US2557079A - Rescuing device - Google Patents

Description

June 19, R, J, CUTR] REscUING DEVICE Filed Aug. e, 1945 FIG.

' INVENTOR ROCCO J. CUTRI i BYI ATTORNEY Patented June 19, 1951 2,557,079 RESCU'ING DEVICE Rocco J. Cutri, United States Navy, Milton, Mass. Application August 6, 1945, serial No. 609,302

(Granted under the act of March s, 1883, as amended April 3G, 1928; 370 0. G. 757) 1 Claim.

This invention relates to a rescuing device for use on shipsI and more particularly to a device for,

facilitating, expediting, and making safe the transfer of injured survivors from the water to a ship.

Conventional linfe saving apparatus for rescuing persons from the water generally include a ring or snap harness secured to a line. These devices are arranged for application under the arms and around the chest either by the survivor, or by a rescuer if the survivor is in a helpless condition. The application of these devices to the survivor often consumes excessive time during an extreme emergency, and their use frequently results in the iniction of further injuries. That is, when burns or bone fractures have been suffered, the harness, in being adjusted or during the hoisting operation may apply localized pres-- sure on injured parts so as to chafe or tear tender tissues or to cause a bone splinter to puncture a vital organ or pierce the flesh. Moreovenan injured part may be further harmed by having to sustain the weight of other portions of the body below it. Often, further injuries are caused by impact of the body of the survivor against the side of the ship while being hoisted aboard in a rough sea.

It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide a rescuing device of a design and con-- struction that renders the entire rescuing operation more direct, simple, and easy and whereby the survivor may be transported from the water in a at, recumbent position with utmost protection against further injury regardless of the eX- tent of his injuries and irrespective of the motion of the ship.

Another object of the invention is to provide a rescuing device which by its arrangement and construction affords maximum opportunity for self help to the survivor in eifecting the rescue even though he is seriously injured, and which affords maximum ease and eiiiciency of operation to a rescuer in instances where the survivors condition is such as to preclude self help.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of this character which is simple in construction and operation, inexpensive to manufacture, collapsible, and lends itself to compact and convenient storage on a bulkhead of a ship.

With the above and other objects and features in view, the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention and will be pointed out in the claim.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a schematic view showing the device and its attachment to a hoist or boat fall on a ship,

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the oating frame and net section of the device and showing the bridle connections between the frame and the hoisting line,

Fig. 3 is a top plan view thereof, certain parts being broken away for clearness, and

Fig. 4 is a detailed sectional elevation taken on the line IV-IV of Fig. 3 and showing the construction of the floating frame.

The device comprises an elongated frame I0 formed with parallel sides Il and semi-circular ends i2, |The frame is constructed of a core of tubular, corrosion resistant, metal i4 of one continuous piece, bent as indicated in Fig, 3. A short piece of rod l'of just suliicient diameter to fit within the meeting ends of the tube is inserted between the ends for reenforcing the joint which is secured by welding. Semi-cylindrical sections of cork composition or other buoyant material I8 are fitted to the opposite upper and lower sides of the tubing, completely therearound, and are held in position by spirally wound canvas or fabric tape 26. A coating of water-proof cement is applied to the tape completing the fabrication of the frame.

At four points at the rounded ends I2, adjacent to where they merge with the sides Il there are fixed to the core M as by welding, four staples or eyes 22 that extend upwardly through suitable openings provided in the cork I8 and fabric 20, Flexible, wire ropes 2li are spliced at their lower ends about thimbles 26 (Fig. 4) which encircle the eyes 22. The upper ends of these wires are brought together, thimbled, and connected at a point centrally of the frame by a ring 28 to form a bridle. The space between the two wires 24 at the same side of the frame is great enoughto allow the head and feet of a man in a dat position to clear them when he is floated into the device. The ring 28 is connected to a hook 30 carried by the lower block 32 of a conventional boat fall 34 which is suspended from a davit 36 at one side of the ship 3l. The davit and fall may be operated to launch the rescuing device and to bring it, with a survivor, to the deck of the ship in the same way that a boat is handled.

