Marine escape systems
AssigneeWardle Storeys (Safety & Survival Equipment) Limited
InventorsRichard Edward Bell, Iain Henry McLean, Peter John Phipps
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Abstract
A marine escape system has a passage extending between an evacuation point on a vessel and an inflatable life raft. The passage is arranged vertically and is connected to a succession of hoops. The connection between at least one of the hoops and the life raft is achieved by flexible elongate members of differing flexibility These are held in tension so that, as the life rafts move on swell, the passage extends and retracts from the lower end first. This allows the passage to have only one exit which can be within a life raft so that persons can evacuate from the ship without ever being exposed to the elements. The passage may include a helical tube or a tube with angled panels.
Claims33
A marine escape system comprising a passage for persons and having an entrance at one end and an exit at an end opposite said one end, at least one support for the passage being provided between the entrance and the exit, the at least one support being suspended by at least one first elongate elastic member, at least one second elongate elastic member extending from the at least one support towards the exit, the at least one second elongate elastic member having a greater elasticity than the at least one first elongate elastic member, so that a portion of the passage between the exit and the at least one support is extensible and contractable before the extension and contraction of a portion of the passage between the entrance and the at least one support, the passage being extensible and contractible to accommodate changes in the spacing between the entrance and the exit.
An escape chute comprising an elongate tube which is deployed generally vertically and a succession of spaced members within the tube, each spaced member being formed by a panel extending transversely across the tube, each panel having an upper edge connected to the tube and a lower edge spaced from the tube, each said lower edge and said tube forming a succession of spaced apertures leading to corresponding next panels, and wherein a funnel outlet depends vertically from each aperture, the panels and the funnel outlets defining, with the tube, a path for the passage of a person through the tube with each funnel outlet providing a vertical component of said path.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.