GB2246075A - Diving snorkel - Google Patents

Abstract

A diving snorkel (10) has an inner tube (50) inside a co-axial outer tube (20) providing inhaling (21) and exhaling (55) passages. A tubular sleeve (40) inside the top of the outer tube (20), has plural intake valve ports (42) in a radial top flange (41). An annular flat one-way check valve disc (43) controls the intake valve ports (42). A flat one-way check valve disc (53) controls exhaust. An annular housing body (30) at the top of the snorkel has plural intake holes (33) and exhaust holes (34) adjacent the inhaling and exhaust valve discs. A flat annular water check valve disc is carried by a tubular float (61) below the intake valve ports (42) and the intake holes (31), and will close only when water raises the float (61). A diver using the snorkel for breathing avoids inhaling previously exhaled waste carbon dioxide, and water is prevented from entering the snorkel. <IMAGE>

Description

DIVING SNORKEL This invention relates to diving aids known as snorkels.

So-called snorkels are well known as major aids used by the skin divers to help the diver continue breathing for example while floating in the water and watching what is underwater.

One popular snorkel is a simple J-shaped hollow pipe made of rubber or plastic, about 30-35cm long with a bore of about 1.5-2.0cm. In use, such a snorkel can be taped or strapped to one side of diving mask, and, with its open mouth upwards and the then-lower bent part held in the diver's mouth, the diver can breath through his or her mouth. Typically, when floating, the open mouth of the snorkel is about 10cm above the water level. When diving down, the snorkel will become immersed with the diver and water will naturally enter into the snorkel through its upper open mouth, and the diver has to close his or her mouth tightly against swallowing water through the snorkel. Return to floating means the diver has to drain the water in the snorkel in order to be able to breathe continuously.

Such action is called "blowing snorkel" as the diver forces out air through his or her mouth and jets water out of the snorkel from its open top.

Such a conventional snorkel has the following drawbacks: (1) On return to floating after diving, the diver is usually in urgent need of breathing air in quantity as soon as possible, but needs first to "blow snorkel" forcefully, which can be difficult. Often, the diver hurries up and pulls the bent part at the lower end of snorkel from his or her mouth (such an action is called "pulling snorkel"), i.e. does not immediately "blow snorkel", but floats to breathe through his or her mouth at once as oxygen need is felt to be in excess of comfortable breathing only through the nose. Sometimes, water in a snorkel that is not well drained by "blowing snorkel" results in the diver swallowing that water and choking.In fact, most drowned divers suffocate to death by choking on water in the bronchi a or accumulated water in the lungs, and such a choking for as little as 1-2 minutes can lead to death.

(2) Water in the snorkel is difficult to drain completely, and a little bit of such water tends to accumulate in the bottom at the lower end of snorkel, i.e. the bent part thereof, so that, when the diver uses it once again, passage of breathing air flow makes an odd noise. The diver may even feel suffering akin to pneumonia or asthma, until completely draining accumulated water from the whole snorkel, which is inconvenient to do when the diver is in the water.

(3) Where the open mouth at the top end of the snorkel is only about 10-15cm above the water level when the diver is floating, momentary carelessness, say if the snorkel is inclined, or if there is a wave on the water surface, can cause water to enter the snorkel from time to time and be inhaled into the diver's mouth, with consequent danger of swallowing water or choking the bronchia with water.

(4) Also, inhaling and-exhaling alternates through the same passage, i.e a single tube. So, after exhaling, the interior of the tube is full of the exhaled waste carbon dioxide, and next inhaling first includes that waste carbon dioxide in the snorkel.

Residual carbon dioxide in the snorkel can be about 1/4 to 1/3 quantity of air inhaled in a normal breath, and it is commonplace for a diver using a snorkel for a long time to suffer bodily discomfort, gasping, even headache, because of the ratio of waste carbon dioxide to fresh air as inhaled. Such symptoms can amount to anoxia and carbon dioxide poisoning with considerable damage to the diver's body, or at least reduce and waste his or her physical strength.

The above drawbacks of conventional snorkels leave much to be desired, especially for inexperienced skin divers short of expert training and guidance, or with insufficient practice.

According to the present invention a diving snorkel is of co-axial and multi-tubular construction with channels that are separate, namely, an inner tube and an outer tube forming a double tube with inner and outer passages or channels; top ends of those passages or channels are provided with one-way diaphragms: one of those diaphragm allows only external air to flow into one tube, but the other allows air only to flow out of the other tube; those diaphragms are within an annular housing body provided with intake and exhaust holes nearby the diaphragms, those holes being separated from each other. Such a snorkel has different and separate one-way channels for inhalation and exhaustion (exhalation), so that when the diver inhales each time, he or she can inhale fresh air through one of those channels instead of inhaling the waste carbon dioxide exhausted from and left in the other.

