Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-20

Where could the apparatus be most efaciently
worn? On the head? Hardly, for during the
perilous downward jump with the chute the
dyer must be possessed Of his complete facul-
ties. On the arms? No, for that position
would prevent necessary freedom Of motion.
The only place left. and that seemed feasible
enough, was around the waist beneath the
parachute. Once the chute was released the
device quickly could be used to advantage.
Tibbals and Hobeon set to work to put their
known facts and theories into definite form.
For months they toiIed. their greatest din
Guilty being In the direction Of reducing the
bulk made seemingly necessary by the use Of
heavy rubber. First they produced crude-
looking contraption weighing about IL pounds.
Later they reduced it to 10. then and finally.
to pounds. The. finished product. now the
source Of considerable pride on the part Of the
Navy, Is thus described by Tibbals:
when worn. the new safety belt Is q COLI
lapsible affair, measuring some SO inches by
inches. 1t Is made Of durable rubber with
stockinette cover. It includes mouthpiece
connected with two breathing tubes, one into
which the wearer inhales and the other
through which he exhales: an oxygen CON-
tainer bearing enough oxygen to sustain life
for an hour and half, and tiny bit Of soda
lime for the purpose Of purifying the oxygen
supply and helping equalize the body to the
changing pressure conditions involved In q rapid
descent into the water.
Extensive tests have been made with the
belts for submergence and durability by. such
well known navy yard divers as Edward KALI
nosk p. J. Hoy, John Linso and T. p Ba-
rowski. These experts have helped US discover
that the wearer Of the belt may be very
heavily dressed -even have on his Winter n.y.
ing clothes, gloves thick helmet and the rest
and still have an excellent chance of keeping
his head above the water. Nor Is the pilot
handicapped In the slightest In his efforts TO
handle the plane eficiently.
One Of our main objects in DESIGNING the
new device was to keep the wearer in an up
right position. mot only when he struck the
water, but for some little time thereafter. With
this end In view we made pads on the side
Of the. belt that like the rest OF the apparatus.
are readily inflatable. Tests have shown that
they AFFORD the degree of stability desired
HORIZONTALLY we had in mind two main
(. circumstances when the safety belt would
be useful The first was when an aviator, un-
able to find time enough to use his parachute,
was forced to remain with his pane. trusting
pretty largely to Lady Luck as to whether he
would survive the crash; whereas the other
occasion was when he struck the water via
the chute We are now convinced, after nu-
merous, tests. that We we're not overly ambi.
tious in our hopes In this regard. In fact, We
believe that. at least six out OF ten men, wear
ing the belt. win have d good chance of es-
Gaping wattery grave.
IAN allied use, for instance, Is connected
with the belts extreme buoyancy. Assuming
that flyer, having successfully landed on o
body Of water in chute or plane, found himself
blown considerably away from immediate help,
his air filed pads would readily keep him afiOa4
for at least one and one-hah hour"