Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
114S695
The present invention relates to inflatable escape
slides deployable to provide an inclined descent path
for use in an emergency for example by evacuees from
a ship, grounded aircraft or building.
An inflatable escape slide which has been proposed
comprises first and second inflatable slide sections
arranged side-by-side. Each slide section includes
an inflatable outer wall held in spaced relation to an
inflatable centre wall common to the two slide sections
and a slideway arranged between and supported by the
outer wall and a centre wall. The inflatable portions
of the slide are in communication with each other and
the slide is arranged to be inflated from a single
source of pressurised air.
It has been found that a leakage of inflation air
from any one of the inflatable portions of the proposed
slide renders the slide completely unusable and it is
an object of the present invention to provide an
inflatable escape slide which does not suffer from
this disadvantage.
According to the present invention there is provided
an inflatable escape slide deployable to provide an
inclined descent path for evacuees and comprising
first and second inflatable slide sections arranged
side-by-side, each slide section having a slideway
and the two slideways being separated by an
inflatable centre wall, flexible baffle means
extending throughout the length of the centre wall
and subdividing the centre wall internally into non-
communicating first and second compartments or series
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of compar~ments, the first compartment or series of
compartments forming part of and being inflatable
with the first slide secti.on and the second compartment
or series of compartments forming part of and being
inflatable with the second slide section, and inlet
means for inflation of each slide section
independently of the inflation of the other slide
section, whereby upon loss or absence of inflation
of one slide section the flexible baffle means
distends under inflation of the other slide section
or can be made to distend by additional inflation of
the other slide section to compensate for the absence
or loss of inflation of the centre wall compartment
or series of compartments of the uninflated or under-
inflated slide section.
In the embodiment of the invention hereinafter to be
described, each sllde section includes an inflatable
outer wall held in spaced relation to the centre
wall by inflatable thwart tubes with the slideway of
each slide section being arranged between and
supported by the outer wall and the centre wall. The
centre wall compartment or series of compartments, the
outer wall and the thwart tubes of each slide section
are arranged to be in communication with each other
and with the inlet means. Pressurised air or gas
supply means is provided for inflation of each slide
section independently of the other slide section and
each supply means includes a main supply and a
reserve supply, the main supplies supplying
pressurised air or gas for inflation of the slide
sections to equal predetermined pressures during
normal operation and each reserve supply means
supplying reserve pressurised air or gas for
topping up a s~ide section when the baffle means
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distends following the absence or loss of inflation
of the other slide section.
Preferably, each of the two outer walls and the centre
wall is formed by a plurality of longitudinally
extending superposed inflatable tubes and the baffle
means in the centre wall comprises a flexible ba.fle
extending along the length of each tube and across
the tube from an uppermost inner surface portion of
the tube to a lowermost inner surface portion of the
tube. The baffle then comprises a sheet of flexible
material, having a linear dimension between the
uppermost and lowermost inner surface portions of
the tube which exceeds the distance between the
two inner surface portions of the tube.
The slide according to the invention may be provided
in combination with an inflatable platform for use
by evacuees following descent on the slide and the
inflatable platform may be subdivided into non-
communicating separately inflatable platform sections
arranged for inflation from the slide sections, the
platform sections being so disposed that in the event
of absence or loss of inflation of one of the slide
sections and its associated platform section
inflation of the other slide section and platform
section can be restored or maintained, to enable
them to be used by evacuees.
One embodiment of the invention will now be described
by way of example with reference to the accompanying
drawings in which:-
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Fig. 1 is a schematic side elevation of an inflatableescape slide according to the invention,
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Fig. 2 is a plan view of part of the slide shown in
Fig. 1, drawn to an enlarged scale and with parts
broken away,
Fig. 3 is a cross-section of the slide shown in
Fig. 1, taken on the line III-III in Fig. 1 and
drawn to an enlarged scale,
Fig. 4 is a scrap section taken from Fig. 3, drawn
to an enlarged scale, and
Fig. 5 is a schematic plan view of part of the
slide shown in Fig. 1 in combination with an inflatable
platform for use by evacuees following descent on
the slide.
Referring first to Figs. 1 to 3 of the drawings, the
lnflatable escape slide shown is constructed from
twelve straight inflatable tubes in three banks of
four tubes Al to A4, Bl to B4 and Cl to C4. The two
outside banks of tubes Al to A4 and Cl to C4 make up
outer walls 11 and 12 of the slide, while the centre
bank of tubes Bl to ~4 makes up a centre wall 13
of the slide. The three walls 11, 12 and 13 are
interconnected by sets of inflatable thwart tubes 14
and 15 arranged at regular lntervals and in staggered
relation to each other along the length of the slide,
as shown. As will be seen from Fig. 3 the thwart tubes
14 extend between the lowermost three tubes in the
walls 11 and 13 while the thwart tubes 15 extend
between the lowermost three tubes of the walls 12
and 13.
Two slideways 16 and 17 extend, as shown, between the
tubes A2, B2 and C2 of the walls 11, 12 and 13.
