Posted by
liren on Friday, March 20, 2009 1:00:00 PM
The
most ancient examples of "primitive life
vests" can be traced back
to inflated bladders of animal skins or hollow, sealed gourds, for support when
crossing deeper streams and rivers.
Personal
flotation devices were not part of the equipment issued to naval sailors up to
the early 1800s, for example at the Napoleonic Battle of Trafalgar. Seamen who
were press-ganged into naval service might have used such devices to jump ship
and swim to freedom. It wasn't until lifesaving services were formed that personal
safety of boat crews heading out in pulling boats generally in horrific sea
conditions was addressed.
Purpose-designed
buoyant safety devices consisting of simple blocks of wood or cork were used by
Norwegian seamen. The modern lifejacket is generally credited to one Captain
Ward, a Royal National Lifeboat Institution inspector in the United Kingdom,
who, in 1854, created a cork vest to be worn by lifeboat crews for both weather
protection and buoyancy.
The
rigid cork material eventually came to be supplanted by pouches containing
watertight cells filled with kapok, a vegetative material. These soft cells
were much more flexible and more comfortable to wear compared with devices utilizing
hard cork pieces. Kapok buoyancy was used in many navies fighting in the Second
World War. Foam eventually supplanted kapok for "inherently buoyant"
(vs. inflated and therefore not inherently buoyant) flotation.
JESN ENTERPRISES PTE LTD.
supply many different kinds of life vest, life jackets, double
standard nylon jersey, neoprene, PVC or NBR in the middle. We can supply
different colors; ODM&OEM services to our clients, also we accept special
order according to clients samples. .