WADER WITH QUICK-RELEASE SYSTEM FOR EVACUATION OF WATER
A wader with a quick-release system for evacuation of water from the wader comprising: a wader having two pant legs, two foot coverings and a crotch area; a waterproof fastener that extends circumferentially around each pant leg at the seam between the pant leg and the foot covering; and a component that is attached to a jerk line and to the upper portion of the waterproof fastener. The jerk line extends from the upper portion of the waterproof fastener vertically up one pant leg to the crotch area of the wader and vertically down the other pant leg. When a person pulls on the jerk line at the crotch area of the wader, the jerk line causes the upper portion of the waterproof fastener to disengage from the lower portion of the waterproof fastener, thereby allowing any water contained within the wader to exit from the wader.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of waders, and more specifically, to a wader with a quick-release system for evacuation of water from the wader.
2. Description of the Related Art
A frequent safety issue with chest-high waders is that if water enters the top of the wader, it is virtually impossible to get the water out of the wader without removing the entire wader. If someone is standing in high water and slips, thereby causing water to enter the wader from the top of the wader, there is no quick way to get the water out of the wader, and the person wearing the wader is not in a position to take the entire wader off. The danger in this situation is that the person will be swept under water and drown.
The present invention is designed to prevent accidental death by drowning in situations of the type described above. The invention described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,044,478 (Girard, 1977) attempts to address the same problem, but it does so in a very different manner than that of the present invention, and the fastening device that is unfastened for release of the water inside the wader is not waterproof. Specifically, the '478 patent uses a pin that is attached by a chain to a strap connected to the upper portion of the wader at roughly the knee level of the wader. The pin passes through a shaftway in a male ferrule, which is inserted into a female ferrule with like shaftways. The pin secures the male ferrule to the female ferrule, and the wader is decoupled at the knee level when the pin is removed from the shaftways in the male and female ferrules.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,654,964 (Stoll, 1953) discloses an emergency cutting means for removing hip boots or waist-high waders when they have become filled with water. In the hip boot example, a wire with the top twelve inches split into two pieces is placed inside the top of a hip boot with the end of each split piece placed transversely around the inside boot top. The wire is then placed down the inside front of the boot down to the toe portion of the boot, through the boot at the toe portion, and then partially up the front outside of the boot to roughly the knee level. Breakable rubber bands secure the wire at intervals so that it maintains its position during normal use of the wader. The point where the wire extends from the inside of the boot to the outside of the boot is tearably sealed so as to be watertight. The top pieces of wire that extend circumferentially around the inside boot top are attached to cutter heads (which guide the cutting knife) and a cutting knife, which literally cuts the wader along the wire when the wearer pulls on a finger ring attached to the end of the wire on the outside of the boot at roughly the knee area. The wader is cut from toe to hip and then circumferentially around the top of the wader. The wearer may then kick off the hip boot in the water without having to unbuckle it.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,117,609 (Helt, 1978) provides a rip cord safety device designed to allow the wearer to open the wading boots from toe to top with a single upward pulling motion. The rip cord extends in two segments from the two toes of the wader up the front of each leg to the abdomen area, where the two segments join and further extend vertically up the bib area of the wader to the top of the wader. The rip cord is sealed within the inside wall of the wading boot with a flexible rubber coating that is water-resistant. The rip cord is constructed of a braided stainless steel. To operate the rip cord, the wearer pulls on a ring at the end of the rip cord on the toe of the wading boot, thereby causing the wading boot to part vertically along the line of the rip cord.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,357,050 (Thompson, 2002) involves an apparatus for facilitating the application and removal of chest-high waders; this patent does not deal with the problem of evacuating water from a wader. The invention is a liner in the nature of a body suit that is worn over the clothing of the wearer of the wader and between the clothing and the wader. The liner is made of TYVEK® material, and the top edge of the liner has an elastic band extending around it. A zipper extends downwardly from the top edge, and elastic is also used in the zipper and crotch areas to secure a tight fit between the liner and the person wearing the liner. The liner includes boots, and elastic may also be used in the ankle area directly above the boots. In one embodiment, the boots are removably secured to the bottoms of the leg members. In this embodiment, the bottoms of the leg members are secured with elastic bands around the leg of the wearer, and the boots are also secured with elastic bands over the bottoms of the leg members.
