Nasal appliance

Nov. 25, 1941.

L. ROWE

2,264,153

NASAL'APPLIANCE

Filed Feb. 19, 1940

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BY

INVENTOR.

•Leo/va^o J~^qwe.

ATTORNEYS.

Patented Nov. 25, 1941

2,264,153

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,264,153

NASAL APPLIANCE

Leonard Rowe, Cincinnati, Ohio, assignor to Madeleine Pope, Cincinnati, Ohio

Application February 19,1940, Serial No. 319,664

Claims. (Cl. 128—148)

My invention relates to a nasal appliance of the type consisting of two cage-like thimbles for insertion in nostrils of the nose and which are joined together by a u shaped yoke which straddles the septum of the nose and holds the thimbles in place. The thimbles contain a filter for filtering material out of the air which is breathed by the wearer or they may contain absorbent material saturated with some vaporizing medicine for the treatment of the wearer.

When a nasal appliance of this type is fitted with filters, it is necessary that the thimbles holding the filters conform very closely to the inner periphery of the nostril and thus prevent any inhaled air seeping between the thimble and the nostril wall and thus avoiding the filter. While there are a number of nasal appliances for the above purpose on the market, they are usually specially made and fitted for each' wearer since most people’s nostrils differ in size and configuration and the thickness of the septum between the nostrils vary to a great extent. For this reason it has practically been essential that a nasal appliance of this type must be specially formed and carefully made for each wearer. This, of course, involves quite an amount in expense in time and labor expended in fitting the appliance and also prevents the retailing of an appliance of this type without a special fitting to the prospective purchaser.

It is an object of my invention to provide a nasal appliance of the above type which may be readily configured and formed by the purchaser to fit his own nose and wherein it is possible by simple adjustment to make the wall of the thimble either larger or smaller so as to insure a good fit.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a nasal appliance of the above type where the length of the septum yoke may be varied and adjusted as to the individual wearer and which, after once adjusted may be locked into the adjusted position.

It is another object of my invention to provide a nasal appliance with all the above advantages and which may be sold as a single unit to a customer without any skilled fitting by the seller and without the necessity of the seller keeping on hand a large assortment of different sizes and different types of parts to fit different wearers.

These and further objects of my invention which will be set forth hereinafter and will be apparent to one skilled in the art upon reading these specifications, I accomplish by that cer10 tain construction and arrangement of parts of which I shall now describe an exemplary embodiment. Reference is now made to the drawing which forms a part hereof and in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the bottom of my novel nasal appliance.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of my nasal appliance with the septum yoke above.

Figure 3 is a plan view of the type of my nasal appliance.

Figure 4 is a side elevation of my nasal appliance with the septum yoke downwardly and crimped.

Figure 5 is a side elevation of a modified form of my nasal appliance.

Figure 6 is a perspective view of one of the naps or filters which are inserted in the thimbles of my device.

Figure 7 is a perspective view of a portion of one of my thimbles.

Figure 8 is a perspective view of the second portion of my thimble.

For clearness the drawing is made on a scale much larger than the device itself.

Briefly in the practice of. my invention, I provide a U shaped septum yoke formed of two overlapping strips I and 2. The ends of these strips have portions bent around the overlapped strip and embracing it by. a collar 3. From this it is apparent that the two portions i and 2 are longitudinally movable......

Fastened to or integral with the ends of the legs 4 of the yoke are thimbles generally indicated at 5. My thimbles comprise walls, formed of two substantially U shaped strips of metal, the legs of one contained within the legs of the other to form a closed wall as indicated in Figures 1 and 3.

The outer strip 6 is fastened to or may be an integral part of the leg of the yoke 7 adjacent one end thereof. The other end contains two fingers 8 which project inwardly from the strip 6 and are laterally opposed to each other.

The embraced or contained strip has a flattened portion or leg 10 which laps against the inner side of the leg ί I of the embracing strip 6. On the: other leg of the strip 9 are a series of laterally opposed slots 12. There is a perforate top or grid 13 and a bottom grid 14 which with the walls 9 and 6 form a thimble or cage for retaining the filter 15.

The embracing or containing strip 6 is placed over the embraced strip 9 as indicated in Figures 1 and 3 so that the fingers 8 project into a set of opposed slots 12. The wall of the thimble may

2,264,153 be made larger or smaller by inserting the fingers 8 in different sets of opposed slots 12 as is clear from the drawing. (See Figures 1 and 3.)

I do not wish to limit myself to the fingers 8 being placed on the embracing strip and projecting inwardly since it might be advisable in some cases to place the fingers 8 on the embraced strip 8 and project them outwardly with the opposed slots 12 in the embracing strip 6. Neither do I wish to be limited to the perforate tops and bottoms 13 and 14 being attached to the embraced strip S. It is to be noted that one of the perforate tops or bottoms 13 and 14 is pivoted as at 16 so that it may be pushed aside or opened as in Figures 1 and 2 to permit changing of the filter 15. Whether the top or the bottom is pivoted makes no difference since all that is necessary is to make the inside of the cage available for the purpose of readily removing and replacing filters.

In operation, the purchaser of my novel nasal appliance may manually configure the walls of the thimble to fit his own nostrils and may make it either larger or smaller by placing the fingers 8 in different opposing slots 12. It will be noted that when the fingers 8 are in a series of opposing slots i 2 that this is the only lock which maintains the peripheral size of the timble and at the same time prevents lateral movement. After the thimbles have been configured so that they snugly fit the interior of the nostrils of the wearer, the adjustable septum yoke is telescoped until it is the correct length. When the correct adjustment of this yoke has been made, the two strips I and 2 are crimped as at 18 in Figure 4 thus maintaining the adjustment.

The pad or filter 15 may be of the usual filter type well known in this art or it may be of absorbent material for holding vaporizing medicine and the one may be interchangeable with the other since the filters may be readily removable and replaceable.

In the modification shown in Figure 5 the embracing strip 6 has a single inwardly projecting finger 8α which registers in one of the series of slots 12α on the embraced strip 9. In this modification I have also made the portion 7α of the septum yoke integral with the embracing strip 6.

From the above, it is apparent that I have provided a nasal appliance which may be deformed and fitted by the individual purchaser to his own nostrils and which by a simple single locking device may be changed as to the peripheral size of the thimbles. It is therefore apparent that my device may be sold, as a unit to any purchaser who himself may fit the appliance to his own nostrils without the necessity for a store carrying numerous different sizes of thimbles and septum yokes since any thimble and septum yoke may be adjusted to meet the individual requirement.

I do not wish to be limited to this specific type of top or bottom grid since any perforate retaining wall or device will meet the requirement of any invention so long as it retains the filter pad therein and permits its ready removal and replacement. It is to be understood that different forms of my preferred form may be made without departing from the spirit thereof.