FR2778262A1 - Model for illustrating harm due to tobacco smoking - Google Patents

Abstract

The model has a filter housing (7) mounted in a smoke circuit (42-44) attached to a model human. The casing defines a filter chamber in which a filter panel (33) is mounted to divide the chamber into two sections. The filter panel is mounted between two mask panels which form openings of the same shape as the lungs.

Description

The present invention relates to an educational device

  aimed at simulating the action of smoke

  tobacco on the lungs and a model of demons-

  tration incorporating such a device.

  In the context of prevention against the risks of smoking in schools, we want to be able to illustrate in concrete terms the harmful health effects of cigarette smoke by clearly visualizing the tar and nicotine deposits in the

respiratory tracts.

  There is already such an educational device to simulate the action of tobacco smoke on the lungs. This device comprises a filtration unit mounted on a smoke circulation circuit and delimiting a filtration chamber in which is housed a flat filter dividing the chamber into two parts between

  which smoke circulates through the filter.

  To improve the visual effect, the device is generally associated with a model consisting of a panel mounted on a base and carrying on one of its faces the drawing of a silhouette of a smoker. The filter housing is located at the location of the smoker's lungs, while a cigarette holder is located at the location of the

  mouth. The cigarette holder is connected to the filter housing.

  tion by a flexible hose. The housing also has a suction port which is connected by a flexible hose to

  an electric or manual suction pump.

  Thus, in service, a cigarette is placed in the cigarette holder. The suction member being switched on, the cigarette is lit and the smoke sucked into the filtration unit to be filtered by the filter housed in the housing. After a few seconds, the color of the filter turns yellow and quickly turns brown, which visually illustrates the deposition of tar and

  nicotine in the lungs and all of the airways

  roofs. In addition to this qualitative observation, it is also possible to carry out a quantitative measurement by comparing the weight of the filter before and after filtration of the flue gases. The increase in mass of the polluted filter corresponds to the mass of tar and nicotine absorbed, increased by the mass of humidity resulting from the condensation of combustion fumes. The result of this measurement can then be compared to the value indicated on the cigarette package.

  The object of the invention is to provide a device

  tif educational of the aforementioned type which is simple to manufacture and use and which allows viewing

  particularly demonstrative and striking of the impregnation

  tion of the filter by tobacco smoke.

  To this end, the invention therefore relates to an educational device aimed at simulating the action of tobacco smoke on the lungs, comprising

  a filtration unit mounted on a circulation circuit

  tion of smoke and delimiting a filtration chamber in which is housed a flat filter dividing the chamber into

  two parts between which the smoke circulates through-

the filter.

  According to the invention, the filter is sandwiched between two masks having lights in the general shape of lungs. Thus, only the parts of the filter which are left uncovered by the lights of the masks are impregnated by the fumes and blacken under the effect of tar. The rest of the filter is protected by masks and therefore retains its light color (usually

white) initial.

  As the lumen of the platelets have a general shape of the lungs, the filter is progressively marked with an area of blackening (or more exactly yellowish) which reminds of the lungs and which consequently creates a direct intellectual link with the deterioration of the lungs by the smoke. After filtration, when the filter is removed from the housing, the visualization of this blackened lung-shaped area, clearly drawn in the initial light color of the filter, is particularly striking due to its contrast and shape, and it is therefore of this point very demonstrative, and of a better educational effect than the old devices in which the filter was

  uniformly blackened over its entire extent.

  According to an advantageous characteristic of the invention

  tion, the filtration unit is at least partially transparent. According to another advantageous characteristic of the invention, the filtration unit incorporates means for indexing the relative angular positions of the filter

  and two masks in the filtration chamber.

  In an advantageous embodiment, the filter and the two masks are produced in the form of discs each having on their periphery a notch cooperating with a common axial indexing lug formed in the

filtration unit.

  The filtration unit comprises, on one side of the filter, a pumping orifice and, on the other side of the filter, inlet and outlet orifices,

  the inlet opening being connected to a smoke nozzle

cigarette.

  The intake opening is also wider

than the discharge port.

  The pumping port is advantageously connected to

  a syringe body acting as a suction pump.

  The invention also relates to a demonstration model comprising a vertical panel mounted on

  a base and having on a front side a screen

  phie representing a smoker incorporating a device of the aforementioned type, the filtration housing of which is at least partially transparent, said housing being disposed at the location of the smoker's chest, serigraphy and having a transparent front face situated on the side of the front face

of the panel.

  Advantageously then, the nozzle of the cigarette holder is fixed to the panel at the location of the mouth of the

smoker screen printing.

  Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear on reading the description which

  follows a particular embodiment given by way of nonlimiting example.

  Reference will be made to the accompanying drawings, in which: - Figure 1 is a perspective view of a smoker model equipped with a device according to the invention; - Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view of the device according to the invention; - Figure 3 is an exploded axial sectional view

of the device of FIG. 2.

