said inlet opening; the inlet check valve being interposed
between the intake hole of the canister and the inside
chamber of the canister-holder for permitting air flow
through the inlet opening of the inside chamber only in
the direction from the canister toward the inside chamber;
and the outlet check valve being mountd on said outlet
opening of said canister-holder so as to allow air outflow
through said outlet opening only away from the inside
chamber and exclusively to the atmosphere.
To fulfill the above objects, a preferred embodi-
ment of the present invention uses a canister-holder
having a canister chamber~ or a first space, and an inside
chamber, or a second space. The canister chamber of this
embodiment is located below the inside
- 3b -
chamber and communicates therewith through an inlet
opening of the latter. The canister chamber is to hold
detachably a canister carrying air-purifying antidote
therein. The inside chamber has a tubular coupling end
to be connected to a face piece, the above-referred
inlet opening formed at a lower portion thereof, an
05
intake check valve mounted on the inlet opening, an
outlet opening formed at a suitable portion -thereof,
and an exhaust check valve mounted on the outlet opening.
The intake check valve is adapted to be
closed by the user's expira-tion, so tha-t the expira-tion
containing a large amount of moisture is prevented from
entering -the canister so as -to eliminate deterioration
of the air-purifying ability of the antidote by the
expiration. Thereby, the effectivity of the antidote
in the canister is maintained for a long period of
-time.
The canister-holder is required to hold the
canister steadily without allowing its accidental drop
from the canister-holder and to prevent any noxious
gases from bypassing into the inside chamber withou-t
passing through the canister. To this end, an embodiment
of the inventi.on uses a combination of a loop groove
formed on the outer bottom surface of the inside chamber
of the canister-holder around the inlet opening and a
mating upward loop projection formed on the top end of
the canister, so that the loop projection of the canister
snugly fits in the loop groove around the inlet opening.
A suitable packing may be inser-ted between the loop
groove around the inlet opening and the loop projection
of the canister.
Instead of the combination of the loop groove
formed on the bottom of the canister-holder and the
loop projection formed on the -top of the canister, a
0s
combination of a downward loop rib formed on -the bottom
oE the canister-holder around the inlet opening thereof
and a flat top surface of the canister can be used.
A packing may be inserted be-tween the ]oop rib of the
canister-holder and the flat top of -the canister, in
this case too.
A clamping member to urge the canister against
the canister-holder around the inlet opening may be
pivotally secured to the canister-holder, so as to
further improve the airtight coupling between the
canister-holder and the canister. Instead of such
clamping member, mating screw threads may be formed a-t
a s-uitab:Le portion of the canister-holder around the
inlet opening and a top portion of the canister~ so that
the canister is tightly coupled to the canister-holder.
A typical canister containing air-purifying
antidote has an intake hole at the bottom thereof and a
discharge hole at the top thereof~ and the canister
preferably has a rectangular cross section at right
angles to its height between the bottom with the intake
hole and the -top with the discharge hole. The length
(b) of the rectangular cross section of the canister is
~L~3~ '7
preferably lon~er than about 1.15 time, more pre~erably
1.2 time, o-f its wiclth (a), and the height (c) o-E the
canister is preferably the same as or larger -than the
width (a) of its rectangular cross section.
The canister wlth -the rectangular cross
section may be held by the canister-holder with a
spacing from the hood of the emergency mask in a hori-
zontally forward direction relative to the face piece,
while making the forward spacing larger than lateral
offset of the canister relative to the horizontally
forward direction. With the canister held in such a
way, the user of the emergency mask can have a broad
field of view, and the canister itself can be made thin
because the thickness of the canister is represented by
the above-mentioned width (a~. Thus, such emergency
mask of the invention can be folded into a thinner form
than conventional emergency masks, so tha-t emergency
mask of the invention is easy -to carry because it can
be put into a brief case, an attache case, a hand bag,
or the like, which is too small to hold any conventional
emergency mask.
