US2742654A - Life saving device - Google Patents

Description

April 24, 1956 v. H. HURT 2,742,654

LIFE SAVING DEVICE Filed Feb. 9, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 4M4 emmlluw ATTORNEY A ril 24, 1956 v. H. HURT 2,742,654

LIFE SAVING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 9, 1953 INVENTOR. V/d/d/P 6. /////?7' ATTORNEY United States Patent LIFE SAVING DEVICE Victor H. Hurt, Cranston, R. I., assignor to United States Rubber Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application February 9, 1953, Serial No. 335,853

5 Claims. (Cl. 9-17) This invention relates to an inflatable life saving device designed to keep a person afloat in water, and more part'icularly to such a device employing two or more inflatable bladders for buoyantly supporting a person, and having a relatively flat, specially constructed, tube connection between the bladders so that the inflating gas can pass back and forth between the bladders.

Life saving garments such as jackets and vests have been provided heretofore with two or more buoyant bladders connected by a tube, but the connecting tube has presented difficulties for if it is made highly flexible the walls thereof may be pressed together and choke off the passage of the gas therethrough, and if the tube is-made relatively stiff so that the walls will not collapse even if the tube is bent, then the stiffness of this tube may interfere seriously with the comfort of the person wearing thelife saving garment. Furthermore it is diflicul't to attachthe ends of such tube to inflatable bladders so that danger of leakage does not exist.

Having in mind the foregoing, the present invention contemplates a life saving device comprising two inflatable bladders disposed a substantial distance apart for use indifferent portions of a life saving garment, and which bladders are connected by a relatively flat flexible tube the walls of which are prevented from contacting each other and choking off the passage of a gas therethrough by providing in such tube a porous fabric strip that will holdthe walls apart even if the tube is bent at a pronounced angle, to thereby permit the inflating gas to flow back and forth between the bladders.

The life saving device of the present invention was designed primarily to form a satisfactory tubular connection between an inflatable bladder designed to be worn in the front portion of a lifesaving garment, and a second bladder designed to encircle the neck of the wearer so asto keep his head out of thewater. structi'on the tube connecting these bladders is disposed below the chin of the wearer of the garment, where it would be very uncomfortable if formed of a relatively stiffhose. Therefore the present invention contemplates a construction whereby this connection tube between the bladders is given the form of a relativelyflat flexible tube that is so constructed that it cannot be pinched in use in such a manner as to choke off the passage of an inflati'nggas therethrough.

The above and other features of the present invention will be further understood from the following, description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. l is a front view of the upper portion of aman wearing a life saving vest, equipped with the inflatable bladders that are connected as contemplated by the present invention.

Fig. 2. on a longer scale is a vertical sectional view through the neck encircling bladder and aside view of the bladder which is disposed over the chest of the wear Fig. 3 isa: vertical sectional view through the aligned bladders and connecting tube.

Insuch a conice The life saving device contemplated by the present invention was developed primarily for use in a life saving garment of the type worn by military air pilots when flying at sea, so that if they are forced down in the water they can quickly inflate the bladders to keep themafloat. Such bladders should be carefully constructed so that they are not likely to leak since a human life may depend upon their buoyancy. In order to guard against the danger of a bladder becoming punctured and deflated, each bladder is preferably provided with two separate non-communicating chambers formed by providing. a central partition extending lengthwise of the bladder.

The life saving device of the present invention as shown in Fig. lis worn in adouble breasted vest indicated in its entirety by the letter V. This double breasted vest has the inner front portion 10 which extends across the chest and has sewed to the outer face thereof. the pocket 11 adaptedtotreceive the lower inflatable blade der 12. The outer front portion 13 of the vest overlies the under portion 10: as shown, and the vest is fastened about the body of the wearer by engaging the outer-snap; fasteners 14 with the inner snap fasteners. 15, or by employing other well known fastening means.

