Surgery – Body protecting or restraining devices for patients or infants – Head or face protector
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-27
2002-06-25
Brown, Michael A. (Department: 3764)
Surgery
Body protecting or restraining devices for patients or infants
Head or face protector
C128S203290
Reexamination Certificate
active
06408853
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medical facemask, and more particularly to a medical facemask and the mold for manufacturing the medical facemask.
2. Description of Related Art
With reference to
FIGS. 5 and 6
, a conventional medical facemask in accordance with the prior art comprises a shell (
50
) and an air cushion (
60
) securely attached to the shell (
50
). The air cushion (
60
) covers a patient's mouth and nose. The air cushion (
60
) has a first end (
62
) in contact with a patient's chin and a second end (
61
) covering the bridge of the patient's nose. A gas such as oxygen or anaesthetic flows into the shell (
50
) for the patient to breathe.
The air cushion (
60
) is a bladder-like structure with a thickness of about 0.3 mm, and the surface of the air cushion (
60
) is slick. A thick air cushion (
60
) may initiate a claustrophobic response in the patient due to the weight of the mask, and the slick surface of the air cushion (
60
) will stick to the patient's face due to the perspiration. The conventional mask is very uncomfortable.
The disadvantages preciously mentioned are caused by the mold used to manufacture the conventional medical facemask. With reference to
FIGS. 5
,
7
and
8
, the mold for manufacturing the conventional medical facemask is a blowing mold (
70
) and includes two mold blocks (
71
) abutting each other. Each of the mold blocks (
71
) has a cavity (
72
) defined to correspond to the other cavity (
72
). An inlet (
73
) is defined between the two mold blocks (
71
) and communicates with the cavity (
72
) where the mold (
70
) forms the first end (
62
) of the conventional medical facemask. The two mold blocks (
71
) respectively include multiple outlets (
74
) defined to communicate with the cavity (
72
).
To form the conventional facemask, a piece of hollow material is put into the inlet (
73
). High-pressure air is blown into the mold, and the original air in the cavity (
72
) is forced out of the mold through the outlets (
74
). Then the hollow material stretches to abut the periphery of the cavity (
72
) to form the air cushion (
60
), and a joint line (
601
) is formed on the air cushion (
60
) at the joint between the two blocks (
71
).
The joint line (
601
) of the conventional medical facemask is formed on the middle portion of the air cushion (
60
) so that the thickness of the air cushion (
60
) is equal everywhere and about 0.3 mm. The thick air cushion (
60
) may make the patient feel heavy and uncomfortable.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the disadvantages of the conventional medical facemask and the mold for manufacturing the conventional medical facemask.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The main objective of the present invention is to provide an improved a medical facemask and a mold for manufacturing the medical facemask. To achieve the objective, the medical facemask in accordance with the present invention includes an air cushion to fit around a patient's mouth and nose. The air cushion has a facing side to contact the patient's face. The facing side of the air cushion is soft and thin. The facing side has a thickness between 0.15-0.2 mm and forms a textured surface to abut the patient's face to prevent the medical facemask from sticking to the patient's face due to perspiration.
The mold for manufacturing the medical facemask in accordance with the present invention includes two mold blocks abutting each other. Each mold block has a mold face, a top, a bottom, a cavity, an inlet and multiple outlets. The cavity is defined perpendicular to the mold face such that the cavity in one mold block corresponds to the cavity in the other mold block. An inlet is defined in the top of the mold and communicates with one end of the cavity corresponding to portion of the medical facemask that covers a patient's nose. Each mold blocks has multiple outlets defined to communicate with the cavity. To form a thinner facing side, the outlets in the mold block forming the facing side have diameters two to five times larger than the diameters of the outlets in the other mold block. A recess is defined in the face of the first cavity to receive a fine mesh net to form a contact surface and prevent the material from flowing into the first outlet during the formation of the medical facemask.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2254854 (1941-09-01), O'Connell
patent: 4580556 (1986-04-01), Kundur
patent: 4848331 (1989-07-01), Northway-Meyer
patent: 5676133 (1997-10-01), Hickie
Brown Michael A.
Rabin & Berdo P.C.
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