CA2234320A1 - Life buoy - Google Patents
Life buoy Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- CA2234320A1 CA2234320A1 CA 2234320 CA2234320A CA2234320A1 CA 2234320 A1 CA2234320 A1 CA 2234320A1 CA 2234320 CA2234320 CA 2234320 CA 2234320 A CA2234320 A CA 2234320A CA 2234320 A1 CA2234320 A1 CA 2234320A1
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- buoy
- marked
- canopy
- life
- plastic
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Abandoned
Links
Classifications
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B63—SHIPS OR OTHER WATERBORNE VESSELS; RELATED EQUIPMENT
- B63C—LAUNCHING, HAULING-OUT, OR DRY-DOCKING OF VESSELS; LIFE-SAVING IN WATER; EQUIPMENT FOR DWELLING OR WORKING UNDER WATER; MEANS FOR SALVAGING OR SEARCHING FOR UNDERWATER OBJECTS
- B63C9/00—Life-saving in water
- B63C9/06—Floatable closed containers with accommodation for one or more persons inside
- B63C9/065—Floatable closed containers with accommodation for one or more persons inside for one person
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B63—SHIPS OR OTHER WATERBORNE VESSELS; RELATED EQUIPMENT
- B63B—SHIPS OR OTHER WATERBORNE VESSELS; EQUIPMENT FOR SHIPPING
- B63B2201/00—Signalling devices
Landscapes
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
- Ocean & Marine Engineering (AREA)
- Emergency Lowering Means (AREA)
Abstract
The Life Buoy is a personal flotation device to be used to preserve the lives of persons who are forced to abandon boats, cargo or military aircraft forced down at sea, or oil drilling platforms. Its advantages over life jackets, life boats and rafts are that it protects from water contact and hypothermia and from the weather; it contains food, water, and emergency supplies, and has equipment to assist in rescue.
It is a capsule fifteen feet high and six feet wide. It has legs with casters for ease of movement, a lower half which is a hard shell containing a chair, a reservoir, and storage space, and an upper half consisting of a transparent plastic ribbed can opy and a superstructure with a ventilation system and a large ring used for launch and rescue.
It is a capsule fifteen feet high and six feet wide. It has legs with casters for ease of movement, a lower half which is a hard shell containing a chair, a reservoir, and storage space, and an upper half consisting of a transparent plastic ribbed can opy and a superstructure with a ventilation system and a large ring used for launch and rescue.
Description
The Life Buoy is: a personal flotation device. Life boats are only used on large ships and like life rafts they can be hard to launch and may capsize, and provide no weather protections and life packets expose the user to the danger of hypothermia as well as shark attacks.
The Lif a Buoy provides a better solution to the problem by its ease of launch, its resistance to capsizing, by' its protec-tion of the user from cold watery bad weather and sharks, by pro-viding food and water, and by facilitating rescue.
In drawings which illustrate embodiments of the invention, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the invention, showing the lower half of the buoy with its hard shell and supporting legs, the canopy of the upper half, and the receptacle which secures the upper ends of the ribs.
Figure 2, a front elevation of the buoy, shows the leg in front of the entrance and the horizontal plate on the leg as a step to assist entry. Also shown is the curved flap in the can-opy which allows entry and is closed by a plastic zipper.
Figure 3 is a top view of the lower half of the buoy, which shows the twelve inch ledge which circles the top of the lower half of the buoy, and the holes which receive the plastic $ipes which form the ribs for the support of the canopy, and also shows a top view of the parts of the lower half of the buoy shown in Figure 1.
Figure 4 is a side and top elevation of the receptacle at the top of the canopy which joins: the tops of the ribs and sup-ports the superstructure. The hole in the centre is for the fan which provides venti-3.ation, and is powered by the vane in the superstructure.
Figure ~ is the superstructure, consisting of the wind driven z.
vane, and a ring to assist launch and recovery of the buoy.Fig-ure 6 is the sump pump, Figure 7 the ball ast release mechanism, and Figure 8 is the stove.
Figure 1 shows the main body of the Life Buoy which is cyl-indrical in shape to minimize the pressure of wind and waves. A
cube shape would be more vulnerabl e. The top is sloped to shed snow or rian, and the bottom cone-shaped;: to ease impact when the buoy drops into the sea.
The shell of the lower half of the Life Buoy is moulded lp of one and one-half inch thick plastic, and the inside of the shell has vertical parallel ridges extending from the floor of the buoy to the underside of the ledge marked r in Figures 1 and ~. The ridges form grooves to receive the two inch plastic pipes which form the ribs of the canopy, which are cemented in-to the grooves or secured with fiberglass. The moulded shell also has flanges with drilled bolt-holes receive and secure the half-inch plywood with which the interior fittings are made.
