Canine scuba diving apparatus
OwnerDwane L. Folsominventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The invention is a special modified scuba diving apparatus intended for use by an animal, and more specifically the famous diving dog “Shadow.” The invention includes a helmet, a harness for supporting the helmet and a source of breathable gas, a special regulator providing a supply of breathable gas to the interior of the helmet, an exhaust for withdrawing exhaled air and residue water from the helmet without depressurizing the helmet, and a system of weights to compensate for the buoyancy of the user, and to counteract a net moment created about the center of buoyancy. The breathing system includes a muffler. An intercom system for providing voice instructions to Shadow can also be included.
Claims8
An underwater self-contained breathing apparatus for use by a canine, comprising:
- a transparent rigid helmet having a skirted opening for the wearer's neck, the helmet being sufficiently large to avoid contact with the face or nose of the canine user;
- a regulator for supplying a breathable gas attached to the helmet;
- a means of adjusting a position of a demand valve in the regulator to pressurize the helmet at no less than ambient pressure;
- a harness attached to the helmet;
- means for fastening the harness around the wearer's torso;
- and
- one or more pockets in the harness for receiving ballast weights.
An underwater self-contained breathing apparatus for a canine comprising:
- a transparent, rigid spherical helmet with a sealable opening surrounding the neck of a canine user, an of a sufficient size to avoid contact with the head or nose of the canine user;
- a pressure reducing valve mounted on the outside of the helmet and having an inlet and an outlet, the outlet communicating through a muffler to the interior of the helmet;
- a source of air communicating with the inlet of the pressure reducing valve;
- a harness attached to the helmet and having straps and buckles for securing the harness to the torso of a canine user;
- at least one pocket on the harness for receiving weight to compensate for the buoyancy of a canine user resulting from forces acting through the center of buoyancy of the canine user;
- a ballast weight removably attached to the inside bottom surface of the helmet to compensate for any net moment about a center of buoyancy of the canine user resulting from forces acting other than through the center of buoyancy of the canine user;
- a speaker and a microphone mounted inside the helmet;
- an electrical connection from the speaker and microphone to a water-proof connector exterior to the helmet for connection to an intercom system;
- a battery mounted inside the helmet to provide electrical power to the speaker and microphone;
- and
- a magnetically-operated switch to connect the power supply to the speaker and microphone.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.