Buoys – rafts – and aquatic devices – Water rescue or life protecting apparatus – Personal flotation device
Reexamination Certificate
2003-01-17
2004-03-23
Swinehart, Ed (Department: 3617)
Buoys, rafts, and aquatic devices
Water rescue or life protecting apparatus
Personal flotation device
C405S186000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06709307
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to balancing jackets for diving activities, and in particular to balancing jackets equipped with a substantially horseshoe-shaped inflatable chamber, or anyway equipped with an inflatable chamber comprising two descending branches communicating one with the other in their upper portion.
One of the most relevant problems involving these known jackets consists in obtaining a balanced bilateral inflation of both branches of the air chamber. Such balanced inflation can be reached only by arranging the inflating valve in central position between the two branches, which would mean arranging such valve at the same height as the user's nape, and further providing transmission means, such as for instance a cable transmission, for enabling its actuation. However, if in order to obviate to the above mentioned drawback of the central positioning, said valve is placed on one of the sides of a chamber (which can either be the left or right chamber, whether the user is right-handed or left-handed), substantially at the same height as the user's hips, this arrangement results in a lot of drawbacks due to the fact that air supplied into the jacket fills one of the two branches of said jacket before passing on to the second branch, which results in the diver being unbalanced. This drawback often results in divers choosing other types of jackets despite the indubitable advantages of this kind of jacket.
The main aim of the present invention is therefore to obviate the drawbacks of known balancing jackets equipped with horseshoe-shaped inflatable chamber, i.e. comprising two descending branches communicating one with the other in their upper portion.
According to a main feature of the present invention said aim is reached by arranging on the connection of the inflating valve ending within one of the two branches of the inflatable chamber of the jacket a tubular connection provided with a substantially T-shaped branch comprising a first tube portion ending directly on the base of such first chamber, and a second tube portion covering the whole ascending arch of said first chamber and at least a large portion of the descending arch of the second chamber of the jacket until it ends on the base of the second inflatable chamber of said jacket. Thus, as soon as air is supplied into the jacket it is uniformly divided between the two chambers or branches of said jacket.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3337887 (1967-08-01), Barnier
patent: 3608114 (1971-09-01), Middleton et al.
patent: 6168487 (2001-01-01), Nissen
Canella Gabriele
Garofalo Giovanni
HTM Sport S.p.A.
Petry Marvin
Stites & Harbison PLLC
Swinehart Ed
LandOfFree
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