US3645261A

US3645261A - Drinking and resuscitation mask

Info

Publication number: US3645261A
Application number: US60878A
Authority: US
Inventors: Allan L West
Original assignee: US Department of Army
Current assignee: US Department of Army
Priority date: 1970-08-04
Filing date: 1970-08-04
Publication date: 1972-02-29
Anticipated expiration: 1989-02-28
Also published as: CA940003A

Abstract

An improved protective mask having a drinking and resuscitation means and the methods of drinking and resuscitating with the mask; the improvement being a cam and a lever system for positive and quick positioning of the breathing tube and drinking mouthpieces within the mouth of the mask wearer to provide a fail-safe arrangement which obviates violation of the protective integrity of the mask.

Description

United States Patent West 1 Feb. 29, 1972 [54] DRINKING AND RESUSCITATION 3,249,106 5/1966 Motsinger ..128/l42.4 MASK 3,359,568 12/1967 Kothe ..2/6

[72] Inventor: Allan L. West, Bel Air, Md. prim Examiner Richard Gaudet Assistant Examiner-J. B. Mitchell [73] Assignee. The United States of America as represented by the Secremry of the Army ggzgeglglgarggtnsdzgggovnz, Edward J. Kelly, Herbert Ber! [22] Filed: Aug. 4, 1970 [21] App]. No.: 60,878 [57] ABSTRACT An improved protective mask having a drinking and resuscitation means and the methods of drinking and resuscitating with [52] US. Cl ..l28/145.5, 128/142.4 the mask; the improvement being a cam and a lever System for [51 1 Int. Cl. .A62b 18/00 positive and quick positioning of the breathing tube and drink [58] Field of Search ..128/l42.4, 141 R, 141 A, 145 R, ing mouthpieces within the mouth f the mask to 146-2447, 145-5 vide a fail-safe arrangement which obviates violation of the protective integrity of the mask. 56] References Cited 4 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures UNITED STATES PATENTS e 2,023,267 12/1935 De Saint Rapt ..128/l42.4

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DRINKING AND RFSUSCITATION MASK DEDICATORY CLAUSE The invention described herein may be manufactured, used, and licensed by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

My invention relates to an improvement in protective masks for combat and industrial use which utilize a means for drinking and resuscitation while the mask is being worn and without necessitating any removal of the mask, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 804,188 filed Mar. 4, 1969. My improvement provides a cam and a lever system to actuate drinking and resuscitation means for positive and quick positioning of a breathing tube mouthpiece and a drinking mouthpiece within the mouth of the mask wearer as required and a fail-safe arrangement which obviates any violation of the protective integrity of the mask through actuation of an automatically operated shutoff valve located within the mask.

There has been a long felt need in the protective mask art to develop a satisfactory means for drinking andresuscitation in contaminated atmospheres which requires the use of a protective mask; the mask being required to insure protective integrity under all conditions and to enable the breathing tube mouthpiece and the drinking mouthpiece to be quickly and accurately placed in the mouth of the wearer of the mask. My invention was conceived and reduced to practice to satisfy the aforementioned long felt need and to solve the prior art problems of insuring mask protective integrity and the placing of the drinking and resuscitation mouthpieces quickly and accurately in the mouth of the wearer of the mask.

My mask has utility for any application which necessitates the wearing of a protective mask for extended periods of time and it is necessary to permit drinking without any removal of the mask and to permit the resuscitation of an individual under any circumstance which requires the wearing of a protective mask.

A principal object of my invention is to provide a system incorporated in a mask having drinking and resuscitation means which insures protective integrity of the mask.

Another object of my invention is to provide a cam and a lever system incorporated in a mask having drinking and resuscitation means which enables quick and accurate placing of the breathing tube mouthpiece and the drinking mouthpiece within the mouth of the mask wearer.

Other objects will be obvious from or will appear in the specification hereinafter set forth.

FIG. 1 is a view showing the drinking utility of my mask.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view showing a portion of the mask facepiece, the voicemitter-outlet valve frame mounted on the facepiece and having the drinking tube mounted on the frame, the voicemitter-outlet valve cover with the drinking tube quick disconnect coupling within a pocket thereof, and the lever for changing positions of the drinking mouthpiece and the breathing tube mouthpiece.

