Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02731910 2011-01-24
[DESCRIPTION]
[Invention Title]
SAFETY CLOTHES
[Technical Field]
The present invention relates to safety clothes, and more particularly, to a
structure for
improving the reliability and the freedom of motion of safety clothes.
[Background Art]
In general, safety clothes is used as a floating device, in which a buoyant
material is fitted
between a liner fabric and a cover fabric to keep a wearer afloat in the
water; a shock-absorbing
device, in which a shock-absorbing material is fitted between the liner fabric
and the cover fabric
to protect the wearer's body from external impact when he/she is exercising or
walking on the
ground; or the like. In particular, the safety clothes used as the floating
device (e.g., a life jacket)
is required to be worn for the purpose of safety in the case of water sports,
fishing, and sea cruising.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of a conventional life jacket.
Referring to FIG. 1, the life jacket 10 of the related art is provided in the
form of a vest
that a person can wear, in which a buoyant material 40 is fitted between a
liner fabric 20 and a
cover fabric 30. The buoyant material 40 is typically made of foamed resin,
such as
polyethylene foam, which has a predetermined thickness. The buoyant material
40 is provided
in the form of a plate in order to facilitate manufacture, and is contained
inside the life jacket 10
by sealing the liner fabric 20 and the cover fabric 30.
However, the life jacket 10 of the related art has a problem in that, when the
wearer
remains in the water for a long time, the buoyant material 40, which is made
of foamed resin such
as polyethylene foam, absorbs water, thereby endangering the safety of the
wearer, even if the
liner fabric 20 and the cover fabric 30 are made of a waterproof or water-
resistant material.
In addition, the life jacket 10 of the related art has a problem in that the
buoyant material
40 is not easily brought into close contact with the body of the wearer and
has little pliability,
since it is provided in the form of a plate, which is made of foamed resin,
such as polyethylene
foam.
[Disclosure]
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CA 02731910 2011-01-24
[Technical Problem]
An object of the present invention is to provide safety clothes that can
improve reliability
and freedom of motion, which are required for the same.
[Advantageous Effects]
The invention uses gas-containing capsules, in which gas is sealed, as a
buoyant material
so that no water can permeate into the buoyant material even if a wearer
remains in the water for
a long time, thereby improving the reliability of a life jacket.
The invention also uses the gas-containing capsules, in which gas is sealed,
as a buoyant
material so that the buoyant material can exhibit external impact-absorbing
performance that is
better than that of the shock-absorbing material of the related art in which
no gas is contained,
thereby more thoroughly protecting the body of the wearer.
Furthermore, the invention provides an attachment structure having a dotted
pattern to
liner and cover fabrics, which form multiple compartments in which the
multiple gas-containing
capsules are contained, so that the gas-containing capsules, which are
contained in the
compartments, can move within a predetermined range. This, as a result, can
increase the
pliability of the life jacket, improve the wearing sensation, and increase the
freedom of motion of
a wearer.
[Description of Drawings]
FIG. I is a perspective view showing an example of a life jacket of the
related art.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a life jacket according to an exemplary
embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the gas-containing capsule shown in FIG. 2.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the gas-containing capsule shown in FIG.
3.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing variations of the gas-containing capsule
of the
invention.
FIG. 6 is a schematic plan view showing the enlargement of a part of the life
jacket
shown in FIG. 2.
FIG. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the life jacket taken along line
VII-VII in
FIG. 6.
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FIG. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the life jacket taken along line
VIII-VIII in
FIG. 6.
FIG. 9 is a schematic plan view showing part of a life jacket according to
another
exemplary embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 10 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the life jacket taken along
line X-X in FIG.
9.
[Best Model
According to the invention for realizing one or more of the foregoing objects,
the safety
clothes includes a fabric structure having a liner fabric and a cover fabric
attached to each other;
and a plurality of gas-containing capsules contained in compartments, which
are defined between
the liner fabric and the cover fabric, wherein gas is sealed inside the gas-
containing capsules.
Each of the gas-containing capsules may be made of a synthetic resin material,
with an
enclosed inner space formed therein. Gas is sealed in the inner space.
The gas-containing capsule may be manufactured by forming the synthetic resin
material
into a predetermined shape with the inner space therein through blow molding
or injection
molding, followed by injecting gas into the inner space, and sealing the inner
space.
Examples of the synthetic resin material may include ethylene vinyl acetate.
The liner fabric and the cover fabric may be attached to each other
intermittently at
points adjacent to the gas-containing capsules in lateral and vertical
directions in order to form the
compartments.
