BALANCING JACKET FOR DIVERS

Abstract: The air valve (5, 6) of the jacket (1) can be opened not only by means of the conventional driving cable (11) housed in the corrugated pipe (3) and fastened to the free end of the same, but also independently from said cable (11) by means of auxiliary driving means (206) integral or operationally connected with the shutter (6) of the air valve and controlled by the diver directly with the hands and/or by means of interposed control means (14).

Description: Balancing jacket for divers The present invention refers to balancing jackets for divers, said jackets being provided with a corrugated pipe, whose one end is connected with the inner inflatable bag of the jacket through a connection body, while the other end is free and provided with means for the air feeding to the jacket, and the jacket communicates with an air valve which is housed in said connection body and whose shutter is kept in closing position through elastic means and/or the pneumatic pressure within the jacket, while it is connected with a driving cable projecting inside the corrugated pipe and fastened to the free end of the same, the whole so that, extending, at least partially, the corrugated pipe by pulling the free end of the same, the air valve shutter is moved by means of the driving cable and set in an opening position, to exhaust air out of the jacket. Aim of the invention is to improve the security of the balancing jackets of the said type, eliminating the danger of an eventual opening impossibility of the air valve by pulling the corrugated pip , because of a defect, for example an unhooking from the corrugated pipe or the air valve shutter, or a break of the driving cable housed in the corrugated pipe . The invention aims to overtake this problem with simple, safe, not much bulky and inexpensive means , reducing at the same time also the cost of the said conventional air exhaust device. The said problem is overtaken by the invention thanks to the fact that the air valve shutter itself is connected to auxiliary driving means manually controlled by the diver wearing the jacket independently from the corrugated pipe and from the outer side of the same . In this way, according to the invention, in case of break or defect of the driving cable provided within the corrugated pipe and controlled by pulling this pipe, the air valve , normally openable through the corrugated pipe and its inner cable, can be opened through the auxiliary driving means, manually accessible by the diver separately from the corrugated pipe itself . At the same time the invention allows to reduce the security requirements presented till now by the driving cable housed inside the corrugated pipe, and allows to use less expensive cables than the stainless steel ones with their end eyelets , normally used till now for sake of security . According to the invention, as driving cable housed inside the corrugated pipe it can be used a plastic material cable, and for example a cable made by two or more threads to reduce the break danger, and in particular a plastic molded cable, preferably including two or more parallel threads . The auxiliary driving means of the air valve shutter with the control outside the corrugated pipe and separated from the same, can be constructively realized in several ways. So, for instance, in a preferred embodiment form, the air valve shutter can have a driving extension which is led to the outside by the connection body and is accessible and movable directly or indirectly (for example by means of a control cord on the outside of the jacket) by the diver wearing the jacket, so to take (for example to incline or axially move) the air valve shutter into opening position. According to another embodiment form of the invention, the air valve shutter is movable , axially in particular , to the opening position by means of a pushing element, which can be controlled directly by the diver thanks to a button control element, or indirectly, for example by means of a control cord out of the jacket and connected to the control button or directly to the pushing element. These and other features of the invention and the resulting advantages will be shown more in detail in the following description of some preferred embodiment forms , shown as not limitative description in the drawings enclosed, where: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a balancing jacket for divers . Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section view of the corrugated pipe for the feeding of the air in the jacket, with its connection to the jacket and the air valve in closing position. Fig. 3 is a section view of the air valve of fig. 2 in opening position. Fig. 4 is a section view of another embodiment form of the control means of the air valve . Fig. 5 shows the upper end part of the driving cable of the air valve , housed in the corrugated pipe . Fig . 