The invention to which this application relates is to the provision of a garment which can be used by a person, when worn, in a body of water such as, for example, a wetsuit which is worn by the user in order to provide protection to the user from the water temperature and/ or other objects in the water at that time.

The provision of wetsuits and other forms of similar garments which are to be worn in a body of water, is well-known and there are many different types and designs of such garments. Typically, while the garment is provided for protective purposes, it is relatively unusual for the garment to be provided in a form which allows specifically positioned and shaped buoyancy to be provided for the user and, furthermore, it is not commonly known to provide the garment with a bladder system which can be inflated and can be used in conjunction with the garment such as in, for example, an emergency situation, so as to provide additional buoyancy in order to maintain the ability of the person wearing the garment to float in the body of water and/ or to enable buoyancy to be provided both to the person wearing the garment and/ or to another person who they may have rescued and be maintaining in a position above the water until further assistance or dry land is reached.

It is known to provide floatation aids which can be thrown, or otherwise be provided so as to be useable by a person when they are in an emergency situation in order to aid the buoyancy of the person and to maintain the person above water until they can be rescued, but a problem with this form of aid is that the location of the aid may not be close enough to make the same easily accessible and/ or be of use quickly enough to allow the buoyancy benefits to be obtained at the location or time of the emergency.

An aim of the present invention is therefore to provide a garment which can be used in conjunction with a buoyancy aid and, preferably, for the buoyancy aid to be located with the garment during normal use in which case the buoyancy aid is not inflated and therefore does not restrict the usage of the garment but which can be readily available in order to allow the same to be inflated so as to act as a buoyancy aid at a selected time such as an emergency situation. In a first aspect of the invention, there is provided apparatus for use, when worn by a user, in a body of water, said apparatus including a garment including at least one layer which is provided to cover at least part of the body of the user and, intermediate the said at least one layer and the said at least part of the body, there is provided a location for a buoyancy aid and wherein said buoyancy aid is provided in the garment in a non-inflated condition and movable to an inflated condition to provide greater buoyancy to the garment at a user or third party selected time.

Typically, the said buoyancy aid can be moved from a deflated to an inflated condition whilst the buoyancy aid is maintained in position in the said location between the garment and the body of the user. In one embodiment there may be a further layer of the garment which is located intermediate the buoyancy aid and the said at least part of the body of the user and so the said location is defined by the inner face of the first layer and the further layer.

Typically the dimensions of the location and/ or the material used to form the garment, are provided in order to allow sufficient flexibility to house the buoyancy aid in said space, when the same is in the inflated condition.

Typically, the garment is provided to be positioned over the shoulders and upper torso of the user when the garment is worn.

Typically, the said location defined is located with respect to the user so that when the garment is worn the buoyancy aid is located on the chest area of the user and typically extends over the shoulders to the upper part of the user’s back.

In one embodiment, the buoyancy aid is formed so as to provide a first portion to form a substantially continuous structure across the chest of the user in on embodiment or across the back of the user in a second embodiment, and second and third portions which are located on the other of the back or chest of the user depending on the location of the first portion. This arrangement allows the wearer entry into the garment for donning and doffing purposes by way of an opening between the second and third portions and substantially in line with an opening in the garment. More typically, the first portion is located substantially across the chest of the wearer and the opening is located in the back torso part of the garment between the second and third portions of the buoyancy aid and the opening in the garment can be maintained in a closed position during the wearing of the garment.

Typically, the opening can be opened and closed and maintained in a closed position by means of a zipper or hook and loop type closures or any other form of semi permanent type closure.

When the opening in the garment is located in the front or chest part of the garment the first portion of the buoyancy aid is located to provide a continuous structure across the back of the garment and the second and third portions are located on the front chest of the user

In one embodiment, the inflation of the buoyancy aid from the deflated to the inflated condition is achieved manually, typically via one or more oral tubes which are placed in the user’s or another person’s mouth and/ or by automatic inflation via the connection of a pressurised gas source such as a gas canister which may be carried by the user and/ or be part of the buoyancy aid.

In one embodiment, when the oral tube is used, the same is fitted with a one-way inflation valve to allow air which is inserted into the buoyancy aid to be retained therein and may also be provided with an override deflation operation which allows the buoyancy aid to be deflated when desired.

In one embodiment, the buoyancy aid is formed by first and second panels which are sealed together along respective peripheral edges and, in one embodiment, additional joins may be provided at locations intermediate the edges so as to define the particular shape of the buoyancy aid once inflated.

Typically, in whichever embodiment, the inflation gas, which is inserted into the buoyancy aid is free to pass throughout the buoyancy aid between the said first and second panels so as to inflate the buoyancy aid to a substantially uniform pressure. In one embodiment, the garment is provided with the oral tube located so as to be placed into the mouth easily by the user when they are wearing the garment in order to allow the same to be used in an emergency situation to quickly inflate the buoyancy aid.

In one embodiment, the garment includes at least one access opening which allows access to the location in which the buoyancy aid is to be located so as to allow the insertion of the buoyancy aid into the location and/ or the removal of the buoyancy aid from the said location for servicing, repair or the like.

In one embodiment, closure means are provided to securely seal and/ or close the access opening during use of the garment.

In a further aspect of the invention there is provided a buoyancy aid for use by a person in a body of water said buoyancy aid moveable between deflated and inflated conditions by the provision of gas to one or more interior chambers of the buoyancy aid and wherein said buoyancy aid includes a first portion to be positioned on one of at least part of the chest or back of the user and second and third portions to be positioned on at least part of the other of the chest or back of the user and said second and third portions separated by an opening which allows the user to don and doff the said buoyancy aid.

