Information
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Patent Grant
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6293840
-
Patent Number
6,293,840
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Date Filed
Friday, August 11, 200023 years ago
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Date Issued
Tuesday, September 25, 200122 years ago
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Inventors
-
Original Assignees
-
Examiners
Agents
-
CPC
-
US Classifications
Field of Search
US
- 441 40
- 441 92
- 441 106
- 441 108
- 441 111
- 441 112
- 441 113
- 441 114
- 441 115
- 441 90
- 441 91
- 114 345
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International Classifications
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Abstract
Inflatable chamber for hydrostatic balancing jackets, comprising two flat walls made of flexible material placed one opposite the other, connected by means of a folding wall, said wall consisting of at least two strips, each of them having its outer peripheral edge coupled with the outer peripheral edge of one of the two flat walls, and its inner peripheral edge coupled with the inner peripheral edge of the other strip; the strips of the folding wall are coupled one to the other by means of seams, sealing means being provided on said seams, particularly on the side facing the inside of said inflatable chamber.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to hydrostatic balancing jackets for scuba diving, and refers in particular to an inflatable chamber for hydrostatic balancing jackets.
Balancing jackets usually consist of a back element from which two abdominal breast strips and two shoulder strips extend, the latter being connectable the ones to the others; the balancing jacket is provided with one or more inflatable chambers, usually placed on the abdominal breast strips or on the back element. Generally speaking, apart from the position of the inflatable chamber, what is highly important for the diver's convenient use is the shape said chamber takes after being inflated.
One of the solutions known from the state of the art is shown in
FIG. 1A
of the enclosed drawings, said solution providing the construction of the inflatable chamber by overlapping two sheets
101
made of flexible material, in which the surfaces along the respective peripheral edges
111
are tight-sealed or glued one to the other. This kind of solution, though very simple from the structural point of view, is disadvantageous from the point of view of the diver's convenience. As a matter of fact, during the inflation the chamber tends to take a substantially round shape and tends to expand against the diver's body, without being possible to re-position it.
In order to overcome this kind of problem it has been provided for balancing jackets whose inflatable chamber is obtained, as shown in
FIG. 1B
of the drawings, by introducing onto the peripheral edges
111
of the two sheets
101
made of flexible material a side wall
301
which can be refolded on itself when the chamber is deflated. This kind of configuration actually limits the lateral expansion of the inflatable chamber, as can be seen from
figure 1C
of the enclosed drawings, although it creates several structural and constructive complications, such as the fact that the folding of the side wall
301
must be strictly controlled.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,385,496 (Seligman) discloses a balancing jacket in which the inflatable chamber, shown in a section view in
FIG. 1D
, comprises two flat walls
101
made of flexible material, distanced one from the other by means of a folding wall
401
consisting of two strips
411
and
421
also made of flexible material, whose outer peripheral edges
441
are connected to the outer peripheral edge
111
of one of the flat walls
101
, whereas the inner peripheral edges
431
are connected one to the other. This embodiment allows the prevention of many problems occurring with the use of the structure previously described; in this case the folding of the wall
401
doesn't have to be controlled because of the presence of a bellows-shaped element guiding the expansion of the inflatable chamber, said element being able, once deflated, to gain its correct position autonomously.
However, also this kind of solution shows some drawbacks, since the connection line between the strips
411
and
421
, inserted between the two flat walls
101
and constituting the folding wall
401
, undergoes a consistent effort when the chamber is inflated (see FIG.
1
E). In addition, said strips must be coated with a heat sealable material, such as plastics or similar material, also on the side facing the outside of the chamber. Anyway, this last contrivance too has a limited effectiveness with respect to the problems arising during manufacturing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention aims at providing a balancing jacket in which the inflatable chamber or chambers, though having a substantially bellows-shape as disclosed in the above mentioned US Patent, do not show any problems of mechanical resistance and/or sealing problems arising from said embodiment.
The object of the present invention, therefore, is an inflatable chamber for hydrostatic balancing jackets, comprising two flat walls made of flexible materials placed one opposite the other, connected by means of a folding wall, said wall consisting of at least two strips, each of them having its outer peripheral edge coupled with the outer peripheral edge of one of the two flat walls, and its inner peripheral edge coupled with the inner peripheral edge of the other strip, characterized in that the strips of the folding wall are coupled one to the other by means of seams, sealing means being provided on said seams, particularly on the side facing the inside of said inflatable chamber.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Further advantages and characteristics will be evident from the following description of a form of embodiment of the present invention, carried out as a mere non-limiting example, with reference to the enclosed drawings, in which:
FIG. 1
is a perspective view of a balancing jacket provided with the inflatable chamber according to the present invention;
FIG. 1A
to
1
E are sectioned views of inflatable chamber for balancing jackets known from the art;
FIG. 2
is a sectioned view of the inflatable chamber of the present invention; and
FIG. 3
is an enlarged detail of FIG.
2
.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1
shows a balancing jacket; the numeral
1
refers to the back element of the jacket, from which the shoulder strips
2
and the abdominal breast strips
3
extend, said strips being connected the ones to the others by means of the belt
103
provided with a buckle
113
. In this form of embodiment the inflatable chamber is carried out within the back element, and it comprises the two flat walls
101
and the folding wall
201
consisting of the two strips
211
and
221
.
