Buoys – rafts – and aquatic devices – Water rescue or life protecting apparatus
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-04
2002-04-30
Basinger, Sherman (Department: 3617)
Buoys, rafts, and aquatic devices
Water rescue or life protecting apparatus
C070S016000, C070S019000, C440S090000, C441S082000, C441S085000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06379206
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a rescue holding clamp which automatically grasps a swimming victim's wrist or forearm when a clamp is triggered by the victim touching or grabbing a tripper element, which causes off-centered hour glass shaped jaws to rotate in unison to make an orifice formed there between small enough to grasp the wrist or forearm of the victim.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In sea rescues, life preservers or other holding rings are dropped to a victim from a dock a boat or a helicopter. However, often the victim is exhausted, and cannot grasp the life preserver or ring.
To rescue precariously placed fire victims, various devices are used. Fire escapes and ladders can be used when the victim can be reached from the ground, but in high rise buildings only helicopter rescues from above are possible. These rescues normally include dropping a rope or cable with a ring to grab from a helicopter to the roof of a burning building.
Among related US patents include the following:
U.S. Pat. No.:
Inventor:
Date:
Subject Matter
1,611,427
Evans
12/21/26
Navigation Aid
3,332,415
Ericson
7/25/67
Inflatable Splint
3,348,632
Swager
10/24/67
Climbing Device
4,300,759
Caplan
11/17/81
Inflatable Device
4,596,530
McGlinn
6/24/86
Rescue Device
4,599,074
Beckley
7/8/86
Rescue Device
4,671,507
Huttner
6/9/87
Exercise Sleeve
4,694,931
Sibertin-Blanc
9/22/87
Tripping Rescue
4,778,033
Gonzalez
10/18/88
Forearm Gripper
5,279,386
Cearly
1/18/94
Rescue Harness
5,427,557
Lunden
6/27/95
Ice Rescue Device
5,752,731
Crome
5/19/98
Victim Snare Pole
5,832,563
Simpson
11/10/98
Forearm Device
Of these, U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,931 of Sibertin-Blanc for an Automatic Tripping Rescue System includes a sleeve into which a victim inserts the hand and forearm. It includes a handle tripper which causes the sleeve to snugly engage and grip the forearm.
However, the Sibertin-Blanc '931 device grips the forearm by an inflatable sleeve, which may take considerable time to inflate and from which a victim's hand could slip out of.
Other non-rescue personal flotation devices which grab the forearm or wrist are shown in the Evans '427, Caplan '759 and Gonzalez '033 patents. The Huttner '507 sleeve is a flotation device wrapped around a swimmer's ankles. The Ericson '415 patent device describes an inflatable first aid splint and the Simpson '563 device is a forearm cuff to attach to a tool, such as a broom, a canoe paddle or a shovel.
The Swager '632 patent is cited for a mountain climber's device containing a cam with teeth, where the serrations and eccentric off center cam motion contributes to a grasping action in general, although not particularly for a forearm sleeve.
The Cearly '386, McGlinn '530, Beckley '074 and Crome '731 rescue devices have body harnesses that automatically tighten around a victim and automatically cinch down.
The Lunden '557 device is an ice rescue device that uses gears to advance toward a victim.
However, the aforementioned devices do not have mechanical reliability, and some have to rely upon air pressure and internal springs, which could malfunction. Therefore there is a need for simplicity in a device, which can reliably and quickly grasp a victim's wrist or forearm in a rescue operation.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a rescue clamp which automatically grasps a victim's forearm, even of the victim cannot manually grip an object.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a rescue clamp which can safely grasp and hold the wrist or forearm an exhausted swimming victim with minimal effort on the part of the victim.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a rescue clamp which can be easily dropped to a victim from a dock, boat or helicopter.
It is further an object of the present invention to provide a rescue clamp which can rescue precariously placed fire victims upon burning buildings.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a rescue clamp which automatically tightens around a victim's wrist or forearm.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a rescue clamp which prevents a victim from losing grip while being lifted.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a floatable rescue clamp for use on waters which can be advanced toward a victim in choppy, turbulent seas.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a rescue clamp which can communicate voice instructions from a rescuer to a victim.
It is a yet another object of the present invention to improve over the disadvantages of the prior art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In keeping with these objects and others which may become apparent, the present invention describes a rescue clamp to rescue precariously located victims, such as swimmers in bodies of water, i.e., seas, lakes, rivers, ponds, or swimming pools, also such as climbers in a deep ravine, persons on top of a burning building or persons who have fallen down a well or crevice.
The rescue clamp includes a clamp into which a victim inserts the hand and forearm. It includes a trigger which is activated by a spring loaded trigger initiated by contact with a victim's hand, or which is a handle grabbed by the victim's hand, to cause the clamp to snugly engage and grip the wrist or forearm of the victim.
For children or thin persons the clamp generally engages the wrist. For stockier, heavier persons, the clamp grasps the thicker forearm of the victim.
The clamp grips the wrist or forearm by off-centered hour glass shaped jaws, that rotate in unison to form an orifice therebetween, which is snug and small enough to grasp the wrist or forearm of the victim. The off-centered hour glass shaped jaws are eccentric in that they are not symmetrical about each respective top to bottom axis. The curvature tapers constantly, departing from a symmetrical pattern.
To facilitate rotation, there is an eccentric off-center cam motion of the jaws contributing to a grasping action in general.
The optional spring loaded clamp version includes a latch mechanism wherein the off-centered hour glass shaped jaws are indented peripherally with notched steps. The notch steps are urged in a spring loaded position where they are held in place by a tab or bar stop. The hour glass jaws are spring loaded by being wound about respective coiled torsion springs until the notched steps engage the tab or bar stop.
The jaws move either by pulling the handle, or preferably by the victim's hand being in contact with a latch trigger, which upon contact, causes the notch steps to move away from the bar stops, resulting in rotation of each of the jaws in unison.
The jaws automatically tighten around a victim's wrist or forearm and cinch down. The rescue holding clamp automatically grabs a swimming or other remotely positioned victim's wrist or forearm, when the clamp is activated when the victim, such as a swimmer in a body of water or a climber in an inaccessible canyon, inserts the hand through an orifice created by movable clamps, and either touches a spring loaded trigger or alternatively grabs a grabber handle.
Upon either the spring loaded activation of the trigger or upon the grabbing of the handle by the victim, the off-centered hour glass shaped jaws rotate in unison to make the orifice smaller. As the orifice gets smaller, the jaws snugly grab around the wrist or forearm of the victim.
Therefore, if the victim is semi-conscious and loses his or her grip on the handle, the wrist or forearm clamp retains its grip upon the victim's wrist or forearm, enabling the victim to be lifted.
If the victim is heavy in weight with thick forearms, the clamp closes as soon as the orifice between the pair of eccentric hour glass shaped jaws touches the forearm. In the spring loaded trigger version, the size of the orifice between the off-centered hour glass jaws automatically adj
Basinger Sherman
Walker Alfred M.
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