Patent ID: 8821206

Claim:
A flotation device for use in retrieving an object when dropped in water comprising: an attachment assembly to attach the flotation device to an object that is to be retrieved, a spray water-resistant holder having closed and opened conditions and an interior which defines an interior space; an inflatable body formed of a tubular substantially waterproof and air-impervious material having opposed ends, the inflatable body being attached to the interior of the holder and positioned in the interior space of the holder in a non-inflated state thereof, wherein inflation of the inflatable body from the non-inflated state and into an inflated state thereof responsively causes the holder to be opened from the closed condition to the opened condition thereof so as to allow the inflatable body to be deployed outside the interior space of the holder, wherein the inflatable body includes: (a) a seal comprising a strip of water-permeable material sandwiched between and joined directly to opposed sections at one of the ends of the inflatable body for sealing the inflatable body from the interior space of the holder, wherein the strip of water-permeable material of the seal has an end portion exposed to the interior space of the holder to thereby allow water ingress into the inflatable body through the exposed end portion of the strip of water-permeable material of the seal in response to water ingress into the interior space of the holder, and (b) one or more reagents contained within the inflatable body which react to form a gas under the influence of water that ingresses into the interior space of the holder and through the water-permeable material of the holder at the end of the inflatable body, wherein the gas inflates the inflatable body into the inflated state thereof in order to exert a flotation force on the object to which the device is attached.