The emergency mask of the invention can be
packed in a small rectangular carrier bag~ and such
rectan~ular carrier bag can be placed in a suit case or
a storage shelf without necessitating any dead space
therearound, especially as compared with conventional
masks requiring large round carrier bags. Thus, the
emergency mask of the invention is economical in storage
-- 6 -
space and handy in ~handling.
The hood of the emergency mask according to
the invention preferably covers the entire face and
head of the user. Further, the hood may have a skirt
portion which protects the shoulder of the user.
In the case of fire, such emergency mask not only
05
protects the user from smokes and noxious gases by the
antidote of the canister, but also protects -the head
and the shoulder of the user from heat of fire by the
hood.
The hood of the emergency mask having the
canister-holder and the face piece secured thereto is
made of non-inflammable synthesized leather, woven or
non-woven cloth coated with aluminium. The hood covers
the head and possibly shoulder oE the user. A compara-
tively large transparent window is provided on the
hood, so that the user can see the surroundings.
The transparent window is made of transparent material
which withstands against hot wind, such as non-flammable
sof-t vinyl film~ and the like.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a
cylindrical sealing member made of soft non-flammable
plastics film or the like is secured to an air passage
hole of the hood. More particularly, one end of such
cylindrical sealing member :is continuously secured to
the periphery of the air passage hole oE the hood by
welding or by adhesive, so that the opposite end of the
sealing member extends into the inside of the hood.
~ ,3~'7
Preferably, the coupling end of the canister-holder is
dimensioned so as to fit into the inside of the
cylindrical sealing member from the outside of the
hood. The coupling end of the face piece made of
non-flamrnable soft resili.ent material, such as synthetic
rubber, plastics, and the like, is preferably fitted
05
onto the inner end of the cylindrical sealing member
from the inside of the hood. Whereby, the canister-
holder is tightly connected to the face piece through
the cylindrical sealing member with one end thereof
continuously secured to the hood, and the airtightness
of the connection therebetween is greatly improved.
In another ernbodiment of the emergency mask
of the invention, a sleeve-like neck cover is provided
in its hood covering the user's head. The neck cover
is made of non-flammable non-breathable soft material,
such as non-flamrl1able plastics sheet, and has one end
thereof continuously secured to the inner peripheral
surface of the hood at a position corresponding to the
chin or neck of the user. The opposite end of the neck
cover is made contractible with elastic cords, such as
rubber strings, attached thereto. To put on the hood
of the emergency mask, the user at first spread the
contractible end of the neck cover and then puts on the
hood on his head. When the user wears the neck cover
in the above-mentioned manner, the contractible end of
the neck cover comes in tight contact with his neck,
whereby the outside smoke and noxious gas are prevented
~ ~ 3~3~
trom coming to the face of the user without failure so
as to ensure protection of the face and neck of the
user against such outside smoke and noxious gas.
To increase the resistance against inadverten-t
drop of the canister away from the canister-holder, a
suitable resistive means may be provided. For instance,
05
certain undulation may be formed on that surface of the
canister-holder which is to contact the canister, while
forming mating undulation on the canister surface to be
in contact with the canister-holder. To prevent
accidental dismount of the hood from the user's head,
suitable band loops and buckles may be provided on the
hood and the canister-holder, so as to fasten the hood
and the canister-holder to the user's head by a suitable
fastening band or a rubber fastener.
It is noted that, for any emergency mask, a
- container of the mask is important as the emergency
mask itself. Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS) Z0301
provides for standard methods of storing emergency
smoke masks and the like protectors for fire emergency.
For instance, those which are susceptible to deteriora-
tion by e~posure to water vapour, carbon dioxide gas,
and ultraviolet rays, are to be wrapped by dampproof
material such as aluminium ~oil with a thickness of not
smaller than 0.025 mm as stipulated in Table l of
JIS Zl520 or e4uivalent thereof.
