GB2310787A - Inflatable safety wear - Google Patents

Description

SAFETY WEAR TECHNICAL FIELD AND BACKGROUND ART The present invention relates to safety clothing of the type designed to protect the wearer from impact during a collision or fall and to provide support to the wearers body during such collisions or falls. More particularly, the invention relates to safety clothing of the type which adjusts its physical characteristics in anticipation of impact to protect the wearer.

Known types of safety clothing for use in protecting the wearer during impact or collision incorporate rigid body panels or support struts to absorb the shock of such collisions. A common example is the incorporation of shin guards in motor cyclist boots to protect the delicate shins during a collision or the use of protective body armour used by military personnel when dealing with explosives to absorb percussive forces produced from exploding bombs or from bullets. Alternatively, other types of protective clothing utilise bulky "soft" padding, such as foam incorporated in the lining of such clothing, to partly absorb the impact shock. However, in both cases, these types of safety clothing are often bulky, sometimes heavy. Additionally, all these known types of clothing restrict the wearers movement to a certain degree it may cause additional problems where mobility of the wearer is essential to the well being of the wearer and their ability to avoid collisions, such as in use when riding horses, motorbikes etc, whereby a reasonable degree of mobility is required to control the mode of transport. Furthermore, the most serious injuries incurred as a result of a collision or impact are neck and spinal injuries which are irreparable. It is therefore desirable that safety wear incorporates features to protect the spine and neck of the wearer from impact and stresses. At present, known techniques of protecting such vulnerable parts of the body incorporate the use of rigid struts or excessive padding as discussed above. However, such rigid struts or foam padding again severely restrict movement of the vertebrae and neck which impair overall movement of the wearer.

It is therefore an object to the present invention to provide safety clothing or safety wear which limits the aforementioned problems, whilst providing adequate support and protection during an impact or collision but which have a minimal restrictive effect on the wearer.

STATEMENT OF INVENTION AND ADVANTAGES According to the present invention there is provided safety wear for providing support against impact and during an accident, which comprises an inflatable support which remains flexible in a deflated state, together with a source of inflating fluid in fluid communication with the inflatable support and actuation means for releasing the inflating fluid, whereby the actuation means is responsive to a predetermined stimuli to release the inflating fluid from the source to inflate the support, wherein the inflated support forms a substantially rigid support body having a predetermined inflated configuration to provide sort to a predetermined area of a wearers body.

Usually, the source of inflating fluid will comprise a cylinder of pressurised gas which is attached securely to the safety wear.

However, it is also envisaged that this pressurised gas cylinder may be held remote from the safety wear but maintained in fluid communication with the inflatable support by means of a flexible pipe or tube. Alternatively, the source of inflating fluid may comprise a combustible material which produces an inflating gas, under pressure, as a combustion product. Still further, it is also envisaged that the inflating fluid may actually comprise a liquid such as a liquid foam under pressure. It is required that the fluid source is able to provide, quickly, a pressurised fluid into the inflatable support to inflate the support until it is substantially rigid.

It is preferred that the actuation means will comprise a contact element attached to the fluid source whereby the predetermined stimuli is the removal of this contact element from the fluid source to effect the release of the fluid. Preferably, the contact element will be secured to one end of an elongate flexible member, such as a rope or cord, which has a fixed length, whereby the other end of this flexible member is connectable to be secured to a reference position independent of the safety wear so that the stimuli is provided when the safety wear moves away from the reference position, (when the flexible member is secured thereto,) a distance greater than the length of the flexible member so as to pull the contact element out of engagement with the fluid source. The contact element is envisaged in one embodiment as being a simple release pin in a pressurised gas cylinder or it may be an electrical contact pin which when removed from an electrical circuit, by being pulled out of such a circuit, will enable an electrical signal to activate and release the inflating fluid. It is possible that such an electrical circuit arrangement may be used to ignite a combustible material to produce an inflating gas as a combustion product in a similar manner to that employed for inflating air bag restraint systems in motor vehicles. Such systems often employ electrical signals to activate or fire ignition systems.

