US2376345A - Chamber for conditioning air - Google Patents

Description

May 22, 1945. o. c. DAIBER' CHAMBER FOR CONDITIONING AIR Filed April 22 0M 0. DA/BER NVENTOR ATTORNEYS Patented May 22, 1945 m STATE CHAMBER FOR CONDITIONING Am Ome C.'Daiber, Seattle, Wash.

Application April 22,1942, Serial No. 439,970 2 Claims. ('01. 2-173) i This invention relates to a chamber for conditioning air and more particularly involves the provision of a supplemental or anterior chamberadapted tobe arranged adjacent the face of a person and which may be associated with hoods, other types of'headwear, or garments, quilts or sleeping robes.

Some time ago I developed an invention known as a Penguin sleeping bag, as is more particularly described in my United States Patent No. 2,121,788, issued June28, 1938. In the invention of this patent, a combination sleeping bag and coverall garment was provided in which persons may sleep as well as move about on their feet. The sleeping bag has a hood which the person in the bag normally has around his head during sleeping as well as during his waking .moments; However, sleeping in such a garment necessarily required the sleeper to expose his face to theoutside air, which usually was uncomfortable to him. Often the wearer would slide down into the garment and would thus form an anterior chamber so-thatincoming air would mingle with air that was being exhaled during the breathing process and be tempered to a degree.

In the case of a sleeping bag which is intended to be used only during sleeping periods, whena person would slide down into the bag and inhale and exhale during sleeping, such moisture as was in the exhaled air would'ireeze upon mingling with the incoming cold air and a mass of hoar frost would usually accumulate within the, garment. This conditionwas particularly noted and remarked upon by Admiral Richard E. Byrd and members of his party in connection with their Antarctic expeditions. ing bag,the condition was not particularly undesirable, for when the person using the bag removed himself from it, he could turn the bag inside out or open it up and by a quickshake remove most of the accumulated rime, due to the fact that it was extremely brittle upon being exposed to outside and subzero air. In a hooded garment in which a person is sleeping, the condition was undesirable because, upon movement and the subsequent generation of higher body heat, the hoar frost would melt and dampness would be absorbed by the clothes of the wearer andpenetrate to the skin, as well as lower the insulative value of the garment or sleeping robe.

It is well known that, in Arctic and Antarctic climates, dampness is a condition which is most greatly feared by the human, as it can very well lead to, fatal effects if the person when damp exposes himself to the low outdoor temperatures. I have devised a chamber forming means or sack adapted to be associated with the hood, as of a hooded garment such as a parka or my hooded sleeping bag, which will form and define an air- However, in a sleep mixing chamber at the point where the wearer takes in outside air during sleeping and rest periods.

Throughout the following specificatioml'. have used the term screen, which may be any thin, 7

soft, porous, pliable sheet or layer of animahvegetable or mineral material, such as a sheet of netting, cloth, knitted material or the like. I have had excellent results by the use of a woolen fabric, such as a light coat material, which seems to meet most of the requirements set by the conditions to be met as to comfort; useand thelike. l

Having in mind the conditions to be met and the deficienciesand defects of the prior art hoods and helmets, it is an important object ofm'y invention to provide a sack that may be easily arranged over the face opening of such :a hood or helmet and will form a chamber for theconditioning of air and for the accumulation of rime orfrost.

A further object of the invention isto provide a sack associated with a hood for forming a chainber over theface opening of the hood and which sack may be readilystowed within the helmet when its use is not desired and under which stowage conditions will serve to supplement the protection afforded by the hood to a wearer.

One other object of the invention is the provision of a sack that comprises a'fiexiblechambered member readily disposed in encompassing relation to the face opening of a hood or helmet, and adapted for incoming air to be temperedby exhaled air together with the accommodation of rime formed during the tempering process. Still another and further object of the invention is the provision in a sack of the nature men'. tioned above; in which there is a chamber having a port adapted to be non-clogging whenever rime or frost forms or accumulates during use in cold climates. 9 l,

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be more apparent during the course of the following description and from" the subl'oined claims. ,While I have described the invention as associated with a parka, it will be understood that it is very.applicable to' any jtypeofhooded garmerit,

The foregoing objects and others ancillary thereto I prefer to accomplish as follows:

According to the preferred embodiment of my invention, I provide a sack of flexible screen material that is adapted to be disposed over the face of a person or over the face opening of a hood that may be separate from or attached to a garment Worn by such a person; More specifically,

Preferably the chamber has an exterior port for the intake and exhaust of air. This port should be variable to meet varying conditions. Often the port is provided, under certain conditions, with a fur edging or trimming that will not accumulate rime or frost formed during the intermingling of cold air with warmer moisture-laden exhaled air. When the sack is permanently or semi-permanently attached to a hood or helmet, it is a great convenience that it be stowed inside:

1, showing the sack or chamber forming meansin operative position, and l i Figure 4 is a medial sectional view through the hood with the sack arranged as in the showing otFigure 3.

