Patent Application
20220280817
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The disclosure relates to filtering devices and more particularly pertains to a new filtering device for reducing exposure to particulates. The present invention discloses a filtering device comprising a pair of compressible tubular cylinders having integral filters.
The prior art relates to filtering devices directed to filtering air as it passes through nostrils of a user to the user's lungs. Such prior art filtering devices may comprise interconnected pairs of cylinders having flanges therearound which engage nostril walls, interconnected pairs of tubular cylinders insertable into nostrils and engageable to carbon filters, pipes having flanges extending radially from one end so as to form seals with nostrils upon inhaling of air, linked pairs of rings, wherein each ring can be inserted into a nostril and fitted with a filter, and filters that are magnetically engageable to noses. What is lacking in the prior art is a filtering device comprising a pair of compressible tubular cylinders having integral filters.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a cylinder, which is tubular and resiliently compressible. The cylinder is configured to be compressed between digits of a hand of a user, positioning the user to insert the cylinder, by a first end thereof, into a nostril. A filter is engaged to the cylinder and extends across a second end of the cylinder. The cylinder is one of a pair of cylinders. Each cylinder of the pair of cylinders is configured to be compressed and inserted into a respective nostril of the user. The cylinders are configured to expand so that the cylinders conform to and sealably engage interior surfaces of the nostrils. The filters are configured to filter air passing therethrough, to reduce particulate content of the air, prior to the air entering lungs of the user.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
A filter 18 is engaged to the cylinder 12 and extends across the second end 16 of the cylinder 12. The filter 18 is configured to capture particulates having diameters of from 0.0001 to 1000 micrometers. The filter 18 may comprise a plurality of fibers 20, or other filtering means, such as, but not limited to, membranes, charged particles, and the like.
The filter 18 may be configured to capture particulates having diameters larger than approximately 0.01 micrometers and smaller than 1000 micrometers, so that the filter 18 is configured to filter bacteria from air passing therethrough. The filter 18 also may be configured to capture particulates having diameters larger than approximately 0.003 micrometers and smaller than 1000 micrometers, so that the filter 18 is configured to filter viruses from air passing therethrough.
The cylinder 12 is one of a pair of cylinders 12. Each cylinder 12 of the pair of cylinders 12 is configured to be compressed and inserted into a respective nostril of the user. The cylinders 12 are configured to expand so that the cylinders 12 conform to and sealably engage interior surfaces of the nostrils. The filters 18 are configured to filter air passing therethrough, to reduce particulate content of the air, prior to the air entering lungs of the user.
The device 10 also may comprise a shell 22, which defines an interior space 24 in which the pair of cylinders 12 are sealably positioned. The shell 22 is configured to deter contamination of the pair of cylinders 12 prior to use. The shell 22 comprises plastic so that the shell 22 is openable, by tearing of the plastic, allowing the user to access the pair of cylinders 12. The present invention also anticipates the shell 22 comprising other containing means, such as, but not limited to, capped tubes, clamshell containers, and the like.
In use, the device 10 enables a method 26 of filtering air passing through nostrils of a user. The method 26 comprise a first step 28 of providing a user with a pair of nostril wearable filtering devices, as per the disclosure above and as shown in
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
