BREATHABLE MASK

Abstract

A breathable mask including a body is provided. The body includes: a main frame, a lens and a waterproof sealing skirt, suitable for fitting on a user's face. The body further includes a head strap, which has two ends fixed to the main frame or the waterproof sealing skirt. The two ends are located to correspond to two sides of the user's eyes, respectively. The region where the waterproof sealing skirt is configured to contact the user's face has an uppermost portion and a lowermost portion, wherein a midpoint of the uppermost portion to a midpoint of the lowermost portion defines a maximum height ranging between 100 millimeters (mm) and 165 millimeters (mm).

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

This invention is a full-face mask, specifically a breathable mask for snorkeling.

Descriptions of the Related Art

The Full-face snorkeling mask (FFSM) 10 currently on the market can allow the user's mouth and nose to breathe through the mask. Its structure generally includes a body 11 and a breathing tube 12. The breathing tube 12 is in fluid communication with an interior of the body 11. The body 11 includes a main frame 14, a lens 15 embedded in the main frame, a waterproof sealing skirt 16 embedded with the main frame 14 and the lens 15, and a set of head strap 17 extending rearwardly from the main frame 14. When the head strap 17 is fastened to the user's head, the waterproof sealing skirt 16 can fit tightly on a user's face and isolate the eyes, nose, and mouth from the outside. The outer periphery formed by the main frame 14, the lens 15 and the waterproof sealing skirt 16 encircles from the top of the user's forehead, along the outside of the eyes, through the cheekbones, and then to the mandible, thereby covering the entire user's eyes, nose and mouth. This way, the entire waterproof sealing skirt 16 closely contacting the user's face generally forms the average fitting height often reaching more than 170 mm under an actual measurement. Therefore, four points P1, P2, P3, and P4 presenting an X-shape are needed to be cross-fixed on the main frame 14 to get sufficient rigidity and ensure the stability when wearing the mask 10, thereby preventing it from leaking, discomfortable to the user or increasing the risk of use. These four fixed points must be evenly distributed on the circumferential edge of the entire main frame 14. Such a configuration will result in the upper two fixed points being approximately distributed above or diagonally above the eye portion of the main frame 14, whereas the lower two fixed points must be roughly distributed on both sides of the mouth area of the main frame 14 in order to achieve balanced fastening of the upper and lower areas, as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B.

However, cross-binding the head with four-point head straps is quite troublesome to put on, take off and carry, and often cannot be easily done by one person. Additional measures such as quick release can be added to make up for the deficiency of the design; however, the cross shape of the head strap 17 itself is not simple enough, so it's still quite inconvenient in use. In particular, during underwater use, if water leaks inside the mask 10, the user cannot quickly take off the mask 10 to pour the water out, which is very uncomfortable and often dangerous. After draining the water, the user must encounter the above-mentioned inconvenience when wearing the mask 10 back again. Simply speaking, the four-point cross-type head strap 17 only focuses on a single technology of stability of mask. However, the convenience of putting on or taking off, and the relating safety issues where the mask must be taken off quickly in emergency situations have never been effectively solved.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One of the objectives of this invention is to provide a full-face snorkeling mask that controls the height of the body of the mask within a relatively small range, allowing a two-point fixed head strap to be used to overcome the above problems. The two points fixed to the main frame or the waterproof sealing skirt can be set on both sides of the eye portion of the body of the mask, respectively. This way, the mouth and nose area on the lower portion of the mask does not need to be designed with other fastening devices. When the two-point fixed head strap is tied up around the back of the user's head, the mouth and nose area of the waterproof skirt can be integrally and tightly fitted to the lower portion of the user's face (that is, the portion covering both sides of the user's mouth and nose, and the chin), without the risk of water leaking into the mask.

Another objective of this invention is to provide a breathable mask in which the main frame and lens(es) of the body of the mask are designed to only cover the user's eyes. This design can further greatly reduce the volume of the entire mask. In addition, because the rigid parts (i.e., main frame and lenses) are concentrated in the eye portion of the body of the mask, the softer parts (i.e., the waterproof sealing skirt usually made of rubber silicone) can be just allocated to the vicinity of the mouth and nose area of the body of the mask, and do not require to extend too far downward. Therefore, it is enough to just use a two-point fixed head strap and fix it on both sides of the rigid main frame or of the skirt that are fairly close to the rigid frame. It is not necessary for the mouth and nose area, i.e., the lower portion of the body to add on other fastening devices. When the two-point fixed head strap is tightened around the back of the user's head, the lower portion of the body can integrally and tightly contact the lower portion of the user's face, that is, the portion covering both sides of the mouth and nose, and the chin, without the risk of water leaking into the mask.

