Maintenance-free respirator that has concave portions on opposing sides of mask top section

Abstract

A maintenance-free respirator 10 that includes a mask harness and a mask body 11 . The mask body 11 has at least one layer of filter media 56 and has a perimeter 32 that includes an upper segment 34 . The upper segment 34 includes first and second concave segments 36, 38 that are located, respectively, on first and second sides of a central plane 40 , when viewing the mask body from a top view. A maintenance-free respirator 10 of this configuration is comfortable to wear and can provide a snug fit to a wearer's face, particularly beneath each of the wearer's eyes, while at the same time having an ability to improve compatibility with various protective eyewear.

1 . A maintenance-free respirator that comprises:
 (a) a mask harness; and   (b) a mask body that includes at least one layer of filter media, the mask body having a perimeter that includes an upper segment that comprises first and second concave segments that are located, respectively, on first and second sides of a central plane when viewing the mask body from a top view.   
   
   
       2 . The maintenance-free respirator of  claim 1 , wherein the mask body can be folded flat and includes a plurality of panels, the panel that resides over the nose and beneath the wearer's eyes, when the respirator is being worn, having the upper segment that comprises the first and second concave segments. 
   
   
       3 . The maintenance-free respirator of  claim 1 , wherein the perimeter has five inflection points located on the upper segment of the perimeter. 
   
   
       4 . The maintenance-free respirator of  claim 1 , wherein the slope of a line tangent to the upper segment of the perimeter includes both a negative and a positive slope in the first and second concave segments. 
   
   
       5 . The maintenance-free respirator of  claim 1 , wherein a chord line that extends across each of the first and second concave segments has a length of about 3 to 7 centimeters. 
   
   
       6 . The maintenance-free respirator of  claim 1 , wherein a chord line that extends across each of the first and second concave segments has a length of about 4 to 6 centimeters. 
   
   
       7 . The maintenance-free respirator of  claim 6 , wherein a chord line that extends across each of the first and second concave segments has a length of about 5 centimeters. 
   
   
       8 . The maintenance-free respirator of  claim 6 , wherein the path length of the first and second concave segments is greater than the chord length by about 1 to 3 millimeters. 
   
   
       9 . The maintenance-free respirator of  claim 1 , wherein each of the first and second concave segments have a depth d that is about 2 to 11 millimeters. 
   
   
       10 . The maintenance-free respirator of  claim 1 , wherein each of the first and second concave segments have a depth d that is about 4 to 9 millimeters. 
   
   
       11 . The maintenance-free respirator of  claim 1 , wherein each of the first and second concave segments have a depth d that is about 5 to 7 millimeters. 
   
   
       12 . The maintenance-free respirator of  claim 1 , wherein the mask body comprises a stiffening layer, a filtration layer, and a cover web. 
   
   
       13 . The maintenance-free respirator of  claim 1 , wherein the mask body comprises a filtration layer, a shaping layer, and a cover web. 
   
   
       14 . A mask body that comprises at least one filtration layer and that has a perimeter that includes an upper segment that has first and second concave segments that are located, respectively, on first and second sides of a central plane when viewing the mask body from a top view. 
   
   
       15 . The mask body of  claim 14 , wherein the upper segment has five inflection points located thereon.