RESCUE DEVICE

Abstract

A rescue device comprising a throwable aerodynamic object and a rope retained thereto. The object is configured to enable a rescuer to direct it with accuracy to a person to be rescued. The rope has one end that is retained to the object and a second end that is retainable by a rescuer. The object includes a cavity within which the rope is retained until the object is thrown. When the object is thrown, most of the rope exits the cavity. The rescuer can pull on the rope at the second end after the person to be rescued grabs the rope or object.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a nonprovisional and claims the priority benefit of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/691,941, filed Aug. 22, 2012, entitled RESCUE DEVICE by the same named inventor. The content of that priority application is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to equipment for rescuing people. More particularly, the present invention relates to equipment that can be quickly deployed and accurately directed to a person in need of rescue, including a person in the water, on or in ice and in difficult-to-access land or water locations. The present invention is a throwable object that can be tossed in the vicinity of a person located in a place that is difficult or hazardous for emergency responders or any rescuers to access.

2. Description of the Prior Art

There is nothing more distressing or dire than seeing a person caught in a situation that can result in the loss of his or her life. While not the only such type of situation, a person located in the water and in danger of drowning may be more common than all others. First responders and others tasked with the responsibility of making an effort to rescue such a person carry out regular training to give themselves the best chance possible to save that person. Unfortunately, due to the hazardous nature of the location where the compromised person is found, the responders themselves may also become compromised if great care is not taken to perform the rescue task in a safe manner—even with suitable training.

In order to enhance the chance of success in a rescue without unnecessarily compromising the rescuer, a range of tools exist that are designed to facilitate the rescue in some way. For example, boats are available that can be used to gain access to a person in the water. Unfortunately, these tools are not useable where the person in distress is located. In the case of the boat, the water may be too shallow or too rough to get close enough to the person to be rescued. In other instances, the boat may simply not be available in time to complete the rescue.

There are simple tools readily available and suitable for use in gaining access to the person. One such tool is the buoyant ring with attached rope that can be tossed to a person in the water. The rescuer must throw the ring near the person and hope that he or she can grab it and hold on while the other end is pulled from a safe location, such as a boat or the water's edge. Unfortunately, it can be very difficult to throw the ring accurately or far enough, particularly in extreme weather conditions including high winds. If the first toss is inaccurate, the rescuer must pull the ring back, gather the attached rope from the water and repeat the toss. That all takes time and, in general, a person located in water often only has a few minutes of sufficient strength to make the rescue viable.

Attempts have been made to improve the design of rescue devices that involve throwing an object to the person to be rescued. One attempt replaces the rescue ring with a ball that is shaped more aerodynamically than a ring and therefore easier to throw with greater accuracy and distance. The rescue rope is attached to the end of the ball and the rescuer throws the ball near the person, with the rope trailing behind. The inventor understands that this rescue device configuration has not been used commercially or with first responders. It is likely that it is not in common use because the trailing rope makes an accurate toss too difficult. Rescue devices have also been provided that are frisbee-shaped. The accuracy of the toss of such a device is highly dependent on the rescuer's Frisbee throwing skills and present wind conditions.

The variant on the rescue ring that is available commercially and generally widely used is the rescue throw bag. Recognizing the need to keep the lifeline rope compacted to enhance the accuracy of the toss; the rescue throw bag has an interior cavity for retaining the rope. The bag is thrown to the person to be rescued and the rope trails out from within the bag as it travels to the person. Unfortunately, the bag is much too flimsy without any weighting and in that condition moves significantly in any wind as it approaches its destination. The provider recommends an underhanded toss, which is a less accurate form of throw than an overhand toss. If the first toss of the bag does not make contact with the person, the bag must be recovered with the rope now out of the bag. The second toss is made without the rope retained within the bag and so the bag is of much less weight thus the accuracy and the distance of the second toss is often reduced. The time involved in making a third attempt, if possible, may be too much to save the person.

What is needed is a rescue device that allows the rescuer to deliver a lifeline to a person in distress as quickly and accurately as possible. What is also needed is such a device that can be delivered by individuals of varied throwing skills. Further, what is needed is such a device that can be used over multiple throws with little downtime between throws.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a rescue device that allows the rescuer to deliver a lifeline to a person in distress as quickly and accurately as possible. It is also an object of the present invention to provide such a device that can be delivered by individuals of varied throwing skills. It is another object of the present invention to provide a rescue device that can be used accurately over multiple throws with little downtime between throws.

These and other objects are achieved with the present invention, which is a rescue device including an aerodynamically shaped rescue ball with an interior cavity for retaining a rescue rope therein. One end of the rope is affixed to one end of the rescue ball and the other end of the rope is retained to the rescuer tasked with throwing the ball to a person in need of rescue. A second end of the ball includes a port through which the rope within the cavity may pass out of the ball. The aerodynamic shape of the ball, which may be in the shape of a football, for example, makes it much easier to throw than a ring or a bag. The aerodynamic ball is preferably thrown overhand with a spiral throwing motion, which leads to greater accuracy in delivering it over the head of the person to be rescued. That is a preferred form of delivery because the person can reach the rope and the rescuer can maneuver the rope to the person from a safe location by pulling on the second end of the rope to cause the ball to move toward the person.