  In Figure 1, there is shown a model of smoker 1 equipped with an educational device according to the invention, intended to simulate the action of tobacco smoke on the lungs. The model 1 consists of a vertical panel 2 made of plastic, the lower part of which is mounted on a base. This base consists of two plastic plates 3 elongated horizontally and arranged in planes

  vertical for fixing by a set of vertical notches

the 4 on panel 2.

  The panel 2 has a front face 5 carrying a

  serigraph 6 representing a smoker figurine.

  The device for simulating the action of tobacco smoke comprises a filtration box 7 made of transparent plastic, embedded in the panel 2

  at the location of the smoker's chest screen printing 6.

  As is better visible in Figures 2 and 3, the housing 7 comprises two parts marked 8 and 9 almost identical, in transparent plastic, having a general shape of revolution around an axis 18 common to the two parts 8, 9. We distinguishes a front part 9 located on the side of the front face 5 of the panel 2 and a rear part 8 located

the other side of the panel.

  Each of the two parts 8, 9 is a single piece made of molded transparent plastic, and has two cylindrical stepped portions, including a front portion 10, 11 of large diameter and a rear portion 12, 13 of smaller diameter. These two stepped portions define between them an outer shoulder 14, and an inner shoulder 16, 17. The diameters of these front and rear portions are chosen such that the rear portion 13 of the front part 9 is nestable with a slight tightening in the front portion 10 of the rear part 8. Once fitted, the parts 8 and 9 of the housing 7 are thus hermetically sealed and delimit internally a filtration chamber, in which the smoke can circulate, as will be better explained later. To index the relative angular position of the two parts 8 and 9 of the housing 7, the front portions 10, 11

  and rear 12, 13 of parts 8 and 9 have respective-

  ment an internal axial lug 20, 21 and an external notch 22, 23. Thus, when the rear portion 13 of the front part 9 is fitted into the front portion 10 of the rear part 8, the internal lug of the front portion 10 of the rear part 8 enters the outer notch 23 of the rear portion 13 of the front part 9 to immobilize the parts 8 and 9 in rotation relative to each other in a predetermined relative angular position. The rear portion 12, 13 of each of the parts

  8, 9 is further provided with a transverse inner wall.

  dirty 24, 25 extending perpendicular to the axis 18,

  approximately in the middle of the rear portion 12, 13.

  This wall 24, 25 is made in one piece with the rest of the part 8, 9 concerned. The wall 25 of the front part 9 has a pumping orifice 26 provided with a teat 27 projecting on either side of the wall 25. The wall 24 of the rear part 8 has for its part an orifice inlet 28 provided with a teat 29 projecting from either side of the wall 24, and an inlet port 30 provided with a teat 31 projecting from the rear side of the wall 24, that is to say opposite the front part 9. The pumping 26 and inlet 28 orifices and their teats 27 and 29 are here identical. The only difference between parts 8 and 9 resides in the intake port 30 and its nipple 31 which are formed exclusively on the rear part 8 and which are absent from the front part 9. In addition, the orifice inlet 30 is significantly wider than the ports

delivery 28 and pumping 26.

  A multilayer assembly 32, composed of a disc-shaped filter 33 sandwiched between two identical disc-shaped masks 34, 35 also, is inserted without play inside the front portion 10 of the rear portion 8 of the housing 7. This multilayer assembly 32 thus divides the filtration chamber delimited by the housing 7 into two parts between which the smoke can circulate by passing through the filter, as will be explained more in

detail below.

  Each of the masks 34, 35 has lights

  36, 37 in general shape of lungs.

  The filter 33 can for example be constituted by a simple paper or fabric filter of light color, and the masks 34, 35 by plates in the form of plastic discs. The filter 33 and the two masks 34,

  , which are all in the form of discs of the same diameter.

  that the inner surface of the front portion 10 of the rear part 8, respectively have on their periphery notches 38, 39, 40 which cooperate with the internal axial lug 20 of the front portion 10 of the rear part 8 of the housing 7 for indexing the angular position of the filter 33 and the masks 34, 35 in the housing 7. In particular, this indexing is carried out so that the slots 36, 37 of the masks 34, 35, which are identical, or angularly wedged relative to each other to discover the same filtration zone 41 on each side of the filter 33. The multilayer assembly 32 is thus immobilized inside the front portion 10 of the rear part 8, being wedged axially between the inner shoulder 16 of the rear part 8 and the rear end face 19 of the portion

rear 13 of the front part 9.

  As is better visible in FIG. 1, the nipple 31 of the inlet port 30 is connected to one of the two ends of a flexible plastic pipe 42, the other end of which is connected to a nozzle.

  cigarette holder 43 which is fixed to panel 2, in use

  cementation of the smoker's mouth screen printing 6, and which extends

  projecting from the front face 5 of the panel 2.