The upper bladder 16 designed to encircle the neck of the wearer of the life saving garment is. adapted to be housed in a fabric casing 17., which isv best shown in; Figs. 1 and 4; This. casing iss'ewed. to the vest-,V at the top of the shoulder of the vest. The bladder enclosing. casing 17 is: preferably given the C-shape construction shown in. Fig. 4 and this casing. is secured in encircling'relation about the neck of the wearer by engaging: the top snapv fasteners 18. with: the underlying snap fasteners 19, as will be apparent from; Fig. 4. This fabricv casing maybe formed by sewing, to a C-shaped. top fabric 20 and 0-. shaped bottom fabric 2-1, the vertically disposed outer fabric wall 22 andvertically disposed inner fabric wall 23. The outer fabric 22 has formed inthe front portion thereof, as shownin Fig. I a large buttonhole 24 through which the top-b1adder'16 and flexible tube 5Z5 that connects the upper bladder 16 tothe lower bladder 12" may pass. The. arrangement is such that when the bladders are deflated theflupper bladder 16 may be pushed through this buttonhole 24 and then worked around inside of the G-shaped fabric housing 17 to lie. therein as shown in Fig. 4.

The upper and lower bladders and flexible connecting tube are preferably formed of integral rubber sheets in a manner tobe described to reduce the danger of leak age, and the. lower bladder 12, upper bladder 16 and connecting tube 25 are preferably divided longitudinally by a central partition, so that. if one chamber of either bladder should be punctured the other chamber will remain inflated to. supply the buoyancy required to keep the. wearer of the life saving garment afloat. A simple and practical manner of constructing the parts just mentioned is well illustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawing, wherein there is shown a central sheet. or partition, which as one continuous sheet forms a central partition 26 for the upper bladder 16, partition 27 for the lower bladder 12, and a partition 28 for the connecting tube 25. To the marginal edge. portion of the lower partition 27 is secured one outer wall 29 of the lower bladder 12, this is accomplished by bending the outer marginal edges of the wall 29 around the partition 27 and bonding these. edges to the partition as indicated by 30. One outer wall. 31 of the upper bladder 16 is similarly secured to the partition 26 as indicated at 32. The other outer wall 33 of the lower bladder 12 is secured in overlapping relation about the wall 29 as indicated by 34, and the second other outer wall 35 of the bladder 16 is similarly secured to the wall 31 as indicated at 36. The outer walls 29 and 31 are connected by an integral neck 37, and the outer walls 33 and 35 are connected by an integral neck 38. The side marginal edges of these neck portions are folded one over the other as indicated by 39 in Fig. to form an air tight tube.

In order to prevent the flat tubular connection from being pinched so that the walls contact and shut off the flow of air or gas therethrough, an air pervious strip 40 is adhesively secured in this tube at one side of the partition 28, and a similar fabric 40 is secured in this tube at the other side of the partition 28 as shown in Fig. 5. The fabric strip 40 may be variously constructed but in order to provide the desired porosity it is preferably formed as a two-ply pile fabric having pile connecting yarns extending between the top and bottom fabric in a well known manner; This will serve to hold the side walls of the tube out of contact with each other and permit inflating air or gas to pass longitudinally through these fabric strips, as will be apparent from Fig. 5. Furthermore if the fabric faces of the two-ply pile fabric 40 are adhered to the adjacent walls 28, 37 or 28, 38 this will limit the amount these walls can separate when the tube is inflated.

Each chamber of the lower bladder 12 has leading therefrom an inflating tube 42 provided for oral inflation of the connected bladder chambers lying to one side of the central partition, and each tube has secured to its outer end a mouthpiece 43 which contains a one way valve. These oral inflating tubes 42 are provided so that a person wearing the vest when floating in water may blow air into either charnber to increase the pressure therein. In order to inflate quickly all chambers of the life saving device, each chamber of the bladder 12 preferably has connected thereto by means of a pipe 44 a quick inflating device, not shown, but of well known construction such for example as a C02 holder.

