Buoys – rafts – and aquatic devices – Water rescue or life protecting apparatus – Personal flotation device
Patent
1996-06-03
1997-12-02
Sotelo, Jesus D.
Buoys, rafts, and aquatic devices
Water rescue or life protecting apparatus
Personal flotation device
441118, B63C 908
Patent
active
056929340
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a swimming aid, having a hose-shaped inflatable body placed against the body of a person wearing it, with at least one inflating nozzle, and a neck loop to be worn around the neck and forming at least one air chamber.
2. Description of Prior Art
The term swimming aid selected is to convey that this is intended to be an aid for a person actively engaged in water sports. This is in contrast to swim or life vests, which are subject to higher safety criteria and are essentially intended to assure great buoyancy. Reference is made to U.S. Pat. 4,654,016 for an example of such swim or life vests. In this case there is little or no design attention that would allow a person to engage in sports as much as possible and to be able to move.
The same can be said with respect to the floating aid in accordance with U.S. Pat. 4,131,974, which above all is intended to save a person wearing clothes. The inflatable floating aid has a neck loop with thickened ends, so that the entire structure has the shape of a letter omega. The floating aid is fastened and fixed in place on the body of the person wearing it by straps.
German Patent Reference 28,37,497 describes a swimsuit which, although described as a safety swimsuit, is hardly suited for engagement in sports, which has either an inflatable chest ring or a ring extending around the neck, as well as two float bodies extending under the arms of the swimmer. Besides the questionable freedom of movement, the appearance of this solution is hardly suited to induce a male or female swimmer to wear it continuously.
A swimming aid of the type mentioned at the outset is known from PCT Patent Reference WO 91/18786. The inflatable body is per se designed in a U-shape and divided into several chambers which each have an inflating nozzle. In this way the inflatable body which can be placed around the neck of the swimmer forms a neck loop, which can be drawn together by an upper closure and in the end is fixed on the body of the person wearing it with a second strap around the belly. Shorter, straight air chambers adjoin both sides of the neck loop and rest laterally against the body of the swimmer due to appropriate straps which cross on the back and are connected at the belly.
None of the known solutions is convincing as comfortable to wear, there is concern for simple manipulation and appearance. Swimming aids with various straps which can become twisted are not user-friendly and are not attractive. Too bulky structures limit mobility. This results in such known swimming aids not being worn, although they are useful per se by increasing safety.
Accordingly, it is one object of this invention to create a swimming aid which can be worn in an extremely simple way without straps, assures the greatest degree of freedom and takes esthetic requirements into consideration.
This object is attained with a swimming aid of the type mentioned at the outset which has the features of a neck loop, which makes a transition in one piece into a back loop and which can be fixed in the position of use by a closure mechanism. The closure mechanism holds the circular inflatable body, which is closed on itself in a ring shape, together in a chest area of the person wearing it.
The object attained by this invention is also particularly suited for children. An embodiment specifically suited for children is added to this as a characteristic essential for this invention, in that the closure mechanism has two closure parts which can be fixed in place at various distances by a length-adjustable member, but can only be conditionally released.
The swim vest in accordance with this invention cannot be opened inadvertently by a user so that the user slips out of the swimming aid. A further aspect is adaptation of the swimming aid to the size of a body of the user so that it is possible to achieve correct seating for each user even with only a few sizes.
Further advantageous embodiments of this invention are described in the following spe
REFERENCES:
patent: 4011614 (1977-03-01), Bell
patent: 4131974 (1979-01-01), Bolton et al.
patent: 4654016 (1987-03-01), Pendleton
patent: 5060661 (1991-10-01), Howard
Flury Meinrad
Flury-Fuerboeck Maria
Joker AG
Sotelo Jesus D.
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