The fact that the above JIS standards refer
to alilninium foils indicates that the aluminium foil
~L~ B~
has an outstandingly high clampproofness, but the
aluminium Eoil is liable to generation of pinholes and
other defects. Accordingly, to maintain a high damp-
proofness for a long period of time, the aluminium -foil
must be handled very carefully. Some of conventional
emergency smoke masks are packed in envelopes made of
05
aluminium foil lined with paper, plas-tic film or
cellophane (to referred to as "the aluminium foil with
lining", hereinafter) and placed in carrier bags made
of cloth. However, even -the last men-tioned envelopes
made of the aluminium foil with lining for packing the
masks are liable -to generation of pinholes depending on
the manner in which the carrier cloth bag is handled.
The inventors have carried ou-t a number of
tests on the dampproof waterproof packing envelope of
the emergency mask, such as envelopes made of dampproof
membrane like aluminium vapour-deposited membrane and
the aluminium foil with lining, with particular emphasis
on the protection of the dampproof membrane. As a result,
the inventors found that the simples-t way of packing
-the emergency mask is -to pack the emergency mask in an
envelope made of dampproof membrane, seal -the envelope,
and simply wrap the sealed envelope with a flexible
sheet s-uch as a plas-tics sheet. Such wrapping no-t only
simplifies the placing of the wrapped one in a carrier
bag made of cloth or the like while preventing genera-tion
of defects such as pinholes, but also produces snug
fi-tting of the emergency mask in a carrier bag so as to
- 10 -
~3~
make it appear attractive. The placing oE the plastics
or other fle~lble shee~ in the carrier bag together
with the dampproof membrane envelope is -useful in
preventing genera-tion of pinholes and other defects of
the dampproof membrane during the handling of the
carrier bag.
05
F`or ready use, the emergency mask is usually
stored after packing it in a dampproof membrane envelope
with the canister mounted on the canister-holder and
with both the bottom intake hole and the top discharge
hole of the canister kept open. However, it is also
possible to store the canister wi-th both its bottom
in-take hole and its top discharge hole kept closed, so
that the two holes of the canister are opened just
before mounting it on the canister-holder.
For a better understanding of the invention,
reference is made to the accompanying drawings~ in
which:
Fig. 1 is a schematic sectional view of the
essen-tial portion of an emergency mask according to the
present invention, illus-trating the relationship among
a canister, a canister-holder, and a face piece;
Fig. ~ is a schematic sectional view similar
to Fig. 1, showing the relationship among a canister, a
canister~holder, and a face piece in another embodiment
of the invention;
Fig. 3 is a schematic perspective view of a
preferred embodiment of the canister to be used in the
- 11 -
~23~8~
emergency mask of l:he invent:ion;
Fig. ~ is a schematic perspective view of an
emergency mask of the inven-tion, which is put on the
head of a user;
Fig. 5 is a schematic perspective view of
another embodiment of the emergency mask according -to
05
the present invention;
Fig. 6 is a schematic perspec-tive view of a
further embodiment of the emergenc~ mask of the invention,
showing the inside of its hood in phantom lines; and
Fig. 7 is a schematic perspective view of a
carrier bag for the emergency mask according to the
present invention.
Through different views of -the drawings, 1 is
an emergency mask, 3 is a canister, 5 is a canister-
holder, 7 is a face piece, 8 is a coupling end of the15
face piece, 11 is a firs-t space or a canister chamber,
13 is a free opening, 15 is an inlet opening, 17 is a
sidewall, 19, 19' are intake check valves, 21 is a
second space or an inside chamber, 23 is a coupling end
of the canister-holder, 25, 25' are outlet openings,
27 is a cover, 29 is a heat-radiating hole, 31 is a
third space, 33, 37 are e~haust check valves, 35 is a
small hole, 39 is a protector, 41 is a clamping member,
43 is a packing, 45 is a loop rib, 46 is a loop groove,
47 is a hood, ~9 is a fastening band, 51 is a can,
53 is a loop projection, 55 is top of the can, 57 is a
discharge hole, 58 is an intake hole, 59 is an air
~.~3~34~7
passage hole of the hoocl, ~l is a transparent window,
6~ is a neck cover, 65 is an upper end of the neck
cover, 67 is a lower end of the neck cover, 69 is an
elastic c~rd, 71 is a sealing member, 75 is a dampproof
membrane envelope, 77 is a sealed portion, 79 is a
plastic sheet, 81 is a carrier bag, 83 is a lid, 85 is
05
a handle, A is the direction of air being inspired, and
B is the direction of air being e~pired.