Preferably, a plurality of intake valve ports are provided below the one-way diaphragm serving for inhalation and at top edges of inner peripheries of said intake holes, a water check diaphragm is provided at bottom edges of said inner peripheries, a tubular float is provided below the water check diaphragm, so that the air can enter into the inhaling channel from the intake holes through the intake valve ports and the one-way diaphragm, but when the float contacts water, and prior to the water arriving at the intake holes, the water raises the float to actuate the water check diaphragm so as to automatically close the intake valve ports and stop water from flowing into the snorkel, thus prevent the diver from swallowing water or choking his or her bronchia with water.

Specific implementation for this invention is now described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is an exploded view of one embodiment; Fig. 2 shows the same embodiment as assembled; Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of the assembly of Figure 2; Fig. 4 is a perspective view of annular body at the upper end of the embodiment, and is partially broken away; Fig. 5 is a section through the annular body in a state corresponding to inhalation; Fig. 6 is a similar section for exhaling; and Fig. 7 is a similar section applicable when a float is moved by water.

Figures 2 and 3 show a vertical co-axial multitubular construction of snorkel 10, and Figure 1 its parts. Top end of an outer tube 20 of the snorkel 10 is provided with an annular body 30 consisting of an upper annular body part 31 and a lower annular body part 32.

In Fig. 4, the annular body 30 has a plurality of gridshaped holes in the upper annular body part 31 through and along its circumference and shown at positions thereon of different heights respectively so as to form intake holes 33 and exhaust holes 34, preferably narrow slots to prevent foreign bodies entering into the snorkel. An annular partition plate 35 is provided between the intake holes 33 and exhaust holes 34, and the top of the inner tube 50 is sealingly fixed through the centre hole of the plate 35. The lower annular body part 32 also has inlets as an annular grid 36 and there is an internal annular recess 37 between lower body part 32 and a tubular part 40 called a thimble. A hollow pillar 38 extends from the bottom for of the lower body part 32 and sealingly engages the outer tube 20. The upper annular body part 31 is designed to engage with the lower annular body part 32 after the next described members are assembled.

A tubular thimble 40 is inserted into an annular recess 37 of the lower annular body part 32 and extends upwardly. The top end of the thimble 40 is flanged outwardly and has a plurality of apertures as intake ports 42 of a valve 41. The valve 41 and intake valve ports 42 are disposed at the top edges of the inner peripheries of intake holes 33, and the top ends of the intake valve ports 42 cooperate with an annular flat one-way check diaphragm 43 (referred to as the inhaling diaphragm). The diaphragm 43 opens and closes so that fresh air can enter into the snorkel from the intake hole 33 through the intake valve ports 42 but the air in the snorkel cannot be exhausted out.

An annular flat water check diaphragm 61 (referred to as the water check diaphragm) and a tubular float 62 are provided below the intake valve 41, one after the other, around the thimble 40 and inside the inner wall of annular body 30. The float 62 can slide up and down freely in the space between the said outer periphery and inner wall to act as a control member for opening and closing of said intake valve ports 42 at bottom edges thereof. Normally, the float 62 will be in its lower position because of its own weight and be supported by the grid 36 of the lower annular body part 32. The water check diaphragm 61 is on or below the bottom edges of the intake holes 33 and will not hinder air flow through them.

inner tube 50 is disposed at the centre of and spaced from the thimble 40. Clearly, the inner tube 50 and the outer tube 20 are coaxial but have to have diameters that differ from each other. The top end of inner tube 50 is fixed through the annular partition plate 35 of the upper annular body 31. A concave formation 51 at the outer periphery of the top end of the inner tube 50 cooperates with a flat one-way check diaphragm 53 (referred to as the exhaust diaphragm) on a neck 52 and effective to cover the tube mouth 54 (exhaust tube mouth). The exhaust diaphragm 53 is also of one-way type operating only to let air in the tube exhaust out here from through the exhaust holes 34 but preventing fresh air from entering into the tube 50.

The exhaust holes 34 on the upper annular body 31 are around and nearby the exhaust diaphragm 53.

The inner tube 50 provides an exhaust passage or channel 55, and the space between the inner wall of outer tube 20 (including the middle thimble 40) and the outer wall of inner tube 50 becomes the inhaling channel or passage. These two channels are clearly separate from each other.

