Patent ID: 7520280

Claim:
A rebreather apparatus of the radial-type, comprising: means for providing breathable gasses to a user of the apparatus and transporting gases exhaled by the user to a medium for removing unwanted elemental molecules from the exhaled gases; means for providing compressed gases to the apparatus; means for monitoring the gases circulating through the apparatus and controlling the addition of compressed gas to the apparatus; a gas scrubber canister having at least one removable end cap and a cross sectional shape through a plane that is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the canister selected from the group of shapes consisting of an oval and an ellipse; the at least one removable end cap being located at an end of the gas scrubber canister; the at least one end cap configured for watertight attachment to the gas scrubber canister; the gas scrubber canister configured for securing a disposable adsorbent material, used to remove unwanted elemental molecules from the exhaled gases, in the interior thereof; the gas scrubber canister having a generally hollow interior tube located in the approximate center thereof, the tube having the same cross sectional shape through a plane that is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the tube as the gas scrubber canister and configured to allow gases to pass radially through the walls of the tube; the gas scrubber canister being further configured such that when the adsorbent material is placed in the gas scrubber canister, there is a generally uniform space between the canister wall and the adsorbent material throughout the portion of the canister containing the adsorbent material such that gases will pass radially through the adsorbent material between the hollow tube and the space between the canister wall and the adsorbent material; and the apparatus further comprising a means for securing the apparatus to the body of a user of the apparatus.