US 4,678,443 AGranted

Inflatable liferaft

AssigneeRFD Limited

InventorsDavid V. Edwards, Michael A. Newman

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Abstract

An inflatable liferaft comprises an inflatable buoyancy tube side wall structure and a floor so secured at its periphery to the side wall structure that the inflated liferaft can be used when deployed on water either way up. An inflatable protective tube structure inflates with the side wall structure and takes up a protective location in which it extends round the outside of the side wall structure. The protective tube structure is, however, displaceable either way from its protective location to a canopy support location above the floor of the liferaft and a canopy assembly is so secured to the protective tube structure and to the side wall structure that when the protective tube structure moves to its canopy support location the canopy assembly deploys with the protective tube structure and is supported thereby.

Claims11

Dependent claims

An inflatable liferaft comprising an inflatable buyoancy tube side wall structure and a floor so secured at its periphery to the side wall structure that the inflated liferaft can be used when deployed on water either way up, an inflatable protective tube structure, supply means to supply inflation medium to the side wall structure and the protective tube structure upon deployment of the liferaft to inflate the protective tube structure and the side wall structure together, said protective tube structure being so constructed and arranged in relation to the side wall structure that when inflated with the side wall structure it takes up a protective location in which it extends entirely round the outside of the side wall structure to protect the side wall structure from damage and from which it is displaceable either way to a canopy support location above the floor of the liferaft, and a canopy assembly so secured to the protective tube structure and to the side wall structure that when the protective tube structure moves to its canopy support location the canopy assembly deploys with the protective tube structure and is supported thereby.

An inflatable liferaft comprising an inflatable buoyancy tube side wall structure that the inflated liferaft can be used when deployed on water either way up, an inflatable protective tube structure which upon deployment of the liferaft inflates with the side wall structure to take up a protective location in which it extends round the outside of the side wall structure and which is displaceable from its protective location either way to a canopy support location above the floor of the liferaft, a canopy assembly so secured to the protective tube structure and to the side wall structure that when the protective tube structure moves to its canopy support location the canopy assembly deploys with the protective tube structure and is supported thereby,

said canopy assembly comprises a canopy side sheet connected to and extending between the side wall structure and the protective tube structure and a canopy top sheet connected tothe protective tube structure and arranged in the canopy support location of the protective tube structure to extend across the top of the liferaft,
when the protective tube structure is in the protective location the canopy side sheet is held in a collapsed and folded condition between the protective tube structure and the side wall structure and the canopy top sheet is held in a collapsed and folded condition against the outside of the protective tube structure,
said protective tube structure comprises an inflatable protective tube extending round the sidewall structure in the protective location which has one or more displaceable arched tube sections, the or each of which extends round the sidewall structure between constraint locations thereon and is displaceable into a canopy support location to provide an arched tube support for the canopy assembly,
and said protective tube is held axially compressed at constraint locations by constraint elements, whereby when the or each arched tube section is displaced in the direction of its canopy support location it bends locally at the constraint locations.

1 more element

An inflatable liferaft comprising an inflatable buoyancy tube side wall structure and a floor so secured at its periphery to the side wall structure that the inflated liferaft can be used when deployed on water either way up, an inflatable protective tube structure which upon deployment of the liferaft inflates with the side wall structure to take up protective location in which it extends round the outside of the side wall structure and which is displaceable from its protective location either way to a canopy support location above the floor of the liferaft, a canopy assembly so secured to the protective tube structure and to the side wall structure that when the protective tube structure moves to its canopy support location the canopy assembly deploys with the protective tube structure and is supported thereby,

said canopy assembly comprises a canopy side sheet connected to and extending between the side wall structure and the protective tube structure and a canopy top sheet connected to the protective tube structure and arranged in the canopy support location of the protective tube structure to extend across the top of the liferaft,
when the protective tube structure is in the protective location the canopy side sheet is held in a collapsed and folded condition between the protective tube structure and the side wall structure and the canopy top sheet is held in a collapsed and folded condition against the outside of the protective tube structure,
said protective tube structure comprises an inflatable protective tube extending round the sidewall structure in the protective location which has one or more displaceable arched tube sections, the or each of which extends round the sidewall structure between constraint locations thereon and is displaceable into a canopy support location to provide an arched tube support for the canopy assembly,
and said protective tube is held axially compressed at constraint locations by constraint elements which bias the or each arched tube section to cause it to move automatically to one or other of its canopy support locations upon selective removal or overriding of one or more of the constraint elements.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.