The bottom of the buoy, Figure 1, has the following:
1. Chair A with padded seat and arms, a seat belt, shoulder z0 harness and head restraint (not shown in Figure 1) to secure a..
user in rough seas and facilitate sleep. It is a commode chair with lifting seat B giving access to space C containing a plas-tic bucket also used for bailing.
z. Space for the user's legs, D His feet rest on a floor in which is a small trap-door E giving access to hatch F ecquipped with clamps and a gasket at the top of, water reservoir G which supplies a tap next to the seat. Pressure to feed water to the tap is provided by a foot-operated rubber air pump. The reser-30 voir can be drained by tap H to allow replacement oI stagnant water.
3.
3. Storage spaces for emergency supplies are marked J in Fig-ures 1, 2, and 3. They occupy those parts of the lower half of the buoy above reservoir G which are not occupied by Chair A
and space D for the user's legs. They are made of half-inch plywood fitted into the flanges referred to at lines 1 7 and 18 on page 2. The spaces beside chair A have sliding doors for ac-cess, and other spaces have drawers which can be latched.
4. K is a gutter whose top is at floor level and is located at the bottom of the storage space opposite the user's feet. It is a sump emptied by the pump shown in Figure 6.
5. The buoy is supported by four legs Ia which have casters on their feet to allow the buoy to be rolled to a desired pos-ition. There are hinged blocks above the casters which can be swung down to lift the casters off the deck to immobilise the buoy. It may be found desirable to have the legs form a cradle on which the buoy site and is held only by gravity or easily removed connectors ao that the legs would drop clear when the buoy is launched to avoid tilting of the buoy by the drag of Z0 the legs when it is in the water. As shown in Figure 2, one of the legs is directly below the entrance and has a step M to facilitate entry to the buoy.
6. N is a fender which circles the buoy lying immediately below and extending past the outer edge of the ledge marked P
in Figures 1 and 3. It is made of a resilient material such as cork and is protected by a heavy canvas or plastic cov~r.
7. 0 is a sea anchor consisting of a four foot square piece of heavy canvas with concave shape and gromets at its corners attached by ten feet of heavy rope to ring bolts in the buoy.
Y
It is folded against the side of the buoy and can be released by a control inside the buoy to stabilise it in rough seas.
8. Part of the moulded plastic shell of the lower half of the buoy is a ledge marked P in Figures 1 and 3, which circles the top of the lower half of the buoy. Tt is one foot wide and two inches thick, and its outer edge is five inches past the outer edge of the shell. The ~,i.x_ two inch plastic pipes which form the ribs of the canopy pass through holes in the led-ge and down to the grooves on the inside wall of the shell and 1.0 are cemented there as previously described, On the outer edge of the ledge and immediately past the holes for the ribs is a groove or recess two inches wide and one inch deep into which is glued the bottom of the plastic film of the canopy. A band of metal or plastic matching the dimensions of the groove and with a gasket on its bottom is screwed down onto the plastic film to ensure a water-proof seal.
9. A number of twenty-pound lead weights are hung on the out-side of the lower half of the buoy to serve as ballast. They can be released from inside the buoy to adjust its flotation 20 position in the water so that the 1 edge is one foot above tie water, or to compensate for the weight of heavier u~cers.
The upper half of the buoy has the following elementss 1. The ribs of the canopy marked Q in Figures 1 and 2 are made of two inch plastic pipe shaped as shown. They begin at the floor of the lower half of the buoy and are cemented in grooves in the side of the buoy and.go through the holes in the ledge, and at that point are reinforced with a steel bar in their core which extends a foot below and a foot above the led-ge to resist wind and wave pressure. They rise vertically a 30 further four feet and then bend at an angle of thirty degrees above the horizontal and converge towards the centre of the buoy until they enter and are glued into the receptacle here-inafter described. The ribs are spaced at twenty-inch inter-vals to support the film of the canopy. yenetia~n blinds could be placed between the ribs to prevent the sun from overheating the buoy in tropical areas, and they could have reflecting met-al slats to make the buoy more visible to rescuers.
The Lif a Buoy provides a better solution to the problem by its ease of launch, its resistance to capsizing, by' its protec-tion of the user from cold watery bad weather and sharks, by pro-viding food and water, and by facilitating rescue.
In drawings which illustrate embodiments of the invention, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the invention, showing the lower half of the buoy with its hard shell and supporting legs, the canopy of the upper half, and the receptacle which secures the upper ends of the ribs.
Figure 2, a front elevation of the buoy, shows the leg in front of the entrance and the horizontal plate on the leg as a step to assist entry. Also shown is the curved flap in the can-opy which allows entry and is closed by a plastic zipper.
