Ship escape and survival system
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
InventorDavid N. De Simone
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A personnel evacuation and survival device for individual crewmen aboard p having a quick don harness to which is attached a personnel lowering device and an automatically deployable encapsulating life raft. From an appropriate evacuation station aboard the ship, the crewman uses the device to suspend himself clear of the side and lower himself on a lifeline, the pay-out of which is controlled to provide a safe rate of descent. During the descent, a raft package is automatically released and a life raft is inflated which completely encapsulates the crewman prior to water entry.
Claims17
A personnel survival system for deployment of an individual from a platform above water, comprising:
- a harness formed to fit about the torso of the individual;
- descent means connected to said harness for lowering the individual from the platform to the water;
- and
- flotation means connected to said harness and including a raft having two inflatable cells angularly connected so that said cells urge against each other when inflated for sealingly encapsulating the individual during the lowering.
A flotation device comprising:
- a floor configured to support the head and torso of an individual;
- an inflatable continuous cell attached to the periphery of said floor;
- an inflatable bifurcated cell communicatively connected near its ends to either side of said continuous cell at an angle causing said bifurcated cell to urge against said continuous cell, when inflated, proximate to the head of the individual;
- and
- a canopy peripherally attached to said cells and extending in the opposite direction of the inflated bifurcated cell, said canopy being configured to contain the legs of the individual and to cover said floor when said cells are inflated.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.