GB2596120A

GB2596120A - Improvements in or relating to whistles

Info

Publication number: GB2596120A
Application number: GB2009316.7A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Manville Topman Simon
Original assignee: J Hudson & Co Whistles Ltd; J Hudson and Co Whistles Ltd
Current assignee: J Hudson & Co Whistles Ltd; J Hudson and Co Whistles Ltd
Priority date: 2020-06-18
Filing date: 2020-06-18
Publication date: 2021-12-22
Also published as: GB2596120A8; WO2021255406A1; GB202009316D0

Abstract

A metal or plastics whistle 2 is releasably coupled with a metal or plastics safety guard 3, 3a via an interference fit. The safety guard 3, 3a is shaped to extend all around the sides of the air exit vent V, in order to catch or block saliva or breath droplets, particles and side splashes passing out of the air exit vent and around the mouthpiece when the whistle is blown. Such droplets or particles may carry bacteria and/or viruses. In other embodiments (figs 3 to 5) lip splash protection means is provided.

Description

IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO WHISTLES

This invention relates to improvements in or relating to whistles and is more particularly concerned with whistle apparatus having a whistle provided with a protection guard.

It is known for a whistle to be provided with a tooth protection guard to help protect the teeth of a user should the mouth receive an impact whilst the whistle is being blown. Such a whistle with tooth protection guard is disclosed in US Patent Specification No. 5165423.

However, whilst the teeth of a user may be protected in such circumstances, to the Applicant's knowledge, little or no thought has been given to the protection of other persons in the vicinity of the saliva/breath droplets or spray necessarily entering and spreading into the atmosphere from the mouth of the user when blowing the whistle Such droplets or particles may enter the atmosphere at a relatively high trajectory through the air exit vent from the sound chamber of the whistle as well as possibly directly from edges of the mouth when positioned on the whistle mouthpiece.

It is to be appreciated that such droplets/particles may carry hazardous, infectious agents such as germs, bacteria or viruses as highlighted by the serious pandemic crisis of the coronavirus, Cov d-19. Studies have shown such droplets/particles from breath (for example, from coughing) can spread a considerable distance and remain airborne for substantial periods. Clearly, in blowing a whistle, any spray of droplets or breath particles would have a substantial trajectory particularly via said air exit vent in a similar manner as caused by coughing.

Thus, it is believed that it tends to be disadvantageous for whistles to provide no protection against the transmissibility of infection being passed on to others through breath or saliva droplets/particles being sprayed into the atmosphere, when the whistle user blows the whistle.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide whistle apparatus which at least alleviates the aforementioned disadvantage or which is improved in at least some respect.

According to the present invention there is provided whistle apparatus having a whistle and a purpose-made safety guard, said safety guard being arranged, in use, adjacent to an air exit vent of the whistle, in order, when the whistle is blown, to catch or block saliva or breath droplets or particles passing out of the air exit vent that might otherwise openly spread into the atmosphere.

Further according to the present invention there is provided a purpose-made safety guard for the whistle apparatus defined in the immediately preceding paragraph It is envisaged, advantageously, that embodiments of the present invention will prevent rapid open spread of such droplets/particles in the atmosphere by blocking or impeding forward and/or upward/ and/or sideways trajectory of such droplets/particles passing out of the air exit vent The safety guard may be formed separately to the whistle and may be releasably (or permanently) attachable thereto. Advantageously, when the guard is releasable from the whistle it may be cleaned or cleansed separately to the whistle to more reliably rid the guard of infectious agents and allow for easier storage or carriage of the whistle apparatus or use of the guard with a different whistle.

Where the safety &mud is formed separately to the whistle, the whistle may be a push fit into or onto the safety guard, preferably, being retained thereto by an interference fit. Locking means possibly may be provided (e,g, a lug and slot arrangement) to (releasably) lock the safety guard in place.

The safety guard may be made of any suitable material and may be rigid or flexible. The safety guard may be of plastics, rubber or metal Alternatively, the safety guard may be integrally formed with the whistle. Where the whistle is of metal, the safety guard is, preferably, also of metal and may be fabricated with the safety guard. Where the whistle is of plastics the guard may be of plastics and moulded with the guard Preferably, the safety guard overlaps a hand grip portion of the whistle and may be held by the user when holding the hand grip portion.

