This application is directed to protective garments having a gasket directly molded to the fabric thereof that defines an opening in the garment, and more particularly, to hoods that include a facepiece gasket molded directly to fabric defining the face opening in the hood.
Protective or hazardous duty garments are used in a variety of industries and settings to protect the wearer from adverse conditions such as heat, flames, smoke, cold, sharp objects, chemicals, liquids, vapors, fumes and the like. When a protective or hazardous duty garment is intended for protection against chemical, biological, radiological, and/or nuclear threats, vapor tight and moisture tight seals for various aspects of the garment are important. Such seals are of importance where the garment fits about the wearer, such as at the wrist, hands, ankles, neck, and/or face. The face is typically covered by a breathing mask or respiratory mask.
Currently, as shown in the photograph of
A protective garment having a gasket directly molded to the fabric that defines an opening in the garment provides an improved seal to the fabric, a longer lasting seal to the fabric, and an interface seal to a breathing mask or respiratory mask that meets the National Fire Protection Association (“NFPA”) CBRN standards (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear). The opening in the garment may be for a wrist, a hand, an ankle, the neck, or the face of the wearer. In one embodiment, the fabric forms a hood of the garment and the gasket is directly molded to the fabric defining an opening for the face of the wearer. The protective garment may be a coat or a one-piece suit with a fixed or a sealingly, detachable hood.
The gasket is directly molded to both the outer surface and the inner surface of the fabric. In cross-section, the fabric provides a tongue inside a groove defined by an upper rail and a lower rail of gasket material. As the gasket material extends away from the fabric, the upper rail and lower rail of gasket material merge into a primary body of the gasket material. The primary body has a first thickness, the upper rail has a second thickness and the lower rail has a third thickness. In one embodiment, the first thickness is smaller than the sum of the second and third thicknesses.
The fabric that the gasket material is molded to provides vapor and particulate protection against chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats in the form of toxic industrial chemicals, toxic industrial materials, and chemical warfare agents. The protective garment, as a whole, is certified to one or more of NFPA 1994 Class 2 and NFPA 1994 Class 3 standards.
In one aspect, the fabric that the gasket is directly molded to is a strip of fabric or a ring of fabric connectable to the opening in the garment.
The following detailed description will illustrate the general principles of the invention, examples of which are additionally illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers indicate identical or functionally similar elements.
The garments and hoods disclosed herein have a gasket molded directed to the fabric or material forming an opening in the garment. For example, the opening may be one that receives a wrist, a hand, an ankle, the neck, or the face of the wearer. The direct molding of the gasket to the fabric provides an improved seal that is easier to manufacture and has greater longevity than its sewn predecessor. While the gasket is primarily described herein with respect to the hood of a garment, the seal is not so limited. The seal may be utilized by molding seal material to any opening defined by a portion of the garment or to a strip or ring of fabric that is connectable to such openings. The molding process results in the gasket being molded directly to both an inner surface and an outer surface of the fabric or material defining the opening in the garment.
Referring to
A cross-section of a portion of hood 11 taken along line 3-3 in
As shown in
The upper and lower rails 54, 56 merge and gradually taper, once beyond the edge 64 of the fabric 33, to a primary body portion 44 having a first thickness T1. The upper rail 54 has a second thickness of T2 and the lower rail 56 has a third thickness of T3. In one embodiment, the first thickness T1 of the primary body portion 44 is smaller than the sum of the second and third thicknesses T2 and T3. The second and third thicknesses T2 and T3 may be the same or different. In another embodiment, both the second and third thicknesses T2 and T3, individually, are greater than the first thickness T1.
Turning now to the interface feature 46 illustrated in
In one aspect, as shown in
The one-piece suit 20 of
Now referring to
The gaskets herein may be molded to the fabric using known molding techniques such as, but not limited to, injection molding, compression molding, rotational molding, and blow molding. A mold is provided that has the designed configuration for the gasket. The mold is also designed to receive the opening of the garment or the strip or ring of fabric 72, 72′ in a manner that the fabric will remain in place within the mold as the gasket material is over-molded onto the fabric, in particular, both the upper and lower surfaces of the fabric as described above.
The gaskets disclosed herein include a rubber material, including natural and/or synthetic rubbers. In one embodiment, the rubber material includes, but is not limited to, butyl rubber, chloro-butyl rubber, silicone rubber, chloroprene rubber, ethylene propylene diene monomer (“EPDM”) rubber, nitril rubber, or blends thereof.
The fabric or material used for the protective garment 20, the hood 11, the strip or ring of fabric 72, 72′, and the garment 80 is generally a material that provides vapor and particulate protection against chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats in the form of toxic industrial chemicals, toxic industrial materials, and chemical warfare agents. The fabric or material may be or include a semi-permeable (selectively permeable) or impermeable membrane material. The selectively permeable membrane material may be generally water vapor permeable but generally impermeable to other liquid moisture. The fabric may be made of a microporous material that is either hydrophilic, hydrophobic, or somewhere in between, a monolithic material that allows moisture vapor transmission therethrough by molecular diffusion, or a combination thereof (known as a bicomponent moisture barrier in which the microporous or monolithic materials are layered or intertwined). The membrane material may be made of or include expanded polytetrafluoroethylene such as GORE-TEX® or CROSSTECH® materials (both of which are trademarks of W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. of Newark, Del.), polyurethane-based materials, neoprene-based materials, cross-linked polymers, polyamid, GORE® CHEMPAK® materials sold by W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc., which include GORE® CHEMPAK® Ultra Barrier Material, GORE® CHEMPAK® Selectively Permeable Material, or GORE® CHEMPAK® Sorptive Material, Tychem® material sold by Dupont, fabric or cloth that includes carbon such as those sold by Calgon Carbon Corporation of Pittsburg, Pa., or other suitable materials. In one embodiment, the garment or hood may be or include a GORE™, Chempak® Ultra Barrier Material laminated to an outer shell of NOMEX® textile.
The garments 20, 80 as a whole may meet the National Fire Protection Association (“NFPA”) standards for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBNR) threats. Such harmful materials may include liquids (including chemical warfare agents, biological warfare agents and toxic industrial chemicals), vapors and aerosols (including chemical warfare agents and toxic industrial chemicals), and contaminated particulates (such as biological warfare agents or toxic industrial materials). Examples of chemical warfare agents include soman (GD) nerve agent and distilled mustard (HD) blister agent. Examples of toxic industrial chemicals include acrolein (liquid), acrylonitrile (liquid), ammonia (gas), choline (gas), and dimethyl sulfate (liquid). In one embodiment, the protective garment is certified to the NFPA 1994 Class 2 standard, the NFPA Class 3 standard, or both standards (the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference).
In one embodiment, the garment must pass a Man In Simulant Test (“MIST”). In one case, the MIST essentially consists of introducing the garment into a chamber filled with a vaporized test material (such as oil of wintergreen). Absorbent padding is placed on the wearer and/or inside the garment. After the garment has been exposed to the vaporized material for a sufficient period of time, the garment is removed from the chamber. The absorbent pads are removed and analyzed to determine how much of the vaporized test material they have absorbed, if any.
Depending on the application of the garments 20 and 80, the garments may include various layers through their thicknesses to provide various heat, moisture, chemical, and abrasion resistant qualities so that the garments can be used as a protective, hazardous duty, and/or firefighter garment. Materials suitable for such protective suits are known in the art and are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,395,555, herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Although the invention is shown and described with respect to certain embodiments, it should be clear that modifications will occur to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the specification, and the present invention includes all such modifications.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61538334 | Sep 2011 | US |