Buoys – rafts – and aquatic devices – Water rescue or life protecting apparatus – Personal flotation device
Reexamination Certificate
2003-10-27
2004-10-12
Sotelo, Jesus D. (Department: 3617)
Buoys, rafts, and aquatic devices
Water rescue or life protecting apparatus
Personal flotation device
Reexamination Certificate
active
06802751
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention provides a comfortable jacket that incorporates an emergency floatation means.
BACKGROUND ART
Newspapers and television often tell us of boating accidents and very small children who drown in a backyard swimming pool. Some pools have expensive alarm devices that sound when their pool surface is disturbed in hopes of preventing such tragedies. This invention provides a low cost practical emergency floatation system for children and adults in emergency deep-water emersion situations.
There are many forms of swimming pool toys and life jackets that provide floatation means in swimming pools, ponds, lakes, and other water bodies; some of them are made as attachable life jackets or arm floats and others are simply rings or floats in many forms. Various pool alarms also exist.
While they may provide emergency floatation for an adult or child, the means must be within their gasp when the person enters or falls into the potentially dangerous body of water. There is no assurance that this can or will be the possible at such a hazardous time, either in pools or in open bodies of water. The constant need for a safe alternative presents a difficulty because of the variety of children's play and adult activities, and the unexpected times an emergency may occur. What can they, or will they, wear in both situations. Something is needed that can be worn in water recreation activity, and in common activities such as playing and napping or sleeping, and will provide standby floatation means. Such a device is not presently available.
The aforementioned alarms provided for swimming pools and life belts that have been available for many wearers are all expensive and do not satisfy the constant needs fitting small children's needs or many adult activities requiring water safety.
The following invention provides all of these needs.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
This invention is not a toy but a device designed to meet the needs of such an emergency and prevent the drowning of a child or adult. It allows the wearer to play, nap or sleep while maintaining a minimum floatation capability. It requires no mechanism other than its inherent hydraulically activated pneumatic float response.
A lightweight ventilated plastic jacket having in its design upper reservoirs of air suitable for head floatation that are positioned along its upper edge and are connected by air transfer tubes to similar reservoirs of air located at its lower edge. Its contained volume of air is only enough to fill the upper float-reservoirs. Contained air is free to transfer among the reservoirs. This device has the property that when immersed upright in a volume of water, the unequal water pressure will force the air in the lower reservoirs up into the upper reservoirs. The upper reservoirs are positioned to act as potential floats for the wearer's head and face.
If the total volume of air within the device is equal only to the volume of the upper float reservoir, the water immersion in upright orientation will force all contained air from the lower reservoirs to the upper ones. A jacket having only the total volume of air required to fill the upper float reservoir (say, one half its total capacity), when not immersed in water, will also freely allow the air to migrate to other reservoirs when any one reservoir is pressed flat. Under these conditions, the jacket will have little weight, no resistance to parts of it being locally pressed flat, and in general not interfere with the actions of the child or adult wearing it, or even sleeping in it
In an emergency, when a person wearing it falls into a body of water, their initial position is upside-down but their natural distribution of body weight will lower their legs and elevate their head. At this time, the air in the lower reservoirs is hydraulically squeezed up into the upper float reservoirs. This provides floatation for the head and face. In such floatation, a rule of thumb is that ¼ body weight for the water weight displacement will support a person's head even when their body weight is 4 times that weight. Therefore, a volume of air displacing 8 pounds of water can float a 32-pound person's head in a breathable elevation above the water's surface.
The aforesaid jacket is designed to minimize body covering to provide cool wearing during hot weather. It also can have a back fastening means, and a bottom between-the-legs strap that also fastens at the jacket back, and can be used to maximize its secure attachment for children. Adults simply need a front fastening jacket.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3266070 (1966-08-01), O'Link
patent: 3883914 (1975-05-01), Blair
patent: 5030153 (1991-07-01), Bailey
patent: 5494469 (1996-02-01), Heath et al.
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