Medical/surgical personal protection system including a helmet and a hood, the helmet having chin bar-mounted controls
AssigneeStryker Corporation
InventorsBrian VanDerWoude, Douglas Campbell, Marshall Proulx, Adam Sclafani
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A personal protection system for providing a sterile barrier around medical/surgical personnel. The system includes a helmet over which a hood or a toga suspended. The helmet has a chin bar that extends forward of the face of the individual wearing the system. At least one manually actuated control for regulating one aspect of operation of the system is mounted to the chin bar. Sometimes the control is a button that is depressed to control the operation of a helmet mounted fan that draws air into the hood or toga. A microphone may also be mounted to the chin bar.
Claims24
A personal protection system, said system comprising:
- a helmet shaped to be worn over the head of the wearer;
- a fan disposed in said helmet for drawing air into said helmet;
- at least one nozzle connected to said helmet for receiving air from said fan and discharging the air outwardly from said helmet;
- a chin bar that is connected to said helmet and that is located below said helmet so that said chin bar is located forward of the chin of the wearer, said chin bar being shaped to extend at least partially around the chin of the wearer;
- at least one control button that is mounted to said chin bar for regulating operation of said personal protection system;
- a hood that extends over said helmet, said fan and said chin bar, including said at least one chin bar-mounted control button, said hood having a transparent face shield;
- and
- fastening features attached to said helmet that engage said hood so as to releasably hold said hood over said helmet, said fan and said chin bar so that said face shield is located forward of said chin bar.
A head unit for use as part of a personal protection system, said head unit comprising:
- a helmet shaped to be worn over the head of the wearer;
- a face frame that is connected to said helmet and that extends downwardly from said helmet, said face frame having a chin bar that extends around and forward of the chin of the wearer;
- at least one first fastening feature attached to said helmet and at least one second fastening feature attached to said face frame, said first and second fastening features shaped to engage complementary fastening features integral with a hood that has a face shield so that, when said fastening features are engaged, the hood is disposed over said helmet and the hood face shield is located forward of said chin bar;
- a fan disposed in said helmet for drawing air into said helmet and the hood;
- at least one nozzle connected to said helmet for receiving air from said fan and discharging the air outwardly from said helmet;
- and
- at least one control button that is mounted to said chin bar and connected to said fan for regulating operation of said fan.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.