The rescue ball is preferably fabricated of a material that is relatively lightweight but with enough weight and/or aerodynamic configuration to maximize tossing accuracy. The ball is also preferably fabricated of a material that floats in water. If and when a second or third toss is required, it also has enough mass without the rope retained therein to allow the rescuer to maintain throwing accuracy without being so heavy as to compromise the distance the ball travels when thrown the second, third, etc., time. A material such as a light, flexible, soft polyether-based polyurethane foam has been found to be suitable for that purpose. At least for the first toss, retaining the rope within the ball minimizes possible throwing inaccuracy that could be caused by entangling the rope with the ball or the ball being held back by the drag caused by the deployed rope.

The configuration of the rescue device of the present invention enables rescuers of varying physical capabilities to throw the ball with effective accuracy and thereby enhance the likelihood of contacting the ball or rope with a person in need of rescue. While the rescue device is particularly effective in rescuing people in water, it may also be used to make contact with people trapped on ice or located in hard-to-reach locations on land. These and other advantages of the present invention will be more fully understood upon review of the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side view of the rescue device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional side view of the rescue device of the present invention, showing the rescue rope retained within the aerodynamic ball.

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional side view of the rescue device of the present invention, showing the rescue rope released from within the aerodynamic ball.

FIG. 4 is a representation of the use of the rescue device of the present invention in an attempt to rescue a person in water.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

A rescue device 10 of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 1-4. The rescue device 10 includes an aerodynamic object 12 and a rescue rope 14. The aerodynamic object 12 may be in the shape of a football, as shown in the figures, or some other ball or item that is of aerodynamic shape suitable for enhancing the accuracy of destination when throwing the object 12 overhand with spin. The object 12 may be fabricated of any suitable material as a function of the environment where the rescue device 10 is to be used. For example, for water rescues, the object 12 may have a waterproof exterior. Additionally, the object 12 may be fabricated to include a foam material, including open cell, closed cell or a combination of the two. The rescue rope 14 may be any form of rope or lifeline that can hold under the weight of a person to be rescued without failing. For example, the rescue rope 14 may be fabricated of polypropylene. The rescue rope 14 may be a unitary line or it may be made of a plurality of lines joined together.

The object 12 includes a first end 16 and a second end 18. The rope 14 includes a first end 20 and a second end 22. The object 12 also includes an interior cavity 24 configured and sized to retain therein a substantial portion of the rope 14. The first end 16 of the object 12 includes a port 26 through which the first end 20 of the rope 14 passes. The first end 20 of the rope 14 terminates with a knot or other configuration that has outer dimensions that are greater than the inner dimensions of the port 26 so that the first end 20 remains retained to the object 12 when a substantial portion of the rope 14 is outside of the object 12. For example, a washer 28 may be used to ensure that the first end 20 does not pass into the cavity 24 and a knot 29 further aids in that retaining.

The object 12 also includes a second port 30 that may be sized of the same or different inner dimensions as that of port 26. The second port 30 may be larger than the port 26 so that the rope 14 may exit the object 12 with minimal entanglement or delay when the object 12 is thrown to a person to be rescued. The rope 14 at its second end 22 includes a loop 32 or other suitable means to allow a rescuer to retain the rope 14 via the second end 22 when the object 12 is thrown to the person to be rescued. That is, the loop 32 may be used to removably secure the rope 14 about the rescuer's hand. Other forms of retention may be used instead of the loop 32

As illustrated in FIG. 4, the rescue device 10 of the present invention may be used by a rescuer 34 located in a safe location to rescue a person in distress, such as a person 36 in a body of water 38. Prior to the initial toss of the device 10, substantially all of the rope 14 is retained in the cavity 24 of the object 12. The rescuer 34 retains the second end 22 of the rope 14 to him or herself and then throws the object 12 in an overhand manner in the direction of the person 36. The rescuer 34 preferably throws the object 12 so that it passes over and lands in the water 38 directly behind the person 36. When the object 12 is first thrown, the rope 14 retained in the cavity 24 extends out of the second port 30, tethered to the rescuer 34 at the second end 22. If that first throw is successful in that the person 36 is able to grab and hold the object 12, the rescuer 34 can pull on the rope 14 to draw the person 36 to safety. However, if the first throw is errant, the rescuer 34 may pull on the rope 14 to bring the object 12 back. The rescuer may then bunch up the rope 14, quickly if need be, retain the second end 22 and throw the object 12 a second time. The configuration of the object 12 provides the object 12 with flight accuracy and enough mass to allow the rescuer 34 to make a second throw that is effective. This process may be repeated in a rapid fashion until the person 36 can grab the object 12.

The rescue device 10 may be used for a wide range of rescue activities including the rescue of persons in the water, on or in ice and in difficult-to-reach locations on land. The rescuer may be located on land or in a watercraft or a vehicle. The present invention has been described with respect to an example embodiment. Nevertheless, it is to be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. All equivalents are deemed to fall within the scope of this description of the invention.

Claims

1. A rescue device comprising:

a. an aerodynamic object including a cavity, a first end and a second end, wherein the first end includes a port and the second end includes a port; and

b. a rope including a first end and a second end, wherein the first end extends through the port of the first end of the object and is retained to the first end of the object, wherein the second end of the rope includes means for holding the rope and wherein a substantial portion of the rope is retainable in the cavity of the aerodynamic object,

wherein the port of the second end of the object is configured to permit the rope to pass out of the cavity of the object when the object is thrown.

2. The rescue device of claim 1, wherein the means for holding the rope at the second end is a loop.

3. The rescue device of claim 1, wherein the first end of the rope includes a knot for retaining the first end of the rope to the first end of the object.

4. The rescue device of claim 1, wherein the object has a shape of a football.

5. The rescue device of claim 4, wherein the object is fabricated to include a foam material.