Patent ID: 7762257

Claim:
A close-fitting face mask made of at least one of a woven or non-woven material, comprising: a fitted nose area having a nose-bridge contact and a nose-bridge recess or space defined at an angle between 30° and 60° to the vertical; a nose upper part adapted to extend from the nose-bridge contact at a mid-point of the bridge of a wearer's nose to the level of the wearer's lower eyelid; a chin part having a chin recess or space adapted to extend 10 mm to 15 mm below the wearer's closed mouth chin level; and attachment straps made of elastic or flexible material stretchable to 25% to 50% of its length, including upper straps attached to the nose upper part and in the wearer's closed mouth position inclined at an angle of between 30° and 60° to the horizontal and adapted to pass above the upper part of the wearer's ear, and lower straps attached to a pivot or neutral point of the mask and inclined at an angle of 10° to 40° to the horizontal and adapted to pass below the wearer's ear, whereby forces are directed around the pivot or neutral point of the mask so that when the mask moves in response to the wearer's chin movement the mask subsequently returns to the original position established by the wearer when donning the mask.