U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. 2008/0040837 (King et al.) claims a garment for use in a fluidic environment with a fluid-resistant zipper disposed on the garment such that it is in generally transverse orientation relative to the central medial axis of the torso of the wearer; in other words, the zipper is horizontally disposed on the wader in the general area of the crotch.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention is a wader with a quick-release system for evacuation of water from the wader comprising: a wader having two pant legs, two foot coverings and a crotch area, with a seam between each pant leg and foot covering; a waterproof fastener having an upper portion and a lower portion, wherein the waterproof fastener extends circumferentially around each pant leg at the seam between the pant leg and the foot covering; and a component that is attached to a jerk line and to the upper portion of the waterproof fastener, wherein the jerk line extends from the upper portion of the waterproof fastener vertically up one pant leg to the crotch area of the wader and vertically down the other pant leg; wherein when a person pulls on the jerk line at the crotch area of the wader, the jerk line causes the upper portion of the waterproof fastener to disengage from the lower portion of the waterproof fastener, thereby allowing any water contained within the wader to exit from the wader.
In an alternate embodiment, the present invention is a wader with a quick-release system for evacuation of water from the wader comprising: a wader having two pant legs, two foot coverings, and a crotch area, wherein each pant leg has a bottom portion, and a foot covering is attached to the bottom portion of each pant leg; a waterproof fastener having an upper portion and a lower portion, wherein the waterproof fastener extends circumferentially around the bottom portion of each pant leg; and a component that is attached to a jerk line and to the upper portion of the waterproof fastener, wherein the jerk line extends from the upper portion of the waterproof fastener vertically up one pant leg to the crotch area of the wader and vertically down the other pant leg; wherein when a person pulls on the jerk line at the crotch area of the wader, the jerk line causes the upper portion of the waterproof fastener to disengage from the lower portion of the waterproof fastener, thereby allowing any water contained within the wader to exit from the wader.
In a preferred embodiment, the jerk line is enclosed within a tubing. Preferably, the jerk line at the crotch area of the wader is enclosed within a handle that is removably attached to the crotch area of the wader. The component that attaches the jerk line to the upper portion of the waterproof fastener is preferably covered by a protective cuff that is attached to the wader above the upper portion of the waterproof fastener.
In one embodiment, the foot covering completely separates from the pant leg of the wader when the waterproof fastener is fully disengaged. In an alternate embodiment, the foot covering partially separates from the pant leg of the wader when the waterproof fastener is fully disengaged.
1 Wader
2 Jerk line
3 Tubing
4 Tape
5 Handle
6 Hook-and-loop fastener
7 Protective cuff
8 Waterproof fastener
8a Upper portion of waterproof fastener
8b Lower portion of waterproof fastener
9 Flap
10 Grommet
11 Elastic
12 Bootie (of wader)
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTIONThe jerk line 2 is preferably contained within a tubing 3 (see
A handle 5 is preferably located in the front of the crotch area of the wader 1, and the jerk line 2 passes through the handle 5 so that if and when the wearer pulls upward on the handle 5, the jerk line 2 is also pulled upward (see
The waterproof fastener 8, described more fully below, is preferably situated at the seam between the bootie and pant leg in a stockingfoot wader (which is what is shown in the drawings) or at the seam between the boot and pant leg in a bootfoot wader (not shown). The bootie in a stockingfoot wader is typically made of neoprene, which is why the bootie 12 is shown as being thicker than the wader material 1 in
In a preferred embodiment, a cuff 7 overlies the waterproof fastener 8 (shown in
As shown in
The flap 9 should be fixedly attached to the very bottom of the upper portion 8a of the waterproof fastener 8 but not to any other part of the wader 1 so that any upward force applied to the jerk line 2 will be applied directly to the bottom lip of the upper portion 8a of the waterproof fastener 8. The purpose of the flap 9 is to transfer force from the handle 5 to the upper portion 8a of the waterproof fastener 8 and to provide leverage over a greater length (preferably two to three inches) of the upper portion 8a than would be accomplished if the jerk line 2 were attached directly to the upper portion 8a of the fastener 8. Once the seal of the waterproof fastener 8 is broken at the point where the flap 9 attaches to the upper portion 8a, then the force of the water exiting the wader, along with downward pressure from the wearer's foot, will assist in breaking the seal around the rest of the waterproof fastener 8.
