Adjustable Helmet Face Mask

Abstract

An adjustable helmet for mounting physiological sensors employed to take physiological measurements of patient. The adjustable helmet consists of a front portion of flexible plastic material having three flexible arms adapted to fit over the cheekbones and forehead of the wearer. The ends of each of the flexible arms are provided with a number of slots for adjusting the front portion to a particular person's head. The rear portion of the adjustable helmet, also of flexible plastic, fits snugly over the back of the wearer's head and contains fasteners which snap into any of the slots in the flexible arms. Both the front and rear portions contain grommets for mounting physiological sensors in positions where the physiological measurement is to be made.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to an adjustable helmet face mask for mounting physiological sensors. In the increasingly complex technology of today, medical personnel find it necessary to have a great number of measurements of the physiological parameters of a patient. These parameters are vital for the accurate prognosis and diagnosis of the patient. In the past many of these measurements were taken manually, for instance the measurements of blood pressure and temperature. Manual measurement of these physiological parameters is inadequate because it is both inconvenient and time consuming to obtain continuous readings of these parameters which are necessary if changes in the patient's condition are to be observed. Also, if each of the required physiological parameters were to be measured manually, it would be most difficult to take there measurements simultaneously as each of the measurements would require an individual to take the measurement.

Recently, devices for receiving electrodes and the like have been developed for placement on a patient's head. For example the teaching of Ulett (U.S. Pat. No. 2,426,958) discloses an electrode holder of rigid construction having a band which may be adjusted about the wearer's head and secured by a wing nut and bolt fitting through overlapping portions of the band and slidable in a longitudinal slot provided on one end of the band. These devices are generally expensive, uncomfortable and inadequate for the purposes of measuring a number of physiological parameters. Consequently, it is desirable to provide a helmet for receiving physiological sensors which will be lightweight, flexible, inexpensive and comfortable for the wearer. It is also desirable to have such a helmet which will be adjustable to any human head.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

In a principal aspect the present invention takes the form of an adjustable helmet face mask for mounting physiological sensors, adapted to fit any person's head, comprising, an anterior portion having a single center, a plurality of flexible arms extending from the center, each of the flexible arms having fastening means for fastening the arms, and means for mounting physiological sensors in sensor locations, and a posterior portion having means for receiving the fastening means such that the helmet face mask is adjustable to a human head, and means for accommodating the physiological sensors in sensor locations.

In a preferred embodiment the plurality of flexible arms of the anterior portion comprise three flexible arms joined to the center of the anterior portion so as to form a substantially inverted Y. The upwardly extending arm is adapted to fit the contour of the wearer's forehead from the upper portion of his nose to the back of his head, and the second and third arms are adapted to fit the contour of the wearer's face from the upper portion of his nose over his left and right cheekbones respectively, and beneath his left and right ears respectively. The means for accommodating physiological sensors comprises a number of grommets attached to the flexible arms at sensor locations. The means for securing the posterior portion includes at least one flexible band adapted to fit behind the person's head and adapted to receive the fastening means for fastening the arms such that the anterior portion and the posterior portion are held securely on the person's head.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side view of the profile of the head of a wearer with a first preferred embodiment of the adjustable helmet in place on the head;

FIG. 2 is a front view of the wearer and helmet shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a rear view of the wearer and helmet shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a top view of the wearer and helmet shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the posterior portion of the adjustable helmet shown in FIG. 1

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the anterior portion of the adjustable helmet shown in FIG. 1

FIG. 7 is a side view of the head of a wearer with a second preferred embodiment of the adjustable helmet in place on the wearer's head;

FIG. 8 is a frontal view of the wearer and helmet shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a rear view of the wearer and helmet shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the posterior portion of the adjustable helmet shown in FIG. 7,

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the anterior portion of the adjustable helmet shown in FIG. 7,

FIG. 12 shows a circuit diagram of the transducer (a), a block diagram of the sender (b) and of the receiver (c).

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1-7 show an adjustable helmet face mask for mounting physiological sensors which employs the principles of the present invention. The device includes an anterior portion 10 having a single center 12 from which extend a first flexible arm 14, a second flexible arm 16 and a third flexible arm 18 joined together so as to form an inverted Y as seen in FIG. 2 and FIG. 6.

The posterior portion 20 shown isolated in the perspective view of FIG. 5 includes a vertical flexible band 22 adapted to fit over the wearer's head extending from beneath one ear to beneath the other ear. An upper horizontal flexible band 24 is joined at each end to the vertical flexible band 22 at positions above each of the wearer's ears respectively. A lower horizontal flexible band 26 is joined at each end of the lower horizontal flexible band 26 to the ends of the vertical flexible band 22 beneath each of the wearer's ears. A vertical segment band 28 joins midpoint 25 of the upper horizontal band 24 to the midpoint 27 of the lower horizontal band 26.

The posterior portion 20 is rendered secure on the wearer's head by the vertical flexible band 22 fitting over the wearer's head which prevents movement of the mask downwardly and by the upper horizontal flexible band 24 fitting behind the upper part of the wearer's head which prevents slippage of the mask toward the wearer's face. The lower horizontal flexible band 26, fitting behind the lower part of the wearer's head and directly beneath the external occipital protuberance 29 of the wearer, cooperates with the vertical segment flexible band 28 by preventing slippage of the mask upwardly.

