TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a protection gown comprising a front part, a back part joined to the front part and two sleeves, said back part consisting of two portions being connected to each other in a neckline region of said gown.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Protection gowns of this type are used primarily for protecting a nurse or doctor from blood or other bodily liquids from a patient when examining the patient in the examination room, intensive care unit, recovery room or when performing minor procedures or the like. The gown is taken off and discarded after this examination and another gown is put on before examining the next patient. As many as 25 gowns can be used in this way during the working day of a nurse or doctor.

The neckline of known such protection gowns are closed by releasable fastenings usually ties, but adhesive connections, hook and loop fasteners, snap fasteners or the like can also be used. The closing of such fastenings as well as the release thereof is time-consuming thereby making the putting on and taking off of the gowns taking a rather long time. A problem with ties is that many users fasten the ties with the gown in front of themselves and then pull the fastened ties over their heads. Such a way of putting on the gown often lead to the ties or strings not being tied tightly enough and the upper part of the gown hanging down from the neck of the user, thereby leaving an unprotected area of the upper torso of the user.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The objective of the present invention is to construct a protection gown of the aforementioned type so that it can rapidly be put on and taken off. This objective is accomplished by a protection gown comprising a front part, a back part joined to the front part and two sleeves, said back part consisting of two portions being connected to each other in a neckline region of said gown, characterized in that said two portions of the back part of the protection gown are connected to each other by a strip of material, the connection between said two portions of the back part of the protection gown can be released by manually breaking the strip of material or its attachment to one of said two portions of the back part of the protection gown, and in that at least a portion of the neckline of said gown is resiliency stretchable.

The connection between said two portions of the back part of said gown breaks at a force between 10-80 N, preferably between 30-50 N and more preferably between 25- 45 N measured in accordance with test method T-226B. In a first preferred embodiment, the strip of material is an elastic thread or band, which can be continuous.

The strip of material can have two ends that are fastened by fastening means to the gown in the region of its neckline; at least one of these fastening means is manually breakable.

In the preferred embodiment the protection gown, the strip of material as well as the front and back parts of the protection gown can comprise thermoplastic material and the breakable fastening means for fastening the elastic element to the neckline of the protection gown is a weld seam.

The breakable fastening means for fastening the strip of material to the neckline of the protection gown can be a glue seam or a seam made by sewing. The strip of material can be two pieces of material projecting from the neckline portion of the respective back part with breakable fastening means fasten the two free ends of the strip of material to each other. In a second preferred embodiment, the neckline of the front and back parts of the protection gown is resiliently stretchable and the strip of material is made of a non- elastic material.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The invention will now be described with reference to the enclosed figures, of which; fig. 1 schematically discloses a perspective view of a protection gown according to a preferred embodiment seen from behind; fig. 2 discloses the neckline region of the protection gown of figure 1 , fig. 3 schematically discloses a view similar to figure 2 of a further preferred embodiment of a protection gown, and fig. 4 discloses a view similar to figure 2 of a further preferred embodiment of a protection gown.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

In figures 1 and 2 a first preferred embodiment of a protection gown 1 according to the present invention is schematically shown seen from behind. The gown 1 comprises a front part 2, a back part consisting of two portions 3, 4 and sleeves 5, 6. The two portions 3, 4 of the back part are connected to each other in the neckline region of the gown 1 via an elastic element 7, in form of an elastic thread or band. The elastic element 7 is continuous and extends along the whole neckline of the gown 1, see figure 2. The elastic element is 7 held in place by a channel formed in the neckline of gown 1 by folding down the uppermost portions of the front and back parts of gown 1 and fastening the downfolded edges to their respective front and back part.

The gown 1 is put on by the user firstly putting her/his arms into the sleeves 5, 6 and then passing the elastic element 7 over the head. The gown is taken off after use by grabbing the gown in the neckline with both hands and then move the hands forward until the elastic element breaks. The tensile force at which the elastic element 7 breaks is 10-80 N, preferably between 30-50 N and more preferably between 25-45 N measured according to T-226B (enclosed by reference)

The elastic element 7 should preferably have an elongation at break of between 50 - 200 % preferably 50-150% in order to allow the element 7 to easily be passed over the head of a user without risk for break thereof.

After being passed over the head of the user, the elastic element 7 will contract and preferably resume its original length, thereby ensuring that the front of the gown is not hanging down in the frontal neck region of the gown.

The time it takes to put on or take off the protection gown 1 is thus very short.

