GB2041300A - Buoyancy garment - Google Patents

Abstract

A body heat garment comprising a lower portion 1 made from a body heat retaining material and which extends downwardly from the level of the wearer's chest and an upper portion 10 which extends upwards therefrom over the wearer's shoulders and covers at least part of the upper portion of the wearer's back, the whole of said upper portion being formed as buoyancy means. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Body heat retaining garments This invention relates to a body heat garment such as a wet or dry suit. A wet suit is a close fitting suit of material made, for example, from sponge rubber or a PVC nitrile, that may or may not be impervious to water but that retains body heat. Such garments may take the form of a full length suit consisting for example cf a jacket and trousers or a one piece suit or the user may mereiy rely upon a jacket. Some jackets of this type have a strap which passes between the legs to retain the jacket in place and some suits which are rather similar to this comprise a jacket and short trousers all in one piece. Again, such suits sometimes are not provided with arms but merely have straps which pass over the shoulders.

Wet suit garments of this type are used by water skiers, skin divers and sailors, especially in small boats, in order to keep warm. The garment traps any water between it and the wearer and the water rapidly rises to body heat, thus preventing loss of such heat to atmosphere or to surrounding water.

A similar type of garment is sometimes known as a dry suit. In this type the material is impervious to water, for example, rubber, and the garment has tight fitting entrances where the limbs protude so that the water cannot enter it. The air trapped in the garment heats up to body heat and prevents loss thereof.

The term body heat garment will be used throughout this specification to include both types of garment, that is wet and dry.

Wet suit type garments are usually made at the present time from foam or sponge type rubber material such as neoprene and the material itself, due to its foam construction provides a quantity of buoyancy to the wearer when in the water. It has been found however that this buoyancy is not sufficient to keep the wearer afloat if injured or unconscious and it is the practice in small sailing boats, such as racing dinghies, to also wear a buoyancy aid or life jacket. The term buoyancy aid is used herein to indicate a device, such as a jacket, usually without sleeves, which imparts buoyancy to the wearer but again, is not sufficient to keep him afloat if unconscious. Life jackets however can keep the wearer afloat in an emergency, such jackets being the well-known Board of Trade type jacket or the familiar Mae West as used by service air crews.Due to the bulk of life jackets however they are rarely worn in small boats.

The addition of a buoyancy aid over a wet suit garment is however bulky and the present invention is intended to provide a garment which can be used, for example, by a small boat sailor or water skier, which although not providing the life saving ability of a life jacket does provide at least some of the additional buoyancy of a buoyancy aid, According to the present invention a body heat garment comprises a lower portion made from a body heat retaining material and which extends downwardly from the level of the wearer's chest and an upper portion which extends upwards therefrom over the wearer's shoulders and covers at least part of the upper portion of the wearer's back, the whole of said upper portion being formed as buoyancy means.

The term buoyancy means is used herein to define means which, for a given body covering area have a greater buoyancy capacity than the body heat retaining material from which the lower portion of the garment is made.

The lower portion of the suit therefore may comprise the lower portion of what is essentially a jacket, perhaps with short legs or a full length suit but which effectively finishes at the wearer's chest, the upper portion of the garment being provided by the said buoyancy means.

In a convenient construction the upper portion may comprise a pair of shoulder straps and a back.

Preferably the buoyancy means also extends downwardly over the front part of the lower portion so that there is more effective buoyancy at the front of the garment than the back.

Thus, the garment can, in effect, comprise a body heat garment up to the chest and to the upper part of which is connected a buoyancy aid.

If the construction of the lower portion is such that there are openings beneath the arms, for example, if the upper portion is effectively a bib then in order to prevent water easily entering the lower portion of the suit a free lip of body heat retaining material can be provided at the upper edge of the lower portion above the line of connection to the upper portion.

Thus, lips of material can be provided at the front and back of the lower portion and in a convenient construction these free lips can be formed as gussets.

The buoyancy means can be provided in any convenient form and can, for example, include a buoyancy element or elements containing a foamed material such as neoprene, polyethylene, poly-vinyl-chloride, or poly-vinyl-chloride-nitrile.

Alternatively, the buoyancy means may include a buoyancy element or elements in the form of air cells.

In any case, the buoyancy elements can be held in place by location material and in one preferred form of the invention the location material is itself a body heat retaining material.

The invention can be performed in various ways but one embodiment will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a front view of a one piece wet suit incorporating the invention; Figure 2 is a side view of the garment; Figure 3 is a rear view of the same garment; Figure 4 is a view of part of the interior of the garment looking towards the front; and Figure 5 is an interior view of part of the garment looking towards the back.

As shown in the drawings the body heat garment is in the form of a one piece wet suit comprising a lower portion indicated by reference numeral 1 which is made from a body heat retaining material having a centre core of, for example, foamed neoprene rubber, indicated by reference numeral 2 to each surface of which is secured a layer of woven terylene material 3.

