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US 10,238,158 B2Granted
Filtering face-piece respirator having darted mask body
Assignee3M Innovative Properties Company
InventorDean R. Duffy
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A cup-shaped filtering face-piece respirator 10 that includes a harness 14 and a mask body 12 that has a multi-layer filtering structure 16. The mask body 12 includes at least one dart 60 permanently bonded in the filtering structure 16, the dart 60 tapering from a center plane 32 of the mask body 12 to a side edge of the mask body. The dart 60 inhibits collapse of the cup-shaped form of the respirator 10.
Claims17
A method of making a cup-shaped filtering face-piece respirator, the method comprising:
- (a) forming a flat face mask from filtering structure having a pleat extending from a first side to a second side;
- (b) at least partially expanding the flat face mask to form a partially cup-shaped face mask with the pleat partially expanded;
- and
- (c) forming a securement across the partially expanded pleat proximate each side to lock the pleat thus forming a dart wherein the flat face mask further comprises a first flange at the first side and a second flange at the second side, wherein the pleat extends from the first flange to the second flange, wherein the first flange extends away from the filtering structure of the mask body at a first line of demarcation, and further wherein the second flange extends away from the filtering structure of the mask body at a second line of demarcation.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.