Mask cover assembly

Disclosed is a mask cover assembly wherein a mask cover body is separably assembled with an exhaust valve and a mask main body, which enables replacement of the aforementioned elements. The mask main body has a semi-spherical cap form and is provided throughout the rim of an inner surface thereof with a face contact cushion member formed by pressing cotton or gauze to have a constant thickness. The mask cover body is configured to enclose the mask main body and is integrally formed at opposite lateral positions thereof with band hanger portions. The exhaust valve body is coupled to an exhaust valve mount of the mask cover body. An exhaust valve cap, an outer filter and a thin rubber plate are axially inserted into the exhaust valve body. Additionally, a coupling member is secured to the mask main body with an inner filter interposed therebetween.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a mask cover assembly in which an exhaust valve including a valve body is separably assembled to a dust proof mask main body, which enables replacement of the mask main body.

More particularly, the present invention relates to a mask cover assembly for use with a sanitary mask, a dust proof mask or other industrial masks that serve to protect a wearer from natural disasters, such as, e.g., generation of a great amount of dust due to environmental contamination, and industrial disasters, such as, e.g., generation of dust or particulate matter or toxic gas under harsh working conditions of industrial sites, in which an expensive exhaust valve can be repeatedly used, rather than being prepared as a disposable product, and a mask main body can be replaced alone when contaminated.

2. Description of the Related Art

In general, people who live in areas where dust is generated by environmental disruption, or workers who work in a variety of industrial sites, including paper mills, spinning plants, dye works, quarries and the like, which exhibit generation of a great amount of toxic matter, such as fine dust or toxic gas, are exposed to serious diseases by invasion of the toxic matter into the respiratory system. To protect the health of the people or workers from such harmful environments, various types of masks, such as dust proof masks and the like, have been used in the aforementioned industrial sites and other harmful areas.

In the event that workers have continuously inhaled such fine dust or toxic gas, the workers are liable to diseases, such as pulmonary diseases, respiratory diseases and the like. Moreover, continuous inhalation of a great amount of fine dust or toxic gas into the lungs and the respiratory system may cause fatal damage to the human body. Therefore, many workers who work in industrial sites commonly wear a variety of dust proof masks to protect their health from harmful environments.

As the dust proof masks used for the above described purposes, for example, a mask to which a purge material containing a gas proof material is attached and a mask inside which a filter paper is provided have been used. However, most of these products have a relatively high price and require frequent replacement of a dust proof material because it inevitably exhibits deterioration in function after about 10 hours or more although this lifetime varies depending on an actual working time. In addition, since most conventional dust proof masks have inferior filtering functions, disposable dust proof masks have been used in working sites that attach great importance to sanitation.

A disposable dust proof mask known in the art includes a corrugated main body formed by corrugating a filter paper, hard band hanger portions integrally formed at opposite lateral sides of the filter paper along with holding hands by ultrasonic thermal bonding, and a flexible metal wire provided at the top of the filter paper so as to be freely bendable. When in use, the metal wire can be bent to conform to the profile of the wearer's face so as to ensure that the dust proof mask comes into close contact with the wearer's face. In addition, the corrugated filter paper can be spread out to ensure that the dust proof mask uniformly comes into close contact with the nose and the bottom of the jaw, in order to achieve enhanced dust blocking efficiency.

Hereinafter, the prior art will be described in more detail.

A sanitary mask according to the prior art includes an approximately semi-spherical mask main body taking the form of a filter sheet made of gauze or non-woven fabric, and a pair of band hangers attached to the mask main body, whereby the mask main body may enclose the wearer's face including the nose, the mouth and the jaw so that the rim of the mask main body comes into close contact with the wearer's face to the maximum extent possible. However, the above described prior art sanitary mask may fail to come into close contact at the rim of the mask main body with the wearer's face because of different face profiles of respective wearers.

Moreover, since the respective wearers have differences in the profile of the face and the height and curvature of the nose, the rim of the mask main body may have a greater space with the face around the nose, which may remarkably deteriorate the functionality of the mask.

To solve the above described problems, there has been developed and used a mask, in which a sponge is attached to an inner surface of a portion of a mask main body corresponding to a facial region around the wearer's nose by means of an adhesive member layer and an adjusting member in the form of a metallic wire formed of, e.g., soft aluminum is attached to the exterior of the mask main body at a position where the sponge is attached. In a state in which the mask is worn to cover the nose, the mouth and the jaw of the wearer by means of an upper holding band and a lower holding band, if the wearer bends the adjusting member to conform to the shape of the facial region around the wearer's nose, the cushioning sponge may come into close contact with the wearer's face around the nose.

