US3267487A - Face piece expander unit - Google Patents

Description

1966 D- w. JOHNSON I FACE PIECE EXPANDER UNIT Filed June 29, 3,964

Donald Manufacturing Company, line, New Philadelphia, Ohio,

"United States Patent Otfiee Patented f more Place nxrannnn UNl'l Johnson, Wooster, Ohio, asslgnor to Snyder a corporation of Ohio Filed June 29, 1964,,Ser. No. 378,497 6 Claims. (Cl. 2-3.)

The present invention relates to a novel face piece or hood structure for protecting the user while enabling the wearer to see through the structure.

There are numerous situations in hospitals, industrial plants and the like when it isdesirable to protect a person from the surrounding environment or even protect the surrounding environment from theperson. Various articles of protective clothing or coverings have been suggested for use in such situations and in many instances such articles have been relatively awkward to use or complicated or expensive. I

It is an important object of the present invention to provide a novel article which may be used as a protective hood or face piece and which is of relatively simple, economical and lightweight construction.

A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a novel protective hood or face piece structure adapted to be formed from relatively thin lightweight and substantially transparent plastic sheet material and having means for maintaining a portion of the sheet material in a generally smooth condition for facilitating viewing therethrough.

A still further specific object of the present invention is to provide a novel face piece or hood structure of the above-described type having simple, lightweight and effective means for maintaining the aforementioned portion of the sheet in a stretched or taut condition for faciltating viewing thercthrough.

Still another object'of the present invention is to provide a novel expander unit which may be readily connected with 'a sheet of flexible material for stretching a portion thereof and facilitating viewing therethrough.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a protective hood structure incorporating features of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an expander unit incorporating features of the present invention and adapted to be incorporated in the hood structure of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged exploded perspective view showing the expander unit of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary partial sectional view taken generally along line 4-4 in FIG. 5;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line 55 in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary enlarged perspective view showing an end portion of a spacer element included in the expander unit;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged partial sectional view taken generally along line 7-7 in FIG. 4; and

FIG. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken generally along line 8-8 in FIG. 1.

Referring now more specifically to the drawings wherein like parts are designated by the same numerals throughout the various figures, a hood structure 10 incorporating features of the present invention is shown in' FIG. 1. In the embodiment shown, the hood structure comprises a sheet material member .12 and an expander unit 14 constructed and applied to the sheet material in the manner described fully hereinbelow.

The sheet material member 12 is preferably made from a thin flexible transpatcnt sheet of any suitable material such as vinyl plastic. in order to reduce costs and also to minimize weight. and increase flexibility, the sheet material used for the member 12is preferably sufficiently thin so that the sheet material member is normally not self-supporting. In other words in the absence of the expanderunit 14, the sheet material member 12 would not maintain a well defined shape and would 'be wrinkled and irregular so as to obscure the vision of a person wearing the hood. Furthermore, the sheet material member i2 may be formed from a single normally flat sheet of material adapted to be draped over the head of a wearer or, if desired, i may be provided with a preformed generally cylindrical portion 16 having a closed upper end 18 and a cape portion 20 secured to and depending from .a lower margin of the cylindrical portion.

The expander unit 14 is adapted to be secured to spaced apart areas of the sheet material member 12 for stretching a portion 22 of the sheet material member between such areas and thereby provide the hood structure with a generally taut, wrinkle-free face piece through which a wearer may easily see. More specifically the expander unit comprises first and second bow members 24 and 26 of generally U-shaped configuration. The bow member 24 has opposite leg portions 28 and 30 joined by a curved bight portion 32 and the bow member 26 is similarly constructed with opposite leg portions 34 and 36 joined by a bight portion 38.

The bow members 24 and 26 are adapted to be secured to the sheet material member 12 at opposite sides of the face portion 22 and preferably adjacent upper and lower margins of the portion 22. In the embodiment shown, pieces 40 and 42 of pressure-sensitive tape are used for releasably securing the bow members 24 and 26 to the sheet material member. As shown best in FIGS. 1 and 8, the tape elements 40 and 42 are wider than the bow members 24 and 26 so that the tape elements are adapted to traverse the bow members and to be adhesively secured to the plastic sheet along opposite edges of the bow members. Furthermore, the tape elements 40 and 42 have a length similar to the width of the face panel 22. During attachment of the bow members to the plastic sheet, the sheet is preferably manually stretched in the direction of the length of the bow members so that when the tape elements are applied, the plastic sheet will be maintained in the taut or slightly stretched condition. Alternatively, the elements 40 and 42 may be made from relatively rigid, sel-f-supporting pre-formed channels permanently bonded to the face panel 22 and adapted to permit the bow members to he slipped endwise thercinto. The bows and tape elements or the channel members maintain the sheet taut in a direction extending in a plane generally parallel tothe bow members or in other words in a generally horizontal plane and the expander unit is provided with additional means described below for vertically spreading or expanding the bow members for maintaining the face piece 22 in a stretched condition in a generally vertical direction.