FIG. 3 is a view of the resuscitation tube.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing the assembly on the voicemitter-outlet valve frame of the drinking mouthpiece, breathing tube mouthpiece valve means, lever means to control the position of the breathing tube mouthpiece and the drinking mouthpiece, and the cam and lever system to position the breathing tube mouthpiece and the drinking mouthpiece.

FIG. 5 is a rear view of the structures shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing the various positions of the lever to control the position of the breathing tube mouthpiece and the drinking mouthpiece.

FIG. 7 is a view as shown in FIG. 4 with the breathing tube mouthpiece in the position to be grasped in the mouth of the mask wearer.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of the lever means to control the position of the breathing tube mouthpiece and the drinking mouthpiece.

My invention and FIGS. 1 to 8 will now be described in detail as follows.

As shown in FIG. 4, feed through connectors 1 and 2 are fixedly mounted on either side of voicemitter-outlet valve frame 3, connector 2 being a flange structure integral with tube member 6; connector 1 and gasket 4, located between connector 2 and frame 3, being held tightly in position by flanges 46 and 2 of bolt member 5 and tube member 6 respectfully after tightening male threaded hollow bolt member 5, as shown in FIG. 8, within female threaded tube member 6. Gasket 4 is utilized to prevent contaminated air leakage into the mask between frame 3 and connector 2, when the mask is worn, by the sealing engagement effected by the aforementioned tightening; the mask being any conventional mask as shown at 7 in FIG. 1, such as the mask disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,910,979. A shaft means 8 is rotatably mounted within members 5 and 6 by a lever means 9 fixedly connected by any conventional means, such as setscrew 10, to shaft means 8 at the end of the shaft means adjacent to bolt member 5, and shaft means 8 is held within tube member 6 and bolt member 5 by the aforementioned lever means 9 and by fixedly connecting the end of shaft means 8 opposite to lever means 9 to a cam means by any conventional fixed connection means, such as press fitting shaft end 12 within a hole in the cam means shown at 11. Leakage of contaminated air into the mask, while being worn, through chamber means 6 is prevented by mounting O-rings 13 on shaft means 8 between enlarged diameters l4 and 15 of the shaft means 8. Protrusion 16, integral with enlarged diameter 15 of shaft means 8, limits the clockwise and counterclockwise rotation of shaft means 8, because shoulders 17 and 18, formed in chamber means 6 by notching out a portion of the chamber wall, maintain the protrusion 16 rotation within the space between the shoulders. When lever 9 is rotated to the full counterclockwise position, as shown in FIG. 6, protrusion 16 will contact shoulder 18, cam arm 19 will depress drinking tube support arm 20 as cam 11 rotates counterclockwise to cause drinking tube support 21 to rotate about pivot means 22 under tension produced by spring means 23, and drinking mouthpiece 24 will thus be rotated to the mouth of the mask wearer. Drinking tube support 21 is fixedly attached to flexible drinking tube 25 by any conventional means, such as clamp 26 which is integral with drinking tube support 21. When lever 9 is released and mouthpiece 24 released from the mouth of the wearer of the mask, tension produced by spring 23, which is attached between drinking tube support 21, and spring retainer means 47 integral with connector 2, causes mouthpiece 24 and tube 25 to automatically spring back to the nondrinking position shown in FIG. 4 and lever 9 to return to neutral position 26 shown in FIG. 6. In the nondrinking position, kink 48 is formed in tube 25 to act as a shutoff valve to insure mask protective integrity in the event of leakage of tube 25 at some point. This shutoff valve arrangement can be supplemented or modified by other types of valves to suit a given application. Prior to the abovedescribed manipulations to place mouthpiece 24 in the drinking position, conventional quick disconnect coupling 27, such as described in aforementioned U.S. Pat. application SerJNo. 804,188, is removed from pocket 28 of voicemitter-outlet valve cover 29 and placed in a conventional canteen drinking cap 30, such as disclosed in aforementioned U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 804,188, attached to a conventional canteen for use with a drinking mask, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. appli cation Ser. No. 804,188; drinking being carried out as shown in FIG. 1. Resuscitation is carried out with my mask by lifting cover 29, snapping outlet valve coupling shown at 31 within outlet valve well 32, adjusting screw 33 to expand or contract O-ring 34 as required to effect a tight leak-free fit of coupling 31 within well 32, placing resuscitation mouthpiece 35 over the mouth of the subject to be revived, turning lever 9 fully clockwise to position 36 until protrusion 16 contacts shoulder 17 to cause cam arm 37 to simultaneously raise and rotate rod 38 to move breathing tube mouthpiece 39 to the mouth position as shown in FIG. 7. Cam arm 37 lies below cam arm 19 and in a plane perpendicular to the plane to earn arm 19, and rod 38 is fixedly attached to flexible breathing tube 40 by any conventional means such as clamp 41. Arms 19 and 37 are arranged on the cam means shown at 11 so that the longitudinal center line of arm 19 drawn tangent to the upper surface of shaft means 8 intersects a line from the longitudinal centerline of arm 37 at the point where arm 37 intersects a line from the longitudinal center line of arm 37 at the point at which arm 37 intersects and is integral with cam hub means 46 drawn tangent to the lower surface of shaft means 8 at an angle of approximately 60 whereby a line bisecting the angle falls in a plane parallel to the plane of the longitudinal centerline of protrusion 16 when lever 9 is in neutral position 26. Air is ex pelled from the mask while being worn on exhalation by exhalation pressure forcing flap valves 42 toward frame 3 to permit airflow through spider cross section 43 and out of the mask. When lever 9 is released and mouthpiece 39 released from the mouth, breathing tube 40 returns to the nonresuseitation position shown by the nonphantom lines in FIG. 4 and lever 9 returns to neutral position 26 shown in FIG. 6 by means of tension induced by spring 44 attached between rod 38 and air chamber 45.

