US3295521A - Face tent for inhalation therapy - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 3, 1967 J. L. B'ALCH 3,295,521

FACE TENT FOR INHALATION THERAPY Filed Oct. 28, 1965 INVENTOR. 24 JAMES L. BALCH AGE/VT United States Patent .0 n

3,295,521 FACE TENT FOR INHALATION TIERAPY James L. Balch, Madison, Wis., assignor to Air Reduction Company, Incorporated, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Oct. 28, 1963, Ser. No. 319,202 1 Claim. (Cl. 128--205) This invention relates to an improved face tent device such as used in oxygen therapy treatments.

Aerosols are frequently administered to patients in oxygen therapy treatments. Such aerosols may comprise medicaments for treating certain diseases, such as respiratory infections and the like, or may comprise agents adapted to ease or facilitate the patients respiration. The usual type of oxygen tent enclosure, while sometimes used in these forms of aerosol treatment, are to a large extent not preferred for such purposes. The aerosols tend to form deposits in the oxygen tents which necessitates laborious cleaning. Consequently, face masks or face tent devices generally are preferred for administering aerosols to patients; they are frequently preferred also for oxygen therapy not involving aerosol administrations, because they do not require as much space and can be regulated to afford a more efiicient consumption of oxygen than is the case with conventional oxygen tent apparatus. The face tent device is similar to a mask in that it is worn by the patient but is readily'distinguished from the usual face mask device in that it usually does not form a completely closed breathing chamber and is generally desirably light in weight and not provided with rebreathing or breathing valve elements as in many face masks. In general, the face tent devices are usually open to the atmosphere at least at the top. Such construction permits a desired degree of ventilation which reduces the discomfort of excessive warmth from the patients exhalations and the sense of confinement that accompanies the wearing of a conventional mask. In addition, face tents facilitate oral communication by the patient. At the same time, the faw tent forms a shield partially confining the region in which the patient breathes to permit suitable oxygen enrichment of the inspired gases and administration of aerosols when desired.

Face tents that have been available heretofore have, however, not been entirely satisfactory. By warrant of the open topped construction which eliminates the normal seating surfaces around the upper portion such as are provided in the usual face mask, there is a considerably greater difiiculty in achieving a comfortable and, at the same time, firm seating or mounting of the face tent on the face of the wearer. Some face tent devices have been constructed with extensive face containing areas of the mask extending around and underneath the wearers chin and along the sides of the cheek so that some reasonably firm accommodation could be achieved for the support of the face tent. The result of such construction, however, is to create large areas of facial contact in which body heat is accumulated and a high degree of discomfort experienced when such devices are worn for any length of time. Also, the objective of simplicity, lightness and comfort sought by the use of face tent devices is largely lost or sacrificed in such forms of construction.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an improved face tent device for use in oxygen therapy which provides a firm and positive seating engagement against the face of the wearer without, however, necessitating excessive areas of contact and which affords a maximum degree of comfort to the wearer.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide such an improved face tent device of a semirigid transparent plastic material which is relatively light in weight and simple in construction.

- Patented Jan. 3, 1967 It is :a further object of the invention to provide a simple, light, semirigid face tent device for forming in conjunction with the face of the wearer a partially confined open topped breathing chamber in which the face tent is seated along an edge engaging the forward portion of the wearers chin beneath the lower lip and which has rearwardly extending side members providing a minimum contact area with the face of the wearer which are effective to seat the face tent firmly and securely in place with a minimum discomfort to the patient.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, such an improved face tent device comprises an arcuate shield member forming a forward, substantially vertical, wall portion spaced from the face of the wearer and side wall portions extending rearwardly therefrom, a bottom wall extending rearwardly substantially horizontally from the bottom of said forward wall portion and having at its face engaging periphery an outwardly curved seating edge, said seating edge merging with the lower edges of said side wall portions having similar outwardly curved seating edges to form a continuous smooth contoured saddle adapted to be seated against the face ofcthe wearer along a line of contact extending laterally across the forward portion of the wearers chin and rearwardly and upwardly therefrom along the side checks to the region of the cheek bones, the arcuate shield member thus defining a chamber contiguous with the nose and mouth of the wearer closed at the bottom by said bottom wall and open at the top to the atmosphere and means secured to the rearwardly extending flexible side wall portions of such shield for engaging the head of the wearer to urge said bottom wall seating edge rearwardly against the wearers face and the seating edges of said rearwardly extending side wall portions laterally against the sides of the wearers face along the line of engagement provided by said saddle formed by the seatin edges of said bottom and side wall portions of said shield. Advantageously, the outwardly curved edges formed along the face engaging edges of said bottom wall and said rearwardly extending side walls extend continuously around the entire periphery of said arcuate shield member including the upper nonengaging edges thereof defining the top opening of the breathing chamber formed by said arcuate shield, thereby enhancing the structural rigidity of the face tent while permitting the use of a construction having a desired degree of flexibility.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is described in the following specification in which reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation view of a face tent constructed in accordance with the invention showing its general configuration in relation to the head of a wearer and the means for securing the face tent in position;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the face tent shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a rear elevation view of the face tent showing the face engaging saddle of the face tent formed by the edges of the bottom wall and rearwardly extending side wall portions of the tent; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view along the line 44 in the drawing showing the integral lug mounting means.

Referring to the drawings, the face tent device is referred to generally by the numeral 10 and is desirably made of a suitable semirigid, flexible plastic material such as polyvinyl chloride. The plastic face tent is desirably transparent and may be fabricated by any suitable means such as molding and the like to provide a desired shape and contour.

