Strap-Free Disposable Face Mask

Abstract

A single-use face mask for protectively covering a user's respiratory breathing openings includes a face-covering material dimensioned to cover the user's breathing openings and extending therefrom to an annular marginal edge portion for positioning over the user's face at positions beyond the breathing openings, an annular strip of medical-grade adhesive on the inner surface positioned at a marginal edge portion near and along the annular edge, the medical-grade adhesive selected to hold the face-covering material in substantially fixed position on the user's face, the adhesive-bearing marginal edge portion being recessed sufficiently from the annular edge of the material to facilitate gripping of the material along the annular edge for conveniently peeling the single-use mask from the user's face.

Claims

1. A mask for protectively covering a user's respiratory breathing openings to prevent ingress and egress of harmful airborne bacterial, viral materials and airborne solids while permitting respiration, the mask comprising: a face-covering material dimensioned to cover the user's breathing openings and extending therefrom to an annular marginal edge portion for positioning over the user's face at positions beyond the breathing openings, the material selected to serve the protective purposes and having an inner surface and extending to an annular edge; and an annular strip of medical-grade adhesive on the inner surface positioned at a marginal edge portion near and along the annular edge, the medical-grade adhesive selected to hold the face-covering material in substantially fixed position on the user's face covering the user's breathing openings with the annular strip fully surrounding the breathing openings, thereby preventing significant passage of air past the marginal edge portion of the mask.

2. The protective mask of claim 1 wherein the medical-grade adhesive strip on the annular marginal edge portion has a width of about 0.2-0.5 inch.

3. The protective mask of claim 2 wherein the adhesive strip has a width of no more than about 0.375 inch.

4. The protective mask of claim 1 wherein the annular edge of the material extends somewhat beyond the adhesive-bearing marginal edge portion, thereby facilitating manual gripping of the mask for removal by peeling off the mask from the user's face.

5. The protective mask of claim 4 wherein the annular edge extends at least about one-sixteenth of an inch beyond the adhesive-bearing marginal edge portion at least at some locations around the annular edge

6. The protective mask of claim 1 further including a removable adhesive-protection layer which can be peeled off prior to application of the mask to a user's face.

7. The protective mask of claim 6 wherein the adhesive-protection layer substantially covers the entire inner surface of the face-covering material.

8. The protective mask of claim 7 wherein the adhesive-bearing marginal edge portion has a width of about 0.2-0.5 inch.

9. The protective mask of claim 8 wherein the adhesive-bearing marginal edge portion has a width of no more than about 0.375 inch.

10. The protective mask of claim 1 wherein the medical-grade adhesive is the sole means of attachment of the mask to the user's face.

11. The protective mask of claim 1 free of straps and lines for attachment purposes.

12. The protective mask of claim 1 wherein the face-covering material is flexible to conform to the contours of the user's face.

13. The protective mask of claim 12 wherein the face-covering material, when not mounted to the user's face, is capable of being in a substantially-rectangular planar shape.

14. The protective mask of claim 12 wherein the face-covering material has pleats or gatherings therein to facilitate conforming to the contours of the user's face.

15. A mask for protectively covering a user's respiratory breathing openings to prevent ingress and egress of harmful materials while permitting respiration, the mask comprising: a face-covering material dimensioned to cover the user's breathing openings and extending therefrom to an annular marginal edge portion for positioning over the user's face at positions beyond the breathing openings, the material selected to serve the protective purposes and having an inner surface and extending to an annular edge; an annular strip of medical-grade adhesive on the inner surface positioned at a marginal edge portion near and along the annular edge, the medical-grade adhesive selected to hold the face-covering material in substantially fixed position on the user's face covering the user's breathing openings with the annular strip fully surrounding the breathing openings, thereby preventing significant passage of air past the marginal edge portion of the mask; and the adhesive-bearing marginal edge portion being recessed sufficiently from the annular edge of the material to facilitate gripping of the material along the annular edge for peeling of the mask from the user's face.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

[0020] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a woman wearing a mask which is a preferred embodiment of this invention.

[0021] FIG. 2 is a front view of the woman wearing such mask.

[0022] FIG. 3 is a front view of the mask before mounting on a user's face.

[0023] FIG. 4 is a back view of the mask of FIG. 3.

[0024] FIGS. 5 and 6, respectively, are front and back views of a similar child-size mask before mounting on a child's face.

[0025] FIG. 7 is a back view of the removable adhesive-protection layer.

DESCRIPTIONS OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0026] As can be seen from the drawing figures, the masks 10, which are preferred embodiments of this invention, are strapless, i.e., entirely free of any straps, lines or cords of any sort for extending over and around a user's ears or around a user's head. It can also be seen from FIGS. 1 and 2 that inventive mask 10 entirely covers the wearer's nose and mouth, and that the large air-transmitting middle area 11 of mask 10 is entirely surrounded by an annular part of the mask which serves to removably engage the mask to a user's face.