6 , 7 and 8 are section view of other three embodiment forms of the control means of the air valve. In the figures, with 1 is shown a balancing jacket for divers. This jacket 1 is inflatable by means of a corrugated pipe 2 , whose one end is connected to the jacket 1 inflatable bag through a watertight connection body 2 applied to the jacket 1 and communicating with the said bag. Preferably, the connection body 3 is provided in the highest point of the jacket 1, as shown in fig. 1, but it can be positioned also in a lower point, for example at the level of the chest. The other end of the corrugated pipe 3 is free and provided with means for the feeding of the air into the jacket 1. To this aim, said free end of the corrugated pipe 2 can be provided, for example, with a mouthpiece 4 to inflate the jacket with the mouth . The jacket 1 is provided with an air valve housed in the connection body 3 and formed by a communication hole 5 between the jacket 1 and the outer space, and a shutter 6 which closes this hole 5. In the embodiment form according to figs . 1 to 4 , the hole 5 is provided in a partition wall 7 within the connection 3 and comes out in a chamber 8 communicating with the outer space through one or more openings 9. The air valve shutter 6 is housed in said chamber 8 and is realized like a cap which is axially pushed by a pressure helicoidal spring 10 and this spring makes it watertight adhere against an annular seat of the valve provided around the hole 5. The shutter 6 is provided with an inner coaxial shaft 106 and an outer coaxial shaft 206. The inner shaft 106 projects through the hole 5 into the communication compartment between the corrugated pipe 2 and the jacket 1 and is connected with an end of a driving cable 11 which projects inside the corrugated pipe 2 practically to the free end of the same, where it is hooked to the corrugated pipe 2 for instance through an inner transversal pin 12. The outer shaft 206 of the air valve shutter 6 projects instead to outside of the chamber 8 through a slot 13 and then projects outside from the connection 3. The length of the driving cable 11 is chosen according to the length of the corrugated pipe 2 so that, in stand by condition, that is when on the corrugated pipe 2 it is not put any particular pulling strength, the cable 11 does not put on the inner shaft 106 of the shutter 6 any strength to move the shutter 6 itself. The shutter 6 is then kept in the closing position shown in fig. 2 thanks to the action of the spring 10, that is that the air valve is closed. To open the air valve in order to exhaust a certain quantity of air from the inflated jacket 1, the diver wearing the jacket 1 pulls the free end of the corrugated pipe 2 causing an elastic extension of the pipe 2 itself such that it causes - through a pulling on the inner driving cable 11 and the inner shaft 106 of the shutter 6 - an inclination of said shutter and then a partial raising of the same against the action of the spring 10 from its annular seat of valve provided around the hole 5 , as shown in ig. 3. Alternatively, or when the inner driving cable 11 is broken or, for instance, unhooked from the free end of the corrugated pipe 2 and/or the shutter 6 inner shaft 106, the air valve can be opened by the diver wearing the jacket 1 through a manual control independent from the corrugated pipe 2 and outside the same. For this aim, in the embodiment orm according to the figs . 1 to 3 , the diver directly operates with the hand on the shutter 6 outer shaft 206, putting on said shaft 206 a transversal strength in the direction of the arrow F of fig. 3, so to incline said outer shaft 206 and with it the shutter 6 too, taking this last into the partial opening position according to fig. 3. In both cases, when the air valve shutter 6 is opened with inclination, the outer shaft 206 of the same moves and is led into the slot 13. The embodiment form shown in fig. 4 differs from the one according to figs. 1 to 3 just for the fact that the outer shaft 206 of the air valve shutter 6 can be moved to the opening inclined position not only through a direct manual control of the diver, but also through and indirect manual control, more handy. For this aim, the shutter 6 outer shaft 206 is connected through a control cord 14 advantageously returned through outer guide eye- lets 15, 16 of the connection body 3, so to hang free downward on the outer front side of the jacket 1, being provided at its free end with a catching knob 17. To open the air valve, it is to say to incline the shutter 6 of said valve to its opening position, independently from the corrugated pipe 2, the diver wearing the jacket 1 catches the knob 17 and pulls the control cord 14 without being obliged to raise the hand to the connection 3 , as necessary in the embodiment form according to figs . 