In its preferred form, the safety wear is intended to be used by a rider of a motorised vehicle or an animal whereby the reference position will be secured to that motorised vehicle or a saddle or other riding apparatus secured to the animal, so that one end of the flexible member is fixed to the vehicle or animal whilst the other end is secured to a contact element of a gas source which itself is secured to the safety wear. When the rider becomes detached from the vehicle or animal, i.e by falling, they move away from the reference position a distance greater than the length of the flexible member so as to pull the flexible member and intact element away from the gas source. Once the contact element is detached from the gas source it activates the release of the pressurised gas (or possibly fluid) to rapidly inflate the inflatable support which may then support a predetermined area of the wearers body. One such embodiment of the present invention utilises a vest or jacket (the term vest is intended in the present specification to cover any sort of clothing or wear which is to be worn on the trunk of the body, including a jacket, jumper, vest, waistcoat, all with or without sleeves) whereby the inflatable support comprises a vest collar which in its inflated state forms a substantially rigid neck brace.

Usually, safety wear of this type may comprise of two or more inflatable supports wherein each support is inflatable by the same or by different fluid sources. In this way, the aforementioned vests may comprise a second inflatable support extending around the base of the vest which in its inflated state forms a substantially rigid back support. In this way, once the inflatable supports have been inflated prior to impact of the wearer with the ground (following a fall) they provide a cushioning effect and support action to the neck and spine respectively to protect the wearer.

Preferably, the, or at least one, of the inflatable restraints will comprise vent holes. The inclusion or omission of these vent holes will depend on the required nature of the inflated support. Where vent holes are included it will be appreciated that during the initial inflation of the support the input of the pressurised fluid will be at a greater rate than the escape of this pressurised fluid through the vent holes to progressively inflate the support to its substantially rigid configuration, in order to provide initial support during impact whereby when the input of the pressurised fluid ceases or is reduced then as the ingress of the pressurised fluid into the support from a gas source falls below the rate of escape of the pressurised fluid through the vent holes then the support will collapse. In this way it is envisaged that following an impact the wearer of the safety wear may not wish to be restrained by a rigid support on body. However, there are circumstances in which it is envisaged that these vent holes will be omitted in order that the support body remains rigid following an impact. One example would be the aforementioned support collar on the safety vest whereby it may be required to maintain the inflated collar rigid following an impact to support any damage that may be have occurred to the neck of the wearer.

In addition, the inclusion of vent holes will allow the inflated support to provide a cushioning effect during impact to substantially decelerate the wearer during an impact rather than act as a rigid body which could transmit a substantial part of the impact force through the inflated support member. In this way, the inflatable support would be inflated rapidly prior to the impact when impact occurs the additional compressive forces applied to the inflated support would force the inflating gas or fluid out of the vent holes at a controlled rate to both cushion and reduce the impact force. In this manner a decreasing cushioning force in the direction of impact may be provided by the safety wear.

Usually, the inflatable support will comprise a layer of 840 denier nylon with a neoprene coating substantially in the form of a bag. This is a standard configuration for air bags used in car restraint systems and has been found to be flame proof and to reduce any abrasion with the wearer whilst exuding very good strength properties, capable of withstanding impact forces.

According to the present invention there is also provided safety wear, as previously described, in combination with a mode of transport such as motorised vehicle or an animal, wherein the reference position may be secured to the mode of transport so that relevant displacement between the safety wear and the transport greater than the length of the flexible member will pull the contact element out of contact with the fluid source so as to release the inflating fluid and inflate the support.

DRAWINGS One embodiment of safety wear constructed in accordance with the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying illustrative drawings in which:- Figure 1 is a front view of a riders safety vest; Figure 2 is a front view of the vest of Figure 1 with the support collar in an inflated condition; and Figure 3 is a cross sectional view of a collar of the vest of Figures 1 and 2 in an inflated state.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A safety vest 10 for use by a rider of a motorcycle or an animal (such as a horse) is of a standard design having two front panels 12 and 14 and a single rear panel (not shown) in which the rear panel interconnects the two front panels 12 and 14 and the two front panels 12 and 14 may be securely connected together by means of conventional jacket/vest connections, shown as toggle buttons 16 in the present embodiment. However, it will be appreciated that any other means of connecting a garment may be employed, such as a zipper, buttons, hooks and eyes etc. The vest itself is of conventional design and made by conventional materials used in such riding vests or jackets which are often hard wearing/materials to protect the wearer from branches or shrubs against which they may brush and may also be used to keep the wearer warm. In addition, such vests and jackets often include conventional padding. Alternatively, if the jacket is for use in hot countries or during the summer months it may be made of a tough lightweight material to prevent the wearer becoming overheated. The present invention is equally applicable to either such vest designs.