The helmet is rendered adjustable to fit any person's head by means of fasteners 30 joined to ends of the vertical flexible band 22 and to the midpoint 25 of the upper horizontal band 24 which are adapted to snap into any of the slots 32 located along the first second and third flexible arms 14, 16, and 18, respectively.

Grommets 34 for receiving physiological sensors are snapped securely into flexible bands 22, 24, and 26 and flexible arms 14, 16 and 18 in a number of sensor locations. For instance, grommet 34 a is located over the person's temporal artery for mounting the physiological sensor for measuring temporal blood pressure and grommet 34 b is positioned near the person's earlobe for mounting the blood oxygenation sensor.

The adjustable helmet is positioned on a person's head, locating the single center 12 of the anterior portion 10 on the uppermost portion of the person's nose shown in FIG. 2. The first flexible arm 14 then is slipped through the sheath 23 of the vertical flexible band 22 and is snapped securely onto the upper horizontal flexible band 24 by means of fastener 30 and slots 32 located on the first flexible arm 14.

With the first flexible arm 14 securely positioned, flexible arms 16 and 18 drape from the upper portion of the person's nose downwardly over the person's left and right cheekbones respectively forming the substantially inverted Y shown in FIG. 2. The helmet is locked into position extending the ends of the second and third flexible arms 16 and 18 to positions near the fasteners 30 and snapping the flexible arms 16 and 18 into positions rigid yet comfortable for the wearer.

The adjustable helmet thus fastened is in a secure position on the wearer's head, anchored in front at the upper portion of the wearer's nose by anterior portion 10 and in back beneath the wearer's external protuberance 29 by the posterior portion 20.

FIG. 7-11 show a second preferred embodiment of an adjustable helmet face mask for mounting physiological sensors which employs the principles of the present invention.

The posterior portion 50 shown isolated in the perspective view of FIG. 10 differs from the embodiment of FIG. 5 is several aspects. The upper and lower horizontal flexible bands 24 and 26 of FIG. 5 are replaced by a single horizontal band 52 fitting behind the wearer's head beneath his occipital protuberance 29 and having cavities through which the wearer's ears may fit. As in the first embodiment shown in FIG. 5, a vertical flexible band 54 fits over the wearer's head from beneath one ear to beneath the other. Also, a flexible connecting vertical segment 56 connects the midpoint 53 of the single horizontal band 52 to the midpoint 55 of the vertical flexible band 54.

The anterior portion 58 of the second preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 11 differs from that in FIG. 6 only in that the first flexible arm 60 is shorter than the first flexible arm 14 of FIG. 6. The difference is attributable to the fact that the first flexible arm 60 is designed to be secured atop the wearer's head to the vertical flexible band 54 as shown in FIG. 7 rather than behind the wearer's head to the upper horizontal band 25 as shown in FIG. 1.

A particular example of monitoring apparatus is shown in FIGS. 2 and 12. There a blood pressure transducer 62 is mounted over the wearer's temporal artery. A pressure sensitive diaphragm 63 is employed in the transducer to sense the blood pressure of the wearer's external temporal artery. The position of the diaphragm will vary with the varying blood pressure of the wearer.

The transducer 62 may take the form of a Wheatstone Bridge 64 having fixed resistors 65, 66, 67 and 68 and a variable resistor 69. The variable resistor may be positioned on the diaphragm 63 so that movement of the diaphragm 63 causes physical distortion of the variable resistor 69. The distortion varies the resistance of resistor 69 and serves to produce a voltage across the output terminals 70 of the bridge 64 representative of the distortion.

Power is supplied to the transducer 62 from a DC voltage source 71. The current from source 71 may be controlled by a single pole, single throw, manually operable switch 72 in series with source 71. The switch 72 and source 71 are in series across input terminals 73 of the bridge 64.

The voltage across the output terminals 70 is transmitted to a voltage amplifier 76 as shown in the block diagram of FIG. 12b. Output voltage is fed through a voltage amplifier 76 to a modulator 78 where it is modulated by a radio frequency carrier wave produced by a radio frequency generator 80 and radio frequency amplifier 82. Power source 84 supplies power to the individual units. The wave shape then flows into antenna 86 where electromagnetic wave shapes are formed and radiated.

The voltage may be monitored on an oscilloscope, voltmeter, or digital recorder after reception by a radio frequency receiver 85 having a dipole antenna 86, filter 88, demodulator 90 and power supply 92 as shown in the block diagram 12c. An oscilloscope 94 would be preferable to show time varying changes in the blood pressure wave shape whereas the voltmeter response would merely show an arrow wavering between the systolic and diastolic blood pressure of the wearer.

While in the foregoing, there has been set forth a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is to be understood, that all those embodiments obvious to persons skilled in the art, and all those embodiments which are equivalent are to be included within the scope of the claimed invention.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An adjustable helmet face mask for mounting physiological sensors adapted to fit a person's head, comprising, in combination,

an anterior portion having a single center, flexible arms extending from said center, a first flexible arm, second flexible arm, and third flexible arm, each of said arms extending from said center, said center adapted to locate over the upper nasal portion with said first arm extending upward over the forehead to engage the anterior portion, said second and third arms extending outward and downward from said center portion and connectable with said anterior section such that said second and third arms extend over the cheekbones, and beneath the ears when the helmet is mounted on the person's head,

a posterior portion having a means for receiving said fastening means such that said anterior and posterior portions are fastenable in varient positions and adjustable to a human head in a plurality of positions, and means on at least one of said portions for mounting physiological sensors in a plurality of sensor locations.