I am a retired project development engineer, who retired from Caterpillar Tractor Company in 2015. I have been an inventor all my life, granted 12 patents with my time at Caterpillar and two patents that are pending on a couple of items I have designed since retiring.   I like challenges, figuring out solutions, and being a troubleshooter. I spent most of my career solving problems. 

 

When COVID-19 started. it bothered me to be told that you don’t need a mask, just wash your hands frequently and keep six feet away to be safe. It was so rampant when in an enclosed area I thought more is required than just washing your hands and social distancing to be safe. N95 masks were hard to come by and we needed something! My wife and daughters were wearing N95 masks to the store and I was wearing a surgical mask. We were all nervous about the pandemic and we were some of the first ones using masks in the area. For about two months we wore those masks and really disliked them but felt we were doing what we could to help protect ourselves.

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FILTRATION

 

I did a lot of research to find the best material. I was trying various things like muslin, vacuum bags, 100% cotton, and MERV 13 furnace filters. I bought a pleated HEPA filter that I think cost $20. It was very stiff and hard to breathe in. I matched the HEPA material with a 3D printed mask I designed. The problem with this is that 3d part didn’t fit everyone and I would need multiple prints to fit everyone. Also, I was having problems with breathing restriction. I needed more surface area to allow easy breathing. This could be achieved by having extra pleats but it looked awkward and it was hard to make. I gave up the idea of a 3D printed mask with a vacuum filter medium pretty quickly. It was hard to fit up properly to all faces and the area of the filter medium was so small it caused labored breathing.

 

I had been working on this for about a month when in late March 2020, I read of an event that happened in Mt. Vernon Washington on March 10th when a choir group got together to sing. Attendance was about ½ the regular choir due to COVID-19 concerns. Three weeks after practice 45 were tested positive with COVID-19, three were hospitalized, and two are dead. The local paper quoted a professor “This could be an airborne transfer”. That changed my whole direction for a face mask. I needed a material that filtered like an N95 mask. The mask needed to seal on the face to force air thru the mask to be filtered when you breathe in and also when you exhale.

 

I was still doing research to find the best material when on April 10th, I found an article written by the University of Florida, who was testing a material called Halyard600. In their calculations, they felt this material was capable of stopping very small particles, even smaller than N95 masks. They did some preliminary work and felt their design could be N95 rated. I read up on the Halyard600 and wanted to test it.  I couldn’t find a single sheet anywhere but found a distributor for it that sells it 72 sheets at a time. The problem was, it was really expensive for 72 sheets. For an experiment, it was a lot of money. I had been working on this for nearly three months and felt this was the missing part of the puzzle. I ordered it and sheepishly told my wife what I had done. I felt that this was a good thing to do and felt pretty positive things would work out. The box of material was delivered the next week.  

 

The first mask we made was patterned after a pleated surgical mask. The material was too stiff and it didn’t lay down to seal around the nose and mouth area. Also, the elastic around the ear didn’t have consistent strength.  

We tried a couple of common mask designs that you see in many places but the ties were awkward and the masks leaked air around the sides very badly.

Then we started doing iterations and studying how to get a good seal against the face and I knew we needed a large amount of surface area to reduce breathing effort.  
Here is a picture of the stack of our prototypes. It took us seven prototypes to start getting close to the current Logan mask.  The second picture is of all of the masks we made from day one until we got it right!

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At this point, the mask was sealing against the face pretty well. We were going for a one size fits all approach and thought we were pretty close.  Our design was large, covered the face, fit tight, and kept the mask off the lips of the wearer. Various tweaks and adjustments were done to get us to this point. I was pleased with the progress.  I still needed to improve the sealing around the nose. The Logan Mask can be pulled pretty tight and the nose wire kept getting stretched out. First I tried a surgical mask wire which was too weak. Then tripled a wire, still too weak. Then used a 14 gauge solid copper wire, too strong. Then tried 16 gauge mechanics wire, still too strong and hurt the nose when forming it.  I kept testing until I found the perfect one. It kept its form when tightening the mask and was easy on the nose when fitting. We added a smaller wire later for the smaller masks. 

 

We now had the mask fitting good on the face, had a lot of confidence in the fabric, but needed to work on the strap design. We tried making the straps out of the same material since elastic was not available. After several failed attempts, we went to Walmart and bought some shoelaces to use for straps. Our first attempt was reasonable but there were difficulties getting it to work. My daughter had a bag of paracord that was leftover from her days when she made paracord bracelets. The paracord was perfect. It was easier and cheaper to use than the shoelaces and tied easily. We moved from a design that required tying two straps to a design that ties with one cord. This was no problem for my wife and daughters but I had difficulties tying a tight knot behind my head.

I had completed my goal of designing an efficient mask for my family and we started wearing them and we sanitized the masks after each use. The material filtered well, and when worn correctly fit snug against the face, I felt confident in the protection they offered.

I went back to the hand-powered trike project I had been working on before Covid hit. After about a week, my wife said we need to do something with the rest of the material. So we started making and selling them and the reaction was incredible. People who used them loved them!

The first mask we sold was a single knot design. I didn't like tying it behind my head so I ordered a pack of five cord locks to see if it would help me with the tying problem I had. It worked great and we started using the cord lock and added the cord lock option for an extra dollar, which proved to be very popular. It is a standard feature now, so the cord lock is included in the price.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We offered only one mask size thinking it would fit everyone until one day a lady named Amy bought two of them and called us up and said this mask is way too big for “my daughter and me”. She said they fit other family members but she and her daughter needed a smaller one. So we made the Medium size mask in response to her inquiry. Thank you Amy if you read this! Then came along the small and x-small sizes, next the vented design, andnd finally, we developed an over-the-ear design which is very popular. 

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Final thoughts: I have tried my best to design this with the best materials and fit up possible. I cannot guarantee that you will not get the virus just by wearing this mask. I look at it as a better alternative to a simple cloth mask. We have done tests with this material and it seems to have very good filtering capability, just like the University of Florida has found out. It is designed to be cooler and breathe easier than most masks. It is designed to stay in place so that you don’t frequently have to adjust your mask. I have greater confidence in using it than other masks except for the N95 mask since it is certified and we are not. We get a lot of questions about getting it certified but haven’t decided whether to do it or not.

Our masks are sanitized before shipping for your peace of mind!
Please contact us if you have further questions,

 

Greg

The Logan Mask, Designer/Engineer

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