Simula, Inc.

Other

USA As Represented by Secretary of the Navy

H. Koch & Sons Co., Inc.

Stencel Aero Engineering Corporation

Survival Engineering, Inc.

Gary F Bradley

Jason L Smith

Phillip J Hawkins

James W Duncan

Walter R Peck

Angelo Salvucci

William Barry Shope

Christopher S Proctor

Ronald E Brevard

F Terry Thomasson

Angela Sample

C Leon Rhodes

Thomas M Britton

Carrol Leon Rhodes

Carroll L Rhodes

Leon Rhodes

Carroll Leon Rhodes

Christina A Horvat

A quick release fitting including a housing assembly having a main portion and a housing arm extending from the main portion, a locking arm and a locking mechanism. The locking arm has a first locking arm end and a second locking arm end, the first locking arm is rotatably attached to the housing arm. The locking mechanism is disposed within the housing assembly, and communicates with the second locking arm end such the locking arm can be locked or unlocked to the housing assembly. When locked the locking arm is secured to the housing assembly and the housing arm, the locking arm and the housing assembly form a slot, when unlocked the locking arm is not secured to the housing assembly.

Quick release fitting

A head and neck restraint system includes a headpiece, a saddle, and tensioners connecting the headpiece to the saddle. The headpiece resides on top of a crew member's head and the saddle includes a saddle strap residing under the crew member's buttocks. The tensioners are pneumatic muscles which contract when a flow of gas is provided by gas generators. The gas generators are triggered by a G-sensor or by the initiation of a predetermined event. Triggering signals pass through a manifold from an ejection seat, aircraft, or vehicle. Contraction of the pneumatic muscles pulls the headpiece toward the saddle, thereby restraining the head, neck, and spine. The system is worn as an undergarment or incorporated into a garment. A manual adjustment provides head support during flight. The system is particularly useful for preventing head and neck injuries during ejection from or crash of an aircraft or vehicle.

Head and neck restraint system

A flotation collar includes an exterior cover and a bladder with two cells separated by a baffle. The exterior cover includes circumferential cover zippers which unzip if the bladder is inflated, and bottle access zippers to allow, for example, CO2 bottles to be removed and replaced. Each cell has a manual inflation valve stem for manual inflation, and an automatic inflation valve stem for automatic inflation by the bottles. The baffle forms a vertical separation in a neck portion of the bladder, and a diagonal separation in lower portions of the bladder. The vertical separation allow either cell to fill the neck portion of the bladder if the other cell is deflated, to adequately carry the wearer's head above water, and the diagonal separation allows either cell in the lower portions of the bladder to retain sufficient volume if the other cell is deflated, to provide auto-rotation of the wearer.

Flotation collar

A support collar having a bladder and a shell. The bladder is adapted to be inflated by a fluid. The shell is adapted to be attached to a harness. When inflated, the bladder is shaped by the shell to form an air chamber. The air chamber is characterized by a cross-section having a center of gravity and a dimension through the center of gravity. The dimension is larger at an open end than at the close end.

Inflatable head and neck support collar

A system for maintaining a user afloat in a fluid environment is disclosed. The system includes multiple chambers such that if one chamber fails to operate, redundant chambers will function to maintain the user afloat in a face-up position. In a preferred embodiment, there are multiple activation mechanisms to ensure inflation of the chambers if a single activation mechanism fails to function.

Multi-chambered flotation device

A sling having a generally rectangular shoulder pad with a cutout for the user's neck and four D-rings attached thereto is disclosed. A chest strap is attached to two of the D-rings, one on each end of the shoulder pad. An arm strap is attached to the two remaining D-rings. Both of the straps are formed of a resilient material to allow the user flexibility and mobility while wearing the sling. In order to create an easily adjusted attachment, each of the straps has a layer of resilient hook material on one side. At each end of each strap is a patch of hook material. The combination of hook and loop material is used to connect each end of the strap to the corresponding D-ring. An alternate embodiment uses two O-rings. Each O-ring attaches one end of both the arm strap and the chest strap to the shoulder pad. Also disclosed is a foam doughnut attachable to the underside of the shoulder pad to create a low pressure area within the opening in the doughnut to protecting a surgical site or other sensitive tissue.