Referring to Fig. l through Fig. 4, an
emergency mask 1 according to the present invention
comprises essentially a canister 3 carrying air-
purifying antido-te therein, a canister-holder 5
detachably holding the canister 3, and a face piece 7
coupled to the canister-holder and adapted to come in
contact with the nose and/or mouth of a wearer or user
of the mask 1. The face piece 7 is for instance a nose
cup or a mouth piece, and it is preferably made of a
suitable resilient material.
The canister-holder 5 of the embodiment of
Fig. l has a first space or a canister chamber ll and a
second space or an inside chamber 21. The first space ll
has a free opening 13 bored at the bottom portion
thereof, and sidewalls 17 surrounding the periphery
-thereof. The top of the first space 11 communicates
with the inside chamber 21 through an inlet opening 15
thereof.
The canister 3 contains air-purifying antidote
loaded therein depending on the purpose and the use
- 13 -
thereoE, and it is cletachably mounted in the first
space 11 with a pack-ing ~3 inserted between -the periphery
of the inlet opening 15 and the top of the canister 3.
The packing 43 has a through hole aligned with the
inlet opening 15~ with which the -top discharge hole 57
(Fig. 3) o~ -the canister 3 must be aligned. A clamping
05
member 41 urges the canister 3 against the periphery of
the inlet opening 15, so as to form an airtight contact
-therebetween. The embodiment of Fig. 1 has a loop
rib 45 extending downward from the lower surface of the
peripheral wall of the inlet opening 15, so as to
improve the airtight contact between the above peripheral
wall and the top of the canister 3.
The inside chamber 21 is located above -the
first space 11 and communicates therewith through the
inlet opening 15. In the embodiment of Fig. 1, an
intake check valve 19 is mounted on -the inlet opening 15
in such a manner that its valve body moves upward
against gravity when the valve 19 opens. The intake
check valve can be mownted within the canister 3 as
shown by the dotted lines 19' of Fig. 1, instead of the
position of -the solid line 19 on the inlet opening 15.
The inside chamber 21 extends horizon-tally and has a
coupling end 23 at the end to be connected to the face
piece 7. More particularly, the coupling end 23 is
airtightly connected to the periphery oE an air passage
hole 59 of a hood 47, and the face piece 7 has its own
coupling end 8 airtightly joined to the co~lpling end 23
3~'7
of the inside chamber 21, so as to form an air passage
from the inlet opening 15 to the face piece 7.
~ n outlet opening 25 is bored on the top wall
of the inside chamber 21 in the embodiment of Fig. 1,
while a similar outlet opening 25' is bored on the
sidewall of the inside chamber 21 in the embodimen-t
05
Fig. 2. In Fig. 1, a lid 27 is detachably secured to
the outside of the inside chamber 21 for instance by a
snap hook means, so as -to extend above the outlet
opening 25 and define a third space 31 therebetween.
An exhaust check valve 33 is mounted on the outlet
opening 25 in such a manner that its valve body moves
upward against gravity when the valve 33 opens.
A plurality of small holes 35 are bored through the
lid 27 at a position away from the face piece 7, so as
to communicate the thrid space 31 with -the outside
atmosphere.
The embodiment of Fig. 4 has a large number
o-f hea-t-radiating holes 29 bored through the sidewall
of the canister-holder 5, so as -to dissipate the heat
genera-ted in the canister 3. The shape and the number
of the heat-radiating holes 29 depends on the expected
conditions under which the emergency mask is -used.