The compartments may be formed between the liner fabric and the cover fabric,
which
are attached to each other in central areas. Each of the central areas is
defined by 4 adjacent
capsules of the gas-containing capsules.
The gas-containing capsules may have an octagonal cross-sectional shape. Each
gas-
containing capsule may have 8 sidewalls, in which 4 sidewalls have a shorter
lateral length, 4
remaining sidewalls have a longer lateral length, and the 4 sidewalls having a
shorter lateral
length form comers of the gas-containing capsule.
The safety clothes may further include a plurality of through-holes
penetrating the liner
fabric and the cover fabric in central areas, each of which is defined by 4
adjacent capsules of the
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gas-containing capsules
The safety clothes can include a life jacket in which the gas-containing
capsules act as a
buoyant material.
[Mode for Invention]
The above and other advantages of the invention and of the operation of the
invention
and the above and other objects, which are realized by embodying the
invention, will be more
apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the
accompanying drawings,
which show exemplary embodiments of the invention.
The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with
reference to the
accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments thereof are shown. In
the following
description of the present invention, however, detailed descriptions of known
functions and
components incorporated herein will be omitted when they may make the subject
matter of the
present invention unclear.
The life jacket of the invention can be applied in various forms, such as
those of a vest, a
jumper, pants, a guard, and the like. In terms of use, the life jacket can be
applied as a floating
device, which keeps a wearer afloat in the water, a shock-absorbing device,
which protects the
wearer's body from external impact when the wearer is exercising or walking on
the ground, and
the like. That is, in this disclosure, the term "safety clothes" is used as a
concept that embraces
various types of protective equipment, which are in the form of a piece of
apparel that a person
can wear on his/her body. However, in the following description, the safety
clothes of the
invention will be limited, for the purpose of illustration, to the life
jacket, which is used as a
buoyant device to prevent a water accident from occurring by keeping the
wearer afloat in the
water.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a life jacket according to an exemplary
embodiment of the invention, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the gas-
containing capsule shown in
FIG. 2, FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the gas-containing capsule shown
in FIG. 3, and FIG. 5
is a perspective view showing variations of the gas-containing capsule of the
invention.
In addition, FIG. 6 is a schematic plan view showing the enlargement of a part
of the life
jacket shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the life
jacket taken along
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line VII-VII in FIG. 6, and FIG. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the
life jacket taken
along line VIII-VIII in FIG. 6.
Referring to FIGS. 2 to 8, the life jacket 100 of this embodiment includes a
plurality of
gas-containing capsules 130, in which gas is sealed, and a fabric structure
110, which includes a
liner fabric 111 and a cover fabric 112. The liner fabric 111 and the cover
fabric 112 are
attached to each other to form a plurality of compartments S in which the gas-
containing capsules
130 are contained.
Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, each gas-containing capsule 130 is configured to
form an
enclosed inner space, in which gas is sealed in order to produce a certain
amount of buoyancy.
Examples of the gas sealed inside the gas-containing capsules 130 may include
air, nitrogen (N2),
and the like.
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the gas-containing capsule 130 has a contour
generally in
the form of an octagonal column with an octagonal cross section. Thus, the
octagonal structure
of the gas-containing capsule 130 forms 8 sidewalls 131 and 133, of which 4
shorter sidewalls
131 have a shorter lateral length L1, and the other 4 sidewalls 133 have a
longer lateral length L2.
The 4 sidewalls 131 having the shorter lateral length L2 form 4 corners of the
gas-containing
capsule 130. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 6, it is possible to set the
central areas C, which are
defined by 4 adjacent gas-containing capsules 130, to have a sufficient space
while decreasing the
distance between the multiple gas-containing capsules 130, thereby providing
attaching areas in
which the liner fabric 111 and the cover fabric 112 are easily attached in a
dotted pattern.
However, the shape of the gas-containing capsule 130 is not limited to this
embodiment. As
shown in FIG. 6, the gas-containing capsule 130 can have a variety of shapes,
such as those of a
flat ellipse, a rectangular column, a hexagonal column, and the like. In
addition, the size of the
gas-containing capsule 130 can vary depending on the design of the life jacket
100 that is used.
The advantage is that the smaller the gas-containing capsule 130 is, the
better the wearing
sensation becomes. Although not shown in the figures, it is preferred that the
corners of the gas-
containing capsule 130 be rounded.
The gas-containing capsule 130 can be made of one material selected from among
thermoplastic synthetic resins, such as Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA), Poly
Ethylene (PE), Poly
CA 02731910 2011-01-24
Ethylene Terephthalate (PET), Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC), and the like. In
particular,
considering that the life jacket 100 is a piece of apparel that a person
wears, it is preferred that the
gas-containing capsule 130 be made of EVA, which is a material that is
inexpensive but has
excellent pliability (softness), shock-absorbing ability, and heat retention.
