For me, the worst part about winter exercise is the cold air moving into my body. I get either an incredibly dry nose and generally dehydrated, or this annoying runny nose that leaves nasty trails on my sleeve as I try to wipe away the drainage.
Now, in theory, this is normal. Your body is supposed to heat the air you bring in through your nose, but sometimes that's just not enough. So you adjust your breathing, get off pace, get irritated, say "Screw it!" and go home in a huff. Or at least, I do.
So, I don't exercise as much, and become a jolly holiday lardass.
Solution: Heated air.
A small heating element is safely ensconced within a breathing mask that covers both nose and mouth. Air that you inhale is necessarily forced across the heating element and is warmed, more than the standard neoprene Gator mask does (see link), since that's passive and this is active.
The mask is made of soft neoprene and rests on the bridge of the subject's nose, with the bridgepiece also neoprene. A rechargable battery powers the device, which turns on when snapped closed around the back of the head.
A small three-setting temperature adjustment switch is located on the outside of the mask, in the back.-- shapu, Oct 10 2006 Gator http://www.wintersp.../browse/d/a/43/745/ [shapu, Oct 10 2006] Patent http://patft.uspto....20537&RS=PN/4620537 [Shz, Oct 10 2006] Psolar.Ex Cold Weather Face Mask http://www.kk.org/c...archives/001629.phpReview at Kevin Kelly's cool tools. No battery - it uses the heat from you breathing out to warm up the air you breathe in. [jutta, Mar 21 2007] (Potentially?) [marked-for-expiry]: Someone beat me to it, apparently.-- shapu, Oct 10 2006 Rather than an electrically heated element, you could duct the air that you are going to inhale through tubes in your running clothing, then the heat exchange from your body would warm the air and also cool you down. Admittedly it might make running harder work but that can only make you fitter in the long run.-- oneoffdave, Oct 10 2006 Another good idea, but baked. BTW, I can't find that patented idea (this idea) baked anywhere.-- Shz, Oct 10 2006 I'm certainly bummed about it not being on the market. It's at least a 60-piece assembly, which considering its purpose is more than overly-complex enough to qualify for halfbakery lore. He shoulda posted it here.-- shapu, Oct 10 2006 The patent link is shades of stillsuit technology.-- normzone, Oct 10 2006 What about simply having a small heat exchanger which can be set for cold/hot depending on outside temp? I figure the thing would be about the size and weight of a (full) water bottle and could easily be strapped to an arm or shoulder :)
For those worried about power, you could probably get some solar panel shoulder pads! But heat exchangers are very efficient at transfering heat/cold. It is more efficient to exchange it then generate it.
Whousthat-- whousthat, Oct 10 2006 A fifteen-month old account and that's your first anno?
Welcome to the Halfbakery.-- normzone, Oct 10 2006 I have bad asthma, and cold air only aggrevates it... I went running with a ski-mask on in Mid -September once. It wasn't cold , but it was cool enough to cause me to not be able to breath if I went past the pace of a brisk walk... so i wore a ski-mask and ran down the street.
I was stopped by a squad car that was parked on the next street corner and questioned as to what my motive was...
Point of the story is, from what I see, this device looks like it's going to have a breathing mask, and tubes running down onto your arm, or into your running suit... that's just a little suspicious,neh?-- jong-scx, Oct 11 2006 Nope, no tubes, no nothing. Just a gator-like mask with a little battery-powered heater in front of the nose. Little square jigger, that's what I'm thinking.-- shapu, Oct 11 2006 +, now bake it. I want one.-- Shz, Oct 11 2006 See links to actually order the heat exchanger mask at the bottom of the Cool Tools review I've linked to.-- jutta, Mar 21 2007 Well, bollocks.-- shapu, Mar 21 2007 random, halfbakery