In the embodiment shown in figures 1 and 2 the elastic element 7 runs freely within the channel created in the neckline of gown 1. An advantage by such a construction is that the whole possible elongation of the elastic element 7 can be used during the passing of the element over the head of a user. Another advantage is that such a neckline is easy to manufacture.

A second preferred embodiment of a protection gown 1 ' according to the present invention is shown in figure 3. The second embodiment differs from the embodiment according to figures 1 and 2 only in that the elastic element 7 ^' is affixed to the front and back parts of gown 1 ^' in several points along the neckline. Components of the protection gown 1 ' similar to corresponding components in the embodiment shown in figures 1 and 2 are given the same reference numerals as in figures 1 and 2 with the addition of a prime sign. The elastic element 7 ^' is affixed to the front and back parts of the neckline in a stretched condition and in several points along the neckline. When allowed to contract after being affixed to the front and back parts of the neckline, the elastic element 7' creases the neckline region of the gown 1 '. In such an embodiment the gap between the two portions 3 ^' and 4 ^' of the back part of gown 1 ^' is fixed since the sides of these portions are affixed to the elastic element 7 ^' and the largest part of the possible elongation of the elastic element 7 ^' can still be used when this element is passed over the head of a user.

In figure 3, the neckline of gown 1 ^' comprises a channel similar to the channel described with reference to figures 1 and 2. This is however not necessary, the elastic element can be affixed directly to an unfolded upper edge region of the front and back parts of gown 1 '.

In a not shown variant of the embodiment described with reference to figure 3, the gap between back parts 3 ^' and 4 ^' can be closed by a separate non-elastic strip of material. Thereby the elasticity of the neckline is obtained only by the elastic band 7 ^' which is attached to the neckline of the front and back parts 2 ^' ,3 ^' 4 ^' in a stretched state.

Alternatively, the non-elastic strip of material can be a part of an elongated piece of material which is folded over the neckline of the front and back parts of the gown along the length of the neckline and thereafter attached thereto and which also is extended over the gap between the back parts 3 ', 4' of the gown projecting out from one or both back parts 3 ^' , 4 ^' . This piece of material is of course attached to the neckline with the elastic element 7 ^' in a stretched state. The elastic element or band can extend into the portion of this material which extends beyond the sides of the back parts 3 ^' , 4 ^' if it is not attached to this portion and allowed to relax in this portion before the gap is closed. An advantage by such an alternative embodiment is that the elongation of the neckline is only dependent on the length of the neckline before shortening thereof due to contraction of the elastic element attached thereto and not also of the possible extension of this elastic element in the actual gap between the back parts. Thereby it is easy to ensure a suitable forward movement of the hands grabbing the neckline when the gown is to be taken off. With such a construction it is the fastening of the piece or strip of material extending over the gap between the back parts of the gown that is broken or the strip of material itself.

An advantage by having an elongated piece of material folded over the neckline of the front and back parts is that a soft and comfortable material can be used for this piece of material which can be different from the material in the rest of the gown.

In figure 4, a third preferred embodiment of a gown 1 ^" is schematically shown in a view similar to figure 2. Components similar to corresponding components in figures 1 and 2 are in figure 4 given the same reference numeral as in figures 1 and 2 with the addition of a bis sign. The elastic element 7 " is in figure 4 extended only between the side edges of the portions 3 ^" and 4 ^" constituting the back part of gown 1 ^" and the ends of element 7 ^" are affixed to the side edges of portions 3 ^{' '} and 4 ^" in the neckline regions thereof by suitable fastening means. In comparison with the elastic elements 7,7 ^' according to the first and second embodiments, the elastic element 7 ^" is elongated at a higher percentage than elastic elements 7,7 ^' during the passing of the elastic element over the head by a user. The elastic element 7 ^{' '} should therefore have an elongation at break which is larger than that of the elastic elements 7,7' in order to allow the element 7 ^" to easily be passed over the head of a user.

The tensile force at which the elastic element 7 ^{' '} breaks should in a first variant of the embodiment according to figure 4 be the same as in the first embodiment shown in figures 1 and 2. However, in a second variant of the embodiment disclosed in figure 4, at least one of the fastening means attaching the ends of the elastic element 7 ^" to the respective portion 3,4 of the back part of gown 1 " is a breakable fastening means that breaks when a certain tensile force is applied along the neckline of gown 1 ^" . This certain tensile force can to advantage be the same as the tensile force at which the elastic element according to the first embodiment shown in figures 1 and 2 breaks. A breakable fastening of an end of element 7 ^" can easily be accomplished by a glue seam or a seam made by sewing. A breakable weld seam can also easily be

accomplished if the element 7 ^{' '} and the outer layer of the gown are of thermoplastic materials compatible to each other from a welding point of view. The use of such breakable fastening means can of course be combined with the use of an elastic element which breaks at the application of a tensile force that is larger or smaller than the tensile force at which the fastening means breaks.

