US20090133693A1

US20090133693A1 - Water-sealing diving-use snorkel without generating a vacuum suction force

Info

Publication number: US20090133693A1
Application number: US11/986,598
Authority: US
Inventors: Peter Peng
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2007-11-23
Filing date: 2007-11-23
Publication date: 2009-05-28

Abstract

A water-sealing diving-use snorkel without generating a vacuum suction force includes a diving-use snorkel unit connected with an air intake-ventilation nozzle unit comprising an air intake-ventilation pipe, a nozzle plate, at least one housing, a water-sealing membrane, and a float, being orderly sheathed. The water-sealing membrane and the float are sheathed respectively on strip units of the nozzle plate, allowing the water-sealing membrane and the float to slide freely on rails of the strip units. When a water level sinks, a small amount of air can enter into the snorkel unit from a notch on a leak-proof washer below the nozzle plate; therefore, no vacuum suction force will be formed to suck the water-sealing membrane, such that a sense of fear that a user feels unable to breathe can be eliminated.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a snorkel, and more particularly to a snorkel which can prevent a user from choking in water when a water level ascends, and will not form a vacuum suction force to suck a water-sealing membrane when the water level sinks, so as to eliminate a sense of fear for the user that he or she suddenly feels unable to breathe, thereby improving safety and comfortableness of a diver.
b) Description of the Prior Art
A conventional snorkel is a pure J-shape hollow tube. As a tail end of the snorkel is not provided with an automatic water-sealing device, it is provided with a shortcoming that a diver may drink water or his or her bronchus may be choked by water, accidentally.
Therefore, there are vendors who have installed an automatic water-sealing structure at a tail end of a tube unit of the snorkel, with the primary structure including a housing at the tail end of the tube unit, and an interior of the housing being installed with a one-way membrane valve and a float, such that by an ascending force of the float when the float is in touch water, the one-way membrane valve can be activated to automatically close the valve, thereby preventing the water from flowing into the tube to be sucked into a mouth of a diver or to allow a bronchus of the diver to be choked by the water.
However, when a water level sinks, a vacuum state will be formed inside the snorkel, and a suction force caused by the vacuum state will suck a water-sealing membrane, such that the valve cannot be opened, and a user will not be able to breathe, which will result in a sense of fear that the user is unable to breathe, thereby causing uncomfortableness to a diver or even endangering safety of the diver.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a snorkel which includes an air intake-ventilation nozzle unit formed by an air intake-ventilation pipe, a nozzle plate, a housing, a water-sealing membrane and a float, with the nozzle unit being connected with a tube unit of the snorkel, wherein the water-sealing membrane and the float slide freely a strip-shape rails of the nozzle plate. When a water level ascends, the float will rise up to push the water-sealing membrane to be blocked on a leak-proof washer at a lower rim of the air intake-ventilation nozzle of the nozzle plate, in order to prevent a diver from choking in water. On the other hand, when the water level sinks, as a small amount of air can flow into the tube unit of the snorkel through a notch at one end of the leak-proof washer below the nozzle plate, no vacuum suction force will be formed to suck the water-sealing membrane, which will eliminate a sense of fear that the diver cannot breathe suddenly, thereby improving safety and comfortableness of the diver.
To enable a further understanding of the said objectives and the technological methods of the invention herein, the brief description of the drawings below is followed by the detailed description of the preferred embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a partial exploded view of an air intake-ventilation nozzle unit of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a cutaway view of a float of the present invention which ascends.

FIG. 4 shows a cutaway view of a float of the present invention which descends.

FIG. 5 shows a bottom view of a nozzle plate of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows a schematic view of an embodiment of a water-sealing membrane of the present invention.

