Lightweight protective gas mask and hood

Abstract

A protective mask with a hood having a face piece, a head piece, and a bibormed from an elastic impervious material. A foam rubber seal, mounted on the inside surface of the hood, is located on the periphery of the face piece. An pair of eye pieces are mounted on the face piece for permitting exterior vision from inside the hood. A plurality of filter cells with flexible charcoal filters are mounted on the bib. Air ducts extend from an air reservoir fed by the cells to the face piece to permit filtered air to be drawn into the face piece. A flapper valve is mounted on the face piece to permit air to be exhausted from the mask.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A protective mask comprising: a hood having a face piece, a head piece and a bib formed from an elastic impervious material, wherein a spacer means is fixed to the inside surface of said face piece for forming a nose cup, and wherein said bib has two shoulder pieces and front and back portions;   a seal mounted on the inside surface of said hood located on the periphery of said face piece;   optical means mounted on said face piece for permitting exterior vision from inside said hood wherein said optical means includes an eye piece having a semi-flexible frame with a fixed lens and at least one removable lens;   filter means, including a flexible filter mounted on said bib and an air duct extending from said face piece, for permitting filtered air to be drawn into said face piece via said filter and said duct; said filter means further including an air reservoir means in communication with said filter and said air duct for containing a volume of filtered air, said reservoir means including a flexible member attached to said bib to form a chamber that is in communication with said filter and said duct; said filter including a plurality of cells mounted on said bib, each said cell having an air output opening in communication with said chamber;   a one-way valve means mounted on said face piece for permitting air to be exhausted from inside said face piece, said valve including a perforated valve cover mounted on said face piece; and   a blower means removably mounted on said bib and including a fan positioned in said chamber to force air into said duct.   
     
     
       2. The mask of claim 1 wherein each said cell has an air input opening located on the outside surface of said bib and wherein a flexible fabric impregnated with activated charcoal is mounted between said input opening and said output opening. 
     
     
       3. The mask of claim 2 wherein a flexible layer of aerosol particulate filter material extends across each said input opening.