Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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The present invention relates to apparatus and
methods for marine rescue, particularly in man overboard
situations.
The difficulties involved in throwing out a buoyant
life ring ( ~~life preserver~~ ) to a victim in distress in
the water is well known. A number of devices have been
contrived which are floatable weighted objects of a shape
easier to throw than the simple annular life ring.
However, any devices which contemplate that the victim
effectively grasp a floatable member and/or lifeline in
order to be pulled to safety is subject to the limitation
that the victim may be in a state of panic or shock
rendering it difficult for him or her to maintain a grasp
upon the device.
Retrieval/rescue devices of a different character
have been devised which are in the nature of snares that
can be tightened round the torso of a victim, e.g., U.S.
Patents 4,599,074 (Beckly) and 4,596,530 (McGlinn).
These typically include a rigid boom and a flexible strap
capable of forming a loop for wrapping around the victim.
Upon pulling, the loop tightens around the victim for
effecting a rescue. Such snare devices are not buoyant,
nor meant to be thrown out freely to the vicinity of the
victim. Rather, the snaring mechanism is affixed to the
end of a boom or other rigid member which is extended to
the person in the water.
It is an object of the present invention to provide
a marine rescue snare which is buoyant and simple in
construction.
A preferred embodiment of a marine rescue flotation
snare according to the present invention is illustrated
in drawing Figures lA to 1F. A different embodiment 10~
shown in Figure 2 still embodies the essential
combination of floatation and snaring ability.
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Figure 3 illustrates the rescue of an overboard
victim 12 using marine rescue floatation snare 10, thrown
from a boat 14.
Figure 4 illustrates the vertical lifting by a
rescue helicopter 16 of victim 12, whose upper torso is
secured by a rescue snare of the kind shown in Figures lA
and 1B. The body of the snare is a length of flexible,
buoyant rod of foamed polyethylene or like material of
suitable length when looped over itself in use to
accommodate the upper torso of the victim 12 and to be
cinched snugly around the victim's chest, as shown in
Figures 3 and 4.
Running axially along the centre of flexible,
buoyant rod l0a is a central channel which accommodates a
length of polyethylene tubing lOb running from one end to
the other. Along the interior of the polyethylene tube
there is threaded a strong and flexible tensile member
11. This may be made of any of a number of materials of
the kind suitable for use as rescue ropes. In a
preferred embodiment, the tensile member is a rope
fabricated of a polypropylene core with an outer
polyester sheath.
At a first end of the snare, tubing tensile member
11 is secured in a tie loop lla for a rescue rope, and at
the other end to slippage or roller means llb which hold
the snare in the desired loop but allow for the loop to
be enlarged or contracted. In a currently preferred
embodiment slippage/roller means comprises a ring of
polyethylene beads which run on a looped end of tensile
member 11. The bead-ring slider ilb is prevented from
coming right off the end of the snare when it is opened
to its maximum position by a fixed, rigid stopping member
10'c at the first, rescue rope end of the snare.
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A variation on the embodiment of Figures lA and 1B
is shown in Figures 1C and 1D, where the tensile member
il extending from the stopped end of the snare is first
looped into tie loop lla and thence extends into a tag
line llc with a handle 11d. In a further modification
illustrated in Figures lE and 1F, rigid stopping member
10'c is not longitudinally fixed relative to rod 10a, but
with a selected degree of frictional engagement can be
manually pulled along rod l0a against slippage/roller
means ilb to cinch the loop tighter around the chest of
the wearer, as desired. The adjustable snare retainer
10'c is prevented from sliding off rod l0a at the rescue
rope end by a fixed abutment lOd, such as a washer
secured to the end of the snare.
Referring to Figure 3, after the device 10 is thrown
out to victim 12 and the victim has put his or her arms
through the expanded loop of the device, pulling the
rescue line 18 in the direction illustrated generally by
arrow A will effect cinching of the snare around body of
the victim by virtue of the free-sliding end lOd. As
shown in Figure 4, this snaring is also advantageous in
"vertical work" as when the victim must be lifted out of
the water by a rescue helicopter. For this purpose, the
rescue device may optionally be provided with a cradle
strap 20 attached by a separate line 20a to the tow-rope
end of rescue snare 10.
Figure 2 illustrates a variant embodiment 10' of the
snare according to the present invention, in which the
main portion of the loop is a flexible rod 10'a of a
flexible, buoyant nature, which may be, for example,
fabricated of the same material as the semi-rigid, non-
resilient, buoyant cable which is the subject of the
present applicant's U.S. Patent No. 5,370,434. A portion
of the length of the snare intermediate the tie-rope end
10'c and a sliding ring and 10'd is a rigid bar 11' which
serves as the loosening-tightening track along which
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sliding member 10'd is free to move. Like the embodiment
of Figures lA to 1D, the snare of Figure 2 has the
ability to be attached to a rescue rope and thrown to a
victim. Once around the victim the snare can be
tightened up to secure a rescue link with the victim and
to keep him or her afloat.
