Buoys – rafts – and aquatic devices – Water rescue or life protecting apparatus – Personal flotation device
Patent
1997-08-08
1999-07-13
Basinger, Sherman
Buoys, rafts, and aquatic devices
Water rescue or life protecting apparatus
Personal flotation device
441 41, B63C 9125
Patent
active
059218355
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to inflation devices for inflation of buoyancy bodies such as lifejackets or liferafts.
A well known type of life-jacket comprises an impermeable outer skin defining an internal cavity. Typically, a proportion of this internal cavity is filled with a buoyant material to provide an initial, low, level of buoyancy and the skin is inflated by injection of gas to provide a higher level of buoyancy when needed. Alternatively, in some lifejackets the internal cavity is initially empty, and must be inflated to provide any buoyancy.
It is known to provide lifejackets with an externally mounted cylinder containing pressurised gas for inflation of the outer skin. The cylinder is connected via a one way valve (typically a Schraeder valve) to a passage in flow connection with the internal cavity.
The neck of the externally mounted cylinder is initially sealed by a metal closure diaphragm, and a mechanism is provided whereby the diaphragm is punctured when, for example, an actuating tag is pulled, causing inflation of the lifejacket.
Such lifejackets suffer from a number of disadvantages. The external cylinder is inconvenient to the wearer as it tends to catch on obstacles (which is a particular drawback on boats, which provide a large number of obstacles such as ropes, ladders etc). It is also vulnerable to physical damage by impacts, and is unprotected from the corrosive effects of water. Known cylinders typically have a cadmium outer plating which, in combination with the metal components of the valve and the actuating mechanism and in the presence of salt water, gives rise to electrolytic corrosion.
Another problem associated with these known lifejackets arises at low temperatures. The cylinders are filled with CO.sub.2 gas which, as it expands, can freeze, thereby blocking the (usually restricted) passage through which the gas enters the internal cavity.
There have been attempts in the past to overcome these problems by mounting the gas cylinder within the internal cavity of the lifejacket. In one such lifejacket an inflation assembly comprising the cylinder and the mechanism for puncturing its metal closure diaphragm is placed loose within the internal cavity, being accessible only via a sealable hole in the outer skin.
To pierce the closure diaphragm, the user locates the inflation assembly by feel through the outer skin, and then squeezes a handle through the skin to cause inflation.
This operation requires time and a degree of manual dexterity, which can be problematic since in emergencies it is often very important to inflate a lifejacket quickly.
Further, exposure to cold, particularly cold water, can make any kind of manipulation very difficult the user's hands may become too numb to be used effectively, so that inflation of the lifejacket is hard to achieve.
A further type of lifejacket with an internally mounted inflation cylinder is described in GB 2171962. In this case, the outer skin is formed with a projecting elongate pocket. A movable lever of the inflation assembly projects into the said pocket, and a cord is tied to the distal end of the outside of the pocket surrounding both the pocket and the lever so that pulling on the cord moves the lever, puncturing the metal closure diaphragm and inflating the lifejacket.
This lifejacket is complicated to manufacture, since the outer skin must be formed to provide the projecting pocket. It is also complicated to assemble; the inflation assembly must first be inserted through a gap in a seam of the outer skin. Then the movable lever must be located in the pocket, and the cord tied around the pocket, retaining the lever, and the gap in the seam must then be welded closed.
The lifejacket in question is not reusable. The inflation assembly is permanently sealed within the jacket, so that after one inflation (which exhausts the gas cylinder) the cylinder cannot be replaced.
Additional problems arise where the inflation device in question is adapted to be automatically triggered when its associated buoyan
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Christiansson Tor
Gordon Peter Cronin
Basinger Sherman
C.M. Hammar AB
Gordon Peter Cronin
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