The elastic element 7 ^" will be elongated to a larger percentage when being passed over the head of a user compared to the elastic elements 7, 7 ^' according to the first and second embodiments but the properties of the elastic element 7 ^" could also be the same as the properties of elastic elements 7, 7 ^' .

The described embodiments can be combined. If it for example is desired to use an elastic element requiring a large tensile force to be broken, the elastic element can be cut and the cut ends thereof can be attached to each other or to the gown material by a fastening that breaks when a certain tensile force is applied, as is the case for the fastening described in the third embodiment disclosed in figure 4. In such a combination, the elastic element needs to be elongated to a smaller percentage when passed over the head of a user than in the third embodiment shown in figure 4.

The elastic element is preferably made of elastic elastomer but other elastic materials such as rubber thread or bands can be used. The elastic element can be a single thread but can also contain several threads.

The protection gown Ι,Γ,Ι ^" is a conventional gown of per se known type. A suitable material for such a gown is a 25 gsm SMS (spunbond-meltblown-spunbond) nonwoven. The described embodiments can of course be modified without leaving the scope of invention. For example, the elastic element can be in the form of ties that are fastened to each other by the user before passing the elastic element over the head. Although such a construction can solve the problem of the frontal neck region of the gown hanging down it is, however, not preferred since it is unnecessary time consuming. Furthermore, the gown can have ties or the like in the waist region and/ or sleeve cuffs. The scope of invention shall therefore only be limited of the content of the enclosed patent claims.

METHOD T-226B PROPERTIES OF PLASTIC FILMS BY TENSILE TESTING (PART 1)

REFERENCE METHOD

ASTM D 882-09

Deviation 1 : Conditioning time 4 h.

Deviation 2: Samples tested were nonwoven pieces and not plastic film PURPOSE

To determine maximum force and elongation on plastic films through tensile testing.

FIELD OF APPLICATION

Plastic and plastic film that have a thickness of < 1 ,00 mm.

DEFINITION

N.a

PRINCIPLE

A test piece of specified size is elongated at constant speed until break.

During the whole testing time, force and elongation are registered. PREPARATION OF TEST PIECES

Material required - Preferable the whole machine width

and at least 50 cm in the machine direction.

Minimum 2 pieces of 50 x 50 cm.

Number of measurements - 10 test pieces

Preparation - Punch out at least 10 test pieces in machine direction and perpendicular to machine direction respectively over the whole width of the material.

Use the punching tool 25 x 200 mm. Place the material on an undamaged plate for plastic, place a paper between punch plate and material. Punch maximum 6 layers of the material at the same time.

Conditioning During at least 4 hours. EQUIPMENT

Press, punching tool 25 x 200 mm and punch plate for plastic film.

Tensile tester

Special clamps for plastics film.

Running adjustment: Gauge length Cross head speed

(mm) ( mm/min)

Elong. < 20 % 125 12,5

Elong. 20-100 % 100 50

Elong. > 100 % 50 500 PROCEDURE

The test piece is placed in the upper clamp of the tensile tester. See to it that it hangs vertically. Fasten to the lower clamp.

Start the tensile tester and run until break.

Test pieces breaking at the clamps are rejected ^l . At least 5 approved test pieces in MD and CD respectively shall be reported. If the plastic slips or gets damaged in the clamps, try to protect the plastic with paper, non- woven or likewise. CALCULATONS

Mean value and standard deviation of max force and elongation at break.

Max force: - N, is the maximum force required before break.

Elongation at break: - %, is the increase in length until break.

¹ Breaking at the clamps is acceptable:

- if the result from such tests is in essential agreement with values from approved tests.

- if it is not possible to further elongate the specimen.

REPORTING

Method and deviations

Material and origin

Sample designation

Number of measurements

Mean value and standard deviation of max force in N with 2 decimals.

Mean value and standard deviation of elongation at break in % with integer.

Samples of a protection gown according to figure 3 but with a non-elastic double- folded nonwoven closing the gap between the back parts of the gown having a length of 50 mm and a width of 10 mm were tested by method T-226B with a cross head speed of 500 mm/min. The samples also included the extra nonwoven pieces closing the gap and equal portions of the neckline of the back parts of the gown on both sides of the gap. The mean value of the force required to breaking the nonwoven or its attachment to one of the back parts was 33 N and the standard deviation was 6.45 N.