Full Face Hooded Respirator for Compatibility with Beards and Religious Head Coverings

A hooded full-face respirator comprising:

• a mask assembly comprising:
• a shield for covering a face of a wearer at a facial area thereof that includes a nose, mouth and eyes of said wearer;
• a face seal spanning along an outer perimeter of the shield and projecting rearwardly therefrom for sealed placement against the face of the wearer in a position surrounding said facial area thereof;
• ports and associated valving accompanying the shield and the face seal, and positioned and operable to admit breathable air to the facial area of the wearer and exhaust exhaled gases therefrom;
• a wearable hood of fluid-impermeable character and having a face opening in which the mask assembly is received, and around which the wearable hood has a fluid-tight attachment to the mask assembly around a full perimeter of the face-opening, and a neck opening in which a neck of the wearer is accommodated in a worn position of the respirator, and that is bordered by a neck margin of said wearable hood;
• and
• a flexible neck seal comprising flexible impervious material and spanning about the neck opening, wherein the flexible neck seal forms an open-ring around the neck opening, said open ring having gap therein;
• and
• a closure mechanism operable between an open position in which the gap in the neck seal is open to enable donning of the respirator, and a closed position closing said gap of the neck seal to achieve fluid-tightness thereof around the wearer's neck in the worn position of the respirator to prevent fluid from entering a resultingly enclosed and sealed headspace inside the hood.

The respirator of any preceding claim wherein the mask assembly further comprises:

• a multi-piece clamp composed of multiple clamping pieces clamping the face seal and the shield together around the perimeter of the shield;
• and
• an endless single-piece ring-shaped base frame that uninterruptedly spans a closed loop path around the multi-piece clamp and the face seal at an outer perimeter of the mask assembly;
• and
• wherein the fluid-tight attachment of the wearable hood to the mask assembly fully and continuously spans an entirety of the base frame's closed loop path around the multi-piece clamp and the face seal.

A hooded full-face respirator comprising:

• a mask assembly comprising:
• a shield for covering a face of a wearer at a facial area thereof that includes a nose, mouth and eyes of said wearer;
• a face seal spanning along an outer perimeter of the shield and projecting rearwardly therefrom for sealed placement against the face of the wearer in a position surrounding said facial area thereof;
• ports and associated valving accompanying the shield and the face seal, and positioned and operable to admit breathable air to the facial area of the wearer and exhaust exhaled gases therefrom;
• a multi-piece clamp composed of multiple clamping pieces clamping the face seal and the shield together around the perimeter of the shield;
• and
• an endless single-piece ring-shaped base frame that uninterruptedly spans a closed loop path around the multi-piece clamp and the face seal at an outer perimeter of the mask assembly;
• and
• a wearable hood of fluid-impermeable character and having a face opening in which the mask assembly is received;
• wherein a facial margin of the wearable hood borders and fully surrounds the face opening therein, and said facial margin of the wearable hood is sealed to the single-piece base frame of the mask assembly over a full and continuous span of the base frame's closed loop path around the multi-piece clamp and the face seal.

A hooded full-face respirator comprising:

• a mask assembly comprising:
• a shield for covering a face of a wearer at a facial area thereof that includes a nose, mouth and eyes of said wearer;
• a face seal spanning along an outer perimeter of the shield and projecting rearwardly therefrom for sealed placement against the face of the wearer in a position surrounding said facial area thereof;
• ports and associated valving accompanying the shield and the face seal, and positioned and operable to admit breathable air to the facial area of the wearer and exhaust exhaled gases therefrom;
• a wearable hood of fluid-impermeable character and having a face opening in which the mask assembly is received, and around which the wearable hood has a fluid-tight attachment to the mask assembly around a full perimeter of the face-opening, and a neck opening in which a neck of the wearer is accommodated in a worn position of the respirator, and that is bordered by a neck margin of said wearable hood;
• and
• a flexible neck seal comprising flexible impervious material and spanning about the neck opening inside the neck margin of the hood;
• wherein the hood comprises an outer neck flap spanning externally around the neck margin of the hood for receipt of an upper neck margin of an upper body shroud in a position encapsulated under the outer neck flap of the hood and spanning around the neck margin thereof.

A hooded full-face respirator comprising:

• a mask assembly comprising:
• a shield for covering a face of a wearer at a facial area thereof that includes a nose, mouth and eyes of said wearer;
• a face seal spanning along an outer perimeter of the shield and projecting rearwardly therefrom for sealed placement against the face of the wearer in a position surrounding said facial area thereof;
• ports and associated valving accompanying the shield and the face seal, and positioned and operable to admit breathable air to the facial area of the wearer and exhaust exhaled gases therefrom;
• a wearable hood of fluid-impermeable character and having a face opening in which the mask assembly is received, and around which the wearable hood has a fluid-tight attachment to the mask assembly around a full perimeter of the face-opening, and a neck opening in which a neck of the wearer is accommodated in a worn position of the respirator, and that is bordered by a neck margin of said wearable hood;
• and
• a flexible neck seal comprising flexible impervious material and spanning about the neck opening inside the neck margin of the hood;
• wherein the hood comprises a set of cinching members that are distributed over a surface area of the hood and are pullable to cinch the hood into a cinched state of more form-fitting character when worn on a head of the wearer.

A full-face respirator comprising:

• a mask assembly comprising:
• a shield for covering a face of a wearer at a facial area thereof that includes a nose, mouth and eyes of said wearer;
• a face seal spanning along an outer perimeter of the shield and projecting rearwardly therefrom for sealed placement against the face of the wearer in a position surrounding said facial area thereof;
• ports and associated valving accompanying the shield and the face seal, and positioned and operable to admit breathable air to the facial area of the wearer and exhaust exhaled gases therefrom;
• and
• a head harness coupled to the mask assembly in a position spanning rearwardly therefrom to embrace posteriorly about a head of the wearer to secure the shield anteriorly of the face of the wearer;
• wherein said head harness comprises a flexible upper component for connection to the mask assembly at upper securement points thereon, and a pair of flexible lower components for connection to the mask assembly at lower securement points thereon, wherein said flexible upper component includes a widened top band of greater width than each of said flexible lower components for draped donning of said widened top band over the head of the wearer or a religious head covering worn thereon.

A full-face respirator comprising:

• a mask assembly comprising:
• a shield for covering a face of a wearer at a facial area thereof that includes a nose, mouth and eyes said wearer;
• a face seal spanning along an outer perimeter of the shield and projecting rearwardly therefrom for sealed placement against the face of the wearer in a position surrounding said facial area thereof;
• ports and associated valving accompanying the shield and the face seal, and positioned and operable to admit breathable air to the facial area of the wearer and exhaust exhaled gases therefrom;
• a head harness coupled to the mask assembly in a position spanning rearwardly therefrom to embrace posteriorly about a head of the wearer to secure the shield anteriorly of the face of the wearer;
• and
• a tensioning mechanism at area portion of the head harness situated distally of the mask assembly and operable to tension one or more tensionable components of the head harness to pull the face seal snug against the face of the wearer.