In the particular embodiment shown in figures 1 - 3 the vest 10 is provided with an inflatable support collar 20 comprising a substantially semi-rigid and upstanding collar wall 22 which is of a standard design and will usually comprise a cardboard or plastics insert sewn into vest material to stiffen this upstanding collar wall. The collar wall 22 is rigidly attached, usually by sewing onto the material of the vest 10. An inflatable support 24 is then sewn, or otherwise attached, to an outwardly directed surface of the collar wall 22 and attached at a base position 26 (figure 3) directly to the material of the vest 10. The inflatable support 24 is made of a flexible material similar to that used for automobile air-bags, which is designed to be flame proof and air proof to retain a gas therein, whilst remaining flexible. In its preferred form, the inflatable support 24 will comprise an 840 denier nylon with a neoprene coating. However it will be appreciated that other air-bag materials may be employed in accordance with the known technology for air-bag manufacture. The support 24 comprises an inner panel 28 and outer panel 30 which are sewn together along an upper and lower seam which seams are sealed to produce a substantially airtight hollow bag, whereby the inner panel 28 is attached directly to the collar wall 22. Since the support 24 remains flexible when it is not inflated, it is provided with a fold 100 (figures 1 and 3) in order that an upper part length 34 of the support may be laid substantially flat on the vest material in a standard collar configuration (Figure 1). In this way, the inflatable support 24 resembles a normal collar when in its deflated state which may be unobtrusive to the wearer. In addition, although not shown in this preferred embodiment, the collar 20 may be held in the position shown in figure 1 by the use of velcro pads between the outer panel 30 of the collar and the vest, or by other restraining means. Such restraining means, whilst holding the collar in a required position, are readily overcome by an upwardly directed force to the collar when the collar 24 is inflated.

The inflatable support 24 has a gas inlet port 36 at its base portion 26 which communicates with a flexible tube 38. This tube 38 being attached to the material of the vest 10, such as being sewn into the lining of the vest. This tube 38 is fluidly connected to a gas source 40, which in this particular embodiment comprises in a sealed cylinder of compressed gas such as nitrogen or another inert gas. The compressed gas in the cylinder may be released in a conventional manner by the removal of a conventional release pin 42 so as to permit the compressed gas to enter the tube 38 so as to inflate the support 24. It will be appreciated that apparatus and means for releasing compressed gas from a cylinder are well known to those skilled in the art and will not be discussed in detail further except that any such known gas release mechanism may be employed.

When the release pin 42 is removed from the gas cylinder 40 the compressed gas rapidly passes through the tube 38 and into the support 24 which is then inflated by the pressurised gas to form a substantially rigid inflated collar (figure 2) which acts as a neck brace. The use of a rigid collar wall 22 ensures that the inflated support 24 achieves the required configuration of a substantially upstanding rigid wall encompassing and supporting the majority of the wearers neck.

The release pin 42 is attached by a cord 44 to a fixed reference point 46 remote from the vest. In this particular embodiment, the vest is intended for use by the rider of a motorcycle or a horse, whereby the reference point is a secured fixture 46 attached to a saddle 48. The cord 44 will have a predetermined length, which may be adjustable by a length adjuster 48, so that should the rider who is wearing the safety vest 10 fall from the saddle a distant greater than the predetermined length of the cord 44 the cord will be pulled taut to exert a force on the release pin 42 which will pull this pin 42 away and out of engagement with the gas cylinder 40, thereby triggering the release of the pressurised gas to inflate the support 24. This release of pressurised gas will inflate the collar to provide a rigid support to cushion and provide additional support to the neck of the wearer before that wearer collides with the ground.

The rapid release of pressurised gas is used to inflate the support almost instantaneously so that the support is inflated before the wearer impacts or collides with the ground.