Preferably, the safety guard comprises a rear wall portion extending upwardly from the whistle, in use, at the rear of and spanning the air exit vent. The rear wall portion may extend laterally outwardly on each side of the whistle, preferably, equidistantly.

Preferably, the height of the rear wall is greater than the height of the whistle.

The rear wall portion may extend a substantial distance above the whistle possibly at least the height of the whistle and perhaps 1.5 to 2 times the height of the whistle.

Preferably, the safety guard extends over and above the air exit vent, preferably, completely covering the vent (and perhaps beyond) and the rear wall may curve upwardly over and above the air vent.

The safety guard may have side portions that overlap (preferably completely) and extend over and around the opposed sides of the air exit vent. Alternatively, the side portions of the safety guard may not necessarily overlap the opposed sides of the air exit vent.

The rear wall may be curved in both vertical and horizontal planes.

Preferably, the rear wall extends substantially at right angles to the whistle in use (usually generally parallel to the opening mouth) and/or the rear wall may possibly be flat and/or part oval/elliptical.

The safety guard may be any suitable shape and/or be in any suitable position to catch/block breath droplets/particles escaping from the air exit vent.

The safety guard may be generally at least part-concave or part-con cal The safety guard may be provided with an inner surface to which breath droplets/particles may be at least temporarily retained such as an absorbent or gauze surface/layer that may be replaceable.

Advantageously, in one embodiment of the invention the whistle apparatus includes lip splash protections means, which, in use, covers the outside of the lips of the whistle user (and possibly sealing on the lips) when blowing the whistle The lip splash protection means should at least help to prevent breath droplets entering the atmosphere directly (e.g. from corners of the mouth) when blowing the whistle.

Preferably, the lip splash protection means is integrally formed with the safety guard which may have a part in the shape of a tubular sleeve into which the whistle is releasably (snugly) inserted, in use. Where a rear wall of the safety guard is provided as aforesaid, the tubular sleeve may extend from the rear wall to the lip splash protection means. Said sleeve may be provided with an upper opening that registers with the air exit vent of the whistle, in use.

Advantageously, the safety guard may be shaped to receive (preferably releasably) and be attached to a whistle selected from a plurality of differently shaped interchangeable whistles.

Further according to the present invention there is provided whistle apparatus having one or more of any of the features derivable from this description and drawings.

Many advantageous features of the whistle and safety guard will be apparent from the following description and drawings.

Embodiments of whistle apparatus having a whistle provided with a safety guard, in accordance with the present invention will now be described by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: FIGURE 1 shows a front perspective view of whistle apparatus consisting of a whistle releasably connected to a safety guard: FIGURE 2 shows a side view of the whistle and safety guard of FIGURE 1; FIGURE 3 shows a front perspective view of a second embodiment of whistle apparatus consisting of a whistle releasably connected to a different safety guard, FIGURE 4 shows a side view of the whistle and safety guard of FIGURE 3, and FIGURE 5 shows a view similar to FIGURE 1 but of a third embodiment of whistle apparatus having a differently shaped safety guard.

Referring to the FIGURES 1 and 2 of the drawings, whistle apparatus, arrangement, or combination 1 comprises a plastics whistle 2 ( releasably) connected to a purpose-made plastics safety guard 3 via an interference fit. Whistle 2 may be of a form known per se. The safety guard 3 may be provided with any suitable engagement means co-operable with the whistle 2 such as positive locking means (not shown) or may be fashioned integrally with the whistle. The whistle and/or the safety guard 3 may be of any suitable material's such as metal/rubber and the guard 3 may be rigid or flexible in design.

As shown, in FIGURES 1 and 2, the safety guard 3 overlaps a circular hand grip portion 2b of whistle 2. Advantageously, where the safety guard 3 is a simple push fit on whistle 2 holding the guard and grip portion 2b when blowing the whistle may help prevent any displacement or movement of the guard during such action.