The gas-containing
capsule 130 can be manufactured by forming a thermoplastic synthetic resin
material into a
specific shape having an enclosed inner space through blow molding, injection
molding, or the
like, injecting gas into the inner space, and sealing the inner space. Here,
it is more preferable
that blow molding, in which the gas-containing capsule 130 is manufactured by
blowing air into
it, be used rather than injection molding, in consideration that the gas-
containing capsule 130 is
shaped such that it has an enclosed inner space.
As described above, the gas-containing capsule 130 can serve as an excellent
buoyant
material in the life jacket 100, since it is made of a synthetic resin
material and gas is sealed
inside it. In addition, unlike foamed resin such as polyethylene foam, the gas-
containing capsule
130 does not lose buoyancy even if it is left in the water for a long time,
since no water permeates
into it. Thereby, the gas-containing capsule 130 can improve the reliability
of the life jacket 100.
In addition, the gas-containing capsule 130 has an advantage in that it can
produce buoyancy that
is greater than that of the foamed resin of the related art when they have the
same volume.
Referring to FIGS. 2, and 6 to 8, the fabric structure 110, including the
liner fabric 111
and the cover fabric 112, is generally prepared in the form of a vest that a
person can wear. The
liner fabric 111 and the cover fabric 112 can be made of natural or synthetic
fiber, preferably,
waterproof or water-resistant fiber considering that the life jacket 100 is
used in the water. The
multiple gas-containing capsules 130 are arranged such that they are spaced
apart from each other
between the liner fabric 111 and the cover fabric 112. The liner fabric 111
and the cover fabric
112 are attached to each other to form multiple compartments S, in which the
multiple gas-
containing capsules 130 are contained. Specifically, each gas-containing
capsule 130 is
contained in a corresponding compartment S, which is defined between the liner
fabric 111 and
the cover fabric 112, in order to prevent the gas-containing capsule 130,
which is arranged
between the liner fabric 111 and the cover fabric 112, from being dislodged
from its position, so
that the multiple gas-containing capsules 130 are uniformly distributed
throughout the life jacket
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100.
Here, the multiple compartments S, in which the multiple gas-containing
capsules 130
are contained, are formed between the liner fabric 111 and the cover fabric
112, which are
attached to each other at the central areas C, which are defined by 4 gas-
containing capsules 130.
Specifically, the liner fabric 111 and the cover fabric 112 are attached to
each other at 4 points,
which are adjacent to four corners of the gas-containing capsules 130, such
that the multiple
compartments S are formed therebetween. Here, the liner fabric 111 and the
cover fabric 112
are sewn to each other. Specifically, the liner fabric 111 and the cover
fabric 112 are securely
attached to each other by sewing one point of the central area C, which is
defined by the 4
adjacent gas-containing capsules 130, several times.
As above, in the life jacket 100 of this embodiment, the multiple compartments
S, in
which the multiple gas-containing capsules 130 are contained, are formed by
attaching the liner
fabric 111 and the cover fabric 112 to each other, such that the liner fabric
111 and the cover
fabric 112 are attached to each other intermittently at points adjacent to the
gas-containing
capsules 130 in the lateral and vertical directions. That is, the attachment
structure having a
dotted pattern is applied to the attachment between the liner fabric 111 and
the cover fabric 112,
which forms the multiple compartments S. Accordingly, the life jacket 100 of
this embodiment
can improve the wearing sensation and increase the freedom of motion of a
wearer thanks to
increased pliability, since the gas-containing capsules 130, which are
contained in the
compartments S, can move within a predetermined range. Here, as described
above, since the
gas-containing capsules 130 have an octagonal cross-sectional shape, it is
possible to set the
central areas C, which are defined by 4 adjacent gas-containing capsules 130,
to have a sufficient
space while decreasing the distance between the multiple gas-containing
capsules 130, thereby
providing attaching areas in which the liner fabric 111 and the cover fabric
112 are easily
attached in a dotted pattern. Unlike this embodiment, the attachment between
the liner fabric
111 and the cover fabric 112, which forms the multiple compartments S, can be
continuously
made by an attachment structure having attaching lines, which include, for
example, lateral and
vertical attaching lines surrounding the gas-containing capsules 130.
Although the attachment between the liner fabric 111 and the cover fabric 112
to form
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the multiple compartments S is realized by sewing, it can be realized by
fusion, bonding, a
method that uses a separate attaching tool (not shown) such as an eyelet, or
the like. In addition,
although one gas-containing capsule 130 is contained in one compartment S in
this embodiment,
two or more gas-containing capsules 130 can be contained in one compartment S.