It is noted that the expander unit is shown inside of the hood portion 16, but it may be secured to the outer surface in many instances. While the tape elements provide convenient and economical means for readily detachably securing the bow members to the sheet material, it is to be understood that the bow elements can be directly adhcsively secured to the sheet material or that other fastening means may be used for connecting the sheet material to the bow elements.

The expander unit 14 is provided with upstanding spacer members 44 and 46 respectively extending between the leg portions 28-34 and 3036 of the bow members. The

ness of the material from which the bow members 24 and 26 aremade and preferably the web element 52 has opposite ends 54 and 56 which terminate short of opposite ends 58 and 60 of the side elements. When the spacer member 34 is assembled with the bow members, the end portions of the side elements 48 and t embrace thelegs 28 and 340i the bow members and the ends 54 and 56 of the web element 52 project into slots or notches 62 and 64 formed in the bow leg portions 28 and M respectively. It is to be noted that these notches are wider than the thickness of the web element 52 so that there is a loose or pivotal connection between the support member 44 and the bow members for enabling the bow members to pivot relative to each other in the manner described below. The spacer member 46 is identical to the member 44 and includes opposite side elements 66 and 68 joined by a web element adapted to project into notches 70 and 72 formed in the bow member leg portions 30 and 36 and corresponding tothe above-described notches 62 and 64.

The notches 62, 64, 70 and 72 and thus the pivotal connections between the spaced members 4145 and 46 and the bow members are adjacent to but spaced substantially from the terminal free ends of the bow member leg portions so that the leg portions respectively have '74, 76, 78 and 80 projecting rearwardly from the pivotal connections with the spacer member. Tension springs 82 and 84 are connected between the leg sections 74-76 and 78-80. These springs have a normal'length less than the facing edges and the leg sections 74 and 76 at locations between the terminal ends of the leg sections and the spacer member 44. The spring 84 is formed with similar hooked portions 94 and 96 adapted to engage in notches 98 and 100 corresponding to the notches 9% and 92 and formed in the leg sections 78 and 80.

While a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described herein,it is obvious that many structural details may be changed without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

The invention is claimed as follows:

1. A structure of the type. described comprising a flexible sheet material member, first and second generally ,U-shaped means respectively including bight portions secured to space portions of saidsheet material member, said U'shaped means respectively having opposed leg portions extending from said bight portions, first and 2. A structure, as defined in claim 1, which includes adhesive tape elements securing said bight portions to said sheet material member.

3. A structure, as defined in claim 1, wherein said leg portions of said U-shaped means include sections projecting away from said bight portions and beyond said spacer members, and said means pivotally biasing said one U- shaped means comprises spring extending between said leg sections of said first and second U-shapcd means.

4. A structure, as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said spacer members comprises opposite side elements having end portions embracing the leg portions of the U- shaped means, and each of said spacer members includes an intermediate web portion extending between its side elements, and said leg portions of said U-shaped means comprising notch means loosely receiving ends of said web elements of said spacer members and providing pivotal connections between the U-shaped means and the spacer members.

5. In a structure of the type described, an expander unit comprising first and second bow members respectively having b'ight portions connectable with a sheet material member and opposite leg portions extending from said bight portion, first and second spacer members respectively extending between first leg portions of said first and second bow means and second leg portions of said first and second bow means, at least one of said how means having pivotal connections with said spacer members, said one of said bow means including leg sections extending away from its bight portion and beyond said pivotal connections with said spacer members, and tension springs connected with said leg sections of said one bow member and with the other said how member for pivotally biasing said one how member for urging the bight portion thereof away from the bight portion of the other said bow members.

6. An expander unit, as defined in claim 5, wherein both of said how members are pivotally connected to said spacer member.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

FRANK I COHEN, Examiner.

J. R. BOLER, Assistant Examiner,

Claims (1)

1. A STRUCTURE OF THE TYPE DESCRIBED COMPRISING A FLEXIBLE SHEET MATERIAL MEMBER, FIRST AND SECOND GENERALLY U-SHAPED MEANS RESPECTIVELY INCLUDING BIGHT PORTIONS SECURED TO SPACE PORTIONS OF SAID SHEET MATERIAL MEMBER, SAID U-SHAPED MEANS RESPECTIVELY HAVING OPPOSED LEG PORTIONS EXTENDING FROM SAID BIGHT PORTIONS, FIRST AND SECOND SPACER MEMBERS RESPECTIVELY EXTENDING BETWEEN FIRST LEG PORTIONS OF SAID FIRST AND SECOND U-SHAPED MEANS AND SECOND LEG PORTIONS OF SAID FIRST AND SECOND U-SHAPED MEANS, SAID LEG PORTIONS OF ONE OF SAID U-SHAPED MEANS BEING PIVOTALLY CONNECTED WITH SAID SPACER MEMBERS, AND MEANS CONNECTED TO AND PIVOTALLY BIASING SAID ONE USHAPED MEANS FOR URGING THE BIGHT PORTION THEREOF AWAY FROM THE OTHER BIGHT PORTION FOR TENSIONING AN AREA OF SAID SHEET MATERIAL MEMBER BETWEEN SAID BIGHT PORTIONS.

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