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[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to a wet suit for underwater activities.
[0003] 2. Background of the Invention
[0004] It is well known that wet suits for scuba divers are made of such waterproof and heat-insulating materials as neoprene. It is also known that, with exclusion of special uses (i.e. professional use at considerable depth and/or in very cold water and/or for very long periods of time, where the suits used are absolutely waterproof and do not permit the infiltration of water), it is not essential that a diving suit should be absolutely watertight, the water being rather allowed to infiltrate between the body and the suit and to form a film that—due to the effect of the body heat—will rapidly increase in temperature. It is however very important that interchanges between the water contained between the diver's body and the suit and the outside water should be reduced to a minimum. The greater or lesser heat insulation of a diving suit will therefore depend on the presence or absence of appropriate constructional measures intended to hinder or slow down the circulation of the water between the inside and the outside of the suit. Depending on the conditions in which a diving suit is to be used, the measures adopted for this purpose may be more or less efficient and sophisticated and will therefore have different effects on the production cost of the suit.
[0005] One of the channels through which water succeeds in infiltrating particularly readily is constituted by the zip fasteners, especially the front zip (head cowl and breast piece), which is generally the largest zip of the suit and at times also the only one. Notwithstanding the provision of a covering flap extending the entire length of this zip, it is not possible to prevent the infiltration of water through it.
[0006] The object of the present invention is to provide a wet suit for scuba divers in which communication between the outside and the interspace between body and suit will be prevented, thus appreciably limiting the possible water replacement and therefore also heat removal from within the suit.
[0007] Another aim of the present invention is to provide a diving suit of the aforementioned type in which the water that succeeds in infiltrating through the front zip will remain confined in an interspace within the suit and will not therefore come into contact with the diver's body.
[0008] These aims are attained by the wet suit for scuba divers in accordance with the present invention, which comprises a front portion consisting of two flaps that can be opened to permit the suit being put on, said flaps being joined together by means of a zip fastener, and is characterized by the fact that with said front portion there is associated an elastic and impermeable laminar diaphragm of a size sufficient to cover the entire front portion of the suit, so that it will come to be interposed between said front portion and the diver's body when the suit is worn.
[0009] The invention will now be illustrated in greater detail by means of the following description of a particular embodiment thereof, which is to be considered solely as an example and not limitative in any way, said description making reference to the attached drawings of which:
[0010]
[0011]
[0012]
[0013] These figures illustrate the upper portion of a generic wet suit for scuba divers, generically indicated by the reference number
[0014] The suit also comprises a head cowl
[0015] According to the invention, as shown in
[0016] More particularly, diaphragm
[0017] Diaphragm
[0018] Thanks to the present invention, the water that passes through zip fastener
[0019] In actual practice the present invention could be applied to any diving suit model with a front zip fastener with or without a head cowl and could be realized in any impermeable and insulating material. The invention is therefore not limited to the embodiment described hereinabove, but comprises all variants as set forth in the appended claims.