As shown in
When the invention is fully deployed (and the waterproof fastener fully disengaged), as shown in
The present invention has been proven to address effectively the problem of evacuating wader that is trapped inside of a wader while the wader is being worn and the wearer is in a body of water. The process of trying to remove the wader in a compromised situation is too time-consuming and cumbersome. As shown above, the present invention is quickly deployed and easy to use. All the wearer has to do is pull on the handle 5 in the crotch area on the front of the wader, and within a matter of seconds, the water trapped inside the wader is allowed to escape.
Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many changes and modifications may be made without departing from the invention in its broader aspects. The appended claims are therefore intended to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.
Claims
1. A wader with a quick-release system for evacuation of water from the wader comprising:
- a wader having two pant legs, two foot coverings and a crotch area, with a seam between each pant leg and foot covering;
- a waterproof fastener having an upper portion and a lower portion, wherein the waterproof fastener extends circumferentially around each pant leg at the seam between the pant leg and the foot covering; and
- a component that is attached to a jerk line and to the upper portion of the waterproof fastener, wherein the jerk line extends from the upper portion of the waterproof fastener vertically up one pant leg to the crotch area of the wader and vertically down the other pant leg;
- wherein when a person pulls on the jerk line at the crotch area of the wader, the jerk line causes the upper portion of the waterproof fastener to disengage from the lower portion of the waterproof fastener, thereby allowing any water contained within the wader to exit from the wader.
2. A wader with a quick-release system for evacuation of water from the wader comprising:
- a wader having two pant legs, two foot coverings, and a crotch area, wherein each pant leg has a bottom portion, and a foot covering is attached to the bottom portion of each pant leg;
- a waterproof fastener having an upper portion and a lower portion, wherein the waterproof fastener extends circumferentially around the bottom portion of each pant leg; and
- a component that is attached to a jerk line and to the upper portion of the waterproof fastener, wherein the jerk line extends from the upper portion of the waterproof fastener vertically up one pant leg to the crotch area of the wader and vertically down the other pant leg;
- wherein when a person pulls on the jerk line at the crotch area of the wader, the jerk line causes the upper portion of the waterproof fastener to disengage from the lower portion of the waterproof fastener, thereby allowing any water contained within the wader to exit from the wader.
3. The wader of claim 1 or 2, wherein the jerk line is enclosed within a tubing.
4. The wader of claim 1 or 2, wherein the jerk line at the crotch area of the wader is enclosed within a handle that is removably attached to the crotch area of the wader.
5. The wader of claim 1 or 2, wherein the component that attaches the jerk line to the upper portion of the waterproof fastener is covered by a protective cuff that is attached to the wader above the upper portion of the waterproof fastener.
6. The wader of claim 1 or 2, wherein the foot covering completely separates from the pant leg of the wader when the waterproof fastener is fully disengaged.
7. The wader of claim 1 or 2, wherein the foot covering partially separates from the pant leg of the wader when the waterproof fastener is fully disengaged.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 16, 2010
Publication Date: Dec 22, 2011
Inventor: Donn McAfee (Hamilton, MT)
Application Number: 12/816,425