Figure 3 is a top view of the lower half of the buoy, which shows the twelve inch ledge which circles the top of the lower half of the buoy, and the holes which receive the plastic $ipes which form the ribs for the support of the canopy, and also shows a top view of the parts of the lower half of the buoy shown in Figure 1.
Figure 4 is a side and top elevation of the receptacle at the top of the canopy which joins: the tops of the ribs and sup-ports the superstructure. The hole in the centre is for the fan which provides venti-3.ation, and is powered by the vane in the superstructure.
Figure ~ is the superstructure, consisting of the wind driven z.
vane, and a ring to assist launch and recovery of the buoy.Fig-ure 6 is the sump pump, Figure 7 the ball ast release mechanism, and Figure 8 is the stove.
Figure 1 shows the main body of the Life Buoy which is cyl-indrical in shape to minimize the pressure of wind and waves. A
cube shape would be more vulnerabl e. The top is sloped to shed snow or rian, and the bottom cone-shaped;: to ease impact when the buoy drops into the sea.
The shell of the lower half of the Life Buoy is moulded lp of one and one-half inch thick plastic, and the inside of the shell has vertical parallel ridges extending from the floor of the buoy to the underside of the ledge marked r in Figures 1 and ~. The ridges form grooves to receive the two inch plastic pipes which form the ribs of the canopy, which are cemented in-to the grooves or secured with fiberglass. The moulded shell also has flanges with drilled bolt-holes receive and secure the half-inch plywood with which the interior fittings are made.
The bottom of the buoy, Figure 1, has the following:
1. Chair A with padded seat and arms, a seat belt, shoulder z0 harness and head restraint (not shown in Figure 1) to secure a..
user in rough seas and facilitate sleep. It is a commode chair with lifting seat B giving access to space C containing a plas-tic bucket also used for bailing.
z. Space for the user's legs, D His feet rest on a floor in which is a small trap-door E giving access to hatch F ecquipped with clamps and a gasket at the top of, water reservoir G which supplies a tap next to the seat. Pressure to feed water to the tap is provided by a foot-operated rubber air pump. The reser-30 voir can be drained by tap H to allow replacement oI stagnant water.
3.
3. Storage spaces for emergency supplies are marked J in Fig-ures 1, 2, and 3. They occupy those parts of the lower half of the buoy above reservoir G which are not occupied by Chair A
and space D for the user's legs. They are made of half-inch plywood fitted into the flanges referred to at lines 1 7 and 18 on page 2. The spaces beside chair A have sliding doors for ac-cess, and other spaces have drawers which can be latched.
4. K is a gutter whose top is at floor level and is located at the bottom of the storage space opposite the user's feet. It is a sump emptied by the pump shown in Figure 6.
5. The buoy is supported by four legs Ia which have casters on their feet to allow the buoy to be rolled to a desired pos-ition. There are hinged blocks above the casters which can be swung down to lift the casters off the deck to immobilise the buoy. It may be found desirable to have the legs form a cradle on which the buoy site and is held only by gravity or easily removed connectors ao that the legs would drop clear when the buoy is launched to avoid tilting of the buoy by the drag of Z0 the legs when it is in the water. As shown in Figure 2, one of the legs is directly below the entrance and has a step M to facilitate entry to the buoy.
6. N is a fender which circles the buoy lying immediately below and extending past the outer edge of the ledge marked P
in Figures 1 and 3. It is made of a resilient material such as cork and is protected by a heavy canvas or plastic cov~r.
7. 0 is a sea anchor consisting of a four foot square piece of heavy canvas with concave shape and gromets at its corners attached by ten feet of heavy rope to ring bolts in the buoy.
Y
It is folded against the side of the buoy and can be released by a control inside the buoy to stabilise it in rough seas.
8. Part of the moulded plastic shell of the lower half of the buoy is a ledge marked P in Figures 1 and 3, which circles the top of the lower half of the buoy. Tt is one foot wide and two inches thick, and its outer edge is five inches past the outer edge of the shell. The ~,i.x_ two inch plastic pipes which form the ribs of the canopy pass through holes in the led-ge and down to the grooves on the inside wall of the shell and 1.0 are cemented there as previously described, On the outer edge of the ledge and immediately past the holes for the ribs is a groove or recess two inches wide and one inch deep into which is glued the bottom of the plastic film of the canopy. A band of metal or plastic matching the dimensions of the groove and with a gasket on its bottom is screwed down onto the plastic film to ensure a water-proof seal.
9. A number of twenty-pound lead weights are hung on the out-side of the lower half of the buoy to serve as ballast. They can be released from inside the buoy to adjust its flotation 20 position in the water so that the 1 edge is one foot above tie water, or to compensate for the weight of heavier u~cers.
