Buoys – rafts – and aquatic devices – Water rescue or life protecting apparatus – Personal flotation device
Patent
1985-11-19
1987-06-09
Peters, Jr., Joseph F.
Buoys, rafts, and aquatic devices
Water rescue or life protecting apparatus
Personal flotation device
2202, B63C 908
Patent
active
046717757
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to survival hoods and particularly to such hoods for attachment to and use with life jackets or other buoyancy garments or suit in water to act as a splash guard.
Although a person in water or in a water situation and wearing a life jacket may be at risk of dying from hypothermia, there is also the risk of drowning due to imbibing water from spray and waves.
It is an object to provide a survival hood to act as a splash guard and minimise the risk of inadvertently imbibing water from spray or waves when worn by a person floating head upwards in water, which is of lightweight, small and easily packaged and capable of being attached to any life jacket buoyancy suit or protective garment having inherent buoyancy.
It has previously been proposed in the Royal Navy to utilise a splash guard in connection with the Mark III General Service Lifejacket which comprises a generally rectangular piece of butyl material secured along one side to the back of the stole of the jacket to form a flap. A middle portion of the flap is of clear transparent plastic and two holes are provided at either side of a top portion for ventilation. Normally the flap is stowed rolled up and releasably secured to the back of the jacket. For use it is unfurled and secured to the front of the life jacket buoyancy chamber.
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved survival hood.
According to the invention a survival hood comprises a hood-like cover with a lower neck opening adapted to fit over and envelope the head and face of a wearer and formed at least over an eye portion with a window of transparent material for sight purposes, the hood having a face portion adapted to present a spray-free fitting to the face, and at least one ventilating aperture arranged for the passage of air to and from a zone behind the face portion to allow for breathing of the wearer.
The hood is suitably formed of lightweight, pliable water-resistant fabric and the window is suitably of thin clear plastics material which will crumple generally as fabric but will not conform closely to the contours of the face thereby ensuring air passageways from the face area to the ventilating aperture.
Suitably the hood is arranged to envelope and extend below the head and at the rear is formed with a neck engaging portion. At the front the hood is suitably extended downwardly as a bodice portion adapted to extend over and engage the chest portion of the life jacket or buoyancy garmet of the wearer and provided with securing fasteners. The fasteners are preferably of a kind for releasable fitting to a life jacket.
The neck portion and bodice portion are suitably so formed to conform to the shoulder and chest of the wearer to inhibit free passage of surface water upwardly into the hood, and at a rear region the neck portion is suitably elasticated to obtain a fitting relationship between the rear region of the hood about the neck of a wearer.
In an embodiment the window of crumplable plastics material extends substantially completely over the face area of the mask to allow unimpeded vision to the wearer, and two vent apertures are provided at locations generally corresponding to the temples of the wearer.
The bodice portion of the mask is suitably provided with a flap-like downward extension, the hood being foldable into a roll shaped bundle about which the flap-like extension may be wrapped to present a portable package. The flap-like extension is suitably provided with complementary press-stud or other quick-release fasteners arranged adjacent a lower end of the bodice and at a free end of the flap to secure it in readily releasable manner about the rolled hood.
The hood is suitably provided with a pair of attachment straps secured to a lower portion of the bodice at opposite sides for securing the hood to the wearer's chest, and particularly to the front of a buoyancy garment. To this end the straps are suitably provided with quick-release fasteners.
The invention also includes a hood of the inventive kind attached or releasably secured to a
REFERENCES:
patent: 1201556 (1916-10-01), Chlumsky
patent: 1878434 (1932-09-01), Belloni
patent: 1901859 (1933-03-01), Anderson
patent: 2113779 (1938-04-01), Williamson
patent: 2800901 (1957-07-01), Monro
patent: 2835899 (1958-05-01), Monro et al.
patent: 2870451 (1959-01-01), Brodsky
patent: 3014221 (1961-12-01), Brunetto
patent: 3107373 (1963-10-01), Mellon et al.
patent: 3246350 (1966-04-01), Pollmann
Avila Stephen P.
Peters Jr. Joseph F.
LandOfFree
Survival hood does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Survival hood, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Survival hood will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-1826657