However, in the case of the above described mask in which the sponge is locally attached only to the inner surface of the portion of the mask main body that will come into contact with the facial region around the nose and the flexible adjusting member is attached to the exterior of the mask main body at the position where the sponge is attached, although it may prevent generation of a space between the mask and the wearer's face around the nose, the remaining inner surface of the mask main body except for the portion where the sponge is attached may be spaced apart from the wearer's face at irregular distances owing to the irregular profile of the wearer's face, which results in deterioration in the functionality of the mask.

In all sanitary masks and dust proof masks generally used at present, constituent components thereof including, e.g., a mask main body, a dust proof exhaust valve, a metallic wire, a band configured to be hung at the ear or to surround the back of the head, and support elements are integrally formed with one another so as to be sold and used as a unitary product. Thus, after the mask is used two times in the morning and in the afternoon (for one day), reuse of the mask is impossible and the mask is disposed of as industrial waste.

In particular, in the case of a dust proof mask equipped with an exhaust valve that is used to protect a wearer from fine dust and toxic gas in industrial sites where a great amount of dust or particulate matter is generated, despite the fact that the exhaust valve is a very high price product fabricated with high precision and is repeatedly usable plural times, the high price exhaust valve should be disposed of because it is integrally formed with a mask main body.

Korean Utility Model Registration No. 389356 issued by the applicant of the present invention discloses a sanitary mask to solve the above described problem. In the disclosed sanitary mask, a semi-spherical mask main body is provided with an upper holding band and a lower holding band to assist in wearing the mask, and an adjusting member is provided at a partial exterior portion of the rim of the mask main body so as to be bendable to conform to the shape of the wearer's nose. In addition, a cushion filter is directly attached to the entire inner surface of the mask main body inside the rim by use of an adhesive layer member so as to come into close contact with the wearer's face. With the configuration disclosed in the above registration, the sanitary mask ensures that the rim portion of the mask main body comes into close contact with the wearer's face including the nose, the mouth and the jaw with the cushion filter interposed therebetween, which may prevent air not having passed through the mask main body and the cushion filter from entering the nose and the mouth of the wearer.

However, the disclosed sanitary mask as described above has a disadvantage in that adjusting the holding band is not easy because it is designed to be hung on the ear.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a mask cover assembly, in which a mask cover body and an exhaust valve are assembled to a mask main body provided as a disposable component, in which a face contact cushion member in the form of a multilayered cotton member is attached to an outer circumference of an inner surface of the mask main body so as to completely prevent invasion of fine dust, toxic gas and the like, in which inner and outer filters capable of strictly filtering contaminants and foul odors are installed to the exhaust valve so as to prevent deterioration in the functionality of the exhaust valve even after the exhaust valve has been repeatedly used for a long period of time and to prevent the wearer from inhaling the contaminants and foul odors, and in which the high price exhaust valve, the mask cover body and a band used to hang the mask on the wearer's face are reusable by allowing only the used mask main body to be disassembled and replaced, which results in a reduction in the price of the product.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a mask cover assembly, in which the size of a mask cover body can be adjusted by the wearer to conform to the size and the shape of the wearer's face, and in which in a state in which only a mask main body is located inside the mask cover body, an exhaust valve consisting of an exhaust valve cap and an exhaust valve body is axially inserted through an exhaust valve mounting aperture of the mask cover body and an aperture of the mask main body and is secured by means of a coupling member and thereafter, a safety shaft cap is assembled to a penetrating shaft of the exhaust valve cap to protect the wearer's face from the risk of a facial bruise.

In accordance with the present invention, the above and other objects can be accomplished by the provision of a mask cover assembly comprising a mask main body, a meshed mask cover body made of a synthetic resin material and having a semi-spherical front surface portion provided with an exhaust valve mounting aperture defined by an exhaust valve mount, and an exhaust valve provided with inner and outer filters and assembled to the mask cover body by means of a coupling member, wherein the mask main body is fitted between an exhaust valve body and the coupling member.

The mask main body, which is assembled to an inner surface of the mask cover body between the exhaust valve body and the coupling member, may be formed by laminating non-woven fabric or cotton fiber in multiple layers and pressing and securing the same to each other. A soft face contact cushion member having a constant thickness may be attached to the circumference of an inner surface of the mask main body so as to come into contact with the wearer's face. The face contact cushion member may be formed by laminating cotton or gauze in multiple layers and pressing the resulting multi-layered structure to have a thickness in a range from 5 to 8 mm, thereby serving to prevent introduction of outside air or dust.

