Apparel – Body garments
Patent
1996-11-22
1998-08-04
Hale, Gloria
Apparel
Body garments
2 215, 2 216, B63C 1104
Patent
active
057875022
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to thermoinsulative protective garments such as wet suits and cold or sea survival suits.
PRIOR ART
British Patent No. 1,132,535 describes a thermoinsulative protective suit including a water-tight and air-tight overall having an inner "lining" of a thermoinsulative voluminous synthetic thermoplastic fabric. The inner "lining" appears to constitute a separate suit worn below, but not connected to, the overall, although in the paragraph bridging the two columns of page 3 of the patent it is indicated that the fabrics of the overall and the "lining" may alternatively be firmly united together by sticking. The wearer's sweat is dissipated into the voluminous fabric of the inner lining and the suit provides insulation via a layer of air trapped between the overall and the inner lining, as well as air trapped within the voluminous fabric of the inner lining and between the inner lining and the wearer's skin.
Such suit systems are bulky and unsuitable for wear in non-emergency situations; even the lining on its own is too bulky for ordinary wear. The use of such suits is limited, therefore, to situations where there is sufficient time during the emergency for a wearer to gain access to, and don, both the inner "lining" sub-suit and the outer overall.
British Patent No. 2,242,860 describes a thermoinsulative protective fabric including a sheet of a substantially impermeable closed-cell elastomeric material having perforations provided therethrough, each perforation of the sheet (or at least of a portion thereof) having at least one relatively wide region and at least one relatively narrow region along its length to define an internal chamber open to a first side of the sheet (i.e. the side towards the wearer's skin) and sufficiently closed to the other side of the sheet (i.e. the side away from the wearer's skin) to permit moisture-laden air passing from the first to the other side of the sheet to accumulate in the chamber under increased pressure prior to passing out to the other side of the sheet. Such a fabric actively assists in removing moisture-laden air from the vicinity of the wearer's skin and is wearable in normal situations.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
We have now discovered that if an inner lining constructed from a fabric in accordance with GB-2,242,860 is provided in a garment having a waterproof but vapour permeable outer layer, the outer layer and lining being sealed together at least at the apertures of the garment so as to contain a layer of air between the outer layer and the inner lining, an extremely advantageous thermoinsulative clothing system is obtained, whereby the outer layer and lining components positively interact to enhance the advantages of the fabric of GB-2,242,860.
According to the present invention, there is therefore provided a thermoinsulative protective garment comprising a first, outer, waterproof but vapour permeable, garment part for covering at least a part of the body of a wearer and a second, inner, thermoinsulative garment part constituting a lining for the first garment part and sealingly bonded to the first garment part at least at the aperture(s) of the garment so as to contain a layer of air between the said garment parts, wherein the second garment part includes a thermoinsulative fabric sheet comprising a substantially impermeable closed-cell elastomeric sheet having perforations provided therethrough, each perforation of the sheet, or at least of a portion thereof, having at least one relatively wide region and at least one relatively narrow region along its length to define an internal chamber open to the inner side of the sheet (i.e. the side of the sheet directed towards the wearer's body) and sufficiently closed to the outer side of the sheet (i.e. the side of the sheet directed towards the outer garment part) to permit moisture-laden air passing from the inner to the outer side of the sheet to accumulate in the chamber under increased pressure prior to passing out to the outer side of the s
REFERENCES:
patent: 3771170 (1973-11-01), Leon
patent: 4185327 (1980-01-01), Markve
patent: 4704092 (1987-11-01), Liukko
patent: 4739522 (1988-04-01), Lassiter et al.
patent: 5140721 (1992-08-01), Kauffeld
patent: 5267519 (1993-12-01), Uglene et al.
Eisenstein Ronald I.
Hale Gloria
Resnick David S.
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