The upper half of the buoy has the following elementss 1. The ribs of the canopy marked Q in Figures 1 and 2 are made of two inch plastic pipe shaped as shown. They begin at the floor of the lower half of the buoy and are cemented in grooves in the side of the buoy and.go through the holes in the ledge, and at that point are reinforced with a steel bar in their core which extends a foot below and a foot above the led-ge to resist wind and wave pressure. They rise vertically a 30 further four feet and then bend at an angle of thirty degrees above the horizontal and converge towards the centre of the buoy until they enter and are glued into the receptacle here-inafter described. The ribs are spaced at twenty-inch inter-vals to support the film of the canopy. yenetia~n blinds could be placed between the ribs to prevent the sun from overheating the buoy in tropical areas, and they could have reflecting met-al slats to make the buoy more visible to rescuers.
2. The film of the canopy is heavy guage transparent plastic.
It is made waterproof at its bottom where it is attached to the ledge marked P as shown in Figures 1 and 3 in the manner deacr ibed in lines 10 to 16 on Page 4, and is attached in the same manner to the receptacle later described. The plastic film is also attached to the ribs at intervals by two-inch rubber strip which cross the rib and are glued on each side of it to provide resilience to the pressure of wind or waves. The film wo~xr~.d be loosely fitted to the ribs, particularly at the top, so that accu~aulations of snow'or ice could be jarred loose from the out side of the canopy. It is however possible that wind pressure on the buoy would be reduced if the plastic film is tightly fitted to the sides of the canopy.
Entrance to the buoy is made through one of the intervals between the ribs which is centered over one of the legs with a step half-way up it marked M on Figure 2. At this interval the plastic film of the canopy has an arched opening extending to the bend in the upper part of the ribs from the top of the led-ge, having a width of nineteen inches. The inner portion or tongue of the arch has a plastic zipper on each side. When the user enters, he raises himself on the step, opens the zippers so that the tongue folds down, enters, then closes the zippers and seals the entrance.
6.
The plastic film also has zippered openings near the top of the canopy shaped like an inverted "U" which can be folded down to provide ventilation in calm weather.
It is made waterproof at its bottom where it is attached to the ledge marked P as shown in Figures 1 and 3 in the manner deacr ibed in lines 10 to 16 on Page 4, and is attached in the same manner to the receptacle later described. The plastic film is also attached to the ribs at intervals by two-inch rubber strip which cross the rib and are glued on each side of it to provide resilience to the pressure of wind or waves. The film wo~xr~.d be loosely fitted to the ribs, particularly at the top, so that accu~aulations of snow'or ice could be jarred loose from the out side of the canopy. It is however possible that wind pressure on the buoy would be reduced if the plastic film is tightly fitted to the sides of the canopy.
Entrance to the buoy is made through one of the intervals between the ribs which is centered over one of the legs with a step half-way up it marked M on Figure 2. At this interval the plastic film of the canopy has an arched opening extending to the bend in the upper part of the ribs from the top of the led-ge, having a width of nineteen inches. The inner portion or tongue of the arch has a plastic zipper on each side. When the user enters, he raises himself on the step, opens the zippers so that the tongue folds down, enters, then closes the zippers and seals the entrance.
6.
The plastic film also has zippered openings near the top of the canopy shaped like an inverted "U" which can be folded down to provide ventilation in calm weather.
3, The receptacle at the top of the canopy shown in Figure 4 and marked A is a convex disc three feet wide and five inches thick made of moulded plastic which is the center-piece of the top of the canopy. It has six evenly spaced two and one-.eighth inches wide and five inches deep holes marked B drilled unto it into which are fitted and cemented the ribs of the canopy, and its upper and lower surfaces are slanted at the same thirty de-gree angle as the ribs, resulting in its convex shape. Near the outer edge of the receptacle is a is a recess marked G in which the top of the canopy is secured in the same manner as the bot-tom of the canopy as described in lines 10 to 16 on page 4.
The receptacle has in its centre a circular hole eight in-ches in diameter marked E which houses the ventilation fan mark-F, The hole contains a tin can eight inches in diameter which extends from the top of the receptacl a down past the bottom of the receptacle to the bottom of the damper marked F in Figure 4, which it supports. The hole is horisontally bisected by a metal rod G in the middle of which is bearing marked H which supports the shaft marked I of the fan and the vane, which is later des-cribed. Shaft I extends below the receptacle and through the da-mper and at its end is pulley marked J which is connected to a drive belt to a small generator which provides electricity for a light at the top of the canopy and for an electrically heat-ed survival suit worn by the user, and recharges batteries in the storage compartment.