Whistle 2 is of generally mandolin shape and is of known form having a mouth piece 2a and a vent V with splitter edge s on the upper surface of the whistle sound chamber. The height X of the whistle 2 in FIGURE 2 is shown between arrows The safety guard 3 is arranged adjacent to, and at the rear of, the air exit vent V. Rear wall 3a of the guard 3 extends in curved manner in a vertical plane upwardly and forwardly (towards the mouthpiece 2a) over and above vent V, in order, when the whistle is blown, to catch or block saliva or breath droplets or particles passing out of the air exit vent V, that might otherwise spread openly into the atmosphere.

The rear wall 3a should act to block or impede the forward and/or upward trajectory of any potentially hazardous infectious agents present in breath droplets/particles passing out of the air exit vent V, in a manner which should be generally evident from FIGURES 1 and 2 of the drawings.

The rear wall 3a extends substantially at right angles to the whistle 2 over and above the air vent V completely covering the vent.

As shown in FIGURES 1 and 2 the safety guard 3 is not provided with side wall portions that overlap and extend over and around opposed sides of the air vent V. However, the rear wall 3a has side portions p (only one shown in FIGURE 1) extending laterally on each side of the whistle 2 by equidistant amounts z in order to catch spray from the sides of the vent V travelling in a forward direction. It may be determined that it would be advantageous for the safety guard to extend all around the sides of the air vent V (to catch side splashes) in such manner and indeed FIGURE 5 shows such an arrangement in which the whistle apparatus 300 has whistle 2 and a safety guard 3' shaped to fulfil such function, in a manner which should be self-evident.

Indeed, the safety guard 3 may be any suitable shape and/or be in any suitable position to catch/block breath droplets/particles from the air exit vent.

Safety guard 3 may be provided with an inner surface (not shown) to which breath droplets/particles may be at least temporarily retained; said inner surface may be an absorbent or gauze surface/layer.

FIGURES 3 and 4 show whistle apparatus 200 consisting of whistle 2 (in dashed lines for ease of illustration) and a different safety guard 3-having a tubular sleeve portion T extending forwardly of rear wall portion 3" a to lip splash protection means L in the form of a rubberised, flexible circular open end. Said open end L, in use, covers the outside of, and seals on, the lips of a user blowing the whistle helping to prevent breath droplets/particles entering the atmosphere directly (e,g from the corners of the mouth).

The tubular sleeve T with lip protection means L is integrally formed with safety guard 3" and the whistle 2 can be snugly releasably received in safety guard 3' in a manner which should be evident from FIGURES 3and 4 of the drawings. Safety guard is provided with opening Y that, in use, registers with vent V to allow air passage therethrough to atmosphere Although not shown, it is possible that the whistle apparatus 200 may be modified to include a safety guard portion in the shape of safety guard 3' instead of the safety guard 3".

Any one of the safety guards 3, 3', 3" may be arranged to fit a whistle selected from a plurality of whistle shapes (not shown) Although not shown, it is possible that the safety guard 3" is only provided with lip protection means with the rear wall 3"a being omitted completely so that there is no provision to catch or block breath droplets/particles passing through vent V Thus, further according to the present invention there is provided whistle apparatus having a whistle and a purpose-made safety guard, said safety guard being arranged, in use, adjacent to a mouth of the whistle, the safety guard having lip protection means in order, when the whistle is blown, to cover the lips of a user to catch or block saliva or breath droplets or particles passing directly from the mouth of a user into the atmosphere It is to be understood that the scope of the present invention is not to be unduly limited by the particular choice of terminology and that a specific term may be replaced or supplemented by an equivalent or generic term For example, the term 'safety guard' could be replaced by 'shield'; 'whistle' could be replaced by 'wind instrument' or 'wind signalling device', the terms 'top', 'bottom', and 'side', 'upwardly' and 'above','forward', may be used to explain possible relative positions of various components of the whistle or safety guard, in use, and are not intended to be limiting. Further it is to be understood that individual features, method or functions relating to the whistle apparatus or safety shield might be individually patentably inventive. The singular may include the plural and vice versa. Additionally, any range mentioned herein for any parameter or variable shall be taken to include a disclosure of any derivable sub-range within that range or of any particular value of the variable or parameter arranged within, or at an end of, the range or sub-range.