  The nipple 27 of the pumping orifice 26 is in turn connected to one of the two ends of a flexible pipe 44 which is connected at its end opposite to a

  syringe body 45 acting as a suction pump.

  Finally, the teat 29 of the delivery orifice 28 is connected to one of the two ends of a flexible pipe 46, the other end of which is open to the air. Although this is not the case in the example illustrated in Figure 1, it would be possible to equip the end of the pipe 46 opposite the housing 7 (or even directly the orifice of

  delivery 28) of a non-return valve allowing only-

  ment the evacuation of smoke and preventing the suction of air from the outside to the inside of the housing 7. In this case, it would also be possible to equip the pipe 42 (or directly the teat 31 of the orifice 30) of a non-return valve authorizing the aspiration of fumes from the cigarette holder tip 43 and prohibiting

  the expulsion of air through the discharge port 28.

  The use of the device takes place in the following manner.

  A cigarette 48 is placed in the cigarette holder tip 43 and is lit. The discharge pipe 46 is closed manually by pinching or by closing its free end. The stem of the syringe body 45 is pulled to create a depression in the filter housing 7 which causes the suction of the smoke resulting from the combustion of the cigarette 48 through the pipe 42 and the inlet port 30. The smoke enters the filtration unit 7 and passes through the multilayer assembly 32 to be drawn through the pumping orifice 26 into the pipe 44 and the syringe body 45. When it passes through the multilayer assembly 32, the smoke is filtered by the only exposed area 41 in the form of lungs of the filter 33, the rest of the filter being protected by the masks 34 and 35 and therefore cannot exert any filtration. The tar and nicotine contained in the smoke are thus exclusively retained in this zone 41 of the filter 33 and then naturally draw on this

  zone a colored imprint in the shape of lungs.

  The smoke can then be evacuated by releasing the pipe 46 and closing, by pinching, the pipe 42 before pushing the rod of the syringe body 45 to drive the smoke through the discharge port 28. The operation can then be renewed by activating a new

times the syringe body 45.

  At the end of the combustion of the cigarette 48, the filtration unit 7 can be detached from the panel 2 and the two parts 8 and 9 dislocated from each other so as to release the filter 33. It can then be seen that a yellowish imprint in the shape of lungs corresponding to zone 41 is clearly drawn on the filter, the remaining part of which has retained its light color. We have thus illustrated in a particularly demonstrative and visual way the harmful effects of tar and nicotine deposits from

  tobacco smoke in the respiratory tract.

  The housing 7 and the two masks 34 and 35 can then be properly cleaned with a view to a new

experience with a new filter.

  The invention is not limited to the embodiment

  tion which has just been described, but on the contrary includes any variant taking up, with equivalent means, its

essential characteristics.

Claims (9)

  1. An educational device intended to simulate the action of tobacco smoke on the lungs, comprising a filtration unit (7) mounted on a smoke circulation circuit (43, 42, 44) and delimiting a filtration chamber in which is housed a flat filter (33) dividing the chamber into two parts between which the smoke circulates by passing through the filter (33), characterized in that the filter (33) is sandwiched between two masks (34, 35) with lights (36, 37) in general shape of lungs.   2. Device according to claim 1, character-   risé in that the filtration unit (7) is at least partially transparent.   3. Device according to one of claims   previous, characterized in that the filtration unit (7) incorporates means for indexing the relative angular positions of the filter (33) and of the two masks   (34, 35) in the filtration chamber.   4. Device according to claim 3, character-   laughed in that the filter (33) and the two masks (34, 35) are made in the form of discs each having on their periphery a notch (39, 40) cooperating with a common axial indexing lug (20) formed in the housing filtration (7).   5. Device according to one of claims   previous, characterized in that the filtration unit (7) has, on one side of the filter (33), a pumping orifice (26) and, on the other side of the filter (33), intake orifices (30) and discharge (28), the inlet (30) being connected to a cigarette holder tip (43).   6. Device according to claim 5, character-   that the intake opening (30) is wider than the discharge opening (28).   7. Device according to claim 5 or claim 6, characterized in that the pumping orifice (26) is connected to a syringe body (45) acting suction pump.   8. Demonstration model including a   vertical panel (2) mounted on a base (3) and presented   both on a front face (5) a screenprint (6) representing   both a smoker, characterized in that it incorporates a   device according to one of claims 2 to 7, the housing   filter (7) of said device being disposed at the location   cementation of the smoker's chest screen-printed (6) and having a transparent front face located on the side of the front face (5) of the panel (2).   9. Model according to claim 8, taken in dependence on claim 5, characterized in that the nozzle of the cigarette holder (43) is fixed on the panel (2)   at the location of the smoker's mouth screen printing (6).