Metal rods marked K in Figure 5 two feet long are affixed to a ring embedded ion the receptacle two inches in from the edge ?.
of the hole marked E, and the upper ends are similarly connect-ed to the base of the ring at the top of the buoy as shown in Figure 5, and bear the weight of the buoy and its user when the buoy is lifted from the sea by the ring during rescue.
The receptacle has in its centre a circular hole eight in-ches in diameter marked E which houses the ventilation fan mark-F, The hole contains a tin can eight inches in diameter which extends from the top of the receptacl a down past the bottom of the receptacle to the bottom of the damper marked F in Figure 4, which it supports. The hole is horisontally bisected by a metal rod G in the middle of which is bearing marked H which supports the shaft marked I of the fan and the vane, which is later des-cribed. Shaft I extends below the receptacle and through the da-mper and at its end is pulley marked J which is connected to a drive belt to a small generator which provides electricity for a light at the top of the canopy and for an electrically heat-ed survival suit worn by the user, and recharges batteries in the storage compartment.
Metal rods marked K in Figure 5 two feet long are affixed to a ring embedded ion the receptacle two inches in from the edge ?.
of the hole marked E, and the upper ends are similarly connect-ed to the base of the ring at the top of the buoy as shown in Figure 5, and bear the weight of the buoy and its user when the buoy is lifted from the sea by the ring during rescue.
4. The vane marked C in Figure 5 is a hollow metal cylinder which rotates on the shaft marked I in Figure 4. Its sides are cut to form vertical strips which are twisted at a forty-five degree angle so~ that they can catch the wind on one side ofe.the vane but deflect it on the other, causing the vane and the shaft to rotate and turn the fan and the pulley driving the generator referred to above. The bottom of th(e vane is not solid: it has radial spokes to allow the free flow of air to the fan. The vol-ume of air entering the buoy is controlled by the damper marked F
in Figure w, but the damper cannot be completely closed so that minimum ventilation occurs. If the outside air is still and the vane does not turn t~ activate the fan or the generator, the following alarm is activated. The generator operates an.eleetro-magnetic switch, which is kept in the "off" position while the current flaws. When the generator stops, the switch turns on a Z~p small electric motor which reels in a line from which is suspend-ed a weight which is slowly lifted over several hours. When the weight reaches the top, it trips a switch which turns on a batt-ery operated buazer to alert the user to open the ventilation flaps in the canopy. He then pulls the weight down again to stop the buzzer and reactivate the alarm system, 5. The ring at the top of the superstructure shown in Figure is designed to assist both the launch and the recovery. Rescue helicopters would catch the ring with a hook on the end of a cab-le and reel in the buoy. The ring is three feet wide to make it an 30 easier target. As previously mentioned, the iron rods marked B in Figure s anchor the ring to the top of the receptacle. The ring, a.
the receptacle and the ribs could be reinforced with wire cable embedded in the plastic to ensure that the buoy and its passen-ger could be safely lifted from the sea.
Figure 6 is the sump pump, which looks and acts like a:man-ually operated tire pump. It is hinged to the bottom of the wall of storage space J in Figure 1. When unused, it is clipped to the wall but can move forward to provide a better working angle.
A is the inlet tube for the pump, which is anchored to the bot-tom of the gutter marked L in Figure 1, and is filtered to keep debris out of the pump. When the handle marked H is raised, it draws water into the barrel of the pump marked C through the in-let tube and the valve marked D, and when the handle is pushed down, valve D closes and valve E opens and water is expelled in to the exhaust tube marked F and thence overboard.
The launch of the buoy could be effected by a cargo boom and winch on freighters. Removable sections of deck rails would be useful, and on lam er vessels the following launch mechanism could be used: a partly movable stage ten feet wide and twenty feet long would be hinged to the edge of the deck at its narrow end. A buoy with the use inside would be placed and held at the inner end of the stage, which would then be lifted to a thirty degree angle, and the buoy then released to roll down the stage or ramp and over the side, with the momentum gained as it roll-ed down the stage projecting it away from the ship and clear of its propellers or debris in the water. If the buoys were used in conjunction with structures high over the water, such as drill-ing platforms, the buoy could be equipped with a drogue para-chute activated by a static line to reduce water impact. As a last resort, the user of the buoy could simply make sure that it was free of obstructions, enter it, and float free as the -9.
ship sank.
Figure ? shows the mechanism use to release the sea anchor and the ballast weights. A and B are plastic half-discs four in-ches in diameter and two inches wide and set six inches apart and are cemented at even intervals around the outside circumfer-ence of the buoy below the water line. The steel dowel marked C
is six and one-half inches long and is supported in part by a hole half an inch deep in support B, and in the other part by a dowel marked D, which is movable and passes through support A
and fits and supports the left end of dowel C. Dowel D is attach ed to a wire at its outer or left end which leads through pull-eys to the control panel next described.