FIG. 2
shows a section of the inflatable chamber for balancing jackets according to the present invention; between the two flat walls
101
made of flexible material, such as natural or synthetic fiber fabric or the like, the folding wall
201
is inserted, said wall being also made of flexible material. Said wall
201
consists of two strips
211
and
221
which are connected on their outer peripheral edge
241
with the outer peripheral edge of the flat wall
101
, whereas the inner peripheral edges
231
of said strips are connected one to the other. The inner side of the chamber with the flat walls
101
is provided with the coating
121
, made of heat sealable plastic material, such as polyurethane or the like, in the same way as the inner side of the chamber with the strips
211
and
221
is provided with the coating
261
, also made of heat sealable plastic material. At the inner peripheral edge
231
of the strips
211
,
221
, the sheathing
4
made of plastic material, preferably a heat sealable material such as polyurethane or the like, is connected to the coating
261
of both strips. Moreover, in the figure, a hatched line shows the connecting strips
134
extending from the sheathing
4
to the inner side of both flat walls
101
, and the connecting strips
144
, which connect two diametrically opposite sheathing
4
portions within the inflatable chamber.
FIG. 3
shows an enlarged detail of
FIG. 2
; as can be observed, the peripheral edges
231
of the strips
211
,
221
are connected one to the other by means of the seam
251
. The sheathing
4
consists in its turn of two substantially ribbon-shaped membranes
104
, joined one to the other along the edge
114
, whereas their edge
124
is connected, preferably by means of heat sealing, to the coating
261
of each strip
211
,
221
.
The working of the jacket according to the present invention will be evident from the following. As previously mentioned, one of the problems arising from the carrying out of the inflatable chambers of balancing jackets from the previous art was connected to the pressure load which the strips forming the folding wall had to stand along their joining line, as is evident from
FIG. 1E
of the enclosed drawings. According to the present invention said problem is solved by providing the strips
211
,
221
forming the folding wall
201
with connecting means apt to stand a very heavy load, such as for instance the seams
251
. The fact that said seams cannot ensure the sealing of said chamber is easily overcome by placing the sheathing
4
on the connection between the two strips
221
,
211
. Said sheathing is not apt to stand any kind of effort, and can therefore be carried out as shown, that is to say, as two ribbon-shaped membranes
104
joined one to the other in
114
. Obviously, the sheathing
4
can be carried out as one element connected to both strips
211
,
221
of the folding wall
201
.
The connecting strips
134
and/or
144
give the inflatable chamber a higher control on the deformations arising during the inflating stage, further reducing the inconveniences for the diver wearing the balancing jacket.
From the constructive point of view, the two strips
211
,
221
of the folding wall
201
are first sewn one to the other, then the edge
124
of a membrane
104
is sealed onto each of both strips near the inner peripheral edge
231
; then the edges
114
of both membranes
104
are sealed one to the other, thus forming the sheathing
4
. Finally, the last operation consists in coupling the outer peripheral edges
241
of the strips
211
,
221
with the outer peripheral edges
111
of the flat walls
101
. The use of the seams
251
for the reciprocal connection of the strips
211
,
221
, eliminates in fact the need to coat said strips on both sides in order to allow their heat sealing.
The jacket thus conceived is provided with an inflatable chamber which can stand consistent efforts as far as inner pressure is concerned, thanks to the high mechanical resistance of the seams connecting the strips of the folding wall, without showing any drawback as far as sealing is concerned.
Claims
- 1. An inflatable chamber for hydrostatic balancing jackets, comprising a first and a second flat wall made of flexible material placed one opposite the other; a folding wall connecting said first and second flat walls together; said folding wall comprising at least two strips of flexible material, each of them having its outer peripheral edge coupled with the outer peripheral edge of one of the said first and second flat walls, and its inner peripheral edge coupled with the inner peripheral edge of the other of said strips; the said strips of the said folding wall being coupled one to the other by means of seams, on the side facing the inside of said chamber.
- 2. An inflatable chamber according to claim 1, in which said sealing means consist of a sheathing made of heat sealable plastic material placed around the inner peripheral edges of the said strips of the said folding wall.
- 3. An inflatable chamber according to claim 2, in which said sheathing consists of two substantially ribbon-shaped membranes, connected one to the other along a side edge, the other side edge being connected to each of the said two strips of the said folding wall near the inner peripheral edge of said strip.
- 4. An inflatable chamber according to claim 2, in which from said sheathing two or more connecting strips extend, said strips being connected on their other end to the inner surface of both said first and second flat walls.
- 5. An inflatable chamber according to claim 4, in which two or more diametrically opposite portions of said sheathing are reciprocally connected by means of one or more of said connecting strips.
- 6. An inflatable chamber according to claim 5, in which said first and second flat walls and said folding wall are covered with a coat of heat sealable plastic material on the side facing the inside of said inflatable chamber.
- 7. An inflatable chamber according to claim 6, in which said coat of plastic material is made of a heat sealable plastics material.
- 8. An inflatable chamber according to claim 7, in which said coat of plastic material is made of polyurethane.
- 9. An inflatable chamber according to claim 2, in which said sheathing is made of a heat sealable plastics material.
- 10. An inflatable chamber according to claim 9, in which said sheathing is made of polyurethane.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
GE99A0127 |
Oct 1999 |
IT |
|
US Referenced Citations (2)
Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
3329982 |
Zannoni |
Jul 1967 |
|
5385496 |
Seligman |
Jan 1995 |
|