Two-piece protective suit for hazardous environments

Abstract

A two-piece protective suit for use in hazardous environments includes a coat and trousers each of which includes an outer garment and a removable liner, the outer garment including an outer shell made of a flame protective material and an inner layer of a material which is moisture resistant and resistant to the passage of hazardous chemical and / or biological agents and liquids, the coat including a bottom closure mechanism to tighten the bottom of the coat towards the waist of a wearer and inhibit hazardous material entry in the coat from below, left and right cuff closure mechanisms to tighten the left and right cuffs towards the left and right arms of a wearer and inhibit hazardous material entry into the left and right sleeves, and a hood and neck tab which are deployable over the head and neck of a wearer and over a face mask worn by the wearer to protect the head and neck of a wear from the hazardous materials and inhibit entry into the coat through its neck opening.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 600,833, filed Aug. 12, 2004.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates to protective clothing for use in hazardous environments, and in particular to protective suits for use in environments which not only may contain smoke, soot and heat from a fire but also harmful chemical and / or biological agents. [0004] 2. The Prior Art [0005] Protective clothing for use by first responders (EMS, fire and rescue personnel, hazmat and public health personnel, etc.) is commonly available. In order to meet the requirements of various mandated standards, such clothing is commonly in the form of coordinated coats and trousers which include a layer of material resistant to flames and a layer of breathable moisture barrier material to help keep the wearer dry. They also may contain a liner of a thermal material to protect the w...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008] Accordingly to this invention, a two-piece protective suit includes a coat and trousers, each of which includes an outer garment provided by an outer shell of flame-resistant material and an inner barrier layer lacated therein, the inner barrier layer being made of a breathable material that resists passage of moisture, hazardous chemical and / or biological agents, and liquids. The coat includes a bottom closure mechanism which, after the coat has been donned, can be manually activated to tighten the coat bottom toward the torso of a wearer and against the waist collar of the trousers of the suit to thereby inhibit entry of hazardous environmental materials upwardly into the coat.

[0009] The coat also includes a hood and throat tab which can be manually deployed over the head and neck of a wearer and around a face mask of an SCBA apparatus worn by the wearer to thereby inhibit hazardous environmental materials from contacting the head and neck of a wearer or from passing downwardly into the closed coat through its neck opening.

[0010] The coat of the two-piece protective suit also includes cuff closure means at the ends of its sleeves which can be manually activated to tighten the cuffs around the wearer's arm and onto gloves worn by the wearer to thereby inhibit entry of hazardous environmental materials upwardly into the sleeves.

[0011] The trousers of the two-piece protective suit includes cuff closure means at the bottoms of its legs which can be manually activated to tighten the leg bottoms towards the wearer's legs and against boots worn by the wearer to thereby inhibit hazardous environmental materials entering upwardly into the legs of the trousers.

[0012] In a preferred embodiment, each of the coat and the trousers can include a removable inner liner of a thermal material within the outer garment thereof. In one embodiment the lower portions of the legs of the removable inner liner of the trousers can be made of the same material as that of the inner barrier layer of the outer garment, and can include boot straps for placement inside of boots to facilitate donning of the trousers.

Problems solved by technology

However, such known two-piece suits have not been tailored to prevent ingress of environmental air together with particles (smoke and soot) or vapors (carbon monoxide, etc.) which may be contained therein, because exposure of a wearer's skin to these materials has not been considered hazardous (the wearer will be breathing using a face mask of an SCBA air supply apparatus).

Thus, for example, although the coat will overlap the top of the trousers, a gap will be present therebetween through which contaminated air can pass upwardly into the interior of the coat.

However, such suits, if used in a hot environment near a fire, will quickly become very hot inside, and they are exceeding cumbersome to put on.

One-piece suits of this type are not considered acceptable for use by people such as first responders who typically must don protective clothing in great haste and who may need to function in high temperature environments, i.e., near fires.

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