The numeral l designates the throat and 'shoulder portions of a garment body having a hood I 2. In Figure 1 the hood is shown as being formed integral with the garment body, but in many forms of garments these hoods are separate, such as helmets, or are designed to be detached from a garment when their use is not desired.

customarily, the face is rimmed or edged with a fur ruff as T4, and drawstrings (not shown) are usually provided in the hood so that the size of may be'varied according to the likes and desires of the user of the garment. The sack is formed by the use of a flap 'l'8 of suitable fabric or screen material arranged at around the edge of the face opening of the hood l2. The flap is here shown as hemmed at it outer edge 2] for the reception of a draw-string 22. Thus the edge may be gathered to form a restricted opening to the interior. u I

Itis preferable that the material employed for the lla'p' l8 beof such a nature that it can be arranged to define a fairlystable enclosed chamber; Thehem 2| of the flap is edged with a band of fur 24 (sometimes called a ruff similar to the fur on the hood of the parka. When the hem is gathered, or rather the opening around which it lies is restricted, the mask will appear as is shown in Figure 3.

Referring now toFigure '2, the flap 18 has been smoothed out and disposed interiorly of the hood to lie in substantial parallelism with the material forming the hood. The hemmed outer edge will then lie across the inner back of the hood at approximately the nape of the neck of a wearer. In this position the flap l8 forms a supplemental lining for the hood, of course the flap 18 could also be turned backwardly around the outside of the hood; if that were desired, when it is not to be used. v

In use the sack is formed according to Figure 3 and thus provides an anterior chamber adfi acent the face opening of the hood. As the wearer of the garment breathes, air is drawn into "the hainber through the opening 26 and to a certain extentthrough the interstices of the materialof opening of the hood l2 the face opening .10. the helmet when the use of the chamber is not, protection to the head is dewhich the flap is formed. In the chamber, mix ing of the entering outside air and the exhaled air takes place, with the result that a tempering of the incoming air is obtained. The temperature of the cold incoming air will be substantially raised over its normal outside temperature. Naturally, because the exhaled air contains moisture picked up in the breathing process, a frosting action will take place in the chamber. The product of this action is known as hoar frost or rime. The frost with tight or non-porous material gathers on the inner surfaces of the mask, due-to the relatively low temperature of the incoming air. By the use of porous material to form the chamber, rime will collect in the inter: stices of the material and outwardly of the chamber. Assuming that a quantity of hoar frost has gathered, all that a person need do is to rap the cloth smartly. The hoar frost being extremely brittle will be dislodgedzand fall away cleanly, leaving the mask I8 relatively free of such an accumulation. V By providing the hem 2| with fur around the openingto the sack and its chambenand particularly that type of fur which is well known because it will not accumulate ice,. a permanent opening for the passage of air will always be maintained. There are many such types of fur, but one of thetypes best known for this use is Wolverine. The preferable furs have long, rather heavy hairs which, when the mask opening is restricted as in Figure 3, will intermingle and form in eifect a screen across the opening. This will protect the wearer from drawing into his conditioning chamber fine particles of snow that might be flying in the air, and due to the resistance of the hair, to the-accumulation of ice, the opening will still be kept clear.

It will be understood, of course, that while I have shown a hood attached to a garment, my invention is equally useful as a separate'attachment for hoods or as a sack alone without a hood necessarily being used.

Having thus described my invention, I claim: 1. In combination with a hood having a face opening, a fabric sheet having an edge of a length substantially equal to the rim of said face opening and joined thereto; said sheet having a free edge opposite said joined edge and said sheet being of such a length between said free and joined edges that, when said sheet is disposed within said hood as a lining, the free edge is positione'd adjacent the neck line of said hood; and means associated with said freeedge for gathering the same remote from said face opening,

' whereupon said sheet is formed to define an air passage chamber forwardly of said face opening. 2. In combination with a hood having a face opening, a fabric sheet having an edge of a length substantially equal to the rim of said face'opening and joined thereto: saidsheet having a free edge opposite'said joined edge and said sheet be 'ing of such a length between said free and joined edges that, when saidsheet is disposed within said hood as a lining, the free edge is'positioned adjacent the'neck line of said hood; means associated with said free edge for gathering the same remote from said face -'0p-ening, whereupon said sheet is formed to define an air passage chamber forwardly of said face opening, and aim ruff alongsaid free edge. 1

DME C.

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