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  Buoyant visibility deviceUSPTO Application #: 20070238373Title: Buoyant visibility device Abstract: A buoyant visibility device comprising an enclosure structure on its exterior, a hollow interior, and a plurality of arms arranged such that, in any position, at least one arm substantially extends upward, wherein the visibility device may be filled or pre-filled with fill materials in its interior. (end of abstract) Agent: Lars H Henrikson - Seattle, WA, US Inventor: Lars H Henrikson USPTO Applicaton #: 20070238373 - Class: 441 6 (USPTO) The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070238373. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CROSSREFERENCED AND RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001]Priority claim: Provisional Patent Application No. 60/790,183. Apr. 7, 2006 FIELD OF INVENTION [0002]This invention generally relates to a three-dimensional visibility device or marker. BACKGROUND OF INVENTION [0003]One of the major issues in water safety is locating the position of a person or cargo overboard in the water. When a person is overboard and floating in water, only a small part of the person's body is above the water, and even if the person overboard was wearing a bright colored life preserver, the person is very difficult to locate, especially when the surface of the water is not still. Coupled with other factors such as the boat or ship moving away from the person overboard, darkness, weather, etc., it can be extremely difficult to locate and rescue the person overboard. It is therefore important to make available and discharge a visibility device or marker close to the person or cargo overboard so that the person or cargo overboard can be readily located. A visibility device or mark not only is useful for locating a person or cargo overboard, but it can also be a buoyant onto which the person overboard can grab and hold. [0004]Many visibility devices or markers for use in marine or water environments are known in the art. Examples of these visibility devices include man overboard poles, crew overboard markers, rescue floats and streamers, diving marker devices, emergency evacuation survival suits, life buoys, lights and strobes, floating lines, and the like. Most of these devices are limited in providing adequate versatility, visibility, and buoyancy, which can result in persons or objects being lost to sight in water environments and unrecoverable in emergency situations and rescue operations. For example, man overboard poles are generally ungainly, difficult to store and deploy, and have little excess buoyancy. Also, man overboard poles remain limited in storage capacity due to their length. For instance, man overboard poles can be stored on sailboats since they can be attached to a backstay; however, it is uncommon for man overboard poles to be stored on a powerboat due to the length of the poles. Further, due to their slenderness, man overboard poles are not very visible from a distance. [0005]Crew overboard markers generally contain a significant amount of ballast or the like in order for the markers to remain upright. Tossing or throwing the markers can therefore be difficult and challenging due to the additional weight of the markers. Thus, crew overboard markers are of limited practical utility because they can only generally be dropped off from an area in close proximity to a boat or ship, thus the markers can be left quite a distance from the actual overboard area. [0006]Rescue streamers that can be attached to life rafts or personal floatation devices ("PFD") are known to be visible from a distance or air. However, since rescue streamers, during use, typically lie flat on the surface of water, they are not effective in showing points of rescue from the perspective of a boat, ship, or land. [0007]Several types of throwable inflatable and floatable visibility devices are also known in the art. These inflatable and floatable visibility devices are generally useful in providing buoyancy to a person in the water. However, these devices are limited for use in locating a person in rough water conditions or from a distance because the devices are generally positioned at the water level. Also, these devices are typically bulky and thus are difficult to be released to the person or cargo gone overboard. [0008]Marker devices used by SCUBA divers to mark their dive locations include flags attached to inner tubes, ballasted inflatable devices, ballasted solid buoyant flag holders, post-dive location marking devices, and the like. These devices typically comprise multiple parts and assembling the parts can be time-consuming. Also, the ballast must be carried in addition to a diver's other weights and gear. Post-dive location marking devices usually consist of inflatable tubes that are inflated by a stranded diver or a diver awaiting pick-up by a dive boat. These devices must be held or attached to a diver in order to stay erect. Further, these devices are limited in providing visibility from the air. [0009]Many visibility devices for use on land environments are also known in the art. Examples of these visibility devices include inflatable land buoys, traffic cones, barrels, pylons, and the like. Similar to the crew overboard markers mentioned above, inflatable land buoys can be quite heavy because in order for the land buoys to remain upright, the buoys usually contain significant amount of ballast or the like. Also, land buoys generally have a large internal volume to surface ratio, thus, the period of inflation can be quite long. Further, inflatable land buoys, traffic cones, barrels, pylons, and other marking devices are limited in providing visibility and stability because they can be toppled easily. [0010]Many types of spherical balloons and spherical visibility aids for use in emergency situations are also known in the art. The disadvantage of these spherical devices is that the amount of gas needed for inflation limits the ultimate practical size of the fully inflated object. Further, these spherical devices can not be easily grasped as buoyancy