EP3020624A1

EP3020624A1 - Life-saving bracelet

Info

Publication number: EP3020624A1
Application number: EP15178592.0A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Mu-Hsiang Huang; Yu-Hsiang Huang; Ching-Wei Huang
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2014-11-11
Filing date: 2015-07-28
Publication date: 2016-05-18
Also published as: AU2015205929A1; US20160129977A1; CN106184660A; KR20160056264A; TWM498721U; JP2016094181A

Abstract

A life-saving bracelet includes a ring body being able to be tightened to a user's arm, a casing connected to the ring body, an air bag folded inside the casing, an air cylinder disposed inside the casing, a control valve connected between the air bag and the air cylinder, and a protective cover pivotally disposed on the casing. When the protective cover pivotally rotates to an open position, the control button of the control valve exposes to the outside. After the control button is pressed, the control valve communicates the air bag and the air cylinder, and the air in the air cylinder immediately inflates the air bag. The air bag expands to break the casing and extends to outside. Thus, the life-saving bracelet is convenient to carry, easy to use, and not affecting the agility of the user when doing water activities.

Description

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The technical field relates to a life-saving equipment, more particularly to a life-saving bracelet.

2. Related Art

Nowadays, when doing works or activity on the water, people need to choose safe area, as well as preparing life-saving equipment, such as life vest.
However, since the life vest is bulky and not convenient for carrying, and the life vest also influences the agility of people when doing water activities, lots of people are not willing to wear the life vest.

Brief Summary

In view of the above mentioned drawbacks of bulky size, inconvenient to wear, and influencing the agility of the user when doing water activities, a preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a life-saving bracelet, which includes an air bag for accommodating air therein; an air cylinder including compressed air therein; a control valve connected between the air bag and the air cylinder for controlling air supply from the gas cylinder to the air bag; when the control valve is closed, the air cylinder stops supplying air to the air bag; when the control valve is opened, the air cylinder supplies air to the air bag; a casing for accommodating the air bag, the air cylinder, and the control valve; at least a part of the casing is able to break or open by the pressure of inflating the air bag to allow the air bag extending outside the casing; and a ring body connected to the casing and being wearable to the human body.
According to the aforementioned life-saving bracelet, wherein the ring body has a strip, a first connecting portion at one end of the strip, and a second connecting portion at another end of the strip; the first connecting portion and the second connecting portion can be connected to or detached apart from each other repeatedly; the casing is connected to the strip.
According to the aforementioned life-saving bracelet, the first connecting portion and the second connecting portion are Velcro.
According to the aforementioned life-saving bracelet, wherein the ring body includes two strips, one end of each of the two strip are connected to both sides of the casing, and another end of each of the two strips are detachably connected to each other by a Velcro or a buckle.
According to the aforementioned life-saving bracelet, wherein an outer side of the casing is provided with a cover, the cover can break or open by the pressure of inflating the air bag.
According to the aforementioned life-saving bracelet, wherein a side of the casing forms a through hole communicating inside and outside of the casing; the control valve is provided with a control button extending outside of the through hole.
The aforementioned life-saving bracelet further includes a protective cover pivotally disposed on the casing, the protective cover is able to pivotally rotate back and forth between a protective position and an open position; wherein when the protective cover is at the protective position, the protective cover covers the control button of the control valve to prevent an outer force from touching the control button; when the protective cover is at the open position, the control button is exposed to outside.
The aforementioned life-saving bracelet further includes a global positioning system module.
Since the preferred embodiment of the present invention is light-weighted, it is very convenient to the user doing water activities. Besides, the air bag is folded and stored inside the casing before being inflated, which will not influence the agility of the user when doing water activities, and thus very suitable to be used in water activities or taking a boat ride.

Brief Description of the Drawings

These and other features and advantages of the various embodiments disclosed herein will be better understood with respect to the following description and drawings, in which like numbers refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a three-dimensional assembly diagram of a preferred embodiment according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a sectional view of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is another sectional view of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a stereogram of FIG. 1 in operation;
FIG. 5 is a sectional view of FIG. 1 in operation;
FIG. 6 is another sectional view of FIG. 1 in operation; and
FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of FIG. 1 in operation.

