Water safety garment with integrated rudder
View Patent ↗A life-jacket with an integrated rudder for navigating water currents is shown. The jacket integrated rudder is for water navigation in swift currents and is of simple construction, using a cord with handles to steer the attached rudder by pull of cord attached handles side-to-side.
1. A water safety garment with an integrated rudder comprising:
a jacket and a dorsal fin-like rudder base edge hinge coupled to a jacket back side;
the rudder having a semi-flexible frame body protruding from a jacket back side edge;
a cord having two ends, with cord middle firmly attached to the rudder, and
each cord end having a pull handle with cord threaded through jacket lateral side loops and midway affixed to the rudder for rudder control via the pull handles
whereby wearer floating in a water current in jacket with integrated rudder can navigate via pull handle steering by pulling the cord attached to the backside protruding rudder.
2. A water safety garment with an integrated rudder as in claim 1 further comprising rudder frame body panel material from a set of water weight neutral or buoyant water-displacing materials from a group of materials including nylon, foam, plastic and synthetics.
3. A water safety garment with an integrated rudder as in claim 1 further comprising frame body of panels from be inflatable compartments floatable when filled with compressed air to provide stiffness to rudder plane and to increase jacket buoyancy.
4. A water safety garment with an integrated rudder as in claim 1 further comprising jacket to rudder hinge coupling using hook-and-loop or snap-on attachment.
5. A water safety garment with an integrated rudder as in claim 1 further comprising jacket rudder hinge coupling having fiber shaft insert in centerline loop or a fiber rod end terminated with a lock-nut fastener or snap on fasteners for rudder attachment-detachment from jacket.
6. A method for a water safety garment with an integrated rudder comprising the steps of:
hinge coupling a dorsal fin-like rudder at base edge to a jacket back side;
providing a rudder flexibly protruding from a jacket back side edge;
providing a cord having two ends, with cord middle firmly attached to the rudder, and
providing pull handles on each cord end, cord threaded through a jacket lateral side loop and midway attached to the rudder for lateral rudder control via the pull handles
whereby wearer floating in a water current in jacket with integrated rudder can navigate via pull handle steering by pulling the cord attached to the backside protruding rudder.
7. A method for a water safety garment with an integrated rudder as in claim 6 further comprising the steps of using rudder panel material from a set of water weight neutral or buoyant water-displacing materials from a group of materials including nylon, foam, plastic, and synthetics.
8. A method for a water safety garment with an integrated rudder as in claim 6 further comprising the steps of providing panels with inflatable compartments floatable when filled with compressed air to provide stiffness to rudder plane and to increase jacket buoyancy.
9. A method for a water safety garment with an integrated rudder as in claim 6 further comprising the steps of providing jacket rudder hinge coupling having fiber shaft insert in centerline loop or a fiber rod end terminated with a lock-nut fastener or snap on fasteners for rudder attachment-detachment from jacket.
10. A method for a water safety garment with an integrated rudder as in claim 6 further comprising the steps of providing a jacket to rudder hinge coupling using hook-and-loop or snap-on attachment.