A crew boat for transporting personnel to and from an offshore platform is equipped with a passenger capsule and a basket-like cradle, which retains the passenger capsule adjacent a passenger deck during the voyage. The passenger capsule forms a watertight enclosure, which can serve as a life raft in emergency. The passenger capsule is equipped with its own automated heave compensation system, power supply, and stabilization means. The passenger capsule is equipped to be lifted and lowered onto the cradle using platform-mounted cranes.

A mechanism disposed between a frame structure and a base structure, the mechanism comprising a damper including a piston rod. The damper is mechanically connected between the frame structure and the base structure in a normal mode of operation. The damper enables a longitudinal and suspended upward and downward movement of the frame perpendicular to a plane. An energy-absorbing arrangement that includes a plastically deformable absorbing element. The plastically deformable absorbing element is adapted to plastically deform in response to stresses greater than a predetermined threshold stress along an axis perpendicular to the plane. A bar mechanically attached to the plastically deformable absorbing element and having an engagement portion.

A device for rapid removal/reinstallation of a back of a seat of a vehicle, the back being attached, by at least one first strap, to a ceiling. The device includes a hanging intermediary structure and a fixed structure integral with the ceiling and retaining the structure in the use position of the seat, in which it has been brought with an upward movement, and locking the structure in the use position or unlocking it such that it is moved away from the ceiling to release the tension exerted by the first strap and allow the structure to be disengaged from the retaining unit. The back can thus be removed or reinstalled without any action on the tension setting of the strap.

A mechanism for decreasing kinetic energy includes a carriage to connect to an object, a first wire passing through a top portion of the carriage, a second wire coterminous with the first wire at a top end and a bottom end, a spreading wheel axially fixed in a center position of the carriage between the first and second wires to plastically deform the first and second wires from a substantially parallel configuration to conform to a circumferential surface on two opposing sides of the spreading wheel as the carriage moves from the top to the bottom end, and a pair of despreading wheels axially parallel to and oriented proximal to the spreading wheel such that the first and second wires are deformed by a circumferential surface of each of the despreading wheels such that they are deformed again as the carriage moves from the top to the bottom end.

Controlled energy absorption of seats for impact is described herein. One disclosed example method includes determining a weight of an occupant of a seat of an aircraft, and calculating, using a processor, a stroke load of a seat energy absorber operatively coupled to the seat based on the weight of the occupant. The example method also includes setting the seat energy absorber to the calculated stroke load.

An aircraft seat includes a seat bucket that is integral by its seatback with a single beam oriented along an axis that is approximately perpendicular to the aircraft floor, which beam is integral with fastening points located on at least two separate lines on the aircraft floor.

A restraint system is provided for a manned vehicle. The restraint system may optionally be automatically actuated; that is, hands-free to the seat occupant or occupants where the restraint system is vehicle-wide. The restraint system may comprise a first component including an upper restraint and at least one secondary restraint apparatus such as an airbag or a belt system. The restraint system may have a manual override so an occupant can exit when circumstances require, even if the automated parameters would otherwise keep the restraints locked.

A kinetic seat assembly includes a primary seat back frame, a secondary seat back frame, and an upper pivot mechanism coupling the secondary seat back frame to the primary seat back frame. The upper pivot mechanism includes a bracket, and a pivotable link extending from a pair of opposite sides of the bracket and interconnecting the bracket and the primary seat back frame. A first end of each of the pivotable links is pivotally attached to the bracket, which is coupled to the secondary seat back frame, and an opposite second end each of the pivotable links is pivotally fixed to the primary seat back frame. The secondary seat back frame is permitted to move in a kinetic seat vertical direction relative to the primary seat back frame as the pivotable links permit the bracket to move in the kinetic seat vertical direction relative to the primary seat back frame.

An aircraft seat assembly including stanchions defining elongated guide channels and elongated motion sleds nested in the guide channels and affixed to a seat bucket. An energy absorber implemented as a wire bender assembly is coupled between the stanchions and the motion sled. In use, the elongated guide channels guide motion of the motion sleds and the wire bender assemblies attenuate energy during a dynamic event exceeding a predetermined threshold load value. The elongated interface between the guide channels and motion sleds serve to transfer excessive loading to the seat frame thereby protecting the seat assembly from damage and the occupant from excessive lumbar spinal loads.

A system includes a shear member and an energy absorber. The shear member is configured to couple a seat portion to a base structure of a vehicle. The shear member is configured to sustain a first load without fracture and configured to inelastically deform under a second load. The second load is greater than the first load. The energy absorber is coupled to the seat portion and coupled to the base structure. The energy absorber is configured to absorb the energy following deformation of the shear member.