US1684664A - Self-contained breathing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

sept 18, 1928. 1,684,664 A A. B. DRGER SELF CONTAINED BREATHING APPARATUS Filed oct. 29, 125

d" Elf Patented Sept. 18, 1928.

UNITED STATES sa 1,584,664 Tsar orifice.l

ALEXANDERBERNHARD DRGER, 0F LUBECK, GERMANY; ELFRIEDE DRGER, sTANGn, nXEoUTRrX or ssrny nnlienn, DECEASED.

snnnoonfrarnnn BREATHING ArrAnATUs.

Application led October 23, 1925, Serial No. 65,693, and in Germany September 5, 1925.

Breathing apparatus consisting of an air purifying cartridge, in combination with a breathing tube and bag and an oxygen container in which the connection of the atoresaid parts is effected by means of la connenctf ing-piece provi ded with controlling means 'or the oxygen supply, are already known. This connecting-piece. is fastened, by means of a support ora foot, as the case may be, to a carrier plate, whereby the breathu'ig apparatus may be carried on the body. The c ontrolling means comprise a pressure reducing valve, a manometer or high pressure gauge, and a manually ope-rated auxiliary valve for by passing extraV oxygen. The auxiliary valve may conveniently be constructed as a press-button valve.

ln these known breathing apparatus, however, the three oxygen controlling means z.. (pressure reducing valve, high pressure gauge and auxiliary valve) are arranged in quite an unsuitable manner` on the multiway connecting-piece. ln particular, no account has been taken therein of the fact that the high pressure gauge must be so disposed that it can be comfortably observed by the wearer of the apparatus. Furthermore no care has been tallien to mount the auixiliary valve in Aa sheltered position and yet so that 1t can be easily and comfortably found and actuated bv the hand or by a finger, and, finally, no attention has been given to locating the pressure reducing valve in a place where it is least in the way and yet is protected. Furthermore, the rigid connection. of the multlway connecting-piece to the carrier plate frequently militates against satisfactory selfeadpistment and seating'of the seating surfaces of the screw connections and impairs the interchangeability of cartridge andoxygen bottle. The present invention remedies the troubles arising from neglect of these pre-requisite conditions, inasmuch as the connecting-piece,

for the assembly and attachment of the afore-r said controlling fittings, is provided with three cmitact faces carrying` the above mentioned three controlling fittings in the desired position. Preferably the contact face .for the gauge upwardly and outi'vardly directed with respect tothe breast plate and the contact face for the manual valve is downwardly directed and the Contact face for the automatic valve is upwardly and inwardly directed. n

In relation to a circle in the plane of the Cil axes of the operative fittings, itmay be said that .the auxiliary valve lies underneath the multiway connecting-piece, the high pressure gauge separated therefrom by about 1200,

lpeints outwards, and the pressure reducing valve directed inwards in substantially the saine angulairelationship.

Moreover, the connecting-piece is not rigidly connected to the carrier plate. but is so fas-` tened thereto that it may be angularly adjusted about an axis approximately perpendicular to the plane of the carrier plate.

This arrangement of the controlling` fittings and of the adjustable support has the following advantages: The operator can comfortably observe the scale of the high pressure gauge, without having to strain the head or even the wholertru'nk forward, as was necessary wlth the. usual arrangements hitherto iu use. With the new apparatus, the operator has only to lower his gaze with a slight inclination of the head when he wishes to ascertain the momentary position of the high pressure gauge pointer on the scale. The auxiliary valve is not visible for the wearer but lies sheltered underneaththe high pressure gauge, for example, under the connecting-piece, hence it is protected from outside infiuen'ces but can, nevertheless, be found and actuated easily and comfortably by the hand lor by the linger.v The free space on the inner side of the connecting-piece, between the latter and the carrier plate, in the angle between the auxiliary valve and the vhigh pressure gauge is particularly well adapted for the housing of the pressure reducing valve, since. in this place it isleast hindering and is also protected.

