Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
,
The present invention concerns a protective or lsa~ety garment for the user of power chain saws whereby
the chance of accidents by the user is greatly reduced.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIO~
Power chain saws are greatly utilized in the
area of forestry for the removal of branches from trees;
however, such use is considered to be one of the most
dangerous forestry operations. Most users of power
chain saws work in rapid short downward movements for
small branches and, in some cases, will apply a downward
force against the worked material to accelerate the
sawing operation. In many of these cases, accidents will
often occur when the downward movements of the saw, after
having cut through the worked material, are not readily
stopped resulting in the saw hitting the user in the knee
area. Accidents, of course, often occur as a result of
carelessness with an operating saw.
To reduce the accident rate, various protective
means have been devised on the saw;s themselves. However,
the speed with which the saw stops rotating is not
sufficient to prevent some injur~ to the user. Garments
have also been improved to protect ~he user; however,
the improvements made to garments, up until now, only
concern in thickening the user's garment thus rendering
the wearing of such garments cumbersome.
OBJECTS AND STATEMENT OF THE INVENTIO~
It is an object of this invention to provide
a garment especially designed to be used by the worker
utilizing a power chain saw. This is achieved by
providing, in a gaxment of the type described, a plurality
of layers of canvas sheets, one of which will readily be
pulled out as it is being seized by the saw chain and
subsequently entrained to jam the operation of the saw.
The present invention therefore pertains to a
garment for protecting the user of a power chain saw
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in which at least one section of the garment comprises:
an outer layer of canvas material, a pad includiny a
plurality of superposed layers of canvas material sewn
together to the outer layer and at least one additional
layer of canvas material which is loosely attached in
the pad so that this additional layer may be readily
pulled out when accidently seized and entrained by the
chain of the saw, to subsequently jam and stop the
operation of the saw chain.
In one particular form of the invention, this
additional layer is interposed with the superposed
layers and is stitched only along the upper and lower
edges thereof. In another form of the invention, the
layer is located between the outer layer and the group
of superposed layers. Both alternatives are also
possible together in one garment. The connection between
the layer and the garment is done either by a loose
st~hing over a short distance or by means of elastic
bands which permit some flexibility to the inner
construction of the pad under the leg movements of the
worker.
Other objects and scope of applicability of
the present invention will become apparent from the
detailed description given hereinafter; it should be
understood however, that this description, while
indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, is
given by way of illustration only since various changes
and modifications within the spirit and scope of the
invention, will become apparent to those skilled in the
art from reading the following description.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 shows in dotted lines the utilizer
of a power chain saw accidentally contacting the knee
portion of his garment, made in accordance with the
present invention;
Figure Z shows the knee portion of the garment
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of Fig. 1 with khe outer layer be.ing removed to show the
loosely attached portions of the pad;
Figure 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the
various layers of canvas material making up the pad
structure made in accordance with the present invention,
sections of the layer being cut out for clarity purposes;
and
Figure 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2, showing
any form of attaching the detachable layers to the pad,
this figure being shown on the same sheet illustrating
Figs. l and 2.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring to Fig. 1, the user 10, shown in
dotted lines, of a power chai.n saw 12 is equipped with
a protective garment, consisting of a ~acket 14 and of
trousers 16, made in accordance with the present
invention. Although, the following description will be
restricted to the construction of the trousers, it
should be understood that the jacket may be equipped
with a similar construction. Also, Fig. 1 shows that
knee portion 18 and rear portion 20 are of a construction
made ln accordance with the present invention, these
portions being areas where most accidents occur. However,
it should be understood that the entire garment, jacket
and trousers, can be constructed with tlle same structure
as that described hereinbelow with respect to the knee
portion 18.
