Buoys – rafts – and aquatic devices – Water rescue or life protecting apparatus – Personal flotation device
Reexamination Certificate
2001-08-10
2002-05-28
Avila, Stephen (Department: 3617)
Buoys, rafts, and aquatic devices
Water rescue or life protecting apparatus
Personal flotation device
Reexamination Certificate
active
06394866
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to personal flotation devices and, more particularly, to a safety belt which can be inflated for use as a life vest in both a fresh-water and salt-water environment.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
As is well known and understood, personal flotation devices (PFDs) are available in a variety of shapes, colors and materials. Typically required for recreation boat use, how many, and what type PFDs are required depends on the number of people on board, the size of the boat, and the kind of boating being done.
As is also known, there presently exist two basic types of PFDs—the inherently buoyant vest of a primarily foam composition, and the fully inflatable type activated by a pulling action which punctures a compressed gas cartridge.
While such devices are typically employed by those on boats—fishing, canoeing and kayaking—a very large market exists for those who do not go near the water at all, either because they cannot swim or are afraid to go into the water, but who could benefit through the use of some type of personal flotation device.
My U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,321, issued Jan. 19, 1993 and entitled “Swimmer's Safety Belt” describes a substantially hollow belt, worn about the waist, and able to assume the shape of a life preserver in use, while allowing the wearer to swim to safety after entering the water, using whatever swim strokes may be convenient. As is there set forth, a compressed gas cartridge is employed to fill the belt in allowing the life preserver so formed to ride up to the wearer's arm level.
My U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,512, issued Nov. 29, 1994 and entitled “Inflatable Swimmer's Safety Belt”, on the other hand, went further in describing the use of a pair of belts, tethered together, to restrict the life preserver arrangement to rise up to the wearer's arm level, to hold the wearer vertically in the water—thereby obviating the possibility of the life preserver moving;over the shoulders and head of the wearer and somehow possibly coming free. With this feature, a life preserver tube was formed of the first belt, tied to the second belt at a length which prevented the tube from slipping over the shoulders and head, even while still allowing the wearer to be able to swim about.
While the safety belts described in these two patents performed quite well from a safety standpoint, the belt described in my further U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,279, issued Dec. 30, 1997 and entitled “Inflatable Swimmer's Safety Belt, Life Preserver/Life Vest” went even further. The safety belt there described could be arranged either as a life preserver, to allow the wearer to continue to be able to swim about, or could be further converted to a life vest, in holding unconscious wearers face-up in the water—or, for use by non-swimmers or children, and for those who could only swim short distances without tiring, while trying to reach shore or to reach a rescue boat. A pair of belts, tethered together, were again used, with the first—substantially hollow and worn about the waist—being able to be filled with the compressed gas in unfolding and expanding outwardly, and with the second underlying the first on the waist. When the first belt was filled with compressed gas, its length increased to form a horizontal tube riding under the arm pits, in holding the wearer vertically as a life preserver, while allowing the wearer to be able to swim about. Couplings were provided on the first belt for maintaining circular configuration, all the while permitting the tube to be slid over the arms to the shoulders and neck area in continuing to hold the wearer vertically, but this time, as a life vest, keeping the head of the wearer out of the water. As with my U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,512, the tether of this construction prevented the tube from coming loose from the second, or waist, belt and floating away.
My U.S. Pat. No. 6,036,562, issued Mar. 14, 2000 and entitled “2-Step Swimmer's Safety Belt Inflatabale Into A Life Preserver And A Life Vest” then took these inventions one more step. In particular, it utilized the first, inflatable belt to again inflate to a life preserver upon actuating the compressed gas cartridge, which was then to be fitted over the arms to the shoulders and neck area in forming a life vest when being donned. A “drawstrap” was used, instead of the previously employed tether, to keep the life vest snugly attached and secured to the second jacket belt. As there set forth, besides simplifying the manner by which the safety belt was put on and adjusted, the arrangement resulted in a streamlining of the construction, to the extent that the safety belt, before inflating, could readily be worn either in the front or back, automatically and immediately inflating to the life preserver position once the compressed gas was released, without the wearer having to do anything else.
As described in this, my most recently issued patent, an exceedingly comfortable, lightweight, smooth, personal flotation device-resulted, which could be worn simply as a belt, in front or in back, whether in or out of the water, and for hours on end. With an appearance not very much different from that of an ordinary belt securing one's clothing at the waist, a lanyard could be further included, to be simply pulled in puncturing the compressed gas cartridge. When so done, the safety belt automatically inflated the tube as a life preserver, and one whose positioning about the arms, shoulders, head and neck as a life vest could be tightened by simple adjustment of the drawstrap which coupled the tube to the waist belt for maximum stability.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
As will become clear from the following description, the safety belt of this invention again inflates upon actuating the compressed gas cartridge but is one which automatically inflates to a life vest directly in front of the user, without any need to convert first from a life preserver position, as in my U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,702,279 and 6,036,562 arrangements. Instead of a pair of belts being employed, a folded, inflatable cell will be seen to be packed inside the waist belt as a jacket to inflate as the life vest, and which is then pulled over the head and about the neck in being donned. A different “drawstrap” connection is likewise employed to keep everything snugly attached and secured and positioned, leading to a streamlining of the construction in which the safety belt, before inflating, could be worn in the front in a manner far less obtrusive then with a fanny pack which conventionally incorporates a pouch to contain an inflatable vest. Additionally, simpler repacking of the belt for further use will be seen to result, different from the overlapping Z-fold repacking employed in my U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,279 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,036,562 designs.
As such, it will be appreciated that the 2-step belt of my U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,702,279 and 6,036,562 designs is particularly useful for swimmers who are caught in riptides, or get a cramp while swimming, and need just a quick-rescue flotation ring to get them back to shore. With the present invention on the other hand, it will be seen that it is designed more for boaters, who may be stranded in the water for some time before rescue, or become incapacitated, and therefore need a life vest, rather than a life preserver that will allow them to swim about.
Furthermore, whereas the conventional fannypack with its pouch-containing inflatable vest inflates directly in front of a user's chest region, it does so in a very rigid manner which allows very little room for vest movement, primarily because of its securement to the waist belt by a very short drawstrap. Such restraint of movement has been noted to create a frequent problem in that when the vest improperly deploys in a reverse or twisted manner, as it occasionally does, the user has been noted to have extreme difficulty in correcting the problem. Also, with the fannypack, with its short drawstrap being concealed beneath the inflated vest, few users have been noted to actually adjust it tight in practice
Avila Stephen
Brodsky Charles I.
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