The bottom end of the outer tube 20 is connected to a bend 70, and a rubber or plastics holder 71 is provided to one side of the bend 70 to be held in the diver's mouth for breathing. A drain valve 72 is provided at and extending from the bottom end of bend 70 so that all water accumulated in the tube can be drained out of the snorkel from time to time. In addition, a catch 22 is provided at a suitable position on the outer tube 20 so as to attach the snorkel onto a tape, strap or bracket on one side of diving mask (not shown in the drawing) and serves to keep the snorkel as a whole in a vertical state in use.

As shown in Fig. 5, in use, the snorkel 10 is vertical through the water level. The float 62 is in the lowest position under the action of gravity, and the water check diaphragm 61 above it is below the bottom edge of intake holes 33 so the bottom of intake valve ports 42 is open. When inhaling, the inhaling pressure generates a negative pressure against the inner tube 50 so that the exhaust diaphragm 53 of exhaust tube mouth 54 tightly closes the tube mouth 54, and all the fresh air inhaled enters into the inhaling channel 21 in the outer tube 20 and then into the user's body through the intake holes 33 and intake valve ports 42 where the air flow opens the inhaling diaphragm 43.

As shown in Fig. 6, when exhaling, the snorkel pressure causes the inhaling diaphragm 43 to close the top edge of intake valve ports 42, so that air flow cannot be exhausted therethrough and waste carbon dioxide exhaled out from the diver's body serves to open the exhaust diaphragm 53 of exhaust tube mouth 54 and then be exhausted out of the snorkel from the exhaust channel 55 of inner tube 50 through the exhaust holes 34.

When the diver inhales and exhales alternately, fresh air and waste carbon dioxide enter into and quit from this snorkel through its separate channels respectively. Such continuous cyclic operation lets the diver inhale air that is always wholly fresh and does not let him or her inhale waste carbon dioxide left in the exhaust channel 55 of inner tube 50.

As shown in Fig. 7, when the float 62 is contacted by water, the intake valve parts 42 will be automatically closed so as to stop water flowing into the snorkel. So, whatever happens, for instance, surf, wave, the diver's head at an incorrect angle during floating, or the diver dives down, the float 62 in its lowest position is always first contacted by water, whereupon the float 62 rises at once and actuates the water check diaphragm 61 by lifting it. Thus, prior to any water arriving at the intake valve ports 42, the water check diaphragm 61 has closed the bottom edges of said intake valve ports 42 and water is kept outside the intake valve ports 42 thus avoiding the diver inhaling the water into his mouth or choking his or her bronchia.

Claims (10)

Claims

1. A diving snorkel comprising an inner tube disposed inside an outer tube of snorkel, a tubular thimble part at the tdp of outer tube, an plurality of intake valve ports at the top of thimble part, an annular one-way check diaphragm operative to open or close top ends of the intake valve ports, a one-way check diaphragm operative only to let air out of the snorkel, an annular housing body at the top of snorkel and having a plurality of spaced intake holes and a plurality of exhaust holes nearby the inhaling and exhaust diaphragms, respectively, and an annular flat water check diaphragm and associated tubular float disposed below the intake valve ports and operative relative to the intake holes.

2. A diving snorkel as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the annular body consists of a lower annular body part and an upper annular body part.

3. A diving snorkel as claimed in Claim 2, wherein the lower annular body part has a plurality of apertures as an annular grid to contain and support the float, and a hollow pillar extends from the bottom of said body to engage with the top end of outer tube.

4. A diving snorkel as claimed in Claim 2 or Claim 3, wherein a plurality of grid-shaped holes are provided to the upper annular body part about the body and in the positions thereon with different heights respectively so as to form intake holes and exhaust holes, and an annular partition plate is provided between the intake holes and the exhaust holes.

5. A diving snorkel as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein the intake holes and exhaust holes are slots.

6. A diving snorkel as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein the thimble part is mounted in an annular recess of the lower annular body part and extends upwardly, and the top end of the thimble part is enlarged outwardly to serve as an intake valve with said intake valve ports arranged annularly.

7. A diving snorkel as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein the water check diaphragm and the float are provided around the outer periphery of the middle thimble and inside the annular body, and can slide up and down freely to act as a control member for opening and closing of the intake valve ports at their bottom edges.

8. A diving snorkel as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein the top of the inner tube is fixed through the centre of an annular partition plate of the annular housing body.

9. A diving snorkel as claimed in any preceding Claim, wherein a concave formation is provided to the outer periphery of top end of the inner tube so as to seat an exhaust diaphragm by a neck thereof when the mouth of inner tube is sealed.

10. A vertical co-axial multi-tubular diving snorkel substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.