The mask cover body may be constructed by a plurality of meshed reinforcing structures to define the exhaust valve mount and the circumferential rim for pushing the mask main body. The circumferential rim acts to push the cushion member of the mask main body against the elasticity of the band, which can suppress introduction of outside air. A pair of band hanger portions may be integrally formed at opposite lateral positions of the rim of the mask cover body to enable the mask cover body to be worn on the wearer's face by means of holding bands caught by the band hanger portions. The band hanger portions may be provided with band length adjusting holes, which ensures that the length of the mask cover body can be adjusted to come into close contact with the wearer's face.

After a penetrating shaft of an exhaust valve cap, by which the mask cover body and the main mask body are assembled to each other, is assembled with the inner and outer filters, a thin rubber plate and the exhaust valve main body, a shaft cap may be coupled to a distal end of the penetrating shaft with an inner filter interposed therebetween. The shaft cap may serve not only to prevent the penetrating shaft sharply protruding from the mask cover body from causing injury to the wearer's face upon receiving external shock, but also to prevent separation of the plurality of components assembled to the penetrating shaft of the exhaust valve cap.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the drawings, it is noted that the same or similar elements are denoted by the same reference numerals as can as possible even though they are depicted in different drawings.

Additionally, in the following description of the present invention, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention unclear.

According to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, an exhaust valve body200, to which an exhaust valve cap210, an outer filter500and a thin rubber plate300are axially coupled in sequence to constitute an exhaust valve, is axially inserted into a mask cover body100via a semi-spherical center exhaust valve mount120of the mask cover body100. A mask main body900is assembled to an inner surface of the mask cover body100by means of a coupling member220. A shaft cap600is assembled to a center penetrating shaft211of the exhaust valve cap210with an inner filter400interposed therebetween. The mask cover body100is provided at opposite lateral positions of an outer circumferential rim101thereof with a pair of band hanger portions110.

The mask main body900takes the form of an approximately semi-spherical cap and has a center aperture910, into which the exhaust valve body200is fitted. A face contact cushion member920is attached to an outer circumference of an inner surface of the mask main body900. The face contact cushion member920is prepared by laminating cotton or gauze in multiple layers and pressing the resultant multi-layered structure to obtain a constant thickness. As such the face contact cushion member920may prevent generation of any slight gap between the wearer's face and the mask main body900.

In the mask cover body100configured to be coupled with the mask main body900having the above described configuration, the center exhaust valve mount120, which takes the form of a semi-spherical cup, defines a center exhaust valve mounting aperture121such that a protruding rim202of the exhaust valve body200is seated around the center exhaust valve mounting aperture121. The exhaust valve cap210, the outer filter500and the thin rubber plate300are sequentially inserted into a center shaft aperture203of the exhaust valve body200so as to be axially aligned. The shaft cap600is secured to the penetrating shaft211of the exhaust valve cap210which has passed through the center shaft aperture203with the inner filter400interposed therebetween. In the meantime, the exhaust valve body200is provided with an assembly threaded portion201. Accordingly, the mask cover body100is axially fastened to the assembly threaded portion201of the exhaust valve body200and the assembly threaded portion201is tightly engaged with an inner circumference of the aperture910of the mask main body900.

The mask cover body100has a convexly curved upper portion at a location thereof where the bridge of the wearer's nose will be located, to prevent the bridge of the wearer's nose from being pushed by the mask cover body100. The entire mask cover body100takes the form of a semi-spherical cap, which allows the mask cover body100and the mask main body900provided inside the mask cover body100to cooperate with each other so as to construct a unitary structure. The mask cover body100is provided, at opposite lateral positions of the outer circumferential rim101on a central axis thereof, with the band hanger portions110, and each hand hanger portion110is provided with band length adjusting holes111. As such, one end of a holding band800can be appropriately bound to the corresponding hand hanger portion110in such a way that the length of the holding band800is adjustable using the band length adjusting holes111. The other end of the holding band800is caught by a band gripper700that will be seated on the back of the wear's head in a worn state of the mask cover body100. In this way, a pair of holding bands800can be supported at both lateral sides of the back of the wearer's head to stably hold the mask cover body100on the wearer's face.