Yet a further objective of this invention is to provide a breathable mask in which the main frame and lens(es) of the body of the mask only cover the user's eyes, and at the same time, the height of the body of the mask is controlled within a small range. In this case, joining the two-point fixed head strap to both sides of the main frame or waterproof sealing skirt cannot only make the overall mask lighter, but also achieve better wearing convenience and waterproof effects.

In order to achieve the above objectives, this invention provides a full-face mask including a body and a breathing tube, and the breathing tube is in fluid communication with an interior of the body. The body includes a main frame, at least one lens being embedded within the main frame, a waterproof sealing skirt being partially fitted with the main frame and the lens. The waterproof sealing skirt is configured to fit a user's face, including eyes, nose and mouth. The body further includes a head strap which has two ends fixed to the main frame or the waterproof sealing skirt, in which the two ends are located to correspond to two outer sides of the user's eyes, respectively. The waterproof sealing skirt has a region being configured to contact the user's face and having an uppermost portion and a lowermost portion, wherein a midpoint of the uppermost portion and a midpoint of the lowermost portion defines a maximum height ranging between 100 millimeters (mm) and 165 millimeters (mm). When the main frame and the at least one lens are configured to cover the eyes, nose and mouth of the user, the maximum height can be set to range between 140 millimeters (mm) and 165 millimeters (mm). When the main frame and the at least one lens are configured to only cover the user's eyes, and the waterproof sealing skirt has an eye portion which is embedded with the main frame and the lens, the maximum height can be further set as low as being ranging between 100 millimeters (mm) and 150 millimeters (mm), and preferably even lowered to range between 100 millimeters (mm) and 130 millimeters (mm).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a front perspective view of a conventional full-face snorkeling mask.

FIG. 1B is a rear perspective view of a conventional full-face snorkeling mask.

FIG. 2A is a front perspective view of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view along line 2B-2B of FIG. 2A.

FIG. 3A is a front perspective view of the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3B is a cross-sectional view along line 3B-3B of FIG. 3A.

FIG. 4A is a schematic three-dimensional view of a user putting on the mask shown in FIG. 3A.

FIG. 4B is a cross-sectional view along line 4B-4B of FIG. 4A.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIGS. 2A and 2B show the first embodiment of the full-face mask of the present invention, in which the main frame and lens are configured to cover the eyes, nose, and mouth of a user. The full-face mask 20 includes a body 21 and a breathing tube 22. The breathing tube 22 is in fluid communication with an interior of the body 21. The body 21 includes a main frame 24, a lens 25 which is embedded in the main frame 24, a waterproof sealing skirt 26 which is embedded with the main frame 24 and the lens 25 with its entire area, thereby the waterproof sealing skirt 26 is suitable for fitting on a user's face, including eyes, nose and mouth. The body 21 further includes a head strap 27 which has two ends 271 and 272 fixed to the main frame 24 (or fixed to the waterproof sealing skirt 26, not shown), in which the two ends 271, 272 are located to correspond to two outer sides of the user's eyes, respectively. The waterproof sealing skirt 26 has a region being configured to contact the user's face and having an uppermost portion 281 and a lowermost portion 282, wherein a midpoint w1 of the uppermost portion 281 and a midpoint w2 of the lowermost portion, both measured vertically, defines a maximum height (H) preferably ranging between 100 millimeters (mm) and 165 millimeters (mm).

FIGS. 3A and 3B show a second embodiment of the full-face mask of the present invention, in which the main frame and lens are configured to only cover the user's eyes (E). The full-face mask 30 includes a body 31 and a breathing tube 32, and the breathing tube 32 is in fluid communication with an interior of the body 31. The body 31 includes a main frame 34, a lens 35 which is embedded in the main frame 34, and a waterproof sealing skirt 36 with its upper portion, i.e., the eye portion being embedded with the main frame 34 and the lens 35. The waterproof sealing skirt 36 is adapted to fit a user's face, including eyes, nose and mouth. The body 31 also includes a head strap 37 which has two ends 371, 372 fixed to the main frame 34, in which the two ends 371, 372 are located to correspond to two outer sides of the user's eyes, respectively (as shown in FIG. 4A). Of course, the two ends 371, 372 of the head strap 37 do not necessarily have to be connected to the main frame 34, but can also be fixed to the waterproof sealing skirt 36 on both outer sides relative to the user's eyes (not shown in the figure). The waterproof sealing skirt 36 has a region being configured to contact the user's face (as shown in FIG. 4B) and having an uppermost portion 381 and a lowermost portion 382, wherein a midpoint w1 of the uppermost portion 381 and a midpoint w2 of the lowermost portion 382, both measured vertically, defines a maximum height (H) which preferably ranges between 100 millimeters (mm) and 165 millimeters (mm).