It is obvious that other modifications can be made of my invention, and I desire to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

I. in a protective mask having components comprising a facepiece, lens means, air outlet valve means, air inlet valve means, filter unit means, nosecup means, voice transmitteroutlet valve frame means, voice transmitter-outlet valve frame cover means and voice transmitter means; the improvement in combination with said components comprising: drinking means comprised of a first mouthpiece means located interiorly of said mask and including inlet conduit means in fluid flow relationship with said first mouthpiece means, resuscitation means comprised of a second mouthpiece means located interiorly of said mask in fluid flow relationship with said air outlet valve means, said air outlet valve means adapted to scalingly receive one end of an external resuscitation device, a cam means and a lever means system to selectively actuate the drinking means and resuscitation means by quickly and accurately moving said first or second mouthpiece means to quickly and accurately move a mouthpiece of the drinking and resuscitation means to a position to be held within a mask wearers mouth and to provide a fail-safe system which obviates any violation of protective integrity of the protective mask.

2. The mask of claim 1 wherein the cam means system comprises a hub means fixedly connected to an end of a shaft means which cooperates with the lever means; a first cam arm member integral with the upper surface of the hub means; and a second cam arm member integral with the lower surface of the hub means, said first and second cam arm members being arranged on the cam means so that the longitudinal centerline of the first cam arm member drawn tangent to the upper surface of the shaft means intersects a line from the longitudinal centerline of the second cam arm member at a point at which the second cam arm member intersects and is integral with the hub means, the line from the longitudinal centerline of the second cam arm member being drawn tangent to the lower surface of the shaft means, the intersecting lines forming an angle of approximately 60 and a line bisecting said angle being in a plane parallel to a plane containing the longitudinal center line of a protmsion integral with the shaft means when the lever means is in a neutral position.

3. The mask of claim 1 wherein the lever means syste comprises a shaft means to actuate the cam means, said shaft means being adapted to be rotated in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction; a drinking tube support arm located at the lower end of a drinking tube support and perpendicular to the drinking tube support, said drinking tube support arm being adapted to engage and coact with an upper cam arm member to effect movement of said first mouthpiece to the mouth of a wearer of the mask; and a rod means adapted to engage and coact with a lower cam arm member to effect movement of said second mouthpiece to the mouth of the wearer of the mask.

