US1517469A - Head-supporting bathing appliance - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 1924- 1,517,469

- H. SMITH HEAD. SUPPORTI NG. BATHING APPLIANCE Filed Feb. 27, 1922 2 SheetsShee1 1 v uvvE/vrm WITNESS .Lum'i. Smfih.

' n TTORNEY H. L. SMITH HEAD SUPPORTING BATHING APPLIANCE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb 27 1922 WITNESS Patented er. 2, 1924.

urine HENRY LUND SMITH, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY.

HEAD-SUPPORTING- BATHING APPLIANCE.

Application filed February 27, 1922.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY LUND SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Paterson, in the county of Passaic and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Head-Supporting Bathing Appliances, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to bathing appliances and the like and particularly to bouyant means for use in supporting the head in swimming or learning to swim. The objects are to provide means which will support the wearers head while in the water, as by affording a rest for his chin when swimming back up or for the back of the head when swimming back downor floating, without exerting any direct bouyant efiect on any other parts of his body, which are to be left quite as free as if any means for assisting in swimming were not present; andto construct this means so that it will not be an annoyance to the wearer when out of the water, but will hang down on his chest or at his back, leaving his head quite free at that time, and yet when he is in the water and it is active in supporting his head it will be effectually retained in some definite position and against working around the wearers neck.

Fig. 1 shows one form of the invention in plan;

Fig. 2 is a view showing said form in plan and as it would be when attached to the wearer;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the form shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an isometric view of another form of the invention; and

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the form shown in Fig. 4..

Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 3; a designates a bouyant member which may be made bouyant in any way, as by being a hollow flexible bulb which may be inflated, 04' indicating an inflating tube (omitted in Figs. 3 and 5). In the best form of. my invention this mem her is quite like a flat cushion, what I term the body portion thereof, or the portion at the near side of the line xw in Fig. 1 or Fig. 2, having greater dimension in every hori- Zontal direction than any vertical dimension thereof; in the form now being described at what I treat as the rear of the member (i. e., projecting rearwardly from said body Serial No. 539,656.

portion) it has two projecting horns b b which are curved inwardly toward each other, the curvature being preferably such, in fact, as nearly to correspond to the cross section of the human neck from the tip of one horn to the tip of the other, as shown in Fig. 2, excepting that when the device is applied to the neck the extremities of the horns stand inwardly deflected so that they will exert slight pressure against the neck at c c.

d designates tapes which are attached to the horns and may be tied together to secure the body a in a position on the wearers neck.

The object in giving the member a the flattened form is to make it have little vertical dimension or thickness and yet considerable bouyancy, so that it not only will not 0ppose undue resistance to the water but when attached to the wearer it may have free movement up and down pivotally, as between his chest and his chin, for example, bearing up against his chin and thus supporting his head when in the water and resting against his chest when out of the water. I find that bouyant bodies which are formed to fit the recess between the chin and the chest of the wearer when out of the water are a source of great discomfort at that time, besides being so bulky that when in use in the water they become an obstacle to rather than an aid in swimming. In order to keep the device in the form now being described from working around the neck of the wearer a certain amount of friction is obtained by the horns b on the wearers neck at the points 0; on these points, moreover, the member a can move up and down pivotally as indicated by the solid and dotted lines in Fig. 3.

Referring to Figs. 4: and 5 the bouyant member a is substantially the same as the body an already described excepting that the horns I) do not extend so far rearwardly as the horns Z) and have no provision for gripping the wearers neck as at the point a. The appliance in this form includes a harness adapted to girdle the wearers body, the same including askeleton breast-piece e having a belt portion f consisting of two tapes to be tied around the wearers waist and two other tapes 9 to be passed over the wearers shoulders and tied together. On the upper part of the breast-piece c the member a is pivoted to move up and down, as by means of the fabric hinges h.

Having thus fully described my invention What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: I

A head-supporting-bathing appliance comprising a bouyant member including a body portion having when resting on the Water its dimension in every horizontal direction greater than the vertical dimension thereofl said member also including tapering horns forming horizontal extensions of said body portion and adapted to fit around the Wearers neck and means, connected to the tips of the horns, for securing the appliance to the wearer with his neck received between the horns, said means ha ving flexible portions adjacent to the horns and pennitting said member to freely shift up and down on said portions and said member constituting all of the appliance that is houyant.

In testimony whereof I atiix my signature.

HENRY LUND SMITH.

Images