Claims

CLAIMS1. Whistle apparatus having a whistle and a purpose-made safety guard, said safety guard being arranged, in use, adjacent to an air exit vent of the whistle, in order, when the whistle is blown, to catch or block saliva or breath droplets or particles from openly spreading into the atmosphere via the air exit vent.
2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the safety guard is formed separately to the whistle and possibly releasably (or permanently) attachable thereto.
3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, in which the whistle is a push fit into or onto the safety guard, preferably, being retained thereto by an interference fit and in which locking means possibly may be provided (e,g, a lug and slot C\I CO arrangement) to (releasably) lock the safety guard in place.
4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the safety guard is integrally formed with the whistle.
5. A pparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the safety guard is of plastics, rubber or metal.
6. Apparatus as claimed in claim Sin which the whistle is of metal and the safety guard is of metal preferably being fabricated with the safety guard.
7. Apparatus as claimed in claim Sin which the whistle is of plastics and the guard is of plastics preferably being moulded with the guard.
8. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the safety guard overlaps a hand grip portion of the whistle and in which the safety guard can preferably be held by the user when holding the hand grip portion.
9. Apparatus as clairitd in any one of the preceding claims in which the safety guard comprises a rear wall portion extending upwardly from the whistle, in use, at the rear of and spanning an air exit vent.
10. Apparatus as claimed in claim 9 in which the rear wall portion extends laterally outwardly on each side of the whistle, preferably, equidistantly.
11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 9 or 10 in which the rear wall portion extends a substantial distance above the whistle possibly at least the height of the whistle or greater and possibly 1.5 to 2 times the height of the whistle.
12. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the safety guard extends over and above the air exit vent, preferably, completely covering the vent (and perhaps beyond) and in which the rear wall where provided preferably curves upwardly over and above the air vent. C\I
(.0 13. Apparatus as claimed in claim 12 in which the safety guard has side portions O that overlap (preferably completely) and extend over and around the opposed sides of the air exit vent.
14. Apparatus as claimed in claim 9 or any claim dependent therefrom in which the rear wall is curved in both vertical and horizontal planes.
15. Apparatus as claimed in claim 9 or any claim dependent therefrom in which the rear wall extends substantially at right angles to the whistle in use (usually generally parallel to the opening mouth) and/or the rear wall is flat and/or part oval/el I i pti cal.
16. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the safety guard is generally at least part-concave or part-conical.
17. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the safety guard is provided with an inner surface to which breath droplets/particles can be at least temporarily retained such as an absorbent or gauze surfaceAayer that is possibly replaceable.
18. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims including lip splash protections means, which, in use, covers the outside of the lips of the whistle user (and possibly sealing on the lips) when blowing the whistle.
19. Apparatus as claimed in claim 18 in which the lip splash protection means is integrally formed with the safety guard which may have a part in the shape of a tubular sleeve into which the whistle is releasably (snugly) inserted, in use, said lip protection means preferably being in the form of a flexible open end of the tubular sleeve.
20. Apparatus as claimed in claim 19 in which the tubular sleeve extends from the, or a, rear wall portion of the safety guard to the lip splash protection means. C\I
(.0 21. Apparatus as claimed in claim 20 in which said sleeve is provided with an O upper opening that registers with the air exit vent of the whistle, in use.
22. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the safety guard is shaped to receive (preferably releasably) and be attached to a whistle selected from a plurality of differently shaped interchangeable whistles.
23. A purpose-made safety guard for the whistle apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims.
24. Whistle apparatus having a whistle and a purpose-made safety guard, said safety guard being arranged, in use, adjacent to a mouth of the whistle, the safety guard having lip splash protection means in order, when the whistle is blown, to cover the lips of a user to catch or block saliva or breath droplets or particles passing directly from the mouth of a user into the atmosphere.