In the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the exhaust valve body200is assembled to the mask cover body100via the center exhaust valve mount120so that the protruding rim202of the exhaust valve body200is seated around the exhaust valve mounting aperture121of the center exhaust valve mount120. In a state in which the thin rubber plate300and the outer filter500are interposed between the exhaust valve cap210and the exhaust valve body200so as to be aligned about the center shaft aperture203, the center penetrating shaft211of the exhaust valve cap210is inserted through the center shaft aperture203of the exhaust valve body200. In this case, the center exhaust valve mount120is provided with a plurality of recesses122so that bosses formed at a bottom surface of the exhaust valve cap210are tightly inserted into the respective recesses122. A distal end of the penetrating shaft211is axially inserted through the assembly threaded portion201of the exhaust valve body200. The penetrating shaft211can be kept stationary in place as an extended blade portion222of the coupling member220tightly pushes the inner circumference of the center aperture910of the mask main body900assembled to the inner surface of the mask cover body100.

In the above described configuration, in a state in which the center penetrating shaft211of the exhaust valve cap210sequentially passes through the outer filter500, the thin rubber plate300and the center shaft aperture203of the exhaust valve body200, the inner filter400is axially installed to an inner surface of the assembly threaded portion201of the exhaust valve body200. Then, as the shaft cap600is assembled to cover the end of the center penetrating shaft211, the entire mask cover assembly in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention is completely assembled.

With regard to the functionality of the aforementioned constituent elements of the present invention, the outer filter500, which is installed between the exhaust valve cap210and the thin rubber plate300, serves to preliminary filter out fine dust or toxic gas that may be introduced during inhalation. As such, with cooperation with the thin rubber plate300that also serves to suppress introduction of outside dust or toxic gas, the outer filter500can more reliably prevent introduction of outside dust and toxic gas.

The inner filter400, which is installed in a tubular inner space of the assembly threaded portion201of the exhaust valve body200, serves not only to secondarily intercept harmful substances that may have passed through the outer filter500and the thin rubber plate300, but also to prevent the working from exhaustion due to difficulty during exhalation.

In the exemplary embodiment of the present invention as described above, the mask cover body100is formed of a synthetic resin material and thus, exhibits good bendability. The mask main body900, which is coupled to the mask cover body100, is formed by pressing a fibrous material and thus, exhibits good bendability. Accordingly, the mask main body900can come into close contact with the wearer's face having an irregular profile due to the nose, the mouth and the jaw. Moreover, in order to allow the mask main body900to more precisely and safely come into close contact with the wearer's face, the face contact cushion member920, which is formed by pressing non-woven fabric or fibers in multiple layers to have a thickness in a range from about 5 to 8 mm, is attached to the entire rim of the inner surface of the mask main body900, which can assist the mask main body900in more closely coming into contact with the wearer's face.

As described above, according to the present invention, the mask cover body100is separably coupled with the exhaust valve and the mask main body900as well as the holding bands800used to assist in wearing the mask main body900. With this configuration, for example, the exhaust valve can be disassembled for the purpose of washing thereof, which enables recycling of this relatively expensive element. In addition, the mask main body900can be disassembled and disposed of after it wears out, and the holding bands800can be easily adjusted in length depending on the size of the wearer's head.

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, an exhaust valve can be separably assembled to a mask cover body formed of a synthetic resin material, and the mask cover body is integrally provided at opposite lateral positions of an outer circumferential rim thereof with band hanger portions so that a pair of holding bands is connected in a length adjustable manner to band length adjusting holes of the respective band hanger portions.

With provision of the mask cover body according to the present invention, once the lifespan of the mask main body has ended, the mask main body can be separated from the mask cover body by simply unfastening a coupling member that is used to secure the mask main body to the mask cover body even in a state in which a shaft cap is not separated from a penetrating shaft of an exhaust valve cap, which assures easy replacement of the mask main body.

In addition, according to the present invention, owing to the band length adjusting holes of the band hanger portions provided at opposite lateral positions of the outer circumferential rim of the mask cover body, the wearer can appropriately adjust the length of each band to conform to the size of the wearer's head.

In particular, according to the present invention, as an outer filter is interposed between the exhaust valve cap and a thin rubber plate and an inner filter is interposed between an exhaust valve body and the shaft cap, it is possible to filter very fine dust or toxic gas that may be introduced during breathing, thereby ensuring safety of the wearer.

In conclusion, a mask cover assembly according to the present invention can provide superior functional precision and allow an expensive exhaust valve to be recyclable.