Patent Application
20090260125
Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
This invention pertains to a protective garment, such as a protective coat, a protective jacket, a protective shirt, or a suit of protective coveralls, which has a body and two sleeves. This invention contemplates that each of the sleeves is attached to the body so as to extend in a forward direction when unstressed.
Typically, a protective garment of a type worn by firefighters and by emergency rescue workers conforms to one or more National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards, for example as exemplified in any editions of NFPA 1971; NFPA 1976; NFPA 1951 USAR; NFPA 1977; NFPA 1999 EMS; and/or NFPA 1991, 1992, 1994 HAZMAT; the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. If the protective garment is a protective coat, a protective jacket, or a suit of protective coveralls, the protective garment has a body and two sleeves.
An example of a protective coat of the type noted above, wherein each of the sleeves is attached by being sewn to the body so as to extend in an upward and lateral direction when unstressed, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,165,110, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,165,110, stress upon a wearer as a result of arm movement is minimal. A protective coat of related interest is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,010,591.
This invention provides a protective garment of a type worn by firefighters and by emergency rescue workers. The protective garment has a body, which has two sleeve mouths, and has two sleeves. Preferably, the protective garment conforms to the current edition of at least one of NFPA 1971; NFPA 1975; NFPA 1951 USAR; NFPA 1977; NFPA 1999 EMS; NFPA 1991, 1992, 1994 HAZMAT; and/or NFPA 1971. Each of the sleeves is attached to the body, preferably by being sewn to the body, along and around a margin of an associated one of the sleeve mouths, so as to extend in a forward direction when unstressed. The forward direction may be a forward and downward direction, a forward and upward direction, or a forward and lateral direction.
Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a review of the entire specification, including the appended claims and drawings.
As illustrated, a protective garment 10 of a type worn by firefighters and by emergency rescue workers conforms to one or more National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards, as exemplified by NFPA 1971; NFPA 1976; NFPA 1951 USAR; NFPA 1977; NFPA 1999 EMS; NFPA 1991, 1992, 1994 HAZMAT; and has an outer shell, an intermediate liner providing a moisture barrier, and an inner liner providing a thermal barrier. To simplify the drawings, only the outer shell is illustrated. The protective garment 10 has a body 20, which has two sleeve mouths 30, and two sleeves 40, each of which is attached to the body 20 by being sewn to the body 20 along and around a margin 50 of an associated one of the sleeve mouths 30.
As contemplated by this invention, the sleeve mouths 30 are configured so that, when each sleeve 40 is attached to the body 20 by being sewn to the body 20 along and around the margin 50 of the associated one of the sleeve mouths 30, said sleeve 40 extends in a forward direction when said sleeve 40 is unstressed. The forward direction may be a forward and downward direction, as in the embodiment of
Advantageously, the embodiment of
As best seen in
It should be appreciated that while the invention described herein is particularly useful in protective garments of the type worn by firefighter's and/or emergency rescue workers, the invention may prove useful and be incorporated in other garments, including jackets, shirts, and coveralls and such for casual, sport and other type wear.
Hereinbefore and in the claims, all directions are referred to the protective garment, as the protective garment would be oriented if the protective garment were worn by an erectly standing wearer who was not stressing the sleeves. Hereinbefore, all references to a sleeve being unstressed refer to the sleeve being unstressed by a wearer, gravitationally, or otherwise.