Dynamic arm sling

A restraint harness that reduces frontal and lateral upper body movement of a vehicle occupant during a crash by substantially one-half over conventional restraint harnesses. In addition, the restraint harness further distributes crash load more on the occupant's shoulders, which are better able to handle the load. The restraint harness further distributes the crash load over a greater surface area than conventional restraint harnesses. In the preferred embodiment, the restraint harness is routed in a pulley configuration that restricts occupant movement to approximately one-half the distance that the occupant would move during a crash with a conventional harness restraint. The pulley action reduces slack in the straps, secures the occupant tightly to the seat, and limits the frontal and lateral displacement of the occupant's upper body, arms, and head.

Vehicle occupant restraint harness

A survival vest having a broad central strip forming the stem of a 'Y' covering the back of the wearer, with left and right front strips (forming the twin forks of the 'Y') dividing from the stem of the 'Y' at the back of the neck and running down along each of the front shoulder/armpit areas of the wearer. The tips of each fork of the 'Y' expand to form large, pockets which cover the front of the chest, abdomen, and (partially) the sides of the wearer. The twin large pockets are formed using a heavy-duty zipper, sewn around the periphery of each pocket area and are completely detachable. A webbing harness reinforces the vest across the inside of the twin pockets and along the forks of the 'Y'-shape of the vest, from the base of the pockets to the point at which they join to form the collar of the vest, and along the outer edges of the stem of the 'Y' which forms the back of the vest. A number of hook-and-loop fasteners (such as Velcro.RTM.) in the form of strips or patches are used to attach the survival pouches. The loop portion of the fasteners are sewn into the inner surface of each large pocket area (next to the wearers body), and the hook portion of the fasteners are sewn into the back surface of the smaller survival equipment pouches.

Low profile survival vest ensemble

A safety and life-preserving flotation collar intended for use by aircraft and shipboard personnel in an emergency that leaves the personnel in the water. The flotation collar has a fabric shell housing two automatically inflatable, independent, and symmetric flotation cells; two oral inflators and mechanical inflators mounted on the fabric shell; and a face shield stowed in the fabric shell. The flotation collar may be worn with an auxiliary belt or with a survival vest.

Low profile flotation collar

A unified, low-profile, lightweight and strong component mounting system an aircrew member's helmet is disclosed. The system includes a substantially rectangular mounting bracket that carries necessary power, communications, and optical inputs to the components, mounting hardware and specially designed interface pieces for each component. The system is designed to securely and easily snap-lock onto the helmet and is positioned to stay balanced while attached to eliminate crewmember discomfort.

Helmet head tracking mounting device

A harness and belt assembly for a crewmember of an aircraft including left and right slings, a first belt assembly having first end second ends, a survival kit strap assembly attachment fitting which slidably engages the belt assembly, and a mechanism for releasably attaching the fitting to a seat of an aircraft. The slings are designed to extend from the chest of the crewmember, over the crewmember's shoulders, to the back of the crewmember. The first end of the belt assembly is attached to one of the slings at the portion designed to be adjacent the crewmember's chest. The second end of the belt assembly is attached to the other of the slings. A survival kit belt can be affixed to the fitting so that the survival kit ejects with the crewmember during an ejection.

Safety harness and belt assemblies for aircraft crewmembers

A pilot limb retention system for an aircraft ejection seat comprising two main straps, two secondary straps and two nets coupled to the seat. The system includes a stowage assembly and a deployment system for the straps and nets. The stowage assembly comprises two compartments in the seat back and two compartments in the seat pan. The deployment system comprises four inflatable bladders, two adjacent the knees of the pilot on opposite sides of the seat pan and two adjacent the shoulders of the pilot on opposite sides of the seat back. These bladders are also stowed in the compartments and are releasably connected to the main straps.

Growing community of inventors

Hendersonville, NC, United States of America

Gary F Bradley