The control panel is eighteen inches square and again is made of Mastic and rises from the ledge marked P in Figures l and 2 on one side of the chair so that the user has easy ac-cess to it. It is immediately inside the plastic film of the can opy, which is glued around its edges. The wires from the ballast release mechanisms pass through it to handles hanging on the in-side of the panel, which are labelled to show which weight they control. The positions of the weights are marked on the ledge around the circumference of the buoy, so that the user would be able to release the proper weight to ad~u st the trim and not un-balance the buoy by releasing adjoining weights. When the user pulls on the handle, the wire withdraws dowel D, causing dowel C and the weight it supports to fall.
1~.
The same mechanism could be used to release the sea anchor and the i eg s .
Part of the equipment of the buoy is a small stove shown in Figure 8, used to heat soup, water for tea, etc. It is made of cast iron and is the size of a medium cake tin. The bottom of the stove, marked A in Figure 8, has legs marked B which are bolted to the plywood top of the storage space marked J in Fig-ure 1 and is close to the control panel mentioned above. The bot tom of the stove has three fittings, the first two of which con-i0 sist of short copper tubes which fit in and are bolted into rec-eptacles in the side of the bottom of the stove which are part of the original casting. The first fitting marked C has attached to it the plastic tube delivering air for combustion as later described, and has a damper marked D-.to control the flow of air into the stove. The second fitting marked E has a copper tube marked F which receives combustion gasses and exits through the control panel to vent the gasses outside the buoy. The third fit ting marked G is five-eighths of an inch in width and two inches long and cylindrical in form and fits the nozzle of a propane for 20 ch which provides the heat for the stove. The user ignites the torch with the matches or flint striker included in emergency supplies, adjusts it to maximum propane flow, and inserts the nozzle in the receptacle, and lays the propane cylinder in a plastic form moulded to the shape of the cylinder marked H in Figure 8. The form is glued to the top of storage space J shown in Figure 1, and has straps or buckles to secure the propane tank in position.
The air supply for the stove is provided in the following manner. When the damper marked F in Figure 4 is closed, part of ;p the air propelled by the fan is diverted into the plastic tube 11.
marked L in Figure 4, which is taped to an appropriate rib and goes down the side of the canopy to the ledge and from there to the first fitting in the bottom of the stove.
The top of the stove marked I in Figure 8 is al so made of cast iron and screws into the bottom of the stove in the same manner as a presure-cooker lid. It has a two-inch raised rim to prevent the pot marked J from sliding off the stove in rough sea also has an L-shaped slot marked K on each side of the lid of the stove, and small projecting dowels on the side of the pot 1A slide down the short side of the L to the surface of the stove lid and the pot is then moved sideways along the long side of the L to further secure the pot in position. The pot lid also screws onto the bottom of the pot, and has steam vents.
To assist in rescue, the buoy would be equipped with a sat-elite transponder, marker dye for the sea, and a battery-operat-ed flashing dome light. In addition it would have a weather bal-loon and a gas cylinder to inflate it, a covering net with wire attached and an aluminum foal outside cover with alternating red and white enamel panels. The wire would attach the balloon to a Zp reel with a crank mounted inside the buoy, and would also serve as the aerial for a radio transmitter which would be cranked to transmit a distress signal. The foil cover would act as a radar target and its red and white panels would serve as a visual sig-nal. The baloon could be reeled in in bad weather.
Mounted on an interior wall of the buoy would be instruc-tions for operation of its equipment in the major languages. In-cluded in that equipment would be a large knife and a life jack-et so that the user could cut through the film canopy and escape with the life jacket in case the buoy should founder.
3p It is possible that the buoy could have greater or more r 12.
convenient use if its design height of fifteen feet could be reduced for storage purposes. This could be accomplished by having the ribs of the canopy telescope in sections, or by having hinges to fold down the ring of the superstructure.
That would require that the ring be bolted securely upright when its use is imminent, and that the hinges and telescoping sections of the ribs be strong enough to bear the weight of the buoy when it is lifted from the sea.
in Figure w, but the damper cannot be completely closed so that minimum ventilation occurs. If the outside air is still and the vane does not turn t~ activate the fan or the generator, the following alarm is activated. The generator operates an.eleetro-magnetic switch, which is kept in the "off" position while the current flaws. When the generator stops, the switch turns on a Z~p small electric motor which reels in a line from which is suspend-ed a weight which is slowly lifted over several hours. When the weight reaches the top, it trips a switch which turns on a batt-ery operated buazer to alert the user to open the ventilation flaps in the canopy. He then pulls the weight down again to stop the buzzer and reactivate the alarm system, 5. The ring at the top of the superstructure shown in Figure is designed to assist both the launch and the recovery. Rescue helicopters would catch the ring with a hook on the end of a cab-le and reel in the buoy. The ring is three feet wide to make it an 30 easier target. As previously mentioned, the iron rods marked B in Figure s anchor the ring to the top of the receptacle. The ring, a.
the receptacle and the ribs could be reinforced with wire cable embedded in the plastic to ensure that the buoy and its passen-ger could be safely lifted from the sea.