As described above, since the gas-containing capsules 130, in which gas is
sealed, are
used as a buoyant material, the life jacket 100 of this embodiment exhibits
excellent buoyancy.
The reliability of the life jacket can be improved, since no water can
permeate into the buoyant
material even if the wearer remains in the water for a long time.
In addition, the life jacket 100 of this embodiment employs an attachment
structure
having a dotted pattern on the liner fabric 111 and the cover fabric 112,
which form multiple
compartments S in which multiple gas-containing capsules 130 are contained, so
that the gas-
containing capsules 130, which are contained in the compartments S, can move
within a
predetermined range. This, as a result, can increase the pliability of the
life jacket, improve the
wearing sensation, and increase the freedom of motion of the wearer.
FIG. 9 is a schematic plan view showing part of a life jacket according to
another
exemplary embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 10 is a schematic cross-
sectional view of the
life jacket taken along line X-X in FIG. 9. Below, a description will be given
of the life jacket
according to another embodiment of the invention, focusing on the differences
from the
foregoing embodiment.
Referring to FIGS. 9 and 10, the life jacket 200 of this embodiment includes a
plurality
of gas-containing capsules 130, in which gas is sealed, and a fabric structure
110, which includes
a liner fabric 111 and a cover fabric 112. The liner fabric 111 and the cover
fabric 112 are
attached to each other to form a plurality of compartments S in which the gas-
containing capsules
130 are contained. In addition, a plurality of through-holes 217 is formed
such that each
through-hole 217 penetrates the liner fabric 111 and the cover fabric 112 in
the central area C
defined by 4 adjacent gas-containing capsules 130.
In other words, the life jacket 200 of this embodiment is configured to be
substantially
the same as the life jacket 100 of the foregoing embodiment, except that the
fabric structure 110
has the multiple through-holes 217, each of which penetrates the liner fabric
111 and the cover
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fabric 112 in the central area C defined by 4 adjacent gas-containing capsules
130. Therefore,
the components the same as or similar to those of the foregoing embodiments
are given the same
reference numerals, and detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted.
As above, the life jacket 200 of this embodiment further includes, in addition
to the
configuration of the foregoing embodiment, the multiple through-holes 217,
each of which
penetrates the liner fabric 111 and the cover fabric 112 in the central area C
defined by 4 adjacent
gas-containing capsules 130. Thus, it is possible not only to provide all the
advantages of the
foregoing embodiment, but also to further improve wearing sensation and reduce
the unpleasant
feeling of a wearer, since water is quickly evacuated from the life jacket 200
via the through-
holes 217 and the life jacket 200 is quickly dried in the wind when the wearer
comes out of the
water.
Like the foregoing embodiment, this embodiment also applies the method of
sewing the
liner fabric 111 and the cover fabric 112 at the central areas C, each of
which is defined by 4
adjacent gas-containing capsules 130, to the attachment between the liner
fabric 111 and the
cover fabric 112 in order to form the multiple compartments S in which the
multiple gas-
containing capsules 130 are contained. In consideration that the through-hole
217 is formed in
the central area C defined by 4 adjacent gas-containing capsules 130, it is
preferred that a string
215 be sewn around the through-hole 217 so that the liner fabric 111 and the
cover fabric 112 can
be securely attached to each other.
The safety clothes of the present invention has been described hereinbefore,
by way of
example, as being a life jacket. However, as mentioned above, the safety
clothes of the
invention can be applied in various forms, such as a jumper, pants, and a
guard. Further, the use
of the safety clothes is not limited to the floating device that keeps a
wearer afloat in the water,
but can be applied to a shock-absorbing device that protects the wearer's body
from external
impact when he/she is exercising or walking on the ground.
When the use of the safety clothes of the invention is applied to the shock-
absorbing
device, the gas-containing capsules act as a shock-absorbing material rather
than the buoyant
material. Since the gas-containing capsules are configured such that gas is
sealed therein, they
can exhibit external impact-absorbing performance that is better than that of
the existing shock-
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absorbing material of the related art in which no gas is contained, thereby
more thoroughly
protecting the body of the wearer.
The present invention is not limited to the foregoing embodiments, but various
modifications and alterations will be apparent to a person having ordinary
skill in the art without
departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, it should be
understood that all
such modifications and alterations fall within the scope of the claims of the
invention.
[Industrial Applicability]
The present invention is applicable to the field of safety clothes including a
life jacket.