Specific embodiments of the invention are now described with reference to the accompanying drawings; wherein

Figure 1 illustrates a front view of a user with the garment removed but showing a buoyancy aid in position in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

Figure 2 illustrates a rear view of the user with the buoyancy aid of the first embodiment.

Figures 3 and 4 illustrate cross-sectional views along the lines AA and BB respectively of the buoyancy aid of Figures 1 and 2. Figure 5 illustrates a plan view of the buoyancy aid separated from the garment and the user.

Figure 6 illustrates a side elevation of the user wearing the garment and buoyancy aid combination in an inflated condition; and

Figures 7a and b illustrate the use of the buoyancy aid in an emergency situation.

Referring firstly to Figures 1-4, there is illustrated apparatus in accordance with the invention in one embodiment. The apparatus includes a buoyancy aid 2 and a garment 20 with which the buoyancy aid is located. The buoyancy aid 2 is formed of a first portion 4 which in this embodiment is to be located across the chest of the user 6 and a rear part which is formed of second and third portions 8,10, which lie to the back 12 of the user as shown in Figure 2 and the front and back portions are connected by shoulder portions 14, 16, so that the buoyancy aid, in this embodiment, is worn at the top of the front and back of the torso with the portions 8,10 separated by a gap 22 as shown in Figure 2 in order to allow access to be gained to a zip portion 18 of the garment 20.

It should however be appreciated that this is only one embodiment of the buoyancy aid and the same can take other forms and shapes to suit particular requirements, such as, for example the position of the first portion 4 and rear portions 8,10 of the buoyancy aid may be reversed with respect to their position on the user.

The buoyancy aid is typically formed by first and second panels 30,32 and their peripheral edges 26, 28, are sealed together, typically by radio frequency welding, gluing or other means in order to provide a sealed cavity 34 which is capable of being inflated and deflated. As shown in Figure 1 and in Figure 3a, the panels 30, 32 at the centre of the first, front portion 4 of the buoyancy aid may be spot-welded or glued at portions 36, 38 so as to provide a shaping to the front portion whilst also ensuring that the inflating gas can travel freely across the front of the buoyancy aid, over the shoulder portions and to the second and third portions 6,8 at the rear part of the buoyancy aid so as to provide substantially uniform inflation of the same. It should also be noted that in another embodiment the first portion 4 may be located at the back of the person and the second and third portions 6,8 may be located at the chest of the user.

In one embodiment, in order to allow inflation at the required time of the buoyancy aid, an oral tube 40 is provided and which is formed of a length and at a location so as to allow the tube to be used by the wearer of the garment to inflate the same via their mouth 42 by blowing into the tube. Alternatively, or in addition, the user may be able to inflate the buoyancy aid by operating a gas canister which may be located with the buoyancy aid and/ or garment.

It should be appreciated that the buoyancy aid 2 can be manufactured in any air holding material which prevents the inflating gas from passing through the said panels and the material may be provided with or without elastic properties but typically it does need to be pliable enough to contour to the user in the location 44 between the outer garment 20 when it is being worn and the torso 48 of the user as shown in Figure 6, which illustrates the user wearing the garment 20 and with the location 44 defined between the inner surface of layer 46 of the garment and the torso 48 of the user. In one embodiment, as shown in Figure 6, the garment includes an inner retainer in the form of a further layer 52 which is attached to the garment 20 layer 46 about its edges 54 so as to form the location 44 in the garment for the buoyancy aid 2. Typically, there is also provided an access opening 50 which normally would be sealed but can be selectively opened by the user in order to allow the insertion into position of the buoyancy aid 2 in the location 44 or allow the removal of the buoyancy aid 2 from the location 44, as required.

Typically, the garment will be worn with the buoyancy aid 2 located in the location 44 between the garment and the user and with the buoyancy aid 2 in a deflated condition so that the same lies substantially flat within the garment location 44 and the buoyancy aid 2 therefore does not unduly restrict the movement of the user in normal conditions, or adversely affect the comfort of wearing the garment.

However, in an emergency situation, the buoyancy aid 2 can be moved to, for example, a partially inflated condition as shown in Figure 7a if, for example, the user 6 is to act as a rescuer when in the water and so is still able to swim through the body of water 56, with the buoyancy aid a providing assistance to the floatation of the user 6. This assistance allows the user to be elevated out of the water 56 as shown in Figure 7a and thereby reducing drag and, as a result, increasing the speed of the wearer through the water; whilst at the same time not unduly affecting the manoeuvrability of the user. Once the user 6 reaches the person 58 in distress, then they can fully inflate the buoyancy aid 2 as shown in Figure 7b so as to provide sufficient buoyancy for the user 6 and the person 58 being rescued and thereby provide substantially greater safety to both persons.

It will therefore be appreciated that although the garment with the buoyancy aid could be used by any person when they are in a body of water, it is envisaged that the invention as herein described, is of particular assistance to those users who work in emergency or rescue services and may be called on to assist other persons in the body of water at any time and who may be in distress. The provision of the apparatus including the garment 20 with the buoyancy aid 2 fitted thereto and therewith, allows the same to be worn without unduly affecting the normal actions of the user whilst being available for use at any time and when it is selectively used as and when required, providing buoyancy to the wearer to improve their and other’s safety whilst still maintaining the ability for the user to have the desired flexibility at required times.