Fire fighter's coat having improved sleeve construction

A fire fighter's coat in which the forearm portion of each sleeve is inclined forwardly with respect to the upper arm portion when the sleeve is in a relaxed position, thereby to provide a natural forward set to the sleeve which serves to substantially reduce the resistance offered by the sleeve to movement of the fire fighter's arms to a position required to enable the wearer to bring his hands together to grasp an object located in front of the coat.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to fire fighter's coats. In particular, this 
invention relates to an improved sleeve structure for a fire fighter's 
coat. 
Fire fighter's coats are normally made from a tough, thermal insulating 
material which has a degree of flexibility which is substantially less 
than conventional street clothing. As a result, the fire fighter is 
required to expend considerable energy in order to bend the arms of the 
coat to permit the wearer's forearm to be angularly inclined with respect 
to the upper arm. This angularly inclined position of the forearm with 
respect to the upper arm is a position which is used very extensively by a 
fire fighter when, for example, grasping a hose in front of the fire 
fighter's body in order to direct a fire fighting liquid on to a fire 
site. It is a position which most people assume more often than not when 
attempting to manually grasp or manipulate an object with both hands. 
Little or no difficulty is experienced in attempting to bend the arm of a 
conventional article of clothing. Fire fighters are, however, required to 
operate under hazardous conditions and fatigue, particularly arm fatigue, 
is a major problem, with the result that any reduction in the load applied 
to the arm of a fire fighter is of considerable value in attempting to 
reduce fatigue. 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,843,646 discloses a fire fighter's garment in which the 
thickness and bulkiness of the inner liner is reduced in order to increase 
flexibility. The present invention serves to reduce the need for a great 
deal of the flexibility of the sleeves of the coat by setting the forearm 
portion of the sleeve at an angle with respect to the upper arm portion. 
As a result, it is possible to avoid the need to reduce the bulk and the 
thermal protective properties of the sleeve of the coat without 
restricting the ease with which the arm of the fire fighter can bend to a 
common set position. 
SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a fire 
fighter's coat which comprises a main body portion and a pair of sleeves 
each made from a tough, thermally insulated fabric which has a degree of 
flexibility which is substantially less than that of conventional street 
clothing; said sleeves each having an upper arm portion which has a sleeve 
passage opening therethrough which has a first axis which extends 
longitudinally thereof and a forearm portion which has a forearm passage 
opening therethrough which has a second axis which extends longitudinally 
thereof, said forearm portion being attached to the upper arm portion in 
such a manner that said second axis is inclined forwardly with respect to 
the upper arm portion when the sleeve is in a relaxed position, thereby to 
provide a natural forward set to the sleeve which serves to substantially 
reduce the resistance offered by the sleeve to movement of the fire 
fighter's arms to a position required to enable the wearer to bring his 
hands together to grasp an object located in front of the coat.

With reference to FIG. 1 of the drawings, the reference numeral 10 refers 
generally to a fire fighter's coat constructed in accordance with an 
embodiment of the present invention. The coat 10 has a body portion 12 of 
a conventional construction and a pair of sleeves 14. Each sleeve 14 
comprises an upper portion 16 and a forearm portion 18. The upper portion 
16 has its proximal end connected to the coat at the shoulder and its 
distal end connected to the proximal end of the forearm portion. As shown 
on FIG. 3 of the drawings, the upper portion has a longitudinal axis 20 
and the forearm portion has a longitudinal axis 22. The axis 20 is located 
substantially centrally of the sleeve passage which opens through the 
upper portion and the axis 22 is located substantially centrally of the 
sleeve passage which opens through the forearm portion. The included angle 
theta formed between the axis 20 and the axis 22 is preferably about 
120.degree.. 
The upper sleeve portion 16 has a front panel 24 and a back panel 26. The 
forearm sleeve portion has a front panel 28 and a back panel 30. The front 
panel 24 and back panel 26 of the upper sleeve portion are secured to one 
another along first seam lines 32, 34 and the front and back panels of the 
forearm portion are connected to one another along seam lines 36, 38. The 
seam lines 32, 34 are located substantially centrally of the width of the 
inner side face and outer side face respectively of the upper arm portion, 
and the seam lines 36, 38 are located substantially centrally of the width 
of the inner side face and outer side face respectively of the forearm 
portion. The front panels 24 and 28 are connected to one another along a 
third seam line 38 and the back panels 26 and 30 are connected to one 
another along a fourth seam line 40. The seam lines 38 and 40 are 
angularly inclined with respect to one another and serve to provide the 
angular set to the forearm portion. 
By manufacturing the sleeve so that it has four distinct panels, it is 
possible to achieve a greater length along the back edge of the sleeve 
rather than along the front edge of the sleeve, thereby to provide the 
required angular inclination of the sleeve. This form of multi panel 
construction facilitates the assembly and stitching of the sleeve. As 
shown in FIG. 3 of the drawings, the upper arm portion of the sleeve is 
connected to the coat by seam lines which serve to provide a raglan 
shoulder structure. A protective overlay 44 extends over the raglan 
shoulder connection. 
From the foregoing it will be apparent that the sleeve structure of the 
fireman's coat of the present invention will normally assume a position in 
which the forearm portion is downwardly and forwardly inclined as shown in 
FIG. 1 of the drawings. As a result, it is not necessary to bend the 
sleeve in order to permit the fireman to assume the arm position shown in 
FIG. 1. This arm position is closely approximate to the position which a 
fire fighter would adopt when grasping a hose or any other heavy object 
which is to be lifted by both hands held in front of the body of the 
fireman. 
It will be apparent that by adopting this preset position, the fire fighter 
is not required to expend any energy in order to position the arms in this 
initial set position and this can serve to reduce the fatigue which the 
fire fighter experiences when bending the sleeves of a fire fighter's coat 
constructed in accordance with conventional coat construction. 
Other advantages of the structure of the present invention will be apparent 
to those skilled in the art. For example, the ease with which the sleeve 
can be assembled results from the fact that it is made from four distinct 
panels which are stitched together along the various seam lines 
identified. 
These and other advantages of the present invention will be apparent to 
those skilled in the art.