A constructional embodiment of the invention is shown `in the drawing. Figure 1 shows the breathing apparatus in elevation. Figure 2 is an elevation of the connecting-piece, drawn to an enlarged scale and looked at 'from a line of section A-B in Figure l. Figure 3 is a' section on the line C-D of Figure 2; Figure d is a section on the line E'-F of Figure 2; Figure 5 shows the support of the connecting-piece separately and to an enlarged scale; and Figure 6 is a section on the line G-H of` Figure 5.

rlhe end of the connecting piece (Z containing the low pressure channel d1, is connected to the air purifying cartridge a and the breathing bag c, by means' of screw connections o1 and ,01 respectively; the other end provided with thechigh pressure channel d,

is connected by a union nut b1 to the oxygen bottfe The high pressure channel d2 and the low pressure channel Z1 lie coaxially but are not in direct communication with each other. The connecting-piece is suitably fastened to acarrier plate e, for instance, by means of a crankedsupportg, whiclnbymeans of a bearing or socket g1 is mounted on a pivot pin c1 fastened to the plate e. The range of angular adjustability of the support g about the pin c1 is limited by a screw'g2 which is screwed through the wall of the socket g1 and engages a recess in the pin el, thus acting as la stop. The angle of adjustability ofthe support g (shown in Figure 5) is dependent upo'n the length of the recess. By reasonof the possibility of adjusting the connecting-piece, which is suspended from the pin g3 of the support g by means of an eye d3, the seatings of the connections of the valve casing ol the oxygenbottle, of the cartridge and of thebreathing bag, as well as those of the connecting-piece may be brought into proper adjustinentl more easily and better.

About midway of the length of the connecting-piece (l, where high and low pressure passages are separated from each other by solid material, the said connecting-piece is provided at its circumference with three branch projections 7i, z', which, as shown in Figure 2, are distributed around the connecting-piece at suit-able angles to one another and with their axes in a plane at rightangles to the longitudinal axis of said connecting-piece. Thus the Connecting-piece and the branch projections may be designed, in a very simple manner as a cast or pressed unit; On the contact face of the branch 71 which inclines outwards and upwards with respectrto the carrier plate (Figure 2), a high pressure gauge m is fitted. The downwardly pointing branch projection i, carries a press-but ton valve 'n and on the inwardly and upwardly pointing branch la, a pressure reducing valve 0 fixed.` The high pressure gauge m, the press-button val-ve n and the pressure reducing valve 0 are connected to the high pressure channel (Z2, respectively, through branch passages p, g and r formed in the casting. Moreover, from the press-button valve n and the pressure reducing valve 0 suitably disposed passages s and t branch olf respectively to the low pressure channel (Z1. Y

The arrangement and function of the high pressure gauge, of the press-button valve and of the pressure reducing valve, as Well as,

the carrier plate and extending etween, andsupporting the cartridge and the container,

said connecting-pipe being provided with two f axial opposite channels, one of `which `comlnunicates with the oxygen container and the other leading to the cartridge, three lateral contact faces on said connecting-pipe, an auone `of said contact faces, a manually controlled auxiliary valve carried by another of said faces, and a pressure gauge mounted upon the third of said faces, said contact faces being circumferentially disposed 0n said connecting-pipe in such a manner that the contact face for the gauge is upwardly and outwardly directed with respect to the carrier plate and that the contact face for the manual valve is downwardly directed and f that the contact face for the automatic valve is upwardly and inwardly directed, the conneet'ing-pipe being furthermore provided with radial branch-passages leading Vfrom the "toinatic pressure reducing valve fixed upon 1 aforementioned axial channels to openings in the respective contact faces.

2.111 a breathing apparatus including an air purifying cartridge and an oxygen container, the combina-tion comprising a connectingpipe extending between, and rigidly connecting, the cartridge and the container, and provided witlran axial channel leading to said cartridge, and with another .axial channel 4opposite to the first and leading t0 said container, an automatic reduction valve, a manual valve, and a pressure gauge laterally mounted on said pipe, theV manual valve being arranged beneath the longitudinal axis of the connecting pipe so as to be operated by an upwardly directed movement "of the hand, the gauge being arranged above the pipe and outwardly inclined with respect to the carrier plate so as to be easily observed by the operator, and the automatic valve bein arranged in tlie space between the carrier plate and .the pipe in a protected position.

The improvement in a breathing-ap paratus set `fort-h in claim 2, in which the automatic reduction valve, the manual valve, and the pressure gauge are positioned at angles of about'120o with respect to each other.

nr. in. L c. ALEXANDER BERNHARD DRGER.

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