Figure 6 is the sump pump, which looks and acts like a:man-ually operated tire pump. It is hinged to the bottom of the wall of storage space J in Figure 1. When unused, it is clipped to the wall but can move forward to provide a better working angle.
A is the inlet tube for the pump, which is anchored to the bot-tom of the gutter marked L in Figure 1, and is filtered to keep debris out of the pump. When the handle marked H is raised, it draws water into the barrel of the pump marked C through the in-let tube and the valve marked D, and when the handle is pushed down, valve D closes and valve E opens and water is expelled in to the exhaust tube marked F and thence overboard.
The launch of the buoy could be effected by a cargo boom and winch on freighters. Removable sections of deck rails would be useful, and on lam er vessels the following launch mechanism could be used: a partly movable stage ten feet wide and twenty feet long would be hinged to the edge of the deck at its narrow end. A buoy with the use inside would be placed and held at the inner end of the stage, which would then be lifted to a thirty degree angle, and the buoy then released to roll down the stage or ramp and over the side, with the momentum gained as it roll-ed down the stage projecting it away from the ship and clear of its propellers or debris in the water. If the buoys were used in conjunction with structures high over the water, such as drill-ing platforms, the buoy could be equipped with a drogue para-chute activated by a static line to reduce water impact. As a last resort, the user of the buoy could simply make sure that it was free of obstructions, enter it, and float free as the -9.
ship sank.
Figure ? shows the mechanism use to release the sea anchor and the ballast weights. A and B are plastic half-discs four in-ches in diameter and two inches wide and set six inches apart and are cemented at even intervals around the outside circumfer-ence of the buoy below the water line. The steel dowel marked C
is six and one-half inches long and is supported in part by a hole half an inch deep in support B, and in the other part by a dowel marked D, which is movable and passes through support A
and fits and supports the left end of dowel C. Dowel D is attach ed to a wire at its outer or left end which leads through pull-eys to the control panel next described.
The control panel is eighteen inches square and again is made of Mastic and rises from the ledge marked P in Figures l and 2 on one side of the chair so that the user has easy ac-cess to it. It is immediately inside the plastic film of the can opy, which is glued around its edges. The wires from the ballast release mechanisms pass through it to handles hanging on the in-side of the panel, which are labelled to show which weight they control. The positions of the weights are marked on the ledge around the circumference of the buoy, so that the user would be able to release the proper weight to ad~u st the trim and not un-balance the buoy by releasing adjoining weights. When the user pulls on the handle, the wire withdraws dowel D, causing dowel C and the weight it supports to fall.
1~.
The same mechanism could be used to release the sea anchor and the i eg s .
Part of the equipment of the buoy is a small stove shown in Figure 8, used to heat soup, water for tea, etc. It is made of cast iron and is the size of a medium cake tin. The bottom of the stove, marked A in Figure 8, has legs marked B which are bolted to the plywood top of the storage space marked J in Fig-ure 1 and is close to the control panel mentioned above. The bot tom of the stove has three fittings, the first two of which con-i0 sist of short copper tubes which fit in and are bolted into rec-eptacles in the side of the bottom of the stove which are part of the original casting. The first fitting marked C has attached to it the plastic tube delivering air for combustion as later described, and has a damper marked D-.to control the flow of air into the stove. The second fitting marked E has a copper tube marked F which receives combustion gasses and exits through the control panel to vent the gasses outside the buoy. The third fit ting marked G is five-eighths of an inch in width and two inches long and cylindrical in form and fits the nozzle of a propane for 20 ch which provides the heat for the stove. The user ignites the torch with the matches or flint striker included in emergency supplies, adjusts it to maximum propane flow, and inserts the nozzle in the receptacle, and lays the propane cylinder in a plastic form moulded to the shape of the cylinder marked H in Figure 8. The form is glued to the top of storage space J shown in Figure 1, and has straps or buckles to secure the propane tank in position.
The air supply for the stove is provided in the following manner. When the damper marked F in Figure 4 is closed, part of ;p the air propelled by the fan is diverted into the plastic tube 11.
marked L in Figure 4, which is taped to an appropriate rib and goes down the side of the canopy to the ledge and from there to the first fitting in the bottom of the stove.
