Sampling face mask

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a sampling face mask for harvesting substances exhaled from the nose of its user, in which the risk of cross-contamination of the exhaled substances by its surrounding environment or by the process of handling the sampling mask with hand(s) or additional tools is reduced to a minimal. The sampling mask includes a mask body having a front side substantially conforms to the shape of the nose of the subject, a bottom, and one or more clamping blocks disposed on the bottom; a removable cartridge removably coupled to the mask body comprising a cartridge body having a chamber for housing the substances exhaled from the nose of the subject, and a door disposed above the chamber for opening or closing the chamber; and a driving means operably coupled to the mask body, the cartridge body, and the door for driving the door to move laterally or vertically with respective to the cartridge body; wherein, the one or more clamping blocks of the mask body can hold the door in place thereby keeping the door from closing and the chamber being disposed substantially underneath the nose and stayed open; and when the one or more clamping blocks does not hold the door in place, the door is driven close via the driving means thereby closing the chamber and allowing the removable cartridge to be separated from the mask body.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.