The life saving garment shown in the drawing is normally worn with the bladders 12 and 17 uninflated, so that they will take up a minimum amount of space and will not interfere unduly with the freedom of movement of the aviator Wearing the suit. Since the connecting tube 25 is positioned below the chin of the wearer of.

the garment; as shown in Fig. 1, it is important that this tube be highly flexible so that it will not interfere unduly with the movement of the wearers head. When this life saving garment is being worn and the bladders are in flated the tube 25 is bent at substantially a right angle as will be apparent from Fig. 2, but the strips of air pervious fabrics 40 in this tube will hold the walls of the tube spaced apart so that the inflating gas can pass freely from one bladder to the other to equalize the pressure in the bladders. The inflating tube, as above stated, is formed integrally with the bladders 12 and 16 to make the present construction highly leak proof, and this tube has the wall that lies next to the wearer made flatter than the other wall as shown in Fig. 5.

While it is preferred to employ the pervious fabrics 40 to hold the tube walls out of contact with each other, other forms of spacing means such as ribs extending longitudinally within each tube, or spaced nodules formed on an inner wall of each tube may be employed.

'The inflating device of the present invention may be formed of rubber or of plastic material such as vinyl resin. When made of rubber the unvulcanized rubber sheets are secured together as shown in Figs. 3 and 6, and the device is then vulcanized. The construction shown and dcscribedwhile simple, is strong and durable and should give good service and the provision whereby a fiat connected tube can be used between the bladders without danger of the same being pinched to such an extent as to stop the flow of gas therethrough is very important.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

l. A life saving device, comprising two inflatable bladders disposed a substantial distance apart to buoyantly support a person in water and each bladder being separated by a longitudinal partition into two non-communicating chambers, a relatively flat flexible tube connecting said bladders and divided longitudinally so that one longitudinal passage of the tube connects one chamber of one bladder with a chamber of the other bladder and the other longitudinal passage connects the remaining chambers, and a porous fabric strip secured in each tube passage to hold such passages open so that an inflating gas can flow back and forth through each passage between the respective chambers they connect.

2. A life saving device, comprising an inflatable bladder shaped to encircle a persons neck, a second bladder shaped to cover a persons chest and having means for securing it in place over his chest, a relatively flat flexible tube connecting said bladders and adapted to bend at approximately a right angle between the bladders, and a porous fabric strip secured in said tube throughout its length to hold the tube walls from contacting each other in the bent portion thereof so that an inflating gas can flow between the bladders.

3. A life saving device, comprising an inflatable bladder shaped to encircle a persons neck, a second bladder shaped to cover a persons chest and having means for securing it in place over his chest, a flexible tube connecting said bladders and integral therewith, a central partition extending longitudinally of both bladders and of said tube to form two non-communicating chambers in each bladder and two longitudinal passages through the tube, and a porous fabric strip in each passage to hold the passages open so that an inflating gas can flow between the bladder chambers connected by said passages.

4. A life saving device, comprising two inflatable bladders connected by a relatively small tube and formed of a central partition sheet extending longitudinally of the two bladders and of said tube and having secured over each face thereon an integral outer sheet so that these two outer sheets form both bladders and the tube, each bladder being divided by said partition into two non-communicating chambers, and a porous fabric strip secured in the tube at each side of the partition to hold the walls apart so that an inflating gas can flow from the chamber of one bladder to a chamber of the other bladder.

5. A life saving device, comprising an inflatable bladder shaped to encircle a persons neck, a second bladder integral with said neck encircling bladder and shaped to cover a persons chest, means for securing said second bladder in place over a persons chest, a relatively small flexible tube connecting said bladders and integral there with, a central partition extending longitudinally of both bladders and of said tube to form two non-communicating chambers in each bladder and two non-communicating longitudinal passages through the tube, and spacing means secured to an inner wall of said tube to hold the tube walls apart so that an inflating gas can flow back and forth in the tube between the bladders.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 728,745 Morrison May 19, 1903 790,971 Nichols May 30, 1905 1,401,677 Dade Dec. 27, 1921 1,481,144 Pastor Jan. 15, 1924 1,812,936 De Faveri July 7, 1931 FOREIGN PATENTS 324,076 Great Britain Jan. 17, 1930 592,457 Great Britain Sept. 18, 1947

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