PROTECTIVE/WORKING GARMENT

ARTICLE VESTIMENTAIRE PROTECTEUR OU DE TRAVAIL

English Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
A coverall-type protective/working garment sealing
against the wearer's neck, arms and legs, comprises two
separate layers, of which the inner layer next to the body is
breathable and capable of letting through moisture/vapors
(sweat) from its inner side to its outer side, and the outer
layer is substantially airtight, except in at least one lower
region located above the leg seal, and at least one upper
region located below the neck seal, in which regions the
outer layer is air-permeable, such that surrounding air
admitted through said air-permeable lower region to the space
between said layers will carry along, by chimney effect, any
moisture/vapors admitted by said inner layer to said space,
out through the air-permeable upper region of said outer
layer.

Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive
property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:
1. A coverall-type protective/working garment sealing
against the wearer's neck, arms and legs, comprising two
separate layers of which the inner layer next to the body is
breathable and capable of letting through moisture/vapors
from its inner side to its outer side, and the outer layer
is substantially airtight, except in at least a lower region
located above the leg seal, and at least one upper region
located below the neck seal, in which regions the outer
layer is air-permeable, such that surrounding air admitted
through said air-permeable lower region to the space between
said layers will carry along, by chimney effect, any moisture/
vapors admitted by said inner layer to said space, out through
the air-permeable upper region of said outer layer.
2. A garment as claimed in claim 1, characterized
in that the neck and/or arm and/or leg seal comprises a
hood portion, a glove portion and a shoe portion which are
connected with the outer layer and a sealing means sealingly
engaging the inner layer at the ankle and wrist areas.
3. A garment as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
inner layer is thermally insulating.
4. A garment as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
outer layer is watertight.
5. A garment as claimed in claim 1, wherein the
air-permeable regions comprise, as the active constituent,
a micro-porous membrane material.

Description

The present invention relates to a protective/
working garment intended primarily for work in the vicinity
of water, such as off-shore work in cold weather.
Known garments for these purposes, when combined
with an insulating material, suffer from the disadvantage
that they are poorly ventilated, which means that the
user's transpiration is not effectively led away from the
body and the garment, but remains on the body and is absorbed
by the material of the garment, thereby causing the wearer
to feel uncomfortable.
It is the object of this invention to provide a
garment which does not suffer from this disadvantage, i.e.
a garment which is ventilated and, at the same time, is
thermally insulated as well as water and air tight.
To achieve this object, the garment according to
the invention has been given the characteristic features
defined by the appended claims.
The invention will be described in greater detail
below, reference being made to the accompanying drawing
illustrating an embodiment of the garment in a transparent
view.
The coverall-type protective garment illustrated
comprises an outer layer 1 and an inner layer 2 next to the
body and spaced from said outer layer. The outer layer 1
covers the entire body, except the face, and the inner layer
2 covers the entire body, except the feet, the hands and the
face. The outer layer 1 thus has a body portion lay a hood
portion lb, shoe portions to and glove portions id, and the
inner layer 2 has a body portion pa and a hood portion 2b.
The body portion lo of the outer layer 1 consists
of watertight material, except in a preferably circumfer-
entail region to directly above the respective shoe portion
to and a relatively larger shoulder portion if where the
outer layer 1 consists of a watertight, hydrophobic and
breathable material. The connection between these regions
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ye, if and the remainder of the outer layer 1 is watertight.
Also the hood portion lb, the shoe portions to and the glove
portions id are at least watertight, as is the connection of
these portions with the body portion lay
The inner layer 2 consists of a thermally insulated,
breathable material letting through moisture/vapors, without
any appreciable capacity to absorb moisture/vapors. At its
ankle and wrist portions, the inner layer 2 has sealing means
3 for a substantially sealing adhesion at the ankle and wrist
areas to the inner sides of the shoe portions to and the glove
portions id. The adhesion is established, for example, by
means of a Velcro (a trademark) tape.
Water and air tight zip fasteners or other opening/
closing means (not shown) in/at the outer layer 1 give access
to these fastening arrangements and permit, together with zip
fasteners or other opening/closing means in/at the inner layer
2, the wearer to climb into the garment.
By this arrangement, it is achieved that air admitted
through the region to into the space between the outer layer
1 and the inner layer 2 is caused to flow upwardly under the
action of the chimney effect promoted by the body heat and to
carry along the moisture/vapors permeating through the inner
layer 2 from the inner side to the outer side thereof, out
through the shoulder region if. This function of the garment
is shown by arrows A (air), S (sweat) and AS.
The garment can be supplemented with a face protection
sealing between the outer and inner layers 1, 2 pockets,
padding in, for example, the region of the knees, life-jacket
etc., to suit the contemplated use of the garment. Regions
similar to the regions to and if may be provided in the outer
layer 1 in other parts thereof, for instance in the glove
portions and the crotch portions.
Suitable materials for the outer layer 1 and the
inner layer 2 are already available on the market. In one
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embodiment of the invention, the body portion lo of the
outer layer 1 consists, except for the regions to and if,
of heat-weldable fiberglass fabric coated with polyurethane
or silicone affording the desired water and air tightness
in this portion.
The active component of the regions to and if is a
layer of micro porous hydrophobic, breathable and, at least
in the inward-outward direction, vaporpervious semi-permeable
membrane. One example of such membranes is GORE-TEX ( a
trademark of WYLIE. Gore & Co.), consisting of or containing
expanded polytetrafluoroethylene. The membrane can be externally
laminated, with some knitted or woven flame-resistant fabric,
such as Nomex (a trademark of Dupont) and, internally, with
a self-extinguishing flame-protecting fabric such as SEX
(a trademark of Monsanto). This laminate is a suitable
material for the regions to, if of the outer layer 1 and is
being used already in the manufacture of survival clothing,
tent-canvas, sleeping-bags eta, and can be sewn together
with the above-mentioned fiberglass material, whereupon the
seams are sealed by means of some suitable, tight and
sealing adhesive strip.
In this embodiment, the active component of the
inner layer 2 consists of Thinsulate (a trademark of Minnesota
Mining and Manufacturing Company), which comprises 65% olefin
fibers and 35~ polyether fibers. This material is light,
washable and allergy-tested and, furthermore, has the
characteristics desired for the present invention, i.e.
breathability, low moisture/vapor adsorbability, but high
moisture/vapor permeability and insulation capacity. Laminated
with non-woven paper pulp on the outer side, it effectively
prevents the return of moisture/vapors back to the body side.
The laminate is available on the market with a nylon layer
on the inner and outer sides and is being used already for
the manufacture of, for example, outdoor garments.
. .,
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