In operation of the embodiment of Fig. 1, the
air to be inspired (to be referred to as "inspira-tion",
hereinafter) by the user enters in-to the canister 3
through the free opening 13 of the first space 11 and
the bottom intake hole 58. The inspiring action of the
- 15 -
9~
user causes a suction in the inside chamber 21, so that
the valve body of the intake check valve 19 is raised
by the suction to open the intake check valve 19, while
the suction coacts with the gravity in pulling down the
valve body of the exhaust check valve 33 so as to close
the exhaust check valve 33. Accordingly, after passing
the intake hole 58, the inspiration flows through the
antidote loaded in the canister 3, the inlet opening 15,
the then open intake check valve 19, the inside space 21,
the coupling end 23 of the inside space 21, and the
face piece 7, so as to reach the respiratory face
organ, i.e. nose and/or mouth, of the user, as indicated
by the-arrows A of the figure.
Thus, if the outside air contains any noxious
gas, the outside air can reach the user only through
the canister 3 because the exhaust check valve33 is
closed when he inspires, as described above, so that
the antidote in the canister 3 purifies the air by
removing the noxious gas, so as to provide clean safe
air to the user. The flow of inspiration is also shown
by the arrows A in the embodiment of Fig. 2.
The air expired (to be referred to as
"expiration", hereinafter) by the user produces a rise
of the pressure in the inside chamber 21. The raised
pressure acts to push up the valve body of the exhaust
check valve 33 so as to open the exhaust check valve 33,
while the same raised pressure coacts with the gravity
in pushing down the valve body of the intake check
- 16 -
3lZ~8~L7~;77
valve 19 so as to close the intake check valve 19.
Thus, the e~piration from the user flows ~o the outside
atmosphere ~hrough the face piece 7, the coupling
end 23, the inside chamber 21, the then open e~haust
valve 33, and the small holes 35, as shown by the
arrows B of Fig. 1. It is very important in the present
05
invention that the expiration containing a large amount
of moisture is prevented from entering the canister 3 by
the intake check valve 19,or 19', so tha-t the risk of
deterioration of the antidote in the canister 3 by the
expiration is completely eliminated in the emergency
mask 1 of the present invention.
In the embodiment of Fig. 2, the outlet
opening 25 7 is provided with an exhaust check valve 37
which is mechanically protected by protectors 39 such
as rods and screens. The flow of the expiration in the
embodiment of Fig. 2 is also shown by the arrows B, and
such flow of the expiration never enter the canister 3.
In the embodiment of Fig. 1, the loop rib 45
coacts with the packing 43 in forming an airtight
sealing of the joint between th~ canister-holder 5 and
the canister 3. The clamp member 41 assists such
airtight sealing by urging the canister 3 upwards
against the loop rib 45. The clamp member 41 may be
replaced with a screw thread coupling means or the like
coupling means (not shown) between the canister 3 and
the canister-holder 5.
The face piece 7 of the embodiment of Fig. 2
- 17 -
.
~3~:38~
is a nose cup which has an inner end folded back inwardly
so as to provide a soft contact of the nose cup with
the nose and mouth of the user. The canister-holder 5,
which is connected to the nose cup 7, has a loop groove
46 formed on the lower bottom surface of the inside
chamber 21 around the inlet opening 15. The loop
os
groove 46 is adapted to receive a loop projection 53
formed on a can 51 of the canister 3. A packing 43 is
inserted between the bottom wall of the canister-holder 5
around the inlet opening 15 and the top 55 of the
can 51 of the canister 3, so that an airtight junction
is formed therebetween, and the outside air or noxious
gas is prevented from entering the inside chamber 21
through this junction. The clamping means 41 of this
embodiment also assists the formation of the airtight
junction between the canister-holder 5 and -the canister 3,
and such clamping means 41 may be replaced with a
suitable screw thread coupling means (not shown).
Fig. 3 shows a discharge hole 57 bored on the top 55 of
the can 51 of the canister 3.
