GB1111227A - Improvements in or relating to protective suits - Google Patents

Abstract

1,111,227. Protective suits. UNITED KINGDOM ATOMIC ENERGY AUTHORITY. 18 Oct., 1966 [21 Oct., 1965], No. 44664/65. Heading A3V. A protective suit for use in toxic atmospheres has a waist portion reinforced by an adjustable belt 20 which is supported by sleeves welded to the inner face of the suit and which supports at the rear of the suit an air inlet hose 11 and outlets 22 and 26. The hose is surrounded by a shroud 31 where it enters the suit and is secured to the belt 20 by a metal spigot, the disc-shaped end of which bears on a load-spreading plate on the inside of the belt. Preferably the hose mounting is strong enough for the wearer's weight to be supported solely by the hose in an emergency. A port in the hose communicates with an annular chamber which is connected by means of a flexible conduit 10 with a chamber 9 at the top of a head portion 6 whence air is diffused through apertures (46), Fig. 5 not shown, over a window 7 to the interior of the suit. An emergency breathing tube (not shown) communicates with a filter-covered opening at the rear 8 of the portion 6 which is protected by a rubber cover 13 apertured at 14. Flexible conduits such as 48 lead from the leg and arm extremities to an outlet chamber comprising bags 45, 51 held open by porous uncrushable woven nylon material 47 and linked above and below the hose 11 by ducts 82. Ports 54, 55 in each bag are provided with a filter and a non-return valve respectively and covered by a shroud 22 or 26 the latter having a restricted outlet 58 to provide a reservoir of exhaled air to prevent suck-back of the toxic atmosphere in the event of valve flutter. At normal rates of flow only the filter outlets are used, the valves opening only during pressure surges. The wearer enters the suit through a slit extending across the shoulders, closable by means of a smooth zip (79), Fig. 9 not shown, and covered by a bag (77) closable by means of a metalvoothed zip (78). A flap 15 buttoned to the suit cover the bag. Arm portions 2 have rubber rings welded into their ends which are fitted over corrugated rings of rigid polyethylene which carry gloves 16. The suit has integral feet portions and is intended to be worn with rubber boots 27, 28. The wrist and ankle joints are covered by skirts 18 and 29, 30 welded to the arm and leg portions respectively. The suit is made from two-ply p.v.c. 0.012 inches thick apart from the belt which is of polyethylene and is 0.065 inches thick and the head portion which is 0.020 inches thick, the window 7 being of pressed, polished, pliant p.v.c. and the remainder of p.v.c. similar to but thicker than that of the rest of the suit. Each flexible conduit is preferably formed by welding a strip of the suit material at its edges to the inner surface of the suit and inserting a helically coiled spacer of self-supporting polyethylene strip.