For this particular embodiment, the vest 10 has an additional panel connector 50 in the region of the collar 20 to ensure that the both front panels of the vest are securely connected when in use so that if the support 24 is inflated then it will form a substantially U-shaped ring which may be maintained in the region of the neck to provide the required additional support.

It will be appreciated that the above described embodiment of a safety vest is for illustrative purposes only and shows a simple embodiment of the present invention. In particular, the support 24 in this embodiment is inflated and held as a rigid inflated support. However, it is possible to add vent holes (not shown) to the support 24 of a predetermined size, whereby these vent holes allow the inflating gas to escape from the inflated support. The vent holes are designed whereby during the initial inflation of the support 24 then the rate of pressurised gas inflating the support is significantly higher than that escaping through the vent holes so that rapid inflation of the support occurs, and the gas source provides sufficient gas to maintain a rigid inflated support for a predetermined time which is considered sufficient to support the wearer during an impact.

Following which, the pressurised gas inflating the support diminishes with time until the rate of the escape of gas from the vent holes is greater than that inflating the support thereby allowing the support member to gradually deflate. In this manner, the rigid inflated support loses its rigidity gradually thereby allowing the wearer of the vest to regain full movement which may have been impeded by a rigid support. Alternatively, such vent holes may be omitted in order that once the support member has been inflated and is rigid it is maintained rigid to support any injury that may have been incurred during the fall.

Another advantage of the use of vent holes is that the rate of inflating gas requires less control since if excess gas threatens to over inflate the support to a degree where it may burst then the vent holes will alleviate this risk. Alternatively, if no such vent holes are used then the rate and quantity of gas used to inflate the support may be more carefully regulated.

It will also be appreciated that where vent holes are not employed, the inflatable support may also be provided with gas release stoppers or plugs which may be manually removed from the inflated support to allow the pressurised gas then to escape and thus to deflate the inflated support when required. Such plugs or stoppers may take many forms, including screw fitted cap arrangements or simple resilient bungs. The use of such means to allow the release of gas from an inflated support are well known and numerous and will not be discussed further.

Furthermore, it should be appreciated that in the preferred embodiment we have referred to a gas source which comprises a simple cylinder comprising a compressed gas. However, the inflating gas may be obtained from a variety of sources, including conventional automobile air-bag inflating systems whereby the inflating gas is produced as combustion products from an ignitable material. There are many known techniques of producing automobile air-bag inflating gases and, although they will not be discussed in detail here, it will be appreciated that many of these sources involve ignitable gases, ignitable solids and ignitable liquids to produce the required inflation gases as combustion products or to provide a combination of prepressurised gases together with these combustion products to produce the inflating gas. Therefore, the present invention is intending to encompass all known techniques of producing an inflating gas in response to a stimuli. In addition, although the preferred embodiment discusses the stimuli as being produced by the removal of a cylinder release pin to release the gas contained within the cylinder, other means of actuating the release of the inflating gas may be employed. For example, where an ignitable material is used to produce the pressurised gas as a combustion product then the actuation means employed will comprise an ignition system which is responsive to an electrical input signal, whereby the signal may be provided in response to removing a pin, similar to a release pin, from a conventional electronic circuit. Again, we would point out that many such ignition systems are well known in the corresponding technology of car air-bag inflating systems and this invention is intended to incorporate all such known techniques. Furthermore, where we refer to the removal of a pin in response to a force applied by the cord, the invention is also intended to cover the situation whereby the applied force may simply toggle a switch to actuate the gas release.

The present invention is not restricted to safety vests, but is intended to cover all types of safety clothing and safety wear and may be adapted for use such items of clothing as boots, head wear, or other arm or leg supports. In addition, the use of the inflatable support according to the present invention is not restricted to a collar arrangement but may be adapted to provide additional support to any area of the wearers body, such as knee or elbow joints, hip joints, lower spine, or may be extended to cover an entire item of clothing. For example the vests 10 according to figure 1 may be covered by a series of inflatable supports according to the present invention so that when all such supports are inflated they cover the majority of the surface area of the vest. Alternatively, for example, the vest 10 of figure 1 may have positioned on its rear panel (not shown) an inflatable support in the form of a pouch or pocket which when inflated will provide a support for the lower back and spine to absorb any impact. This particular embodiment is very useful since the tendency for a thrown rider is to land on their lower back.

