A MULTI-CHAMBERED PERSONAL SURVIVAL DEVICE AND AN ORALLY INFLATED, FLUSH MOUNTED, HYBRID BLADDER

摘要

An orally inflated, flush mounted bladder (1a); configured, supported and protected by the external fabric shell (2a) of the underlying inherently buoyant PFD. The fabric shell of the foam PFD can be extended and cut to distribute and allocate the orally inflated buoyant moments to augment the buoyancy deficits of the specific underlying foam (19a) PFD design in order to create improved corrective turning, head angle, mandibular support and freeboard. The fabric shell while shaping the bladder, bears the strain of the oversized inflated bladder protecting the bladder film and seams from rupture. The internal orally inflated hybrid bladder is protected by the external fabric shell and or foam layer from UV radiation, abrasion and puncture allowing use of films or thin films as well as UL approved fabric supported laminates for construction of the hybrid bladder. An expiratory pump converts the released bladder into a self-bailing life raft.