A self-righting underwater escape and surface survival suit includes an ascent hood and an inflatable bladder in fluid communication with the ascent hood. Breathable air from the vessel is used to inflate the inflatable bladder for ascent to and/or survival on the water surface. During ascent, breathable air is provided to the ascent hood from the inflated inflatable bladder. The inflated inflatable bladder is configured to provide self-righting of the wearer upon surfacing and to support the wearer on the water surface, even if the wearer is incapacitated or the ascent hood is opened.

An inflatable flotation device having a reaction chamber with reactants that generate gas when mixed, said reactants being separated by a barrier assembly; an activating mechanism adapted to remove or puncture the barrier assembly such that said reactants mix; and an inflatable compartment fluidly connected to the reaction chamber by means of a pressure sensitive passageway, adapted to open only when the pressure of the gas in said reaction chamber exceeds a predetermined threshold. This ensures that most of the reactants are used up to generate gas before the gas enters the inflatable chamber, thus preventing scattering of the reactants. Some implementations have a reaction chamber without a barrier assembly, comprising reactants that generate gas when mixed with water and an activating mechanism adapted to expose the reactants to water. A variety of manual or automatic mechanisms may be employed to activate the reaction and inflate the device.

A device comprises a spring and a sleeve. The spring is configured to form a closed loop. The spring is moveable between a coiled configuration when the spring is collapsed and an uncoiled configuration when the spring is expanded. The spring defines a circumference while in the uncoiled configuration. The spring is disposed within the sleeve.

An aquatic system is provided for use with an object. The aquatic system includes: a parameter detector being configured to detect a parameter of the object and to output an activation signal based on the detected parameter; an inflatable bladder being configured to inflate with a gas to displace a volume of water when the object is in the water; a memory having instructions stored therein; and a stabilization controller being configured execute the instructions to cause the inflatable bladder to inflate so as to establish horizontal buoyancy of the object based on the activation signal.

A portable device for inflating an inflatable bag (60) comprises at least one inlet (46), for forming a fluid connection to a gas source. The gas source is attached or attachable to the inlet. The device further comprises an air intake chamber (32) which has an opening allowing atmospheric air to be admitted and an outlet intended to be connected to the bag to be inflated. The gas source comprises a first and at least a different second gas component. The first component is stored at least partially in liquid form; preferably, the first component is carbon dioxide. The gas source contains at least 10%, preferably more than 30% and most preferably more than 60% of the first component. The second component is gaseous or supercritical at a temperature of 243K and up to a pressure of 200 bar, preferably, the second component has a critical temperature below 243K.

A work suit having a lifesaving function is provided where the work suit is made of two or more sheets of fabric, at least one variable contact tube keeping air in an amount smaller than a maximum capacity is formed in the uppermost part of a side of the work suit that corresponds to the girth of the body of a wearer, and when the variable contact tube gets into water, air in a lower portion is moved up by water pressure such that the thickness of an upper portion changes to the thickness when the variable contact tube is fully filled with air, so the variable contact tube come is in close contact with the body of the wearer.

Described herein is a garment (e.g., pants, underpants, shorts, headgear, a skullcap, a glove, socks, shoes, a vest, a jacket, a shirt, an undershirt, an undergarment, or a full body suit) that can be worn by a wearer (e.g., military or civilian law enforcement personnel, an emergency first responder, or a dog) that includes inflatable bladders. When activated, the bladders of the garment inflate, thereby providing an increase in buoyancy to the wearer of the garment, e.g., while swimming.

An integrated tourniquet system is provided that, in some embodiments, provides for a specially designed pocket integrated within a garment or flotation device wherein the pocket is configured to removably retain a one-handed tourniquet having, in some embodiments, a windlass system.

A rain bib garment is provided, wherein the rain bib garment includes buoyant elements that may be employed so that a wearer may float in water, should the need arise, and further includes means for providing a substantially water-tight seal between the rain bib and a wearer at an upper portion of the rain bib.

Disclosed is a method for manufacturing a flexible three-dimensional structure, characterised in that it includes the following steps: preparing a temporary mould defined by a peripheral surface; positioning a support structure on at least one portion of the peripheral surface of the temporary mould; decomposing the temporary mould; and extracting the decomposed temporary mould.