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US 8,769,712 B2Granted
Gravity-loading body suit
AssigneeMassachusetts Institute of Technology
InventorsJames Murray Andrew Waldie, Dava J. Newman
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An elastic skin suit simulates gravitational loading. By selecting material(s) of appropriate dimensions and appropriate module of elasticity, and optionally integrating inelastic portions to maintain a desired surface distribution, the suit can be adapted to impose a loading regime that simulates the loading of terrestrial gravity in a more continuous, shoulder-to-ankle manner than current loading suits.
Claims16
A garment comprising:
- a yoke shaped to rest securely about a pair of shoulders of a user;
- a pair of stirrups shaped to receive a pair of feet of the user;
- and
- a suit having a top coupled to the yoke and a bottom coupled to the pair of stirrups, the suit shaped and sized to conform to a body of the user with sufficient skin pressure to prevent slippage from a desired distribution on the user, and the suit including one or more panels of an elastic fabric having a substantially different modulus of elasticity for each of a warp and a weft, the elastic fabric oriented within the suit to provide a progressively increasing vertical loading from the top of the suit to the bottom of the suit when worn by the user whereby the vertical loading provides a loading regime that simulates terrestrial gravity when worn by the user in a reduced gravity environment, wherein the warp has a higher modulus of elasticity than the weft, and wherein the weft is oriented substantially circumferentially around a wearer.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.