4. The mask of claim 1 wherein the cam and lever system comprises a pair of feedthrough connector means fixedly mounted on either side of the voice transmitter outlet valve frame means; a gasket means located between the voice transmitter outlet valve frame means and the connector means adjacent to the voice transmitter outlet valve frame means surface exposed to the mask inside space, said gasket means being adapted to prevent contaminated air leakage into the mask when the mask is worn in a contaminated environment; a male threaded hollow bolt member having a flange adjacent to the head of and integral with the bolt member and a tube member having female threads formed on the inside diameter of the tube member and having a flange adjacent to one end of and integral with the tube member, said bolt member and said tube member being located within the pair of connector means and the gasket means, said bolt member being adapted to be tightened within said tube member to clamp the pair of connector means and the gasket means between the bolt member flange and the tube member flange to effect a sealing engagement; a shaft means rotatably mounted within the bolt 7 member and the tube member, said shaft means being adapted to actuate a cam means; a lever means fixedly connected to one end of the shaft means and a cam means fixedly connected to the other end of the shaft means, said lever means and cam means being adapted to retain the shaft means within the bolt member and the tube member, the lever means being adapted to rotate the shaft means in a predetermined direction and being located on the shaft means in a position outside of the mask, the cam means being located on the shaft means in a position inside of the mask, the cam means having a pair of cam arms located in planes perpendicular to each other, the pair of arms being adapted to actuate a drinking tube and a breathing tube; a pair of O-rings surrounding the shaft means within the tube member adjacent to the cam means, said 0- rings being adapted to prevent leakage of contaminated air into the mask through the bolt member and the tube member; a pair of shoulder means formed in the tube member adjacent to the cam means by notehing out a portion of the bolt member wall, said shoulder means being adapted to serve as stop means for a protrusion, a protrusion integral with the shaft means and in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the longitudinal axis of the shaft means, said protrusion being located between the O-ring and the cam means and being adapted to contact the shoulder means and limit the rotation of the shaft means; a drinking tube support arm located at the lower end of a drinking tube support and perpendicular to the drinking tube support, said drinking tube support arm being adapted to engage and coact with the upper cam arm member of the pair of cam arms and to effect movement of said first mouthpiece to the mouth of a wearer of the mask as a result of the coaction; a first clamp means adapted to fixedly connect the drinking tube support to a flexible drinking tube, said drinking tube being integral with said first mouthpiece; a pivot means fixedly mounted on the tube member and adjacent to the cam means, said pivot means being adapted to act as a fulcrum about which the drinking tube support rotates when actuated by the coaction of the upper cam arm member and the drinking tube support arm; a first spring means connected between the drinking tube support and the connector means adjacent to the voice transmitter outlet valve frame means surface which is exposed to the mask inside space, said first spring means being adapted to effect the automatic return of said first mouthpiece to a nondrinking position upon release of the lever means and release of said first mouthpiece from the mouth of the mask wearer and effect the closing of a shutoff valve; a rod means fixedly connected to a flexible breathing tube, said rod means being adapted to engage and coact with the lower cam arm member of the pair of cam arms to effect movement of said second mouthpiece to the mouth of the wearer of the mask as a result of the coaction; a second clamp means adapted to fixedly connect the rod means to the flexible breathing tube, said breathing tube being integral with said second mouthpiece; and a second spring means connected between the rod means and an air chamber means at a point on the air chamber means adjacent to and below the voicetransmitter surface which is exposed to the inside of the mask, said second spring means being adapted to effect the return of said second mouthpiece to a nonbreathing position upon release of the lever means and release of said second 5 mouthpiece from the mouth of the wearer of the mask.

Claims

1. In a protective mask having components comprising a facepiece, lens means, air outlet valve means, air inlet valve means, filter unit means, nosecup means, voice transmitter-outlet valve frame means, voice transmitter-outlet valve frame cover means and voice transmitter means; the improvement in combination with said components comprising: drinking means comprised of a first mouthpiece means located interiorly of said mask and including inlet conduit means in fluid flow relationship with said first mouthpiece means, resuscitation means comprised of a second mouthpiece means located interiorly of said mask in fluid flow relationship with said air outlet valve means, said air outlet valve means adapted to sealingly receive one end of an external resuscitation device, a cam means and a lever means system to selectively actuate the drinking means and resuscitation means by quickly and accurately moving said first or second mouthpiece means to quickly and accurately move a mouthpiece of the drinking and resuscitation means to a position to be held within a mask wearer''s mouth and to provide a failsafe system which obviates any violation of protective integrity of the protective mask.

2. The mask of claim 1 wherein the cam means system comprises a hub means fixedly connected to an end Of a shaft means which cooperates with the lever means; a first cam arm member integral with the upper surface of the hub means; and a second cam arm member integral with the lower surface of the hub means, said first and second cam arm members being arranged on the cam means so that the longitudinal centerline of the first cam arm member drawn tangent to the upper surface of the shaft means intersects a line from the longitudinal centerline of the second cam arm member at a point at which the second cam arm member intersects and is integral with the hub means, the line from the longitudinal centerline of the second cam arm member being drawn tangent to the lower surface of the shaft means, the intersecting lines forming an angle of approximately 60* and a line bisecting said angle being in a plane parallel to a plane containing the longitudinal center line of a protrusion integral with the shaft means when the lever means is in a neutral position.

