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US 6,279,162 B1Granted
Safety protection garment
OwnerScott Silverthorninventor
Life of this patent
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OwnerScott Silverthorninventor
Estimating the term…
A safety protection garment which enables a user to comfortably wear it during travel, and in which the garment can be rapidly prepared for an emergency for resisting impact forces or for providing buoyancy to keep the user afloat in water. The garment has an inner lining and outer shell which are joined together to form a chamber which contains a compressible layer. The compressible layer is formed of an elastic material which resiliently expands and contracts between memory and compressed shapes. A valve device enables the user to open and close air flow into the chamber. For normal wearing, the layer is in its compressed state with air substantially evacuated from the chamber and the valve closed. To prepare for an emergency, the valve is opened so that air enters the chamber sufficient to equalize the chamber pressure with atmospheric pressure. The layer then expands to its memory shape where it resiliently resists impact forces and also provide buoyancy to keep the user afloat in water.
A safety protection garment comprising an inner lining which is shaped and sized suitable for wearing by a user, an outer shell positioned over a portion of the inner lining, the lining and shell having portions which are joined together and which define a chamber between the lining and shell, a compressible layer fitted within the chamber, the layer being formed of an elastic material which resiliently expands and contracts between a memory shape and a compressed shape, the layer being expandable to the memory shape responsive to gas pressure within the chamber being substantially equalized with atmospheric pressure, the layer being contractible to the compressed shape responsive to the atmospheric pressure being greater than the gas pressure within the chamber, the layer in its memory shape having sufficient resiliency to yieldably resist impact forces applied externally to the garment, and a valve device for selectively enabling ingress and egress of gas into and from the chamber.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.