It is also envisaged where more than one inflatable support is used on an item of safety wear then all such supports may be inflated by a single gas source 40, or a gas source may be associated with each inflatable support, whereby all such gas sources would then be connected to a single uniform cord connection to the reference point.

Also, each inflatable support may be sub-divided into an array of air-tight pockets independent of any other such pockets, where each pocket will have its own gas inlet port connected to the gas source. By utilising an array of pockets within an inflatable support may allow for a variation of the size and shape of the configuration of the inflated support to obtain pre-determined support configurations to support different parts of the body.

Still further, although the safety vest 10 described in reference to the preferred embodiment is for use with riding a bike (motor or pedal) or an animal such as a horse it will be appreciated that such safety wear could be adapted for a variety of other situations where the danger of falling arises, together with the subsequent dangers of injury from such falls. Examples of such use could include lumberjacks whereby the reference point may be fixed to the tree in which they are working, construction site workers, scaffolders or personnel working on high buildings where again the reference point may be adjustably secured to the area or building at which such people are working. Here the cord length may be adjustable to allow freedom of movement about the reference point to allow the wearer to work, but is of a sufficient length to activate the support should that wearer fall.

Furthermore, the present invention is not restricted to the use of a gas to inflate the support, but could be adapted to employ a pressurised liquid of foam to effect inflation. Also, referring to Figure 1, although in the preferred embodiment the gas source 40 is secured to the vest 10 (eg. by sewing thereto or placing in an internal pocket, it should be appreciated that the gas source may be held on the wearers body, such as on a belt, remote from the jacket, but with the tube 48 still in fluid communication between the fluid source and the support 24.

Claims (13)

Claims

1. Safety wear for providing support against impact during an accident, comprising an inflatable support which remains flexible in a deflated state, a source of inflating fluid in fluid communication with said inflatable support and actuation means for releasing said inflating fluid, in which said actuation means is responsive to a predetermined stimulus to release the inflating fluid from said source to inflate said support, wherein said inflated support forms a substantially rigid support body having a predetermined inflated configuration to provide support to a predetermined area of a wearers body.

2. Safety wear as claimed in claim 1 in which said source of inflating fluid comprises a cylinder of pressurised gas attached to said safety wear.

3. Safety wear as claimed in claim 1 in which said source of inflating fluid comprises a combustible material which produces an inflating gas as a combustion product.

4. Safety wear as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which said actuation means comprises a contact element attached to said inflating fluid source whereby said predetermined stimulus is the removal of said contact element from said fluid source to effect the release of said fluid.

5. Safety wear as claimed in claim 4 in which said contact element is secured to one end of an elongate flexible member having a fixed length and the other end of said flexible member is connectable to be secured to a reference position so that the stimulus is provided when the safety wear moves from said reference position, when the flexible member is secured thereto, a distance greater than the length of the flexible member so as to pull the contact element out of attachment with the fluid source.

6. Safety wear as claimed in any one of the preceding claims which comprises two or more inflatable supports wherein each support is inflatable by the same or different fluid sources.

7. Safety wear as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the or at least one inflatable restraint comprises vent holes.

8. Safety wear as claimed in claim 7 wherein said inflating fluid in the or an inflated support is releasable through said vent holes at a predetermined rate during an impact of said safety wear to provide a decreasing cushioning force in the direction of impact.

9. Safety wear as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the inflatable restraint comprises a layer of 840 denier nylon with a neoprene coating substantially in the form of a bag.

10. Safety wear in accordance with any one of the preceding claims in the form of a vest in which the or an inflatable support comprises a vest collar which in its inflated state forms a substantially rigid neck brace.

11. Safety wear as claimed in claim 10 which comprises a second inflatable support extending around the base of the vest which in its inflated state forms a substantially rigid back support.

12. Safety wear as claimed in any one of the preceding claims when appended to claim 5 in combination with a mode of transport, wherein said reference position is secured to said mode of transport so that relative displacement between said safety wear and said transport greater than the length of the flexible member will pull the contact element out of contact with said fluid source.

13. Safety wear substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying illustrative drawings.