1 to 3. In the embodiment forms according to figs. 1 to 4 , the axis of the hole 5 and the shutter 6 with the shafts 106, 206 is substantially set transversally as to the corrugated pipe 2 and perpendicularly as to the jacket surface 1, it is to say coaxially as to the pipe union 18 connecting the joint 3 with the inflatable bag of the jacket 1 itself. In the embodiment form according to figs 6 to 8 instead - where the parts equal and equivalent to those already described are indicated with the same reference numbers - the axis of the hole 5 and the air valve shutter 6 is substantially set in the longitudinal direction of the corrugated pipe 2 and parallel to the jacket 1 surface, it is to say transversally as to the pipe union 18 connecting the joint 3 with the inflatable bag of the jacket 1 itself. Moreover, in these embodiment forms according to figs. 6 to 8 , the air valve shutter 6 is not housed in the connection 3 chamber 8, but it is on the inner side, opposite to the chamber 8 , of its partition wall 7 and cooperates with a valve annular seat provided around the hole 5 on the said inner side of the partition wall 7 itself . The shutter 6 is provided with a coaxial shaft 306 passing through the hole 5 and projecting into the chamber 8 , where is provided with an enlarged guide head 19 sliding in the chamber 8 itself. Between this guide head 19 and the partition wall 7 it is inserted an helicoidal preloaded pressure spring 20 which makes the shutter 6 watertight axially adhere against the associated valve annular seat around the hole 5 on the inner side of the partition wall 7. The chamber 8 has one or more openings 9 communicating with the outer space . For the opening of the air valve, the shutter 6 is connected with a driving cable 11 extending along the corrugated pipe 2 and connected with its free end, for example in the way described with reference to fig. 2. Pulling the free end of the corrugated pipe 2 in order to extend this pipe so that it pulls the driving cable, the shutter 6 is axially raised from its seat against the strength of the spring 20 and led in an opening position axially moved (instead of being reclined as in the embodiment forms according to figs 1 to 4) . The auxiliary opening means of the air valve with control outside the corrugated pipe 2 and independent from the same are formed, in the embodiment form of fig. 6, by a button pin 21 axially standing against the head 19 of the shaft 306 of the shutter 6 in the chamber 8 and is led out of this chamber 8 in a sliding way through a corresponding hole provided in its head wall . To open the air valve it is sufficient to axially push from the outside the button pin 21 which pushes and raises the shutter 6 by means of the shaft 306 and against the spring 20 strength, axially toward the inside of its valve seat around the hole 5. The button pin 21 is provided of a side stop prominence which clashes against the head wall inner side of the chamber 8 and prevents the expulsion of the button pin 21 by the spring 20. The embodiment form according to fig. 7 differs from the one according to fig. 6 for the fact that the button pin 21 has a driving outer extension shaped as a cap 121 slidingly enclosing its head end of the connection body 3. The cap outer extension 121 is provided both with head and side openings 22 which ensure a free entering of the water into the chamber 8 through its openings 9. Moreover, the cap button 21, 121 of the embodiment form according to fig. 7 is connected through a side eyelet 23 with a control cord 14 , similar to the one described with reference to fig. 4. In this way, the air valve shutter 6 can be axially moved and taken into opening position both directly by putting a manual pressure on the cap button 21, 121 and indirectly by pulling the cord 14. The embodiment form according to fig. 8 differs from those according to figs . 6 and 7 for the fact that the button pin 21 and the cap button 121 are absent and the head 19 of the shutter shaft 306 has a side extension 24 which is led out of the chamber 8 through a side slot 25 parallel to the shutter 6 axis and its shaft 306. The shutter 6 can be axially moved and taken to opening position by operating on the outer extension 24 of the head 19 of its shaft 306, directly with the hand (for example on a knob or a lever integral with said exten- sion 24) and/or indirectly by means of a pulling control cord 14, fastened to an eyelet 26 provided on said extension 2 . The driving cable 11 housed inside the corrugated pipe can be realized in a conventional way and can be for instance a stainless steel cable with eyelet shaped ends, as shown in fig. 2. In all the embodiment forms shown and described above, the possibility to operate the shutter 6 and to open the air valve as required by means of auxiliary control means 206, 21, 121, 14 independent from the cable 11 housed in the corrugated pipe 2 and outside said pipe, allows then to reduce the requirements about the resistance and security of the cable 11 and to use a less expensive driving cable 11. In particular, in all the embodiment forms according to the invention it can be used a driving cable 11 of the type shown in fig. 5 and formed by a molded plastic material cable, preferably including two or more threads 111, 211 parallel to each other and connected to the ends through an eyelet end 311. Naturally, the invention is not limited to the embodiment forms described above and shown, but can be widely changed and modified, especially in a constructive way and for what relates to the mechanical and functional equivalents , and also applied to any kind of balancing jacket for divers, without departing from the information principle above described and later claimed.