FIG. 7 shows a schematic view of partial structures of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 shows a schematic view of partial structures of another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1, the present invention comprises a set of diving-use snorkel unit 10 and air intake-ventilation nozzle unit 20, wherein the air intake-ventilation unit 20 is connected with the snorkel unit 10 to form a respiration passage.
Referring to FIG. 2, the air intake-ventilation nozzle unit 20 includes an air intake-ventilation pipe 21, a nozzle plate 22, two housings 23, 24, a water-sealing membrane 25 and a float 26, which are orderly sheathed and assembled; wherein, the float 26 and the water-sealing membrane 25 can be integrally formed.
An end of the aforementioned air intake-ventilation pipe 21 is connected with the snorkel unit 10, the other end is connected with the nozzle plate 22 to form an air intake-ventilation nozzle 211, the nozzle plate 22 is provided with an air suction-ventilation nozzle 221, below the nozzle plate 22 is provided with at least one strip unit 222, and a lower rim of the air suction-ventilation nozzle 221 is surrounded with a leak-proof washer 223 (as shown in FIG. 5). Two housings 23, 24 are connected with the air intake-ventilation pipe 21 to cover the nozzle plate 22 and the air intake-ventilation nozzle 221, thereby forming a passage of a single opening. Below a passage of the air suction-ventilation nozzle 221 is provided with the water-sealing membrane 25, with another opposite location of the water-sealing membrane 25 being disposed with the float 26. Through- holes 251, 261 at two ends of the water-sealing membrane 25 and the float 26 are sheathed respectively on the strip units 222 of the nozzle plate 22, allowing the water-sealing membrane 25 and the float 26 to slide freely on rails of the strip units 222. On the other hand, the water-sealing membrane 25 can be installed with a leak-proof gasket 252.
Referring to FIG. 3, when a water level ascends, the float 26 will rise up by a buoyancy force, and drive the water-sealing membrane 25 and the leak-proof gasket 252 to block at the air suction-ventilation nozzle 221 of the nozzle plate 22; wherein the leak-proof gasket 252 is blocked on the leak-proof washer 223 at the lower rim of the air suction-ventilation nozzle 221 of the nozzle plate 22, to prohibit the water from entering into the snorkel unit 10, thereby preventing the user from being choked by the water.
Referring to FIG. 5, the lower rim of the air suction-ventilation nozzle 221 of the nozzle plate 22 is provided with the leak-proof washer 223 on which is provided with at least one notch 2231. Referring to FIG. 4, when the water level sinks, as molecules of the air are smaller than those of the water, a small amount of the air can enter into the snorkel unit 10 from the notches 2231. Therefore, it will not form a vacuum suction force to suck the water-sealing membrane 25, so as to eliminate a sense of fear to the user that he or she cannot breathe, thereby improving safety and comfortableness of diving.
Referring to FIG. 6, if the leak-proof washer 223 at the lower rim of the air suction-ventilation nozzle 221 of the nozzle plate 22 is not provided with the notches 2231, then the leak-proof gasket 252 of the water-sealing membrane 25 is provided with air permeable trenches 2521, such that when the water level sinks, a small amount of the air can enter into the snorkel unit 10 from the trenches 2521, to prevent the user from being unable to breathe.
Referring to FIG. 7, the nozzle plate 22 is not provided with the strip units, but is provided with at least one through-hole 224, the float 26 is not provided with the through-holes, but is provided with at least one strip unit 262. The strip unit 262 is transfixed into the through- holes 251, 224 of the water-sealing membrane 25 and the nozzle plate 22 to slide, due to that the float 26 rises up by the buoyancy force. Referring to FIG. 8, the nozzle plate 22 and the float 26 are not provided with the strip units, but instead, the nozzle plate 22 is provided with at least one through-hole 224, and the water-sealing membrane 26 is provided with at least one strip unit 253. When the float 26 rises up by the buoyancy force, the through-hole 261 of the float 26 is sheathed below the strip unit 253, and an upper part of the strip unit 253 is transfixed in the through-hole 224 of the nozzle plate 22.
Accordingly, the present invention is a snorkel that when a water level sinks, a small amount of air can flow into a snorkel unit, without forming a vacuum suction force to suck a water-sealing membrane, thereby eliminating a sense of fear for a user that he or she feels unable to breathe.
It is of course to be understood that the embodiments described herein is merely illustrative of the principles of the invention and that a wide variety of modifications thereto may be effected by persons skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.

Claims

1. A water-sealing diving-use snorkel without generating a vacuum suction force, comprising a diving-use snorkel unit and an air intake-ventilation nozzle unit, wherein the air intake-ventilation nozzle unit is connected with the snorkel unit to form a respiration passage, the air intake-ventilation nozzle unit includes an air intake-ventilation pipe, a nozzle plate, at least one housing, a water-sealing membrane and a float, with an end of the air intake-ventilation pipe being connected with the snorkel unit, the other end being connected with the nozzle plate to form an air intake-ventilation nozzle, the nozzle plate being provided with an air suction-ventilation nozzle, the housing being connected with the air intake-ventilation pipe to cover the nozzle plate and the air intake-ventilation nozzle for forming a passage of a single opening, below the air suction-intake nozzle of the nozzle plate being provided with a water-sealing membrane, another opposite location of the water-sealing membrane being disposed with the float; below the nozzle plate being provided with at least one strip unit, the water-sealing membrane and the float being provided respectively with at least one through-hole, a lower rim of the air suction-ventilation nozzle of the nozzle plate being provided with a leak-proof washer on which is provided with at least one notch, allowing the water-sealing membrane and the float to slide freely on rails of the strip units, by using the through-holes formed on the water-sealing membrane and the float; when a water level ascends, the float rising by a buoyancy force, pushing the water-sealing membrane to block on the leak-proof washer at the air suction-ventilation nozzle of the nozzle plate, thereby prohibiting water from entering into the snorkel unit to prevent a user from being choked by the water; when the water level sinks, a small amount of air flowing into the snorkel unit from notches on the leak-proof washer of the nozzle plate, without forming a vacuum suction force to suck the water-sealing membrane, so as to eliminate a sense of fear that the user feels suddenly that he or she is unable to breathe.

2. The water-sealing diving-use snorkel without generating a vacuum suction force according to claim 1, wherein if the leak-proof washer below the nozzle plate is not provided with the notches, then a leak-proof gasket of the water-sealing membrane is provided with air permeable trenches.

3. The water-sealing diving-use snorkel without generating a vacuum suction force according to claim 1, wherein if the nozzle plate is not provided with the strip units, but is provided with at least one through-hole, and the float is not provided with the through-holes, but is provided with at least one strip unit, then the strip unit is transfixed into the through-holes of the water-sealing membrane and the nozzle plate to slide, due to that the float rises up by the buoyancy force.

4. The water-sealing diving-use snorkel without generating a vacuum suction force according to claim 1, wherein if the nozzle plate and the float are not provided with the strip units, the nozzle plate is provided with at least one through-hole, and the water-sealing membrane is provided with at least one strip unit; when the float rises up by the buoyancy force, the through-hole of the float being transfixed below the strip unit, and an upper part of the strip unit being transfixed in the through-hole of the nozzle plate.

5. The water-sealing diving-use snorkel without generating a vacuum suction force according to claim 1, wherein the leak-proof washer below the nozzle plate is provided with the notches, whereas the leak-proof gasket of the water-sealing membrane is provided with the air permeable trenches.

6. The water-sealing diving-use snorkel without generating a vacuum suction force according to claim 2, wherein the leak-proof washer below the nozzle plate is provided with the notches, whereas the leak-proof gasket of the water-sealing membrane is provided with the air permeable trenches.

7. The water-sealing diving-use snorkel without generating a vacuum suction force according to claim 1, wherein the float and the water-sealing membrane are integrally formed.