US2271891A - Lifesaving suit - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 3, 1942.' H. c. BALL L IFESAVING' SUIT 2 SheetQ-Sheet 1 Filed April 1, 1940 flomzfw C/m'k BaZ Z H. C. BALL LIFESAVING SUIT Feb. 3, 1942.

Filed April 1, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet? f/orazlo CZa-rZ BaZZ Patented Feb. 3, 1942 LIFESAVING SUIT Horatio Clark Ball, Arlington, Va., assignor to Universal Life Saving Corporation, a corporation of Maryland Application April 1, 1940, Serial No. 327,295

7 Claims.

This invention relates to life-saving suits, and it has for its object to provide a waterproof suit adapted to completely envelop a clothed person, except the head, and to support such person in an upright position in the water for an indefinite period of time and with the head and shoulders completely out of the water. It is a further object of the invention to provide a suit of the character indicated in which are incorporated improved means for completely excluding water from the interior of the suit even in very rough seas.

The invention also contemplates the provision of means by which air may be expelled from the leg portions of the suit after it has been donned and before the wearer goes overboard. This latter provision is important because, where the leg portions have to be made big enough to accommodate the shoes and garments of the wearer, they are likely to entrap so much air as to cause them to be unduly buoyant. This in turn creates the possibility that the legs may be held too long a time upon the surface, with consequent strangling of the wearer before he is able to get his head above water.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the detaileddesoription which follows.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a suit constructed in accordance with the invention, showing the suit in its closed condition;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the upper part of the suit with the parts in open condition;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view through the upper body portion of the suit on line 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view through the front portion of the collar and bib, hereinafter described;

Fig. 4a is a perspective view of the collar and associated parts in closed position;

Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional view through the collar on line 5-5 of Fig.8;

Fig. 6 is a detail view of the draw straps of the collar;

Fig. 7 is a detail view of the bib;

Fig. 8 is a transverse sectional view through the collar on line 88 of Fig. 5, and Fig. 9 is a sectional view through the foot.

Like numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

In the drawings, 5 designates the body portion of a suit that is made of rubber or other suitable waterproof material. At its upper portion, this suit is provided with an inner lining B of kapok or other suitable buoyant material. This kapok is thickest at its top portion and tapers toward the waistline. This, in effect, provides a buoyant vest by which the upper portion of the trunk is supported well out of the water. 'The arm portions may be provided with integral mitten-like ends I so that no water can enter along the arms.

The lower leg portions are provided with constricting means by which they may. be drawn tight around the leg and foot portions after the wearer has donned the suit. Any suitable means may be provided for this purpose. One such way is shown in the accompanying drawings where pieces of rubberized cloth 8 are cemented to the rear sides of the legs and ar provided along their edges with clasp elements 9 and ID or any other suitable drawing devices adapted to constrict the lower leg portions of the suit for the purposes of expelling air therefrom. It is conventional practice to provide suits of this character with air tubes such as that indicated at H. No claim is made to this'feature.

The body portion of the suit is open at its front after the manner common in overalls and like articles, whereby overlapping lapel portions I! are provided (see Figs. 1, 2 and 3). These lapel portions are adapted to be closed and drawn tight by suitable straps or like fastening devices To prevent water from entering the suit through this open front portion, aninner bib I4 is provided. This bib is shown in detail in Fig. 7.

The bib is cemented to the walls of the suit along its edges M M and M When the suit is opened up for the purpose of donning the same,

the bib spreads out to the position illustrated in Fig. '7, but when the straps l3 draw the lapels together, then the bib falls into folds, leaving its upper portion [5 free to be drawn upwardly through the collar as will presently be described. The collar it of the suit is preferably formed of two layers of rubber cloth, these layers being cemented together at their top edge, as indicated at l1 (Fig. 8). A 'subcollar, comprising a web or sheet of soft and very pliable rubberized cloth, indicated at I8, is cemented or vulcanized at 89 to the upper edge of the collar l6 and is folded over and downwardly inside of said collar asindicated at 20. The lower edge of this web is preferably left free, though it may be cemented to the collar if desired.

The collar is provided with two fastening devices, one located at the front of the collar near the upper edge thereof and comprising a conventional form a snap, such as ar commonly used upon galoshes and the like, such snap being indicated at 2|. This initial fastening device is used to draw the front edges of the collar together after the suit has been donned and before the upper straps I3 have drawn the lapels to closed position.

When engaging the snap 2i the wearer grasps a small, and preferably rubber, transverse bar 22 that is carried by the top of the bib I4 (see Fig. 7 With one hand the wearer holds this bar in elevated position to pull the top end of the bib upwardly and then, with the other hand, engages the collar by means of snap 2|, over the outside of the bib. In doing this, the collar is drawn as tightly together as can be conveniently done.

The fastener 2| then serves to hold the collar in this preliminary closed position while the wearer folds the upper portion of the bib outwardly and downwardly over the collar and engages the stiffening member 22 within the lapels and beneath the shoulder portions of the garment. Then when the upper straps iii are drawn upon to pull the lapels tightly together, this downwardly tucked end of the bib is secured within the body of the suit so that even in very rough seas, it will not be dislodged and cannot work back down through the collar to the inside of the suit.

