Inflatable life vest
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
InventorsCleveland A. Heath, Maurice W. Roy
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An inflatable life vest comprises two sheets of polymeric material. The es of these sheets are sealed to form an inner cavity with a plurality of discrete, inflatable chambers disposed in a U-shaped pattern to define collar and chest portions of the life vest. A manifold connects to an inflation source and has a plurality of openings. A check valve connects each manifold opening with one of the chambers to permit inflation medium flow into the chamber and to block inflation medium flow outwardly from a chamber into the manifold. This construction isolates the chambers from one another so the rupture of one chamber does not affect the ability of the other chambers to be buoyant.
Claims13
An inflatable life vest for being inflated by an inflation medium from an inflation source comprising:
- a given plurality of discrete, inflatable chambers in seriatim along an U-shaped axis to define thereby a collar and chest portions of the life vest, each of said chambers abutting at least another of said chambers;
- a manifold having a first opening for connecting the inflation source and a plurality of second openings corresponding to the given plurality;
- a chamber check valve connecting each said second opening and one of said chambers to inhibit flow of the inflation medium from a said chamber into said manifold whereby a said chamber remains inflated upon rupture of another of said chambers.
A life vest comprising:
- overlying sheets of gas impervious material sealed along their edges to form an integral U-shaped structure defining a collar and chest portion with an internal cavity;
- internal gas impermeable dividers in said cavity for forming with said sheets a plurality of discrete, pneumatically isolated, inflatable chambers;
- a manifold having a first opening and a plurality of second openings;
- and
- a chamber check valve connecting one of said second manifold openings to one of said chambers for introducing an inflation medium into each of said chambers from said manifold and for inhibiting outflow of the inflation medium from each of said chambers into said manifold.
An improved inflatable life vest comprising:
- first inflatable chamber having a C-shaped configuration defining a collar portion of the life vest for supporting the head of a user of the life vest upon inflation thereof;
- second and third inflatable chambers defining first and second sides, respectively, of a lower portion of the life vest for supporting the upper, anterior thorax of the user upon inflation thereof, each of said second and third chambers having a wall abutting a first and a second end, respectively, of said C-shaped first chamber;
- a manifold in the life vest coextensive with portions of said first, second and third chambers, and
- first, second, and third check valves positioned in said manifold connecting to said first, second and third chambers, respectively, for enabling a flow of an inflation medium in a downstream direction from said manifold into a corresponding one of said chambers and for inhibiting flow from any of said chambers into said manifold whereby inflated ones of said chambers remain inflated upon rupture of any other of said chambers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.