Patent Application
20210321726
The 2019-2020 novel coronavirus pandemic has required an unprecedented public health response. Among the most important measures that experts recommend for curtailing or slowing the spread of the virus is the wearing of face masks. Experts believe that proper use of a face mask will do some or all of the following: (1) protect the wearer from inhaling droplet or aerosol suspensions containing significant amounts of the virus sourced from other people; (2) protect people around the wearer in case the wearer is infected (knowingly or unknowingly) where, absent a face mask, such person emanates virus-laden droplets or aerosol; and (3) disincentivize touching of one's own face—a commonly understood pathway of infection for the virus into a person's airways or mucous membranes.
Among health care workers and others on the front lines of pandemic response, face masks are mandatory. Moreover, especially among such front-line workers, certain protocols are recommended. This may include not removing a face mask for a prolonged period, or otherwise wearing multiple face masks in sequence but with little time in between to rest the skin.
Among the general public, pandemic response has increasingly required donning of face masks when in public, particularly when social distancing recommendations are not possible to follow (for example, in crowded grocery stores). Members of the general public are likely new to face mask use, and thus particularly susceptible to their discomfort.
Face mask discomfort could have deadly results. For example, a person's natural inclination is to loosen or doff a mask when it becomes uncomfortable. But doing so at the wrong time could forfeit the very protections the mask ought to provide.
One of the most common face mask designs, mass produced cheaply and readily available, is the double ear loop mask. Such a mask has two elastic bands designed to hook behind the ears. The bands are connected to opposite edges of the region of material that covers the nose and mouth. This widely used mask design is particularly susceptible to face mask discomfort. Most people will report “raw ears” (caused by unavoidable abrasion) when they have to wear such face masks for a prolonged period of time. As mentioned, no matter how experienced or determined to follow protocol the wearer might be, the discomfort of such raw ears could lead to deadly behavior patterns—misuse of the face mask against recommended protocols.
Endurance sports and recreational athletics are separate fields from that of medical face masks. Within the fields of sports and athletics, participants have long used safety pins to fasten racing numbers (or bibs) to their clothing. Safety pins have significant disadvantages, such as the inherent danger of working with a sharp point, as well as their tendency to ruin expensive athletic clothing by the holes they cause. In recent years, alternatives to safety pins have become increasingly popular. One example is BIBBOARDS® (available from BibBoards, Inc. of San Ramon, Calif.). BIBBOARDS® is a two-piece nylon-plastic fastener that advantageously replaces safety pins. In typical use, BIBBOARDS® go on the four corners of a racing number to fasten the number to a garment.
BIBBOARDS® 100 does not damage fabric the way that safety pins do. This is because the principle of operation involves a stud on the front piece with a knob on the end, mating through a hole in the back piece with a thin lip of flexible plastic. The flexibility of the deliberately thinner plastic, as it permits passage in both directions for the knobby end of the stud, allows for easy connection and disconnection of the fastener.
Because of the length of the stud on the front piece that terminates in the knobby end, there is some give when BIBBOARDS® 100 is completely fastened. That is, it wiggles a little bit. It creates a secure reversible connection, yet permits some space and openness to exist between the front and the back pieces.
Yet a further advantage of BIBBOARDS® 100 observed in the sports and athletics fields is its ability to serve as a mode of self-expression. The front piece opposite the side with the stud is an oval plane. It is relatively straightforward to print logos or meaningful sayings on this surface (e.g., with a commercial surface printer suitable for printing on nylon).
The present invention involves a new use for the previously existing BIBBOARDS® 100. The method described herein involves the use of BIBBOARDS® 100 outside of its originally intended context. In particular, rather than the fields of sports and athletics, the present invention uses BIBBOARDS® 100 in the field of medical face masks. The method of use advantageously deploys BIBBOARDS® 100 to serve as an alternative hooking location for the elastic band of a typical face mask. This is done by placing the removable snap fastener in locations near the ear on an item of headwear, such as a cap, hat or band. After such placement, one hooks the elastic straps around the loose-yet-secure fastener, rather than around the back of the ears. This new use has been discovered to eliminate or sharply minimize raw ears. In turn, the new use of BIBBOARDS® 100 to hook face masks has been found to encouraged compliance with personal protective equipment (PPE) protocols in medical settings, and has removed a primary disadvantage of face mask wearing for the general public.
The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention, will be better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there are shown in the drawings embodiments that are presently preferred. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown.
Referring to
Referring to
At step 410, the user arranges the headwear away from the body for easy access to its inside and outside, and for proper handling.
At step 420, the user selects a location that would be near an ear when the headwear is worn. The user places a back piece of the fastener there, ready to receive a front piece's knobby end.
At step 430, from the exterior of the headwear, the user snaps the front piece into the back piece, sandwiching the fabric material. At this point, if using BIBBOARDS® 100, the fastener is highly secure yet easily removable, yet has “wiggle” that makes the front piece advantageously separate slightly at will from the headwear fabric.
At step 440, steps 420 and 430 are repeated on the other side, near the other ear.
At step 450, the user now dons the headwear, whatever type it may be.
Finally, at step 460, the user dons the face mask. Rather than conventionally hooking the elastic loops around the ears, where the backs of the ears carry the force load, the user hooks the elastic loops around the front piece of the snap fasteners (such as BIBBOARDS® 100). There, because of the “wiggle,” the elastic material fits well within the fastener assembly, and gets sandwiched there. In this way, the snap fastener, and not the back of the ear, carries the force load of the elastic straps. The method thereby prevents raw ears, and encourages proper mask use during pandemics or other situations requiring face masks, especially prolonged or sequential uninterrupted use.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes could be made to the embodiments described above without departing from the broad inventive concept thereof. It is understood, therefore, that this invention is not limited to the particular embodiments disclosed, but is intended to cover modifications within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.