It will be seen that both hands of the operator are left free to effect the last-named adjustments, by virtue of the fact that the fastener 2| holds the collar in closed position during these operations. However, it is desired to have a much tighter and more waterproof engagement of the collar about the neck than can be effected by this necessarily single-handed operation of initially closing the collar. To that end, straps 23 have their bight portions passed through the opposite ends of a loop 24. One end of each of these straps is secured at 25 to a buckle 21, and the other end is passed at 26 through buckle 21. Thus, the ends 23* of these straps project sufficiently to permit the ready grasping of the same for the purpose of constricting the collar substantially around its entire length tightly about the neck to cause the web l8 to snugly engage the flesh of the wearer. This web, in effect, constitutes a packing which by its flexibility fills all the interstices between collar and neck to such an extent as to completely exclude water.

A suit of the character indicated will keep a man afloat for many days, and, if suitably insulated as it may be, will prevent the injurious effects so common from chilling when persons are forced to spend hours in the water of the open sea as a result of shipwrecks or other marine disasters. The kapok lining is disposed at such point as to insure that the upper portion of the torso will be held out of the water and that the vital body portions will be best protected from chill.

I preferably employ weights 28, located at the underside of the foot portions of the suit, these Weights being designed to cause the feet to sink quickly and to bring the wearer upright in the water as promptly as possible. It will be noted that these weights taper, with their thickest portions toward the rear, so that they tend to bring the wearer to a truly vertical position.

Since the interior of the suit is kept completely dry, it is possible for the wearer to tuck inside of the suit, before closing it, illuminating flares, matches, flashlight, and even a limited supply of food. Further, since the buoyancy of the suit is such as to hold the shoulders well out of the water, the wearer could, with care, loosen the collar in reasonably calm water to have access to the flares or other needed articles.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise construction set forth but that it includes within its purview whatever changes fairly come within either the terms or the spirit of the appended claims.

Having described my invention, whatI claim is:

l. A waterproof life-saving suit of dimensions to completely embrace the wearer, except the head, said suit being open at its upper front portion to provide lapel portions, means for drawing said lapel portions toward each other, a collar carried by the suit and permanently united thereto, a preliminary fastener at the front of the collar, and an additional fastener means extending around the collar of a nature to constrict the collar at substantially all points when drawn upon, a Web having watertight connection at its lower and side portions with the body of the suit, said web lying rearwardly of the open front of the suit to exclude water, the upper portion of the web being free and long enough to extend upwardly inside of and then be folded downwardly and outwardly over the outside of said collar, and being provided upon its end with a stiffening member of such dimensions that the ends of said member may be engaged and held beneath the shoulder portions of the suit to prevent reverse movement of the web through the collar.

2. A waterproof life-saving suit dimensioned to completely embrace the wearer, except the head, and having an integral relatively stiff collar open at the front only, a web of soft rubber much thinner and more pliable than the material of the collar, said soft web being united with a stiff collar along the upper portion only ofthe latter, the remainder of said web being free to yield in all directions, thereby to have a waterproof seating about the neck of the wearer, and constricting means upon the exterior of the stiff rubber collar,

3. A suit of the character described, formed of waterproof material and of dimensions adapted to completely embrace the wearer except the head, said suit being split at its upper front portion to provide lapel portions, fastenings for securing said lapel portions together, a collar open at the front, secured to the suit, drawing means carried by the collar for constricting it about the neck of the wearer, a bib of soft waterproof material attached to the interior of the suit rearwardly of the split portion, said bib having a free upper end portion of a length to extend upwardly inside of the collar and then downwardly and outwardly over said collar to a point where its end may be embraced within and retained by the lapels and a lateral extension upon the free end of the bib of such length as to prevent upward movement of the bib out of the body portions of the suit.

4. A suit of the character described, formed of waterproof material and of dimensions adapted to completely embrace the entire person of the user except the head, said suit being split at its upper front portion to provide lapels, fastenings for securing said lapel portions together, a collar open at the front, secured to the upper portion of the suit, two separate fastening means upon said collar, one of a non-drawing nature, constituting a preliminary fastener, and the other of a drawing nature adapted to constrict the collar when drawn upon, a bib-like web having water-tight connection at its lower and side portions with the body of the suit, said web lying rearwardly of said split portion and excluding water at that point, the upper end of the web being of sufficient length to extend upwardly inside of the collar and to be then folded down-' wardly and outwardly over the outside of said collar, a laterally extending flexible stiffening strip upon the extreme end of the bib of a length so that its ends may be tucked beneath the shoulder portions of the suit to prevent reverse movement of the web through the collar.

5. A life saving suit of the character described, made of waterproof material and shaped to envelop the entire person of the user except the head, said suit being split at its upper front portion to provide the lapels as described, a soft rubber bib attached to the interior of the suit rearwardly of said split portion and having water-tight engagement with the suit at its bottom and sides, means for drawing the edges of the lapels forcibly toward each other to close the open front of the suit and to constrict the upper portion of the suit and draw it togther and draw the shoulder portions together, a collar upon the suit, means for constricting said collar, the upper end of said bib being free and of a length to extend upwardly inside of said collar, then downwardly over the outside of said collar to a point below said collar, and a flexible stiffening rod upon the end of said free portion of the bib, of a length to engage beneath the shoulder portions of the garment and to be held by said shoulder portions when said portions are drawn to-

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