Detailed Description

Referring to FIGS. 1-7, a preferred embodiment of the life-saving bracelet 100 includes a ring body 10, a casing 20, an air bag 30, an air cylinder 40, a control valve 50, and a protective cover 60.
Referring to FIGS. 1-3, the ring body 10 is connected to the casing 20. The ring body 10 can be a hard or a flexible material for being fastened to the user's body, such as wrist or arm. The material can be a braid or a plastic band. In the present embodiment, the ring body 10 has a strip 11, a first connecting portion 12 at an end of a front side of the strip 11, and a second connecting portion 13 at another end of a back side of the strip 11. The first connecting portion 12 is the fabric hook surface of the Velcro, and the second connecting portion 13 is the loop fastener. The first connecting portion 12 and the second connecting portion 13 can repeatedly attach or detach to each other.
Moreover, the first connecting portion 12 and the second connecting portion 13 can also be other types of buckling device. Besides, the ring body 10 (or strip 11) can also be two strips 11. On end of each of the two strips 11 is attached to the casing 20, and another end of each of the two strips 11 is connected or detached by the Velcro or other buckle equipment. (not shown in the FIG.)
Referring to FIGS. 1-3, the casing 20 can accommodate other aforementioned elements. The casing 20 connects to one side of the ring body 10. In the present embodiment, the casing 20 is connected to the outer middle segment of the strip 11 of the ring body 10. A part of the casing 20, such as an outer side surface, is covered by a cover 21. The cover 21 can be broken or opened by a predetermined pressure. Therefore, the material of the cover 21 can be glass or plastic which is easy to break, so that the cover 21 can break when being under pressure. Moreover, the cover 21 can also be positioned on the casing 20 by latching. The cover 21 can be pressed to open due to the elasticity of the plastic cover 21 (not shown in the FIG.). Besides, one side of the casing 20 is formed with a through hole 22 communicating inside and outside of the casing 20.
Referring to FIGS. 1-3, the air bag 30 can accommodate air, and the air bag 30 is folded and stored inside the casing 20. The air bag 30 can be inflated by air.
Referring to FIGS. 1-3, the air cylinder 40 is stored with compressed air, such as air, nitrogen, or other inert gas. The air cylinder 40 is fixed inside the casing 20 and is able to release the air or gas under control by the user.
Referring to FIGS. 1-3, the control valve 50 is connected between the air bag 30 and the air cylinder 40. The control valve 50 has a control button 51 extending outside of the through hole 22 of the casing 20. The control button 51 can be a button or a knob. When the control button 51 is not under outer force, the control valve 50 stops the communication of the air bag 30 and the air cylinder 40. When the control button 51 is under outer force or being pressed by the user, the control valve 50 will be opened to communicate the air bag 30 and the air cylinder 40, so as to release the gas or air in the air cylinder 40 to the air bag 30.
Referring to FIGS. 1-3, the protective cover 60 is pivotally installed on the casing 20 and being able to reciprocally and pivotally rotate between the open position and the protective position. When the protective cover 60 is in the protective position, the protective cover 60 covers the control button 51 of the control valve 50 to prevent outer force from pushing the control button 51. When the protective cover 60 is in the open position, the control button 51 can be exposed to outside to allow outer force pushing the control button 51.
Therefore, the aforementioned is the detail structure and the assembling method of the preferred embodiment of a life-saving bracelet 100. The feature of using is illustrated as follows:
First, when the user swims or does other water activities, the user can fasten the ring body 10 on the arm, which is wrapping the strip 11 around the arm and then attaching or buckling the first connecting portion 12 to the second connecting portion 13 so that the ring body 10 can be fixed to the arm, and thus completing the wearing process of the preferred embodiment of the present invention.
And then, when the user goes into spasm, lacks physical strength, or is under other accident, such as falling into water, the user can switch the protective cover 60 to the open position as soon as possible, and press the control button 51 of the control valve 50 to release the air in the air cylinder 40 to the air bag 30 immediately. Thus, the air bag 30 will be inflated to break or open the cover 21 of the casing 20 to further extend out of the casing 20 (as shown in FIGS. 4-6), and the user can float on the water surface (as shown in FIG. 7) by the air in the air bag 30. As such, the drowning can be prevented, and the user can also have more time to recover the physical strength, as well as prolonging the time to wait for rescue.
The embodiment shown in FIG. 7 only demonstrates wearing one life-saving bracelet 100. The user can also wear two life-saving bracelets 100 on both arms, which makes the user feel more comfortable and is safer as well.
The life-saving bracelet 100 of the preferred embodiment of the present invention is light weighted and thus is very easy to carry for the people doing water activities. Moreover, since the air bag 30 is folded and stored inside the casing 20 before being inflated, the life-saving bracelet 100 will not influence the agility of the user when doing water activities, which is very convenient for boat traveling or working.
Besides, the life-saving bracelet 100 of the preferred embodiment of the present invention is further provided with a global positioning system module (GPS module) 70, which facilitates the person falling into the water to be quickly rescued. The GPS module 70 is a conventional technique, and thus not described hereinafter.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to the foregoing preferred embodiments, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the details thereof. Various equivalent variations and modifications can still occur to those skilled in this art in view of the teachings of the present invention. Thus, all such variations and equivalent modifications are also embraced within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

A life-saving bracelet, comprising:
an air bag, for accommodating air therein;

an air cylinder, including compressed air therein;

a control valve, connected between the air bag and the air cylinder for controlling air supply from the gas cylinder to the air bag; wherein when the control valve is closed, the air cylinder stops supplying air to the air bag; when the control valve is opened, the air cylinder supplies air to the air bag;

a casing, for accommodating the air bag, the air cylinder, and the control valve; at least a part of the casing being able to break or open by the pressure of inflating the air bag to allow the air bag extending outside the casing; and

a ring body, connected to the casing and being wearable to the human body.
The life-saving bracelet according to claim 1, wherein the ring body has a strip, a first connecting portion at one end of the strip, and a second connecting portion at another end of the strip; the first connecting portion and the second connecting portion can be connected to or detached apart from each other repeatedly; the casing is connected to the strip.
The life-saving bracelet according to claim 2, wherein the first connecting portion and the second connecting portion are Velcro.
The life-saving bracelet according to claim 1, wherein the ring body includes two strips, one end of each of the two strip are connected to both sides of the casing, and another end of each of the two strips are detachably connected to each other by a Velcro or a buckle.
The life-saving bracelet according to claim 1, wherein an outer side of the casing is provided with a cover, the cover can break or open by the pressure of inflating the air bag.
The life-saving bracelet according to claim 1, wherein a side of the casing forms a through hole communicating inside and outside of the casing; the control valve is provided with a control button extending outside of the through hole.
The life-saving bracelet according to claim 6 further comprising a protective cover pivotally disposed on the casing, the protective cover being able to pivotally rotate back and forth between a protective position and an open position; wherein when the protective cover is at the protective position, the protective cover covers the control button of the control valve to prevent an outer force from touching the control button; when the protective cover is at the open position, the control button is exposed to outside.
The life-saving bracelet according to claim 1 further comprising a global positioning system module.