The top of the stove marked I in Figure 8 is al so made of cast iron and screws into the bottom of the stove in the same manner as a presure-cooker lid. It has a two-inch raised rim to prevent the pot marked J from sliding off the stove in rough sea also has an L-shaped slot marked K on each side of the lid of the stove, and small projecting dowels on the side of the pot 1A slide down the short side of the L to the surface of the stove lid and the pot is then moved sideways along the long side of the L to further secure the pot in position. The pot lid also screws onto the bottom of the pot, and has steam vents.
To assist in rescue, the buoy would be equipped with a sat-elite transponder, marker dye for the sea, and a battery-operat-ed flashing dome light. In addition it would have a weather bal-loon and a gas cylinder to inflate it, a covering net with wire attached and an aluminum foal outside cover with alternating red and white enamel panels. The wire would attach the balloon to a Zp reel with a crank mounted inside the buoy, and would also serve as the aerial for a radio transmitter which would be cranked to transmit a distress signal. The foil cover would act as a radar target and its red and white panels would serve as a visual sig-nal. The baloon could be reeled in in bad weather.
Mounted on an interior wall of the buoy would be instruc-tions for operation of its equipment in the major languages. In-cluded in that equipment would be a large knife and a life jack-et so that the user could cut through the film canopy and escape with the life jacket in case the buoy should founder.
3p It is possible that the buoy could have greater or more r 12.
convenient use if its design height of fifteen feet could be reduced for storage purposes. This could be accomplished by having the ribs of the canopy telescope in sections, or by having hinges to fold down the ring of the superstructure.
That would require that the ring be bolted securely upright when its use is imminent, and that the hinges and telescoping sections of the ribs be strong enough to bear the weight of the buoy when it is lifted from the sea.
Claims
The embodiments of the invention for which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed is a flotation device comprising a hard shell for its lower half and a ribbed canopy of plastic film for its upper half, the whole being water tight and providing a life support system for the occupant.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA 2234320 CA2234320A1 (en) | 1998-06-03 | 1998-06-03 | Life buoy |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA 2234320 CA2234320A1 (en) | 1998-06-03 | 1998-06-03 | Life buoy |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2234320A1 true CA2234320A1 (en) | 1999-12-03 |
Family
ID=29275515
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA 2234320 Abandoned CA2234320A1 (en) | 1998-06-03 | 1998-06-03 | Life buoy |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA2234320A1 (en) |
Cited By (6)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN101531243A (en) * | 2009-04-16 | 2009-09-16 | 陈继勇 | Survival capsule on water |
| CN102285433A (en) * | 2011-05-20 | 2011-12-21 | 段静明 | Lifesaving device |
| WO2015177939A1 (en) * | 2014-05-19 | 2015-11-26 | 有限会社東京能率研究所 | Tsunami response vehicle |
| CN110217356A (en) * | 2019-06-25 | 2019-09-10 | 胡勇 | A kind of comprehensive drive water life-saving system |
| CN116729594A (en) * | 2023-08-10 | 2023-09-12 | 广州雅图新能源科技有限公司 | Emergency rescue escape cabin for ship navigation |
| CN117944850A (en) * | 2024-03-21 | 2024-04-30 | 福州市规划设计研究院集团有限公司 | Spherical escape structure for fire disaster |
-
1998
- 1998-06-03 CA CA 2234320 patent/CA2234320A1/en not_active Abandoned
Cited By (8)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN101531243A (en) * | 2009-04-16 | 2009-09-16 | 陈继勇 | Survival capsule on water |
| CN102285433A (en) * | 2011-05-20 | 2011-12-21 | 段静明 | Lifesaving device |
| WO2015177939A1 (en) * | 2014-05-19 | 2015-11-26 | 有限会社東京能率研究所 | Tsunami response vehicle |
| CN110217356A (en) * | 2019-06-25 | 2019-09-10 | 胡勇 | A kind of comprehensive drive water life-saving system |
| CN116729594A (en) * | 2023-08-10 | 2023-09-12 | 广州雅图新能源科技有限公司 | Emergency rescue escape cabin for ship navigation |
| CN116729594B (en) * | 2023-08-10 | 2023-11-28 | 广州雅图新能源科技有限公司 | Emergency rescue escape cabin for ship navigation |
| CN117944850A (en) * | 2024-03-21 | 2024-04-30 | 福州市规划设计研究院集团有限公司 | Spherical escape structure for fire disaster |
| CN117944850B (en) * | 2024-03-21 | 2024-06-04 | 福州市规划设计研究院集团有限公司 | Spherical escape structure for fire disaster |
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| Date | Code | Title | Description |
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