Automatic inflator for inflatable articles

Dispensing – Gas or vapor dispensing – With cutter or punch

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Details

222 41, 222 63, 441 93, B67D 500

Patent

active

050353454

ABSTRACT:
An inflator for automatically inflating an inflatable article, such as a personal flotation vest, upon immersion in water. A plunger and a piercing pin are movably mounted within a housing and are movable with respect to a pressurized gas canister attached to the housing. A force generating mechanism, mounted within the housing, acts on the plunger to forcibly move the plunger and the piercing pin to pierce the canister to release the pressurized gas therefrom through the housing to an inflatable article attached to the housing. A pair of spaced water sensor probes mounted in the housing provide a signal to a control device indicating that the housing is immersed in water. The control device activates a release mechanism which rotates a cam to release a spring-biased ram in the force generating mechanism from a first, retracted position such that the ram engages the plunger and urges the plunger and the piercing pin under force into the sealed end of the gas canister. The release mechanism, in a preferred embodiment, includes a motor actuated by the control device and gears which couple the motor output shaft to the cam which holds the ram in a first, retracted position. A manual lanyard is connected to a shaft extensibly mounted within the housing. A link connected to the shaft includes a cam which acts on the plunger to manually urge the plunger and the piercing pin into the gas canister when the lanyard shaft is pulled outward from the housing. An externally rotatable cap is mounted on the housing and internally engages the ram to retract the ram to the first position and allow the control device to rotate the cam to the first position to block the ram in the first position.

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