Personal debris shield and system

Abstract

A personal debris shield for use as a personal protection device to protect against falling or wind-driven debris, such as during a tornado, hurricane, earthquake, or the like, includes a body-conforming impact absorption shield that may be quickly positioned over a user's body and that may be removed and/or jettisoned if needed.

Description

RELATED APPLICATION[0001]The present non-provisional United States patent application is related to, and hereby claims priority to and the full benefit of, United States provisional application entitled “Personal Debris Shield and System” filed on Jun. 6, 2007 on behalf of Michael Montgomery, and having assigned Ser. No. 60 / 933,396.TECHNICAL FIELD[0002]The present disclosure relates generally to personal protection devices, and more specifically, to a personal debris shield and system.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Over time, a wide variety of personal protection devices have been developed in order to prevent all manner of injuries. Many of these may be described as garments, intended to be worn by a user. Of such devices, helmets are demonstrative examples; they are designed to prevent injury to one of the most important and vulnerable parts of the body, the head. Helmets are designed to generally encase at least a portion of the head of the user, and attach thereto, such as wit...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0014]Accordingly, one feature and advantage of the device is its ability to provide a personal debris shield that is capable of protecting a user from injury, such as from falling, wind-driven, or other projectile debris.

[0015]Another feature and advantage of the device is its ability to be quickly donned and removed, even by injured or handicapped individuals.

[0016]Yet another feature and advantage of the device is its ability to provide a survival system, such as for use in an emergency situation, that provides protection from physical injury and facilitates survival and rescue during and after such an emergency situation.

Problems solved by technology

Helmets and other such garments function well for the purpose of preventing injuries, such as blunt trauma, lacerations, and punctures, but disadvantageously protect only a limited part of the body and restrict motion thereof.

This process is time-consuming, and not practical in emergency situations.

In any event, the mobility of the user may be severely limited by such garments while worn, thus discouraging use and potentially placing the user in harm's way.

While these devices have succeeded in increasing a protected area of the user's body while eliminating the need for multiple garments, they have done so at the further cost of mobility, and at the cost of ease of use.

Thus, while the user's neck may at least sometimes be protected, the user may be in a worse position overall due to the user's inability or reduced ability to detect and avoid dangers, caused by the limitation in the user's motion associated with the projection.

Thus, it is readily apparent that there exists an unmet need for a personal debris shield to protect against blunt trauma, lacerations, punctures, or the like, that may be donned quickly and easily in an emergency situation, and that reduces an adverse impact on the user's mobility and ability to quickly and easily remove and / or jettison the device.

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