Knee portion 18 and the rear portion 20 of
each leg of the trousers are shown thicker as they
comprise a pad of rectangular shape, stitched on all
sides to the garment material. In the present
embodiment, the pad is fixedly attached to the inner
face of the garment layer 32, the latter thus becoming
the outer covering the pad. The presence of such pad is
determined only by the apparent stitched lines 22,24,25,
26 in the case of the knee portion 18 and stitched
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lines 24~25,28 and 30 in the case of the rear portion
20. Hence, the first layer in the construction of the
protective garment is the outer layer 32 of the garment
which may consist of any material which can be used for
industrial jobs; it can be nylon, wool, polyester or
light linen.
Referring to Fiy. 3, the pad consists of an
inner layer 34 extending between the horizontal s~itched
lines 22 and 26 and the vertical stitched lines 24 and
25. Also, sewn to the same stitched lines and extending
over layer 34 are a pl~ 36 of material,such as silk or
terylene, two plies 38 and 40 of resistant material,
such as nylon 2108 denier, one ply 42 of silk or terylene,
two plies 44 and 46 of nylon 2108 denier, one ply 48 of
silk or terylene.
A band 50 of narrower ~idth than that of the
pad is secured only at the upper stitched line 22 and
the lower stitched line 26; its vertical side edges 52
and 54 extend inwardly of the side lines 24 and 25 of
the pad. Extending over the layer 50 is an arrangement
of three plies 56,58 and 60 similar to the arrangement
of plies 52,54 and 56, respectively, and secured to the
pad along the stitched lines 22,24,26 and 25.
Extending over canvas sheet 60 is a staggered
arrangement of detachable portions that include groups
of plies of narrower width than that of layers 34,36,38,
40,42,44,46 and 48. A first group consists of a ply 62
of silk or terylene and a ply 64 of nylon 2108 denier;
a second group consists of a ply 66 of silk or terylene
and a ply 68 of nylon 2108 denier. These detachable
groups of plies 62,64 and 66,68 are secured to the
garment by means of a pair of elastic bands 70 and 71,
connected7the upper edge of the pairs to the stitched
line 22 of the pad. ~s can be seen in Fig. 3, the group
that includes plies 62 and 64 is longer than that which
includes plies 66 and 68. The lower edge of the first
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group is shown at 72 whereas in the case of the second
group, the lower edge is shown at 74. An additional
group of plies extend over ply 68 and consists of a pair
of plies 76 and 78 having the same width than that of the
plies 62,64 and 66,68. The upper and lower edges of
these plies are shown at 80 and 82, respec-tively. These
plies are secured to ply ~8 by means of a pair of
elastic bands 86 and 87. Ply 76 may be of silk or
terylene while ply 78 is a nylon 2108 denier.
When chain 90 of the saw accidentally contacts
the knee portion of the garment, the elastic bands 70,71
and 86 and 87 holding the detachable portions to the pad
will ripped off quickly entraining the portions which
will jam and choke the chain saw. Thus, the chain will
not penetrate to the wor~er's leg.
The provision of the band 50 which is not
stitched along its vertical sides to the pad will also
cause a certain delay in the penetrating action of the
chain-since it is not fixedly secured and will cause
the chain to slip thereover prior to engaging the other
succeeding attached plies.
Fig. 4 shows another embodiment of the present
invention where the detachable portions of the pad
consist of two groups of plies 92 and 94 which are
connected to the stitched line 22a by means of a pair
of elastic bands 96 and 98. The groups are located
immediately underneath the outer layer 32a of the garment
and may consist of pair of plies (silk or terylene with
nylon 2108 denier), the other layer located therebeneath
being of similar construction to that shown in Figs. 2
and 3. ~ence, a detailed construction of these layers
is not considered necessary.
It will be evident to the man skilled in the
art that modifications can b~ brought to the present
construction. For example, elastic bands could also be
provided to secure the lower edges of the detachable
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portions SQ as to limit lateral movement of these
portions within the pad. Also, instead of using
elastic bands, a loose stitch may be provided to
secure the detachable portions to the remainder of
the pad.
