FR2863894A1 - Suffocation preventing device for victim e.g. skier, has collar with rigid unit covering user`s nose and mouth, and creating conduit between user`s respiratory orifices and air content in user garment which is in contact with collar - Google Patents

Abstract

The device has a collar (1) with a rigid unit (4) made of rubber, in its upper part, for covering nose and mouth of a user. The unit (4) is held on the face of the user using a tension unit (2) which is fixed on two sides of the unit (4). The collar has a lower part in contact with a garment e.g. shirt, of the user. The collar creates an air conduit between respiratory orifices of the user and air content inside the garment.

Description

The present invention relates to a device for preventing suffocation

Avalanche victims.

  Existing devices designed to prevent the suffocation of avalanche victims fall into two main categories: - inflatable vests or jackets with, once deployed, a significant volume of air allowing a better flotation of the victim on the avalanche and therefore avoiding its burial. respiratory systems ensuring the breathing of a victim buried by an avalanche. These respiratory systems are most often composed of a mask and a supply system. The masks are placed on the face of the user. These masks make it possible, on the one hand, to prevent the victim's nose and mouth from being blocked by avalanche material and, on the other hand, to connect this mask to an oxygen supply system. This system is usually composed of a cylinder of oxygen with or without a carbon fixation system.

  Note the original variant proposed by the patent US5490501. The respiratory system described in this patent consists not of a bottle of oxygen but a bag made of an oxygen permeable membrane but impermeable to snow. It is based on the fact that the avalanche material (consisting essentially of packed snow and mud or debris) contains a significant amount of oxygen and that this oxygen can be used by the victim by means of a membrane.

  In practice, the equipment described above has a cost, a size and a weight such that they are not widely used. In most cases, hikers or skiers are exclusively equipped with Avalanche Research Devices (ARVA).

  One of the aims of the present invention is to propose a device that is simple to use, inexpensive, lightweight and compact. The present invention consists of a device intended to prevent the suffocation of an avalanche victim, characterized in that it comprises a collar (1), a rigid element (4) covering the nose and all or part of the mouth of the user and maintained on the face of the user by a tension member (2), this tension element being fixed in at least two points of the rigid element (4) and passing behind the head of the user, this collar (1) being held in its upper part by the rigid element (4) and the tension element (2) and in its lower part in contact with the user's clothing, this collar creating an air duct between the nose and the mouth of the user on the one hand and the air contained in the interior of his clothes on the other hand, this device being resistant to the shocks and pressures generated by an avalanche and offering sufficient sealing to the material avalanche.

  This device has two features: On the one hand prevent obstruction of the nose and mouth of the avalanche victim by avalanche material.

  On the other hand the connection of the nose and mouth of the victim with the rest of the clothes. This is to ensure that the air contained in the victim's clothing, typically the air contained under his armpits, can be breathed by the user if he is an avalanche victim.

  The use of this device is as follows. When the hiker or the skier perceives an avalanche risk, he sets up this device over his mouth and his nose. The contact between the rigid element or the tension element and the skin of his face is sufficiently firm so that in case of avalanche no snow, or a small amount of snow, slips inside the neck.

  In the event of avalanche, the device being put in place, the mouth or the nose of the victim are free and this one can breathe the volume of air contained by his clothes. As the victim's clothing allows gaseous exchange with the air contained by the avalanche material, the avalanche victim's breathing autonomy exceeds the volume of air contained in his clothes. Indeed, while the victim consumes the oxygen in the air contained in his clothes, the oxygen present in the avalanche material comes to diffuse inside the clothes. In addition, this collar allows the avalanche victim to breathe warm air and therefore to retain its heat.

  The device according to the present invention thus makes it possible to significantly increase the survival time of an avalanche victim waiting for help.

  According to particular embodiments: - It can also be a hood that is to say that it can cover all or part of the skull of the user.

  The collar may be made of an oxygen-permeable membrane, while being impervious to snow, or may have a certain number of small days to allow the victim to benefit from the oxygen present in the material. avalanche or to allow ventilation of the cervix.

  The device can either be the collar of a garment such as an anorack, sweater, shirt or T-shirt, or be independent of any other garment.

  - The lower part of the collar (1) can be attached to the upper part of an anorak or a sweater or shirt or T-shirt.

  the lower part of the neck (1) can be held by elements surrounding the arms of the user.

  the rigid element (4) may be made of rubber or latex.

  The attached drawing illustrates the invention: FIG. 1 represents the device. This device comprises a rigid element (4) covering the nose of the user and having the characteristics of the upper part of an ordinary respiratory mask, a flexible or partially flexible tensioning element (2) fixed in at least two points of the rigid member (4) and passing behind the head of the user, allowing a good adhesion of the rigid element on the face of the user, and a neck fabric or other flexible material (?) The part upper part is fixed on the rigid element (4) and the tension element (2).

  The neck (1) is maintained in its lower part either by the clothes of the user or by a specific holding element to this device.

Claims (6)

  1) Device for preventing the suffocation of an avalanche victim characterized in that it comprises a collar (1), a rigid element (4) covering the nose and all or part of the mouth of the user and maintained on the face of the user by a tension element (2), this tension element being fixed in at least two points of the rigid element (4) and passing behind the head of the user, this collar (1) being maintained at its upper part by the rigid element (4) and the tensioning element (2) and in its lower part in contact with the clothes of the user, this collar creating an air duct between the nose and the mouth of the user on the one hand and the air contained in the interior of his clothing on the other hand, this device being resistant to shocks and pressures generated by an avalanche and providing a sufficient seal to the avalanche material.   2) Device according to claim 1 characterized in that the lower part of this neck is attached to the upper part of an anorak or a sweater or shirt or T-shirt.   3) Device according to claim 1 characterized in that the lower part of this neck is held by elements surrounding the arms of the user.   4) Device according to claim 1 characterized in that the rigid element (4) is made of rubber or latex.   5) Device according to claim 1 characterized in that the neck (1) has days of small sizes or is of a material permeable to air.   6) Device according to claim 1 characterized in that the neck (1) consists of a membrane permeable to oxygen, while being impervious to snow.