MANUAL EXERCISE DEVICE FOR TONING AND TIGHTENING FLACCID TISSUE SURROUNDING AN AIRWAY
Manual exercise device that is comprised of a combination mouthpiece and top cap, a soft-rubber check-valve, a hard plastic hollow spherical bulb, and a soft plastic washer with a minuscule hole at its center held in position by an open-faced cap. A preferred embodiment affords a user a means through which to manually create and maintain a slowly depleting vacuum within the hard plastic bulb, exercising flaccid tissue and musculature in the process.
This is a CONTINUATION-IN-PART with respect to U.S. application Ser. No. 11/530857, filed 11 Sep. 2006 (11.09.2006) from which priority is claimed under 35 U.S.C. §120.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe primary object of the invention is to provide a non-invasive physical exercise approach to alleviate flaccid tissue obstructions along a human airway.
Another object of the invention is to provide an alternative to the routine application of lubricants to the flaccid tissue of the soft palate, uvula and surface tissue at the back of the throat in preparation for sleep.
Another object of the invention is to provide a means through which to tone and tighten tissue associated with OSA beneficial to people intolerable to CPAP therapy.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following descriptions, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. By way of example and illustration, an embodiment of the present invention is enclosed. Prototypes of the present invention are available for further inspection.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, there is disclosed a manual exercise device for toning and tightening flaccid tissue surrounding an airway (U-Firm): a hard-plastic, hollow spherical bulb that has threaded open necks at opposite ends; a plastic mouthpiece with threaded cap at one end of corresponding shape and size of the top larger open neck of the hollow bulb; a soft-rubber check-value of the circumference compatible with the inner-perimeter of the larger of two open necks to allow for insertion of the check-valve; an open-faced plastic cap, threaded on its inner-surface and of a corresponding size and shape of the smaller of two open necks of the hollow bulb; a soft-plastic solid washer with a minuscule hole at its exact center. This soft-plastic washer is of circumference corresponding with that of the inner-perimeter of the underside of the face of the open-faced threaded cap.
The present invention is intended to affect a repetitious, manual exercise by creating and maintaining a self-sustained vacuum within the hard-plastic hollow bulb. Slow dissipation of this vacuum results from seepage of air into the bulb through the minuscule hole at the center of the soft-plastic washer, secured in position by the open-faced cap, providing an otherwise airtight seal over the open neck. The continuous drawing of puffs of air through the mouthpiece increases the force of the vacuum depleted by seepage of air. The soft-rubber check-valve is drawn shut by the sustained vacuum, opening only when puffs of air are drawn by the user. The series of events required to maintain the vacuum flexes and relaxes flaccid musculature and tissue, thus alleviating obstructive tissue by toning and lifting it out of the airway.
The drawings constitute a part of intended specifics and include exemplary embodiments to the invention. It should be understood that aspects of the invention are in correspondence with actual “working” prototypes. In some of the drawings components may be shown enlarged to facilitate a clear understanding of the invention.
The present invention and prototypes of same correspond formal and informal drawings in conjunction with descriptions herein.
Invention 100 as shown in
As shown in
Once the proper assembly of the invention 100 has been affected, as shown in
Lips 39 form a seal around the entire open end 30. When mouthpiece 49 has been properly positioned, user begins to draw puffs of air through the open end 30 of the mouthpiece 49. Air is drawn from within the hollow 40 bulb 50 where it travels through the hollow channel 29 of the check-valve's body 45, where the air then passes through the soft-rubber flap-seal 43. Air passing through the flap-seal 43 continues on through the hollow 23 mouthpiece 49 where it exits the open end 30 of the mouthpiece 49, and enters the users mouth 21, as shown in
As air is extracted from within the hollow 40 bulb 50, a vacuum begins to occur. The force of this vacuum drawl back against the soft-rubber seal-flap 43, pulls the two sides of the flap 43 together creating a seal that captures the vacuum within the hollow 40 bulb 50. When user draws against this entrapped vacuum, the two sides of the rubber flap 43 are forced apart allowing for air to pass between them as air exits the hollow 40 of the bulb 50 on its way to the user's mouth 21, creating a one-way path for the extracted air.
As the force of the vacuum contained within the bulb 50 increases, user must exert more strength to draw air against this force in order to continue the procedure, thereby necessitating the utilization of the numerous musculature within and beneath flaccid issue surrounding the user's airway 36, as shown in
The minuscule hole 34 at the center of the soft-plastic washer 41 shown in
The continuous repetitious recreation of the depleting vacuum contained within the bulb 50 achieves the object of manually exercising flaccid tissues surrounding an airway 36, thus providing a means through which to tone and tighten tissue which can be responsible for obstructing an airway 36.
Claims
1. A non-invasive exercise apparatus comprised of:
- a hard plastic sphere made of santoprene and polystyrene with threaded open orifices at opposite ends of the sphere;
- a rubber check-valve that sits snugly in the larger of the two threaded orifices;
- a plastic mouth piece that attaches to the larger threaded orifice by a threaded cap corresponding with threads on the orifice, covering the rubber check-valve;
- a threaded, open-face plastic cap that corresponds with the smaller threaded orifice;
- a soft plastic washer with a circumference of the inner-face of the. open-face plastic cap; and
- a minuscule hole that is positioned precisely at the center of the soft plastic washer.
2. A non-invasive exercise apparatus, as stated in claim 1, whereas, once assembled provides repetitious exercise for tissue surrounding the human airway by creating and maintaining a vacuum within the hard plastic, hollow sphere.
3. A non-invasive exercise apparatus, as stated in claim 1, which provides a safe, effective means through which to tone and tighten tissue in human airways that is associated with and responsible for snoring.
4. A non-invasive exercise apparatus, as stated in claim 1, that, with continued proper use, tones and tightens flaccid obstructive tissue along and surrounding the human airways that is associated with and responsible for the health detriment known as Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA).
5. A non-invasive exercise apparatus, as stated in claim 1 which, when utilized in a proper and routine manner, is effective in toning and tightening tissue surrounding, human airways allowing for the intake and exhalation of air, unhampered by blockages associated with otherwise flaccid and untoned tissue.
Type: Application
Filed: Nov 28, 2008
Publication Date: Sep 29, 2011
Inventor: John Murray (San Antonio, TX)
Application Number: 13/131,048
International Classification: A63B 23/18 (20060101);