Claims: CLA LtiIM " S 1. A balancing jacket (1) for divers provided with a corrugated pipe (2) , whose one end is connected with the inner inflatable bag of the jacket through a connection body (3) , while the other end is free and provided with means for the air feeding (4) to the jacket, and the jacket (1) communicates with an air valve (5, 6) which is housed in said connection body (3) and whose shutter (6) is kept in closing position through elastic means (10, 20) and/or by means of the pneumatic pressure within the jacket (1) , while it is connected with a driving cable (11) projecting inside the corrugated pipe (2) and is fastened to the free end of the same, the whole so that, spreading out, at least partially, the corrugated pipe (2) by pulling the free end of the same, the shutter (6) of the air valve is moved by means of the driving cable (11) and set in an opening position, to exhaust air out of the jacket (1) , characterized in that the shutter (6) of the air valve (5, 6) itself is connected to auxiliary driving means (206; 19, 21, 121; 19, 24) manually controlled by the diver wearing the jacket (1) independently from the corrugated pipe (2) and from its outside . 2. A jacket according to claim 1, characterized in that the air valve shutter (6) is integral or operationally connected with auxiliary driving means (206, 21, 121, 24) which are led out of the connection body (3) and can be moved by the diver wearing the jacket, directly with the hands or indirectly by means of interposed control means (14) , so to take into opening position the air valve shutter ( 6) . 3. A jacket according to claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the shutter (6) auxiliary driving means (206, 21, 121, 24), integral with the shutter (6) and operationally connected with the same, are set and led out of the connection body (3) on the side of the air valve opposite to the one communicating with the jacket (1) . 4. A jacket according to claims 1 to 3 , characterized in that the air valve shutter (6) is tiltable to opening position, and the auxiliary driving means are an extension of control (206) of the shutter (6) , led in such a way that it is possible to angularly move it out of the connection body (2) . 5. A jacket according to claim 4, characterized in that the auxiliary driving means are a control shaft (206) coaxially integral with the shutter (6) and projecting outside the connection body (3) through a slot (13) of it. 6. A jacket according to claims 1 to 3 , characterized in that the air valve shutter (6) is axially movable to opening position, and the auxiliary driving means are a control element (21, 121, 24) sliding parallel to the shutter (6) shifting axis. 7. A jacket according to claim 6, characterized in that the sliding control element is a button pin (21) substantially coaxial with the shutter (6) and projecting outside the connection body (3) through a hole of it. 8. A jacket according to claim 7, characterized in that the button pin is integral with the shutter. 9. A jacket according to claim 1 , characterized in that the button pin (21) is separated from the shutter (6) and operates on it through a shaft (306) and a sliding guide head (19) of the shutter (6) itself. 10. A jacket according to claims 8 or 9, characterized in that the pin button (21) has a cap shaped outer extension (121) . 11. A jacket according to claim 6, characterized in that the control sliding element is a side extension (24) of the shutter (6) or of a shutter (6) guide head (19) , said extension (24) slidingly led out of the connection body (3) through a slot (25) thereof, parallel to the shutter (6) opening shifting axis. 12. A jacket according to any preceding claim, characterized in that the air valve shutter (6) auxiliary driving means are connected through a control guy (cord 14, chain, or the like), eventually returned and hanging on the jacket (1) chest so that the diver wearing the jacket can easily catch it. 13. A jacket according to any preceding claim, characterized in that the driving cable (11) inside the corrugated pipe (2) is made of plastic material and in particular of a plastic material molded cable, preferably with two or more threads (111, 211) . 14. A balancing jacket for divers, with air valve auxiliary driving means independent from the driving cable housed in the corrugated pipe , completely or partially substantially as described, shown and for the aims explained above .

Inventors: SEMEIA ROBERTO, SEMEIA, ROBERTO
Applicants: SCUBAPRO EUROP, SEMEIA ROBERTO, SCUBAPRO EUROPE S.R.L., SEMEIA, ROBERTO
Application year: 1999
Main classification: B63C11
IPC codes: B63C11