Buoys – rafts – and aquatic devices – Water rescue or life protecting apparatus – Personal flotation device
Patent
1996-11-25
1998-09-29
Swineheart, Ed L.
Buoys, rafts, and aquatic devices
Water rescue or life protecting apparatus
Personal flotation device
441 88, B63C 908
Patent
active
058138919
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to a life-saving aid and has been devised particularly though not solely for personal use in an emergency water safety situation.
BACKGROUND ART
Many forms of inflatable life-saving aids or personal buoyancy aids have been provided in the past designed to support a person in the water to prevent drowning either in a predictable situation where the person is involved, for example in boating or other water sports, or in an emergency situation where a person unexpectedly falls into a body of water.
Full life jackets or personal flotation devices, while effective to support a person in the water, in some cases even where the person is unconscious, are generally bulky and uncomfortable to wear and because of this are not commonly available in an emergency use situation. Some flotation devices or personal buoyancy aids are of an inflatable nature in order to reduce their bulk when not actively in use, and are commonly provided with a source of compressed gas such as a CO.sub.2 bottle able to be triggered either manually or automatically upon immersion in water to inflate the buoyancy aid. Such devices are generally in the form of jackets or horseshoe-type rings which are difficult to fold once deflated and particularly difficult to exclude gas from for re-packaging, once they have been inflated and used. There is therefore a marked reluctance on the part of owners of such devices to use the devices in a trial situation and the owners are therefore generally unfamiliar with the actual properties and use of the life-saving device, significantly reducing the effectiveness of the device in an emergency situation.
It is a further feature of known life jackets or personal flotation devices that they are difficult to share with a person in distress which therefore limits their use to a single person and renders it difficult for a rescuer to share the life-saving aid with the person in distress. It is also impossible to transfer an inflated life jacket or personal flotation device from one person to another without deflating the device.
It is also highly desirable to be able to provide an inflatable life-saving aid which is low in cost and extremely compact when deflated and so can be readily carried in the pocket or clipped, to e.g. to the belt of a user without inconvenience and yet which may be swiftly and promptly deployed in an emergency situation either for the use of the person carrying the life-saving aid or as a device to be thrown to another person in distress in the water.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
The present invention therefore provides an inflatable life-saving aid comprising an elongate closed tube of flexible material having inflation and deflation means at or adjacent a proximal end of the tube, arranged such that gas can be readily excluded from the tube after inflation by opening the deflation means and rolling the tube into a roll from the distal end towards the proximal end.
Preferably the tube is linear, forming a cylinder when inflated.
Preferably the tube is provided with hand grips at both proximal and distal ends.
Preferably the hand grips are reinforced for example by use of a metal bar to enable the tube to carry a significant load applied at the point of the hand grips.
Preferably the ends of the tube are provided with securing means adapted to engage one another, forming the tube into a loop.
Preferably the inflation means comprise an automatic trigger mechanism and a source or compressed gas, actuable upon submersion into water to release the compressed gas into the tube.
Preferably the proximal end of the tube is attached to a safety line, wound on to a reel adapted to be held by a user when the aid is thrown to a desired location.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
Notwithstanding any other forms that may fall within its scope, one preferred form of the invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic plan view of an inflated life-saving aid according to the inv
REFERENCES:
patent: 1493664 (1924-05-01), Blum
patent: 2368558 (1945-01-01), Maloney
patent: 3127624 (1964-04-01), Kubit et al.
patent: 4184216 (1980-01-01), Saleen
patent: 5348504 (1994-09-01), Pierce et al.
Flube Pty. Ltd.
Swineheart Ed L.
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