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Each of the slideways 16 and 17 comprises upper and
lower sheets 18 and 19 joined together along their
longitudinal edges where they are joined to the
support tubes A2, B2 and C2. The upper sheet 18
is a warp knitted fabric in the form of a net of
relatively large mesh while the lower sheet 19 is
formed as a woven fabric woven from continuous
filament yarn and forming a net of a fine mesh.
Referring now to Fig. 4, each of the tubes Bl to B4
of the centre wall 13 is subdivided longitudinally
by a flexible baffle sheet 20 into non-communicating
left-hand and right-hand compartments 21 and 22.
The left-hand compartments of the centre tubes Bl to
B4 are arran~ed in communication with each other,
with the thwart tubes 14 and with the left-hand
wall tubes Al to A4 and are arranged to be inflated
: from a first inflation system via feed tubes 23 and
24. The right-hand compartments 22 are likewise in
communication with each other, with the thwart tubes
15 and with the right-hand wall tubes Cl to C4 and
all are arranged to be inflated from a second
inflation system through feed tubes 25 and 26. The
first inflation system is independent of the second
inflation system, inflation of the slide being
carried out by simultaneous actuation of the two
inflation systems.
Upon completion of inflation of the two slide sections
by the two inflation systems, any disparity between
the degree of inflation of the one in relation to
the other is compensated by a displacement of the
baffle sheets 20 in the centre wall tubes Bl to B4,
each baffle sheet 20 distending to increase the
volume of one of the compartments and reduce the
volume of the adjacent compartment.
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It will be seen from Fig. 4 that the dimension of
each baffle sheet 20 in a direction at right-angles
to the longitudinal axis of the tube is equal or
substantially equal to half the circumference of the
tube in which it is contained so that the baffle
sheet when fully distended takes up a disposition in
which it conforms to the configuration of the fully
inflated tube.
If one slide section of the slide hereinbefore
described deflates or fails to inflate fully, the
inflation air contained in the other slide section
will be redistributed causing the baffles 20 to distend,
with the result that the centre wall, the outer wall
and the thwart tubes of the other slide section become
equally inflated but not inflated fully. Depending
upon the relative sizes of the tubes forming the slide,
it may be found that the partial inflation of the undamaged
slide section is just sufficient to keep the slide
usable for evacuees. On the other hand, if the
resulting partial inflation is insufficient for the
slide section to work effectively as a slide, additional
pressurised air is then required in order fully to
inflate the undamaged slide section, as the baffles
20 move over toward the deflated slide section. For
this purpose, additional air for each of the two
slide sections is provided by two reserve air or gas
cylinders, one of which is preconnected to the
inflation system for one of the slide sections
while the other is preconnected to the inflation
system for the other slide section. As soon as an
attendant is aware of a softening of one of the slide
sections to an extent affecting its performance he
actuates the reserve cylinder connected to the
inflation system of the other slide section which
then supplies reserve air for topping up the
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undama~ed slide section as the baffles 20 move
over to the damaged side, thereby maintaining the
undamaged slide section at or restoring it to full
inflation with the baffles 20 fully distended as
illustrated by the baffle 20 in the tube B4 in
Fig. 4. In this way, the undamaged slide section
of the slide remains usable for the descent of
evacuees.
If the attendant makes a wrong selection and actuates
the reserve cylinder feeding reserve air into the
damaged slide section that section of the slide will
continue to deflate and by allowing movement of the
baffles 20 will cause the undamaged slide section of
the slide also to soften. The attendant then actuates
the reserve cylinder preconnected to the undamaged
slide section of the slide to bring that section back
to full inflation and render it usable for evacuation.
Referring now to Fig. 5, the escape slide described
with reference to Figs. 1 to 4 is adapted for use in
the evacuation of passengers and crew from a ship in
distress and is used,as illustrated in Fig. 5, in
conjunction with an inflatable platform 27, which
inflates with the slide for floating on the water
surface and which is used as a reception area for
persons descending on the slide in readiness for
boarding liferafts brought alongside. More
specifically, the platform comprises a plurality of
juxtaposed longitudinally extending inflatable
tubes 28 secured together and covered by a floor 29
of sheet material. The platform 27 includes a
circumferentially extending inflatable tube 30 above
floor level to provide adequate freeboard for the
platform, The lowerm~s end Of the slide described
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with reference to Figs. 1 to 4 is detachably secured
to the platform at the position shown in the drawings.
The platform is subdivided longitudinally into
separately inflatable non-communicating left-hand
and right-hand sections, the left-hand sections
extending generally to the left of the longitudinal
centre line 31 and right-hand sections extending
generally to the right of the centre line 31. The
arrangement is made such that the inflation system of
the left-hand slide section serves to inflate the left-
hand sections of the platform while the inflation
system for the right-hand slide section serves for
inflation of the right-hand sections of the platform.
Feed tubes,32 and 33 extend from the left-hand
slide section and feed air into the left-hand sections
of the platform, while two further feed tubes (not
shown) from the right-hand slide section feed air
into the right-hand sections of the platform.
The platform is subdivided into its left-hand and
right-hand sections without the use of flexible
baffles by an appropriate choice of tubes 28 for
; the sections. However, if desired the platform may
be subdivided in the same manner as the slide and
utlllse a centre wall fitted w1th baffles.
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