Patent Application
20210352981
Relaxing while travelling by airplane can be difficult. The onset of COVID-19 has made air travel even more of a stressful proposition. Best practice in reducing contagion is for individuals to wear face masks. Individuals seeking to rest in an airplane may struggle to find comfortable positions in airplanes' small seats and while seated in a near upright position. Wearing a mask may make that even more difficult. This is a problem particularly for business travelers who may require adequate sleep operate at full capacity at their destination. To alleviate sleeping problems while traveling, many travelers use portable, supportive neck pillows for upper-body comfort. Typical neck pillows use cushions that wrap around the sides and back of a user's neck, allowing the user to support their head in an upright fashion while seated upright. This prevents neck cricks and pains due to slouching of the user's head while sleeping in the upright position, and further may prevent the user from leaning onto another structure (e.g., cabin walls or window of a plane).
However, the combination of having to wear a face mask in addition to a neck pillow may make resting while traveling by airplane still difficult. For example, the elastic straps commonly used to retain face masks to user's face may be uncomfortable. Even cords that may tie together on the back of the user's head may be uncomfortable because they are usually disposed between the user's head and the airplane seat's cushion. This may prevent travelers from achieving complete R.E.M. sleep.
To help sleep, some individuals carry eye masks while traveling to block light. Eye masks are usually carried separately from the neck support pillow. This added cargo can be cumbersome and may increase the risk of one or both items becoming misplaced and lost.
An effective solution is necessary to address the issue of a head and neck support, while protecting the user from pathogens such as COVID-19 and providing a user with an environment conducive to achieving restful sleep in the confines of an airplane, train, etc. where a user is seated in a generally upright position for an extended period of time.
The present disclosure provides the combination of a neck pillow, a face mask, and a storage pocket for storing an eye mask in one assembly, addressing this need in the art.
These and further features of the present invention will be described with reference to the attached drawings. In the description and drawings, particular embodiments of the invention have been disclosed in detail as being indicative of some of the ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed, but it is understood that the invention is not limited correspondingly in scope. Rather, the invention includes all changes, modifications and equivalents coming within the terms of the appended claims.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate various example systems, methods, and so on, that illustrate various example embodiments of aspects of the invention. It will be appreciated that the illustrated element boundaries (e.g., boxes, groups of boxes, or other shapes) in the figures represent one example of the boundaries. One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that one element may be designed as multiple elements or that multiple elements may be designed as one element. An element shown as an internal component of another element may be implemented as an external component and vice versa. Furthermore, elements may not be drawn to scale.
The face mask 3 may include a face mask body 5 dimensioned to cover the user's nose and mouth when positioned against the user's face in the as-used position shown. The face mask 3 may also include cord portions 7a, 7b coupled to the face mask body 5 to, in the as-used position, urge part of the interior surface of the face mask body 5 towards the face of the user U. As best seen in
The body 5 of the face mask 3 may be manufactured from fabric. In one embodiment, the body 5 of the face mask 3 is manufactured from at least two layers of fabric forming a pocket therebetween configured to house a filter. This way the face mask 3 may be used with, for example, an N95 filter or any other filter that may be placed inside the pocket formed by the two layers of fabric. In one embodiment, the face mask 3 includes a malleable nose piece attached to the body 5 to conform to the user's nose and enhance comfort or masking of the user's nose.
The pillow 2 includes a C-shaped body 4 that has a center portion 4a, a first end portion 4b, and a second end portion 4c. The pillow 2 also has openings 6 for the cords 7a, 7b. In the illustrated embodiment, two of the openings 6aa and 6ab are disposed adjacent the center portion 4a. Another opening 6b is disposed adjacent the first end portion 4b and another opening 6c is disposed adjacent the second end portion 4c. The cord portion 7a enters the pillow 2 at the opening 6aa disposed adjacent the center portion 4a and exits the pillow 2 at the opening 6b disposed adjacent the first end portion 4b. The cord portion 7b enters the pillow 2 at the opening 6ab disposed adjacent the center portion 4a and exits the pillow 2 at the opening 6c disposed adjacent the second end portion 4c.
In the illustrated embodiment, the pillow 2 includes a strip 8a operably connected to the body 4 to form a channel. The opening 6aa disposed adjacent the center portion 4a is disposed at a first end of the strip 8a and the opening 6b disposed adjacent the first end portion 4b is disposed at a second end of the strip 8a such that the cord portion 7a enters the pillow 2 at the opening 6aa and exits the pillow 2 at the opening 6b. Similarly, the opening 6ab disposed adjacent the center portion 4a is disposed at a first end of the strip 8b and the opening 6c disposed adjacent the first end portion 4c is disposed at a second end of the strip 8b such that the cord portion 7b enters the pillow 2 at the opening 6ab and exits the pillow 2 at the opening 6c. This way, the mask 3 may be adjusted and secured using the ends of the cord portions 7a, 7b at the front of the pillow 2. This is much more convenient and comfortable than using elastic straps or cords that tie on the back of the head of the user U to hold the mask 3 in place.
In one embodiment, the device 1 may include a clasp similar to the clasp 9 shown to retain together the ends of the cord portions 7a, 7b at the front of the pillow 2. Such a clasp also may be used to simultaneously latch the pillow 2 and the face mask 3 in the as-used position.
The device 1 may also include a pocket 10 built on the body 4 of the pillow 2. The pocket 10 may be a zippered pocket 10 disposed at the center portion 4a (or somewhere else) on the pillow 2 to safely keep items such as an eye mask the user U may use to block light and sleep safely stored while traveling in a plane.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the invention, 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 the present invention. Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention 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 invention.
To the extent that the term “includes” or “including” is employed in the detailed description or the claims, it is intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as that term is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in a claim. Furthermore, to the extent that the term “or” is employed in the detailed description or claims (e.g., A or B) it is intended to mean “A or B or both”. When the applicants intend to indicate “only A or B but not both” then the term “only A or B but not both” will be employed. Thus, use of the term “or” herein is the inclusive, and not the exclusive use. See, Bryan A. Garner, A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage 624 (2d. Ed. 1995).
While example systems, methods, and so on, have been illustrated by describing examples, and while the examples have been described in considerable detail, it is not the intention of the applicants to restrict or in any way limit scope to such detail. It is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components or methodologies for purposes of describing the systems, methods, and so on, described herein. Additional advantages and modifications will readily appear to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention is not limited to the specific details, the representative apparatus, and illustrative examples shown and described. Thus, this application is intended to embrace alterations, modifications, and variations that fall within the scope of the appended claims. Furthermore, the preceding description is not meant to limit the scope of the invention. Rather, the scope of the invention is to be determined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
