Patent Application
20230180858
In 2019, it was estimated that 236 000 people died from drowning worldwide. In the UK alone there were over 400 deaths from drowning and as the inventor of this device, this fact is quite sobering because I could well have been one of them.
Many years ago during a summer holiday I bought a pair of swim flippers with accompanying mask & snorkel and decided to try them out. I swam roughly the same amount of time as I did the previous days. But this time I ended up being a lot further from the beach than I assumed I would have been. I was in a rolling sea and I immediately panicked. My reaction was to quickly swim towards the beach. I soon tired myself out and had to stop swimming and tread water to regain my strength and composure. It was at this point that I lost my holiday flippers and then I really started to panic. To this day I still do not know how I managed to get back to the beach but when I did, I counted myself very lucky to be alive. And I have never forgotten the experience. Being completely alone in open water in a very real life threatening situation; without any means of survival and assistance.
My invention seeks to address this issue by providing a lone swimmer with the ability to help themselves and to give them a fighting chance of survival when finding themselves in such a situation as I found myself in all those years ago.
My invention is very different to all other similar products on the market today. The difference being is that my Flotation Device is an integral and unobtrusive part of any swimming costume. So it is always with the swimmer. It could be in the form of a draw string cord or depending on the configuration, making up the swimming costume itself. When the swimmer realizes they need additional floatation the swimmer extracts the device from the costume and placing the tube into their mouth then blows air from their lungs into the device to obtain assisted floatation.
The Floatation Device is a very simple design.
Item 1 is the chamber or bag in its non-inflated state. Item 2 is the inflation tube. Item 3 is a one way valve to retain the air. Item 4 is a removable cap.
The chamber or bag can be rolled or folded along the length of the device. This will allow a greater length of device when inflated and when not inflated a shorter length of device. There is also the possibility to design the device to have additional inflation tubes and one way valves. The device could take the form of a number of shapes and appendages to allow handling, retainment and ease of usage.
The device could have illumination, reflective and audible features.
The device can be of any suitable material or film that will sufficiently retain buoyancy in water and have sufficient properties to withstand any factory manufacturing forces and the stresses and strains of intended usage.
The device may have included or be fitted with; sounding equipment or lighting equipment or reflective illumination.
The floatation device can be fitted and manufactured into a range of other clothing or garments.