3. The mask of claim 1 wherein the lever means system comprises a shaft means to actuate the cam means, said shaft means being adapted to be rotated in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction; a drinking tube support arm located at the lower end of a drinking tube support and perpendicular to the drinking tube support, said drinking tube support arm being adapted to engage and coact with an upper cam arm member to effect movement of said first mouthpiece to the mouth of a wearer of the mask; and a rod means adapted to engage and coact with a lower cam arm member to effect movement of said second mouthpiece to the mouth of the wearer of the mask.

4. The mask of claim 1 wherein the cam and lever system comprises a pair of feedthrough connector means fixedly mounted on either side of the voice transmitter outlet valve frame means; a gasket means located between the voice transmitter outlet valve frame means and the connector means adjacent to the voice transmitter outlet valve frame means surface exposed to the mask inside space, said gasket means being adapted to prevent contaminated air leakage into the mask when the mask is worn in a contaminated environment; a male threaded hollow bolt member having a flange adjacent to the head of and integral with the bolt member and a tube member having female threads formed on the inside diameter of the tube member and having a flange adjacent to one end of and integral with the tube member, said bolt member and said tube member being located within the pair of connector means and the gasket means, said bolt member being adapted to be tightened within said tube member to clamp the pair of connector means and the gasket means between the bolt member flange and the tube member flange to effect a sealing engagement; a shaft means rotatably mounted within the bolt member and the tube member, said shaft means being adapted to actuate a cam means; a lever means fixedly connected to one end of the shaft means and a cam means fixedly connected to the other end of the shaft means, said lever means and cam means being adapted to retain the shaft means within the bolt member and the tube member, the lever means being adapted to rotate the shaft means in a predetermined direction and being located on the shaft means in a position outside of the mask, the cam means being located on the shaft means in a position inside of the mask, the cam means having a pair of cam arms located in planes perpendicular to each other, the pair of arms being adapted to actuate a drinking tube and a breathing tube; a pair of O-rings surrounding the shaft means within the tube member adjacent to the cam means, said O-rings being adapted to prevent leakage of contaminated air into the mask through the bolt member and the tube member; a pair of shoulder means formed in the tube member adjacent to the cam means by notching out a portion of the bolt member wall, said shoulder means being adapted to serve as stop means for a protrusion, a protrusion integral with the shaft means and in a plane perpendicular to The plane of the longitudinal axis of the shaft means, said protrusion being located between the O-ring and the cam means and being adapted to contact the shoulder means and limit the rotation of the shaft means; a drinking tube support arm located at the lower end of a drinking tube support and perpendicular to the drinking tube support, said drinking tube support arm being adapted to engage and coact with the upper cam arm member of the pair of cam arms and to effect movement of said first mouthpiece to the mouth of a wearer of the mask as a result of the coaction; a first clamp means adapted to fixedly connect the drinking tube support to a flexible drinking tube, said drinking tube being integral with said first mouthpiece; a pivot means fixedly mounted on the tube member and adjacent to the cam means, said pivot means being adapted to act as a fulcrum about which the drinking tube support rotates when actuated by the coaction of the upper cam arm member and the drinking tube support arm; a first spring means connected between the drinking tube support and the connector means adjacent to the voice transmitter outlet valve frame means surface which is exposed to the mask inside space, said first spring means being adapted to effect the automatic return of said first mouthpiece to a nondrinking position upon release of the lever means and release of said first mouthpiece from the mouth of the mask wearer and effect the closing of a shutoff valve; a rod means fixedly connected to a flexible breathing tube, said rod means being adapted to engage and coact with the lower cam arm member of the pair of cam arms to effect movement of said second mouthpiece to the mouth of the wearer of the mask as a result of the coaction; a second clamp means adapted to fixedly connect the rod means to the flexible breathing tube, said breathing tube being integral with said second mouthpiece; and a second spring means connected between the rod means and an air chamber means at a point on the air chamber means adjacent to and below the voice-transmitter surface which is exposed to the inside of the mask, said second spring means being adapted to effect the return of said second mouthpiece to a nonbreathing position upon release of the lever means and release of said second mouthpiece from the mouth of the wearer of the mask.