Land vehicles – Wheeled – Attachment
Patent
1996-12-05
1998-05-05
Ellis, Christopher P.
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Attachment
280733, 280737, 2456, B60R 2100
Patent
active
057464421
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
Safety apparel, particularly, but not exclusively, for motorcyclists, equestrians and other unprotected persons, comprising gas-inflatable, shock-absorbing pockets or pads, at least one gas-delivering device which is connected to said pockets or pads and which includes a container sealed by a sealing plate and containing compressed or liquified gas, a small explosive charge, means for initiating detonation of the explosive charge in the event of an accident which causes the wearer of the protective apparel to be thrown from a motorcycle, a horse or the like, and means activated by the explosive charge to penetrate the sealing plate.
There is a great need to provide improved protection for vital parts of the body, such as the neck, the spine and kidneys of persons who participate in activities that are associated with the risk of falling, such as motorcycling or riding on other, unprotected vehicles, riding on animals, and other activities in which there is a risk of falling from heights.
In addition to helmets and other types of protective clothing, such as leather clothes for motorcyclists, it has earlier been proposed to protect motorcyclists with the aid of suits or jackets that include inflatable, shock-absorbing pads. One problem in this regard, however, resides in the provision of a system with which the protective pads can be inflated with sufficient speed and with sufficient efficiency with the aid of simple equipment, and so as to minimize the risk of a malfunction and which will not injure the wearer or make any injury that the wearer might sustain more serious, and which will not noticeably affect the aesthetic appearance of the apparel as such.
Safety apparel of this nature is known, for instance, from U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,821, U.S. Pat. No. 4,825,469, U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,312 and WO 82/01464. The safety apparel taught by these Applications utilizes one or the other of the following two principles.
According to the first principle, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,821 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,825,469, the apparel is inflated with the aid of compressed or liquified gas from a container carried by the rider of the motorcycle or mounted on the motorcycle itself. It is difficult, however, to achieve sufficiently rapid inflation with gas from a container, among other things because of the time taken for the gas to expand. In either case, there is required a container which is highly pressurized, meaning that the container and the container sealing means, which is punctured by a ball or piston for instance, must be made relatively thick. The container will therefore be relatively heavy and a powerful explosive charge is required to achieve the acceleration and velocity necessary for the ball or piston to puncture the seal. An explosion of this nature taking place close to the body places the person concerned at serious risk.
In the case of U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,821, the explosive charge is detonated electrically and there is thus required access to a battery. Equipment of this kind is not suitable for use by equestrians. The safety apparel taught by U.S. Pat. No. 4,825,469 utilizes equipment which is fitted to a motorcycle and which is connected to the rider of the motorcycle by a hose. Among other things, this means that the rider of the bicycle must always connect the hose to the auxiliary motorcycle equipment, which constitutes an additional feature in his/her preparations, which may easily be forgotten. This solution is not suitable for use with equestrians, for instance.
According to the second principle, see WO 82/01464 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,312, there is used a detonator and a pyrotechnical, gas-generating material, essentially similar to that normally used for vehicle air bags. In order for gas generation of this nature to be sufficiently effective in the present context, it must be associated with a very powerful detonation, which can be both unpleasant and hazardous to the driver or rider, since the detonation takes place close to the body of the person concerned.
The gases generat
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