Material of this kind is well-known in itself. The lower portion 1 is provided with a main upper part 4 which extends upwardly to approximately the level of the wearer's chest. The forward upper edge 5 of this material is V-shaped, as indicated in Figure 4 and the back upper edge 6 is also curved upwardly as is clsarly shown in Figure 5.

The lower portion 1 also incorporates a pair of legs 7 the lower ends of which are provided with sliding clasp fasteners 8 to assist entry. Similarly the upper part 4 is also provided with a sliding clasp fastener 9 for the same reason. It will be seen that this portion of the garment comprises, in effect, a one piece wet suit extending down from the wearer's chest.

Connected to the upper part 4 of the lower portion 1 is an upper portion indicated by reference numeral 10 and which comprises a pair of shoulder straps 11 and a back 1 2. The shoulder straps 11 are spaced apart to provide a neck opening indicated by reference numeral 1 3 and the lower parts 14 of the shoulder straps 11 continue downwards over the upper part 4 of the lower portion 1 to a point level with the lower part of wearer chest.

This upper portion is made up from an inner layer 1 5 and an outer layer 1 6 of body heat retaining material similar to that used in the lower portion 1. Enclosed within the layers is a buoyancy element in the form of a filling of dry cell foam material such as poly-vinyl-chloride-nitrile. This material can be provided in layers or as blocks of suitable thickness and as will be seen from Figures 4 and 5 the shoulder straps and back are filled with it.

The upper portion 10 is secured to the lower portion 1 by any convenient means, such as by stitching and/or taping, preferably both means being provided so that the tape covers the stitching and prevents it being caught and tearing loose. At the front the stitching is provided round all the open sides of the upper portion and similarly at the back.

As the shoulder straps leave a space beneath the arms which could gape when the suit is in use free lips are provided at the front and back of the lower portion 1. These are in the form of gussets, the gussets at the front of the suit being indicated by reference numeral 18 and being in the form of V-shaped strips one long side of which is secured to the join between the upper portion 10 and lower portion 1 along the upper edge 5 of the lower portion. The short end 1 9 of the gusset is stitched to the side of the suit. Thus the upper edge of the gusset 20 extends upwardly as a free lip. Similarly at the back of the suit the gussets, indicated by reference numeral 21 are secured to the edges 6 to provide a free edge 22.

When the suit is in use therefore these free lips provided by the gussets 1 8 and 21 tend to ciose the gaps at the top of the lower portion 1 if there is any tendency for the upper portion 10 to pull the upper edges 5 and 6 of the lower portion away from the body.

In the arrangement described above it will be appreciated that as a body heat retaining material is also used for the upper portion which carries the buoyancy elements this upper portion will also tend to impart some warmth to the shoulders of the wearer. Alternatively, however, the upper portion could be made from any convenient material provided it fulfilled the purpose of carrying the buoyancy elements.

It will also be appreciated that if a body heat retaining material is used, at least for the inner surface of the upper portion 10 then the lower portion 1 and this inner material of the upper portion 10 can be stitched up as one piece if this was a convenient manner of manufacture and the outer layer 1 6 of the upper portion 10 can be from any other suitable material.

As mentioned above however the use of a body heat retaining material of the kind referred to is particularly convenient and provides an attractive looking garment which is not hard on the wearer's shoulders.

Again, tha expanded foam material used as a buoyancy element can be replaced by air cells or any other suitable buoyancy material.

Claims (13)

1. A body heat garment comprising a lower portion made from a body heat retaining material and which extends downwardly from the level of the wearer's chest and an upper portion which extends upwards therefrom over the wearer's shoulders and covers at least part of the upper portion of the wearer's back, the whole of said upper portion being formed as buoyancy means.

2. A body heat garment as claimed in claim 1 in which said upper portion comprises a pair of shoulder straps and a back.

3. A body heat garment as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 in which said buoyancy means also extends downwardly over the front part of the lower portion.

4. A body heat garment as claimed in claims 1 to 3 in which said upper portion is provided as a buoyancy aid secured to the lower portion.

5. A body heat garment as claimed in claims 1 to 4 in which a free lip of body heat retaining material is provided at the upper edge of the lower portion above the line of connection to the upper portion.

6. A body heat garment as claimed in claim 5 in which lips of material are provided at the front and back of the lower portion.

7. A body heat garment as claimed in claim 5 or claim 6 in which each free lip is formed as a g ussett.

8. A body heat garment as claimed in claims 1 to 7 in which the buoyancy means includes a buoyancy element or elements containing a foamed material.

9. A body heat garment as claimed in claim 8 in which the foamed material is reoprene, polyethylene, poly-vynil-chloride or poly-vinyl- chloride-nitrile.

10. A body heat garment as claimed in claims 1 to 7 in which the buoyancy means includes a buoyancy element or elements in the form of air cells.

11. A body heat garment as claimed in claims 8, 9 or 10 in which the buoyancy element or elements are held in place by a location material.

12. A body heat garment as claimed in claim 11 in which the location material is a body heat retaining material.

13. A body heat garment substantially as described herein with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.