Generally speaking, regardless of the first embodiment or the second embodiment, the region where the waterproof sealing skirt 26, 36 fits the user's face is a waterproof ring 28, 38 which surrounds the entire face. The waterproof ring 28, 38 may have an overlapping double-layered contour (usually being a U-shaped or V-shaped open cross-section, or a square or O-shaped closed cross-section, not shown), or a non-overlapping double-layered contour (usually being a Y-shaped cross-section, as shown in FIGS. 2B, 3B and 4B). Also, the region contacting the user's face has sufficient width to avoid leakage. The above-mentioned maximum height (H) is essentially defined as the distance vertically measured from the center point (i.e., w1) of the uppermost portions 281, 381 to the center point (i.e., w2) of the lowermost portions 282, 382 of the waterproof ring 28, 38. More preferably, in the state where both of the main frame 24 and the lens 25 cover the user's eyes, nose and mouth (i.e., in the first embodiment), the maximum height (H) is between 140 millimeters (mm) and 165 millimeters (mm), the two-point (P1, P2) fixed head strap is enough to tighten the body to the user's head in a very stable manner, and there is no need to use a chin ring or other measures to tighten the chin area of the body onto the lower jaw of the user, because the height of the entire mask 20 is greatly reduced, whereas the upper portion of the body can be lowered to the eyebrows of the user, and the lower portion of the body can be close to the jawbone of the mandible or even raised to very close to the lower lip (LL) of the user. In brief, for such a short mask, the user only needs to tighten the body of the mask with two-point head straps 37 and a very balanced overall mask fit on the face can be perfectly obtained, especially when being used underwater, water pressure coming from the front will makes the waterproof sealing skirt even more stable to tightly suck the user's face.

Taking the second embodiment shown in FIGS. 3A, 3B, 4A and 4B as an example where the main frame 34 and the lens 35 only cover the eyes (E) of the user (U), as the new model of the breathable mask 30 which was also provided by the same inventor, the value of the maximum height (H) can be further reduced to an extent between 100 millimeters (mm) and 150 millimeters (mm), and the overall waterproof and balanced effect is even better. Among them, if specifically for the size of women or children, the value of the maximum height (H) can be set as low as being between 100 millimeters (mm) and 130 millimeters (mm), so that the two-point head strap 37 can easily tighten the mask 30 against the head of the user (U) to get the much more excellent balancing effect.

In addition to the above-mentioned preferred embodiments that have detailed descriptions of the structure and operation methods for realizing this inventive technology, any style that is changed based on the same concept, for example, using the different shape, material, or quantity of the head strap by changing it into a style of multiple strips, but still fixed with two points (which can be designed as being either detachable or non-detachable); or using an additional fixed strap, fixed piece or fixed pad at the chin position of the body to further enhance the stability of the mask with three-point fixation, and so on, are also feasible change under the concept of this invention. In addition, the mentioned at least one lens may be an integrated lens that only covers the user's eyes, may be a pair of glasses separated into left and right lenses, or may be a full-face single piece large lens that covers the user's eyes, nose, and mouth. All of the above possibilities can be an alternative solution and still fall within the scope of this invention.

Claims

1. A breathable mask, including a body and a breathing tube being in fluid communication with an interior of the body, the body including: a main frame;at least one lens being embedded in the main frame;a waterproof sealing skirt, partially fitted with the main frame and the lens, the waterproof sealing skirt being configured to fit a user's face and enclose eyes, nose and mouth of the user;characterized in that: the body further includes a head strap which has two ends fixed to the main frame or the waterproof sealing skirt, in which the two ends are located to correspond to two outer sides of the user's eyes, respectively; and the waterproof sealing skirt has a region being configured to contact the user's face and having an uppermost portion and a lowermost portion, wherein a midpoint of the uppermost portion and a midpoint of the lowermost portion defines a maximum height ranging between 100 millimeters (mm) and 165 millimeters (mm).

2. The breathable mask of claim 1, wherein the main frame and the at least one lens are configured to cover the eyes, nose and mouth of the user.

3. The breathable mask of claim 2, wherein the maximum height ranges between 140 millimeters (mm) and 165 millimeters (mm).

4. The breathable mask of claim 1, wherein the main frame and the at least one lens are configured to only cover the user's eyes; and the waterproof sealing skirt has an eye portion which is embedded with the main frame and the lens.

5. The breathable mask of claim 4, wherein the maximum height ranges between 100 millimeters (mm) and 150 millimeters (mm).

6. The breathable mask of claim 5, wherein the maximum height ranges between 100 millimeters (mm) and 130 millimeters (mm).