Patent ID: 8499367

Claim:
A method for increasing the time a worker may work in a high-temperature environment without risk of heat stroke by decreasing a human core temperature comprising the steps of: (a) providing a cooling garment to a garment wearer, said garment comprising at least one removable portion selected from the group consisting of: an arm portion and a leg portion, said portion dimensioned to substantially cover at least part of a human extremity, said portion further comprising an amount of phase change material in each portion, said phase change material able to undergo a phase change from solid to liquid at a temperature of from about 60 to about 90° F.; and (b) effecting a phase change in the phase change material from solid to liquid to cool the wearer by effecting heat loss in the wearer's body through the wearer's extremities; wherein the garment does not comprise any phase change material in a torso portion of the garment and the phase change material in the removable portion is reactivated quickly once the cooling effect of the removable portion is exhausted.