A bottom or cradle 3S of netting of relatively fine mesh completely covers theopening dened by the frame HJ and is suspended therefrom by lashing or other suitable means.

The buoyancy of the entire frame and net structure when the device has been lowered into the water and the hoisting line 34 is slack, is such that the frame I0 floats substantially awash. That is, the device while being buoyant enough to be self-righting, can be submerged with very little pressure. Thus, an injured survivor who is still capable of self-help, can readily submerge the device and maneuver himself into it. When the survivor is injured so seriously as to be beyond self-help, the rescuer, while supporting the survivor with one hand can, with his free hand, readily submerge the frame Hl angularly as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2 and iioat the survivor in a fiat position within the frame. As downward pressure on the frame is released, either by the survivor or the rescuer, its immediately responsive self-righting action causes the survivor to be safely-contained in the cradle.

The bottom or cradle 38 of the illustrated device, owing to the slack therein, has a hollow depression and upwardly sloping side and end portions. YEhe bottom moreover, is preferably nonbuoyant and has just sufficient slack to receive and evenly support the body of an immersed survivor substantially awash within the frame.

Under these conditions, the survivor will tend to float under the guidance of the sloping side and end portions of the cradle into the middle thereoi and his head, which rests on one of the sloping end portions of the net, will be supported just above the surface of the water.

It will now be apparent that the survivor may be placed in the net with a minimum of eort on the part of either himself or the rescuer in a fiat recumbent position, in which the pressure of the net, when the device is lifted out of the water will be as evenly distributed over the body of the survivor as possible.

As the device is hoisted out of the water, the survivor settles slightly into the cradle 33 and into a position in which his body is just below the level of the frame i@ and is partially wrapped laterally by the upward sloping side portions of the cradle. In this position the survivor is too low to be thrown over the frame i0 and yet not so low as to swing pendulum fashion against the side of the ship if the device should swing against the ship. The resilience of the frame I0, as well as the cushioning effect of its buoyant covering, also materially reduce any shock to the survivor should the device swingr against the side of the ship.

The outstanding operational advantages of the illustrated device result partly from its negligible reserve buoyancy which permits a survivor, who is so exhausted as to be incapable of raising himself ever so little, to submerge the device and get into it. mother important advantage of the device results from the survivors being evenly supported in a at position in the cradle and being protected by the frame I0 during his transfer to the deck of the ship from the water. These conditions both contribute to a speedy rescue, it

Abuoyant and resilient material, a non-buoyant meshed cradle secured along the periphery of said frame and suspended therefrom with sufficient slack to form a hollow depression having upwardly sloping side and end portions, the comi. bined weight of said frame, covering and cradle being slightly less` than the Weight of a. volume of sea water equal to the combined volume of said covering and cradle whereby said frame and,

cradle have negligible reserve buoyancy and thus adapted to be readily submerged upon application of slight downward pressure on said frame and self -righting upon release of said pressure, the slack in said cradle being suiiicient to receive and evenly support the body of an immersed survivor in a position where he will tend to float under the guidance of the sloping side and end portions of said cradle with his head supported just above the surface of the water on one of the sloping end portions of said cradle, and hoisting means for lifting said frame and said cradle fromthe Water to the ship including four eyes secured toY said frame and so spaced along said sides to allow a survivor to pass between them while in a reclining position, and four cables respectively secured at one end to said eyes and connected together at the other end centrally of said frame to form a bridle.

ROCCO J. CUTRI.

' REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 298,360 Bamber Sept. 24, 1878 1,258,762 Pacheco June 4, 1918 1,329,687 Underwood Feb. 3, 1929 1,902,972 Rouse Mar. 28, 1933 1,960,474 Browne May 29, 1934 2,121,052 Roberts et al June 21, 1938 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 15,380 Great Britain of 1889' 22,184 Great Britain of 1906v

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