Communications: electrical – Condition responsive indicating system – Specific condition
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-10
2001-06-12
Wu, Daniel J. (Department: 2632)
Communications: electrical
Condition responsive indicating system
Specific condition
C340S573600, C340S604000, C116S211000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06246329
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to swimmer's safety devices, in general, and to such a device for providing an alarm alert when a swimmer or other user is submerged in a body of water, in particular.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
As is known, lifeguards or other security personnel at community swimming pools and water parks are not always able to spot a swimmer in difficulty, especially when the swim facility is well populated. Similarly, at beaches, the lifeguards on duty may not be able to spot a swimmer (or a surfer, for that matter) in distress where the beach is crowded. Oftentimes, the body of a swimmer at the community pool or at the water park is not discovered until minutes, or even hours later lying near the bottom, when the pool is being drained or otherwise cleaned. Frequently, the body of the swimmer or surfer at the beach is not found until it is washed ashore at a later time.
As will be understood, not every drowning person using these facilities can be saved. However, by being able to quickly retrieve a submerging person, the chance of resuscitating and/or reviving the drowning person is greatly enhanced. In accordance with this recognition, it will therefore become apparent that a need exists to enable the submerged swimmer or surfer to be quickly and easily spotted so that appropriate life-saving routines can be carried out.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
As will become clear from the following description, the present invention proceeds upon the realization that people of different age, and of different skill abilities are often under water for differing periods of time, in accordance with their swim activities. Thus, an accomplished swimmer may free-dive without breathing apparatus to a depth far beyond that to which an average swimmer might try to go in just picking something up from the bottom of a pool, or from a lake or ocean-bed for example. In like manner, an average adult swimmer most probably could hold his/her breath under water for a longer period of time than can a child. A novice swimmer—or one who does not know how to swim, or is a toddler, on the other hand—would probably not be able to hold its breath for any period of time, when submerged at any depth. Recognizing the existence of these differences in age and/or ability, the present invention proceeds as a swimmer's safety device, in the nature of a water-pressure sensitive dye release apparatus to provide a visual alarm alert to a lifeguard, to other security personnel, and to anyone in the immediate area that a person has submerged in a body of water, to a given depth, and for a certain period of time.
In particular, and in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, the swimmer's safety device includes a housing having a removable lid enclosing its bottom and side surfaces and the various components maintained inside. A circuit board is included within the housing, electronically coupled with a source of battery power, a water pressure sensitive switch, a timer controlled by the switch, and a solenoid valve controlled by the timer. A chamber is further included within the housing—preferably as a snap-in unit—encasing a dye material with a water reactive chemical, and having a quiescently closed input valve controlled by the solenoid valve. An output valve releases to the water surround.
The swimmer's safety device additionally includes a water inlet valve for the water pressure sensitive switch, with the water pressure sensitive switch being normally open until submerged in the body of water beyond a predetermined depth. In accordance with the invention, such submersion initiates the running of the timer by the water pressure sensitive switch, to, in turn, actuate the solenoid valve to open the inlet valve of the chamber to water. With the chamber output valve being pressure regulated to then release the dye material into the water surround as a visual alarm alert (in response to the reaction of the chemical within with the water being let into the chamber), a dye alert is presented in accordance with the depth to which the housing is submerged into the water.
With the housing incorporated, for example, in a swimsuit construction, or when it is temporarily secured to the swimsuit of a wearer, or even when the housing is just worn as a separate swimsuit accessory as a necklace, bracelet or armband, the swimmer's safety device of the invention can be easily worn.
As will also be seen, the timer selected is one whose running is interrupted upon the subsequent rising of the housing above the predetermined depth, being automatically reset to zero, as well as being reset to zero after a running of the time sequence has been completed. In similarly determining the selection of the water pressure sensitive switch, control can be had as to the point at which the timing sequence initiates, so as to establish both the length of time that the housing needs to be submerged as well as to the depth of submersion, before a visual alert can be given by the releasing dye.
In these manners, the swimmer's safety device could be incorporated in the swimsuit construction, or as a clothing clip-on to the swimsuit, in providing a visual alert just a matter of seconds after a novice or non-swimmer should happen to fall into a body of water of only nominal depth—whereas, for an average or accomplished swimmer, the visual alert would not be provided until the casing is submerged to a greater depth, and/or maintained there for a longer period of time. So, for example, for a swimmer of average ability, the water pressure sensitive switch of the invention may be selected so as to begin initiation of the timer running once a depth of 40 inches is reached, and for a timing sequence of some 30 seconds to be completed before the solenoid valve is actuated to begin to allow water to enter the chamber in reacting with the chemical there to provide the pressure operatively required to release the dye through the chamber's output valve into the body of the water surround. With non-swimmers, or with swimmers of lesser abilities, on the other hand, the water pressure sensitive switch as well as the length of the timing sequence may be selected appropriately, as circumstances dictate.
By thus selecting the depths to be reached before action commences, and the length of time by which submersion to that depth must continue for the dye release to take place, visual indications can be had that a swimmer or surfer has submerged to a depth and/or for a given time as prescribed for that person based upon his/her age and/or swim ability. In this preferred embodiment of the invention, the output valve for the dye releasing material chamber is selected to include a normally closed ball valve which operates to open upon a predetermined pressure build up within the chamber due to the reaction between the water being let in by the solenoid valve and the water reactive chemical included within the chamber.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3768436 (1973-10-01), Martini
patent: 3798629 (1974-03-01), La Taillade
patent: 3960087 (1976-06-01), Beatty
patent: 4079364 (1978-03-01), Antenore
patent: 4305143 (1981-12-01), Simms
patent: 4335656 (1982-06-01), Beatty
patent: 5029293 (1991-07-01), Fontanille
patent: 5408222 (1995-04-01), Yaffe
King Lawrence P.
Reinhart Matthew G.
Brodsky Charles I.
La Anh
Wu Daniel J.
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