aids. [0011]U.S. Pat. No. 3,877,096 discloses an inflatable flotation device comprising a long narrow air-tight tube covered with light reflective material. The tube is closed at one end and has valve device at the other end for manual inflation of the tube. The tube is divided into seven segments and folded at the intersections therebetween so that the tube, when inflated, forms a regular tetrahedral configuration. One tip of the tetrahedron will always project a significant distance out of the water to provide a highly visible marker which can be seen for long distances to assist in spotting a person in distress. [0012]U.S. Pat. No. 3,800,735 discloses a traffic warning device or barrier comprising an interconnected group of hollow tubes. In one embodiment, six tubes are arranged as the edges of a tetrahedron. At each vertex, the tubes communicate with each other, so that there is a continuous passage through the hollow system. The tubes may be rigid or may be inflatable, and there is a filling valve at any suitable location. In use, at least three horizontal tubes are filled with water, dry sand, lead shot, gravel, marbles, or other suitable weighting material. The three partly vertical inclined tubes may be so filled or be filled with air, especially when the barrier is of the inflatable type. [0013]U.S. Pat. No. 3,947,908 discloses a life-saving appliance that automatically inflates an inflatable tube after a short period of contact with water comprising a metallic receptacle containing a refrigerant in the liquid stage, a membrane normally sealing the receptacle, a manually-actuated pin for penetrating the membrane, an inflatable tube surrounding the receptacle, a conduit for connecting the interior of the receptacle to the tube, and a water-soluble retaining band for holding the tube, in deflated condition, against the exterior of the receptacle. The appliance can be thrown several feet outwardly over a body of water and shortly after contact with the water, the retaining strip disintegrates and the refrigerant passes through the membrane, which has already been punctured, to rapidly expand and fill the inflatable tube. [0014]U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,933 discloses a pyramid-shaped floating search and rescue inflatable signal device constructed of upstanding inflatable beam members extending, from an inflatable base upwardly to an apex. The inflatable base carries an integral sea anchor depending therefrom, comprising an inflatable cross tube carrying a centrally depending inflatable anchor tube with an anchor weight positioned in the lowermost end portion thereof. The sea anchor includes a plurality of flood ports positioned in lower flat panels of flexible sheet material extending between the base and the end of the anchor tube to form a pyramidal surface enclosing the vertical anchor tube and weight. Upper flat panels of flexible sheet material extend between the upstanding inflatable beam to form a pyramidal surface. The upper panels include an upper radar reflective panel portion, a lower colored panel portion, and a translucent panel portion positioned between the upper and lower panel portions. A solar still mechanism is positioned within the enclosure formed by the pyramidal surface. Pockets are provided for survival gear on the exterior of the pyramidal surface. [0015]U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,263 discloses a throwable, multi-sided emergency traffic warning marker. The marker body comprises a plurality of traffic-warning display panels preferably arranged in a tetrahedral configuration. The marker assembly is contoured and proportioned to insure display of one of the display panels to oncoming vehicles when the marker is thrown, dropped or otherwise placed on a roadway surface. [0016]Regular tetrahedron and spherical inflatable buoys are in use for marking race courses and other temporary uses. These devices typically require ballast to stay upright and have a large volume to surface ratio requiring a long inflation time and resulting in a practical limit to the height of marker achievable. [0017]The visibility devices described above remain limited in the area of versatility, visibility, and buoyancy characteristics. Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a visibility device to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages and problems. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0018]The present invention provides a visibility device that has a plurality of arms arranged such that, in any position, at least one arm substantially extends upward. The inventive visibility device can be constructed of any sizes and is suitable for use in various bodies of water or on land. The configuration of the visibility device provides for large visible surfaces relative to its interior volume. In use, the visibility device is generally visible from any angle, allowing ease of spotting from the air, bodies of water, or land. [0019]In one embodiment, the visibility device is provided with an enclosure structure on its exterior and comprises a hollow interior. The inventive visibility device may be filled or pre-filled with various fill materials in its interior. Alternatively, the inventive visibility device may be partially filled with various fill materials in its interior. In still another alternative, the inventive visibility device may be in a collapsed state and provided with at least one access structure for admitting various fill materials. [0020]The fill materials may be low, medium, or high density materials. Also, the fill materials may be uniform or non-uniform. In cases where the fill materials are non-uniform, fill materials may comprise different types of fill materials or have different weight or density. Fill materials may also be provided in different locations of the visibility device's interior. Continue reading... Full patent description for Buoyant visibility device Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Buoyant visibility device patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. 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