The face tent comprises a generally arcuate shield member 12 which has a forward wall portion 14 and rearwardly extending side wall portions 16. The lower edge of the arcuate shield is enclosed by a bottom substantial- 1y horizontal wall 18 which extends rearwardly from the forward wallportion 14 and terminates in an outwardly curved or rolled edge 20. The rearwardly extending side wall portions 16 extend rearwardly beyond the terminal edge 20 of the bottom wall and have lower outwardly curved or rolled face engaging edges 22 having a configuration substantially similar to that of the face contacting edge 20 which merge with the edge 20 to form a continuous face engaging saddle such as shown at 24 in FIGS. 2 and 3. The rolled edges 22 along the lower face engaging edges of the rearwardly extending side walls advantageously extend continuously around the upper edge of the arcuate shield as shown at 22'. The face engaging edges forming the saddle 24 afford a substantially narrow line of contact with the face which, however, is at the same time free of sharp edges and thereby rendered more comfortable to the wearer. The extension of the outwardly curved edge along the upper edges of the shield provide a reinforcement along the edge which assists in maintaining the desired molded shape of the shield which is advantageously of relatively thin and lightweight construction and which would otherwise be readily distorted.

The lower face engaging edges 20 and 22 of the shield are arranged to be received against the face of the wearer along a relatively narrow continuous line of engagement extending laterally across the front of the chin of the wearer immediately below the lower lip as best seen in FIG. 1 and extending rearwardly and upwardly along each of the side cheeks to approximately the region of the cheek bones. Suitable lugs 26 which may be integrally formed with the molded shield member as seen in FIG. 4 are provided near the rearward extremities of the flexible side wall portions to which the opposite ends of pliable mounting strap 28, made for example from a pliable sheet of polyvinyl chloride, may be anchored. By extending the mounting strap 28 around the rear of the wearers head, the tension of the strap urges the face shield against the face of the wearer so as to afford a secure and firm engagement of the lower seating edge 20 against the forward part of the wearers chin while the face engaging edges 22 of the rearwardly extending wall portions 16 of the shield tend to be urged inwardly against the sides of the wearers face. The forward portion of the chin affords a firmand secure support which does not require the area of contact to be of excessive dimensions in order to achieve a desired degree of firmness. V

The positioning of the shield and face tent on the wearers face is stabilized by the engaging edges 22 which extend rearwardly and upwardly therefrom which also do not require more than minimum contact with the wearers face in order to maintain the shield firmly in place, The rearwardly extending side walls 16 also converge slightly in a downward direction, as may be seen by the inward position of its bottom edge in FIG. 2, relative to the upper edge 22'. This configuration tends to avoid conformance of the flat surface areas of these wall portions with the sides of the wearers face so as to maintain a space therebetween and to limit contact substantially with the edges 22 of these wall portions.

The bottom wall 18 of the face tent has formed therein a ported fitting 30 which is adapted to receive thereon .or therein a suitable gas conduit 32 through which oxygen and other desired gaseous and aerosol medicaments may be delivered to the face tent for inhalation by the patient. It will be seen that the breathing chamber defined by the face tent is substantially confined by the bottom wall and engaging side wall portions of the shield but is entirely open at the top. In the case of oxygen being delivered to the face tent, therefore, the gas entering the inlet fitting;

It will be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific or preferred embodiments hereinabove described but may be made or used in other ways without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claim.

I claim:

A face tent device made of flexible plastic material for administering a therapeutic inhalant fluid to a atient and having a semiconfined breathing chamber contiguous with the nose and mouth of the wearer, directly exposed at its upper extremity to the surrounding atmosphere and 1 closed at its bottom, comprising an arcuate vertical shield member forming a forward vertical wall portion adapted to be spaced from the face of the wearer and rearwardly extending vertical side wall portions extending along the sides of the wearer face and tapering upwardly toward the rear, a bottom wall extending substantially horizontally rearwardly from said forward wall portion to a sub= stantially lesser extent than said side wall portions having an outwardly curved face-engaging seating edge, said seating edge merging with lower edges of said rearwardly extending side wall portions which are similarly outwardly curved to provide lower seating edges and form a con tinuous saddle adapted to be seated against the face of a wearer along a line extending laterally across the forward portion of the chin of a wearer and rearwardly therefrom to the area of the cheek bones, the upper edges of the side walls and said forward wall being substantially free of seating contact with the face of the wearer and said" outwardly curved edges of said saddle extending continuously around the entire periphery of said arcuate shield member to effectively provide structural rigidity for said face tent, gas inlet means mounted in said bottom wall for delivering therapeutic fluid upwardly and generally parallel to said forward and side wall portions of ,said 1 shield, lug members formed integrally with said rearwardly extending side wall portions approximate the terminal ends thereof and strap means secured at its ends respectively to said lug members and adapted to extend behind the head of the wearer to urge the seating edge of said bottom wall rearwardly against the forward chin portion of the wearer and said lower seating edges of said rearwardly extending wall portions laterally against the sides of the wearers face along the line of engagement provided for by said saddle formed by said bottom wall and said side wall portions of said shield.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,859,748 11/1958 Hudson 128-146 3,042,035 2/1962 Coanda l28l46 3,170,463 2/1965 Duggan 128-205 FOREIGN PATENTS 621,010 4/1949 Great Britain.

RICHARD A. GAUDET, Primary Examiner. W. E. KAMM, Assistant Examiner.

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