A personal flotation device, commonly called a life jacket, is a vest or suit worn to keep its wearer afloat with the head and mouth above the water's surface without requiring the wearer to swim or tread water, even while unconscious. Early flotation aids used inflated bladders or animal skins, and cork blocks became commercially available to English boaters through advertisements in The Sporting Magazine in 1804; Captain John Ross Ward, an Inspector of Lifeboats at the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, created a dedicated brown cork vest for lifeboat crews in 1854. Cork was largely replaced in 1904 by watertight pouches filled with kapok, a lightweight vegetable fiber far more flexible and comfortable to wear, and the modern inflatable life preserver was invented in 1928 by Peter Markus, later nicknamed the Mae West for its appearance when worn inflated.
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SignificanceCaptain John Ross Ward of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution is generally credited with the modern life jacket. 1 Personal Flotation Device
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Why did some early inflatable life rings fail to save unconscious wearers?
A ring that did not hold the head back let an unconscious wearer roll face down and drown.
The Admiralty Pattern 14124 inflatable life ring, the main life preserver issued to British sailors at the start of the Second World War, gave about 8.5 pounds of buoyancy. Its flaw, shared by many life preservers of the time, was that it did not keep the wearer's head back out of the water while floating. A wearer who went unconscious would roll forward, end up face down in the water and drown.
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Source Personal flotation device, Wikipedia
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Source Personal flotation device, Wikipedia
Invented By
Source Personal flotation device, Wikipedia
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1. Personal flotation device, Wikipedia
History section, passage beginning: He created a brown cork vest in 1854 to
He created a brown cork vest in 1854 to be worn by lifeboat crews for both weather protection and buoyancy.
History section, passage beginning: The modern life jacket is generally cred
The modern life jacket is generally credited to the Inspector of Lifeboats at the Royal National Lifeboat Institution in the UK, Captain John Ross Ward (later Vice Admiral of the Royal Navy).
- In Group: Marine Safety Equipment, History section, passage beginning: The modern life jacket is generally credited
In Field: Marine Engineering, Introduction
PFDs are commonly worn on small watercraft or other locations where accidental entry into deep water may occur in order to provide immediate support for the wearer should they end up in the water.
Associated With: Peter Markus, History section
The Mae West was a common nickname for the first inflatable life preserver, which was invented in 1928 by Peter Markus (1885-1974) (US Patent 1694714), with his subsequent improvements in 1930 and 1931.
Invented By: Peter Markus, History section
The Mae West was a common nickname for the first inflatable life preserver, which was invented in 1928 by Peter Markus (1885-1974) (US Patent 1694714), with his subsequent improvements in 1930 and 1931.
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