The emergency mask 1 of the invention uses a
hood 47, as shown by the dash-dot lines of Fig. 1 and
the solid lines of E'ig. 2 and Fig. 4. The hood 47 has
an air passage hole 59, and the periphery of the air
passage hole 59 is sandwiched by the coupling end 23 of
the canister-holder 5 in the outside of the hood 47 and
the coupling end 8 of the face piece 7 in the hood 47,
so that the hood 47 is airtightly joined to both the
- 18 -
~3~
canister-holder 5 ancl the face piece 7 in an integral
tashion. The hood ~17 may be secured to the head o-f the
user by a fastening band 49, as shown in Fig. 4.
The hood ~17 of Fig. 5 covers the entire head
of the user, and the hood ~i7 of Fig. ~ covers both the
head and the shoulder of the user. The hood 47 is made
05
of non-f~Lammable Elexible shee-t material, such as
non-flammable synthetic leather or plastics shee-t, or
woven or non-woven cloth coated with aluminium.
The illustrated hood 47 has a fairly large transparent
window 61 which provides a broad field of view, so that
the user can see the surro-undings even after wearing
the emergency mask 1. The transparen-t window 61 may be
made of a non-flammable transparent sheet material,
such as non flammable vinyl film which withstands
against hot wind. Ihe transparen-t window 61 may be
coated with a thin heat-resistant metallic film
evaporated thereon.
Fig. 6 illustrates the structure of the
hood 47, especially the inside structure ~hereof.
A sleeve-like neck cover 63 made of non-flammable
non-breathable flexible plastics is disposed in the
hood 47. The neck cover 63 has its upper end 65
continuously secured -to the inner periphery of the
hood 47 at a position corresponding to the chin or neck
of the user and the lower end 67 made contractible.
The lower edge of the neck cover 63 is folded back so
as to form a channel in which an elastic cord 69 such
- 19 -
~q~
as a rubber string is inserted, so that the lower
end 67 thereof becomes resiliently contractible. When
the user puts on the hood of Fig. 6 Oll his head, the
lower end 67 of the neck cover 63 comes in tight contact
with his neck, and the outside fume or noxious gas is
prevented from reaching his face without failure.
05
A substantially cylindrical sealing member 71
made of non-flammable plastics film or the like extends
from the periphery of the air passage hole 59 o~ the
hood 47 to the inside thereof. More particularly, the
outer end of the sealing member 71 is continuously
secured to the periphery of the air passage hole 59 of
the hood 47 by welding or adhesive. The airtightness
of the junction between the canister-holder 5 and the
face piece 7 can be greatly improved by inserting the
thus formed sealing member 71 therebetween as shown in
Fig. 2.
The emergency mask 1 of the present invention
can use the canister 3 of the prior art. Preferably,the
canister 3 contains a desiccant, a filter and Hopcalite
catalyzer (consisting of major active components of
copper oxide (15-30% by weight) and manganese dioxide
and optional active component of silver oxide and/or
cobalt oxide), which are disposed in said order from
the intake hole 58 of the can 51.
Fig. 7 shows a carrier bag 81 suitable for
storing and carrying the emergency mask l of the present
invention. For protection against water and moisture,
- 20 -
~L~3~
the emergency mask 1 is packed in a dampproof envelope 75
made o:E dampproo-E membranes, such as the aluminium
foils with lining and membranes with alwminium vapour-
deposited thereon. The dampproof envelope 75 is sealed
at a portion 77, and the -thus sealed envelope 75 is
wrapped by a flexible sheet 79 such as a flexible
05
plastics sheet. The sealed emergency mask 1 in the
dampproof envelope 75 is placed in a carrier bag 81
together with the flexible sheet material 79.
The carrier bag 81 is for instance made of cloth and
has a lid 83 and a handle 85, so as to facili-tate the
easy carrying of the emergency mask 1 while ensuring
careful protec-tion thereof.
Although the invention has been described
with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood
that the present disclosure has been made only by way
of example, and that numerous changes in details of
construction and the combination and arrangement of
parts may be resorted to wi-thout departing from the
scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.
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