Life raft

Feb. 5, 1952 h. l. kirby 2,584,884

LIFE RAFT

Filed April 16, 1949

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Attorney

Patented Feb. 5, 1952

2384,884

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,584,884

LIFE BAFT

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Harold L. Kirby, Glendale, Calif,, assignor, by «direct and mesne assignments, to Helen V. Peez, Beverly Mills, Calif.

Application April 16,1949, Serial No. 87,939

Claims.

This invention relates to buoyant person supporting devices for. water sports such as swimming and bathing and for life-saving purposes and has for its principal object the provision of an improved form of raft, having a rigid buoyant frame and a nori-rigid buoyant body portion supported by the frame arid comprising a textile envelop of novel construction housing a plurality of removable, inflatable air-cells; thereby provide ing a construction which is light in weight arid which (when the air-celis are deflated) ihay be packed within a small space. ...........

Another object of the invention is to provide a raft having the above characteristics which is simple in construction, ecbrioiriical to manufacture and whiphis' reliable in use,’'

Still another object of the invention is to provide a buoyant, person supporting float construe-, tion comprising a flexible casing containing a plurality of inflatable and removable air. cells which are so’ constructed and’ arranged that, when inflated, the’side walls of the air cells form reinforcing members which impart rigidity to the casing. .........................

A still further object of the invention is to provide a buoyant, person supporting float construction comprising a' flexible casing housing a plurality of removable arid inflatable air cells which casing is so constructed and arranged that the closure means through which the cells are inserted or removed arid the valve stem portions of the air cells are housed and protected against accidental damage or displacement.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a float construction having the above de? sirable characteristics and which includes means, by which it may be attached to a frame structure.

With the above objects in view, together with such other objects and advantages as may subsequently appear, the invention resides in the parts, arid in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter described in the following 'specification of an exemplary mode of execution of the invention; reference being, had to the accompanying'drawings forming a part thereof, and in which drawings: '

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of. a raft embodying thp invention: portions of the lacing being omitted and portions of the cell envelop or cover being shown pushed aside to show parts otherwise concealed,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged transverse section taken on the staggered line 2—2 of Fig, 1,

Figs. 3 and 4 are fragmentary sectional views taken on the lines 3--3 and 4—4, respectively of · Fig. 1, (CL 9—11)

Fig. 5 is. a perspective view of one of the air cells, and

Fig. 6 a fragmentary, bottom , plan view of one end of the raft as viewed ip Fig. 1 to shpw i the method of .securing, the lacings together.

In.the illustrated embodiment of the invention, th.e frame pf the raft comprises a frame ,1 of light weight tubing and forming a rectangle hav.-. ing rounded corners. Preferably, the frame is 9 formed from a single length of tubing having· the meeting ends welded together as at 2. By making the frame of light weight tubing such as aluminum, and of sufficient diameter, it is rendered.buoyant apd adds to the. supporting 5 capacity of the raft.

The float assembly of the raft comprises a cell envelop or cover 3 formed of heavy textile, such as canvas, and having side flanges 4, 4,comprising a top element 5. and a bottom , element 6 sewed 9 together by lines of stiphing Ί, Ί. Slightly back from one end, the top and bottom elements 5. and .6 are connected together throughout their width by a narrow strip of fabric 8 stitched thereto at 9, 9 said strip, having a series of open5 ings, IB. therethrough to receive the valve stem portions II of a serie? of air cells or bags 12 placed within and extending side by side longitudinally of the cover or envelop 3 as best shown in Fig. 1. The opposite ends of the cover portions ) 5 and 6 have, sewed thereto at 13, 13 the opposite sides of a slide fastener 14, disposed a short distance back from the eitds thereof by which the., cells 12 may be. enclosed within the cover,

The, side flanges 4 are provided with a series, 5 of spaced lacing receiving grommets 15 and the corners, of the.top and bottom portions are united by corner lacing receiving &lt; grommets 16. The separated end flange portions at the slide fastener end of the eoyer 3 are provided with aligned, ) spaced pairs of grommets .18,, 18, see Fig, 4, and at the opposite end the end flanges are secured together by grommets. IS, positioned between the stems of the air cell valves. .1.1 which protrude through the openings in the end strip S; the &gt; flanges between said grommets being separable to permit access to the valves for inflating and deflating the ceils,

The float assembly is secured within the frame, by a lacing comprising a: pair Of lacing ropes, 2() ) and 21 the ends of which are inserted through the center pair of grommets at one end of the float assembly as indicated in Big. 6 and the other ends of the ropes are then wound in opposite spirals around the frame and through the &gt; successive grommets until they meet at the. center pair of grommets at the opposite end of . the envelop after which they are tightened and adjusted to center the float assembly within the frame as shown in Fig. 1 and are then tied together in the manner shown in Fig. 6.

The cells 12 as here shown are formed of extruded rubber tubing which is then cut to length and the ends vulcanized or otherwise secured together as indicated at 22 and 23 with the valve stems 11 being inserted and sealed in one of the ends at that time. However, the cells may be i formed in any other manner that is found economical considering production quantities, tooling costs and related matters: the only essential being that they be of elongated form of uniform cross section so that a plurality of cells i may be placed side by side longitudinally of the float cover so that the adjacent side walls of the cells will be vertically disposed and will give rigidity to the float.

To remove a cell for replacement or repair, the 2 cells are first at least partially deflated, the lacing at the slide fastener end of the envelop is released as shown in Fig. 1, the slide fastener opened and the cell or cells removed and replaced after which the end is closed by the slide 2 fastener, the lacings are replaced and tied and the cells re-inflated.

The entire raft is light in weight and rides high in the water so that it can be readily pushed along by a swimmer. At the same time, the novel 3 arrangement of the air cells makes a rigid structure of the float on which a person can be supported. Further, the spacing of the frame from the float assembly by means of the lacings makes the entire perimeter of the raft available for hand 3 holds. Also when assembled and with the air cells deflated, the entire raft takes up little more room than that required for the frame itself. Still further it is to be noted that the end flanges of the float cover or envelop are separated to 4 permit access to the cell valves and extend over them to protect the valves from injury and to protect the user from injury by the valves', and that, likewise, the end flanges at the opposite end of the envelop similarly protect the slide fastener 4 and the user.

While the foregoing description includes the rigid frame member I, it will be obvious that the float unit, per se, may be used without the frame since the novel form of air cell structure, upon 5 inflation, causes the adjacent side walls of the cells to form vertically disposed reinforcing members (see Fig. 2) which will impart sufficient ridigity to the float to render it usable without the frame. In that form of use, the flanges are g laced together at each end to enclose the valve stems and the slide fastener and, if desired, a lacing could also be applied to the grommets in the side flanges to make them more easily grasped by a user. 6

Also, while from a replacement standpoint it is preferable to form the air cells in separate units as shown in Fig. 5, it will be realized that for maximum manufacturing economy, the cell structure may be formed in single unit having e two or more cells of the form here shown with the valves arranged to project through the end member of the casing in the same manner as shown in Fig. 3; the essential feature being that the cell structure comprise cells disposed in paral- 7 lei and so shaped that when inflated, the adjacent sides of the cells will impart rigidity to the casing.

While in the foregoing specification I have described one embodiment of my invention, I do not 7

2,884,884 intend thereby to limit myself to the exact form disclosed and the invention includes all such modifications of the parts and of their equivalents and of the construction, combination and ar-, rangement of such parts and equivalents as shall come within the purview of the appended claims.