Lightweight body respirator having flexible walls

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The novel lightweight body respirator having flexible walls of the present invention is readily capable of both in-the-home and away-from-home use by relatively untrained personnel, is expeditiously manufactured in a manner that costs considerably less than the heretofore known devices, can be used by both adults and children without requiring customized fitting, and is both efficient and comfortable.
The body respirator of the present invention includes a lightweight, molded-thermoplastic housing having flexible walls that defines a respirator cavity having an internal volume adapted to accept either the torso of an adult patient or the body of a child patient.
The molded-thermoplastic housing includes a thermoplastic cover member having integral walls that is removably fastened by spring-loaded latches in air-tight sealing engagement to an integral molded-thermoplastic base member.
The integral thermoplastic cover member has a generally rectangular open bottom having a comparatively large area, a vertically-spaced generally rectangular and substantially planar top having a comparatively smaller area, four vertically inclined arcuate support ribs individually exending from the vertices of the open bottom to corresponding confronting vertices of the substantially planar top, and four sloping substantially planar flexible walls that join the open bottom to the substantially planar top between adjacent ribs.
The thermoplastic integral base member includes four upstanding sidewalls defining a rectanguloid box having an open substantially rectangular top and a conformal mattress receiving cavity.
A longitudinally extending flange having a generally semi-circular cross section is provided on one wall of the top member that is cooperative with a longitudinally extending flange having an arcuate cross-section provided on one of the upstanding sidewalls of the base member to provide a neck receiving opening on one end of the respirator.
A longitudinally extending flange having a generally trapezoidal cross-section is provided on a confronting wall of the cover member that is cooperative with a longitudinally extending flange having a generally U-shaped cross-section on the adjacent sidewall of the base member to provide a leg receiving opening on the other end of the respirator