[0027] More specifically, mask 10 is formed of a material 14 which has an inner surface 16, and outer surface 18, and terminates in an annular edge 22. As seen best in FIGS. 4 and 6, mask 10 also includes a marginal edge portion 12 near and along annular edge 22, such marginal edge portion covered on inside surface 16 of material 14 by an annular strip 24 of medical-grade adhesive permanently adhered to inner surface 16. Adhesive-bearing marginal edge portion 12 of mask 10 entirely surrounds air-transmitting middle area 11, and the annular adhesive strip 24 serves to fully engage mask 10 with the user's face. This provides fixed-in-place mounting and entirely ensures the intended protection.

[0028] Face-covering material 14 of strapless mask 10 of this invention may be of one or more layers of material 14. A three-layer construction (layering not shown in the drawings) is preferred, including an inner soft non-woven fabric layer, a middle blown fabric layer, and an outer soft non-woven fabric layer. Such layers forming material 14 are chosen for appropriate filtering (by ingress or egress) of undesirable particles of all sorts, as appropriate for the desired protection.

[0029] The masks illustrated in FIGS. 1-4, which are of an adult size, are preferably about 7 inches wide and 3.5 inches high, when measured in a flat pre-mounted condition.

[0030] The masks illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6, which are of a child size, are preferably about 5 inches wide and 3 inches high. Face-covering material 14 of masks 10 has sewn-in or otherwise-created pleats 20 to allow expansion and contraction in order to accommodate the shapes of the users' faces, and also to some extent to accommodate users' breathing and speaking.

[0031] The width of annular strip 24 of medical-grade adhesive strip is preferably about 0.375 inch, which has been found to be sufficient with most medical-grade adhesives to provide a highly-reliable seal between the user's face and mask 10. Annular adhesive strip 24 extends (1) over and on the nose of the user, (2) laterally therefrom in either direction over the cheeks of the user, (3) downwardly therefrom on the user's face in positions spaced forwardly from the location of the user's ears, and (4) from there around (or even under) the user's chin to complete the 360-degree annular sealing of mask 10 to the user's face. While a strip width of 0.375 inch is most preferred, a strip width within the range of about 0.2-0.5 inch functions well. Appropriate strip widths and medical-grade adhesives can be determined based on knowledge of this invention.

[0032] As seen best in FIGS. 4, 6 and 7, annular edge 22 of mask 10 is somewhat beyond adhesive-bearing marginal edge portion 12 of mask 10; that is, adhesive-bearing marginal edge portion 12 is recessed from annular edge 22, creating a grippable area 26 of material 14, and this positioning of annular adhesive strip 24 is such that manual gripping of mask 10 at grippable area 26 near annular edge 22 facilitates gripping of material 14 to allow easy peeling of mask 10 from the user's face. This recessed configuration is preferably all around mask 10, but may only be along certain portions of mask 10—portions deemed likely to be gripped by a user during the removal process. The recessing is preferably at least about one-sixteenth of an inch. While the recessing feature and grippable area 26 is best illustrated in FIGS. 4, 6 and 7, the dotted line in FIG. 2 and the dotted-line portion in FIG. 1 also indicate this convenient feature.

[0033] FIG. 7 illustrates a removable adhesive-protection layer 28 which, prior to use, covers and protects adhesive strip 24 so that the adhesive is fully effective when the adhesive-protection layer 28 is peeled off and the mask 10 is mounted to the user's face. The adhesive-protection layer 28 can be in strips or in an annular ring, but most preferably is a full sheet covering entire inner surface 16 the face-covering material 14. This facilitates usage of the disposable face mask 10 of this invention.

[0034] A wide variety of materials 14 are acceptable for the elements and parts of inventive face mask 10. As already stated, a wide variety of face-covering materials may be used, and appropriate choices will be apparent to those skilled in the art who are also made aware of the characteristics of the present invention. Likewise, a wide-variety of appropriate medical-grade adhesives can be used, and application of the medical-grade adhesive can be by direct adhesive application to material 14 or by other attaching such as stitching a strip of material bearing such adhesive to the appropriate location on inner surface 16 of face-covering material 14. Suitable choices of the adhesive-protection layer 28 for pre-usage covering of the adhesive strip 24 will also be apparent to those skilled in the art who are also made aware of the characteristics of the present invention. One choice for this protection layer is waxed paper of an appropriate thickness.

[0035] The masks of this invention are intended for one-time use, and stated above the characteristics of mask 10 are such that one-time use nearly universally implied. After manufacture and before use each mask is preferably individually packaged, preferably in a manner typical for single-use bandages. However, a variety of packaging choices are available.