fig1 is , in a front view ( fig1 a ) and a side view ( fig1 b ) a first embodiment example of a device according to the invention with additional manual release . the device 100 comprises a housing 10 and a replaceable releasing unit 11 which either is attached to the housing 10 at the side or can be inserted into said housing 10 . a pressure gas bottle not shown , the contents of which , in the case of release , are delivered to the container to be filled , e . g . the floating body of a life jacket , through a compressed air intake 12 , is screwed into a bore ( 19 of fig2 ), not visible , of the housing . in the lower part of the housing 10 a slot - like opening 15 is provided through which one can see from outside whether the device is in an operative or a released state . the releasing unit 11 centrically comprises an adjusting means 13 , with the aid of which , for example , the delay time of the releasing means can be adjusted . furthermore , an electric releasing unit , as will be more detailedly described by means of the diagrams of fig7 - 9 , may comprise a battery level indicator and a battery control key . at the lower end of the releasing unit 11 air inlet ports 14 are provided which , in the case of release , permit the water to get into the inside of the unit without problems for starting release there . at the long side of the housing 10 the upper end of one operating arm 16 is shown which operating arm serves the manual release of the device 100 by means of a pull element 17 and a handle 18 and the function of which will be more detailedly described in connection with fig2 to 5 . fig2 shows , in a partial section , the inner structure of a preferred embodiment example of the inventive device providing a possible form of the electrically controlled release . the right - side part of the shown device 100 -- as appears from fig1 a -- is occupied by the housing 10 comprising the mechanical facilities for piercing the diaphragm of the pressure gas bottle . the left - side part , the releasing unit 11 , comprises the facilities for controlling the release . the pressure gas container which is defined as a pressure gas bottle comprises a neck which is provided with an external thread and is sealed with the diaphragm . this external thread serves for screwing the container into the bore 19 provided in the upper portion of the housing 10 and including a corresponding internal thread 20 . the bore 19 of the housing is connected with the compressed air intake 12 via a bore 50 for the cutter and a separated channel 51 , which compressed air intake 12 serves the purpose of connecting thereto the life preserver to be inflated -- not shown . in the bore 19 of the housing a shifting member 22 is arranged which is defined as a shell and with its front end 38 extends up to the area of the upper portion of the bore 19 of the housing including the internal thread 20 so that the neck of the pressure gas container acts upon it when being screwed in . it goes without saying that another constructive development and arrangement can be used as well . the shifting member 22 which in the housing 10 is guided longitudinally displaceable is protected from slipping through the housing 10 , a corresponding abutment is indicated at 26 . at the lower end of the shifting member 22 , an area in which the through - bore 19 extends , a single - armed release lever 31 acting as an operating lever with one end is mounted pivotally so that this lever 31 is adapted to be pivoted about the pivoted axis indicated at 30 . the release lever 31 comprises a lever arm 46 which substantially is oriented across the axis of the bore 19 of the housing . the lever arm 46 with its lower side is supported by a spring 35 which in return with its bottom side is supported by a screw - in bottom portion 37 screwed into the bore 19 of the housing . the spring 35 is defined as a helical spring . in its inner bore a central bolt 34 is guided longitudinally displaceable which , within the area of the release lever 31 , comprises an elongated hole 33 . an operating bolt permanently secured to the release lever 31 reaches through said elongated hole 33 and is guided within the same . in the cutter bore 50 of said shell - shaped shifting member 22 an opening cutter 27 is arranged displaceably towards the shifting member 22 which opening cutter 27 at its upper end comprises a prong 23 for piercing the diaphragm of the pressure gas container . in its normal position , the opening cutter 27 with its prong 23 extends up to the area of the front end 38 of the shifting member 22 . it , with its bottom end , is arranged on the central bolt 34 but can also be defined so as to be one piece with the latter . the opening cutter 27 at the transition to the prong 23 comprises a shoulder by which another spring 25 is supported with its bottom end , which spring 25 with its upper end is pressed against a corresponding shoulder in the bore 50 for the cutter and , as a result , always keeps the opening cutter 27 in its lower unoperated position in the state of rest . at the front end 38 of the shifting member 22 a first sealing ring 21 is provided which outwardly seals the connection between the neck of the pressure gas container screwed in and the bore 50 for the cutter . further sealing rings 24 , 28 and 29 are provided on the peripheral surface of the shifting member 22 as well as the opening cutter 27 . the function of the device according to fig2 is the following one : screwing the pressure gas container into the release mechanism provided in the housing 10 causes the shifting member 22 and , at the same time , the release lever 31 to preferably move downwardly by a few millimeters . thereat the spring 35 is tensioned . during this procedure , the prong 23 of the opening cutter piercing the diaphragm in the case of release is retained by the spring 25 so that the prong 23 is not capable of unintentionally boring its way through the diaphragm of the pressure gas container . the same spring 25 causes the prong 23 to return to its starting position after release so that , after piercing the diaphragm , the gas or compressed air being under pressure can escape from the pressure gas container to get into the separated channel 51 through the cutter bore 50 . the force of the spring 35 compressed during tensioning is transferred to the lever arm 46 of the release lever 31 and , from there , to the central bolt 34 by means of the operating bolt 32 guided in the elongated hole 33 . by means of a locking cam 45 rotatably mounted about an axis 43 of the releasing unit 11 the release lever 31 is prevented from making a swivelling upward movement about the pivoted axis 30 . after , in the case of release , said locking cam 45 had been removed from its downward locking position by means of an electric releasing means provided within the releasing unit 11 , which releasing means will be more detailedly described hereinafter , the release lever 31 is capable of pivoting upwardly under the pressure of the spring 35 by , at the same time , moving the central bolt 34 upwardly with the aid of the operating bolt 32 . the central bolt 34 then causes the opening cutter 27 and , consequently , also the prong 23 to move a few millimeters upwardly to , in this way , reliably pierce the diaphragm of the pressure gas container . the compressed air from the pressure gas container then escapes to the compressed air intake 12 through the open diaphragm , the bore 50 for the cutter and the separated channel 51 . in addition to the automatic release by the releasing unit 11 , an operating arm 16 mounted pivotally about an axis 36 is arranged at one long side of the housing 10 for manual release , which operating arm 16 with its bottom end moves the central bolt 34 upwardly while being pivoted about axis 36 downwardly . the elongated hole 33 in the central bolt 34 is required for the manual release since , otherwise , the central bolt 34 cannot be displaced irrespective of the release lever 31 . the releasing unit is equipped with an electrically controlled mechanism for moving the locking cam 45 . said locking cam 45 together with a spur gear 44 is arranged on a common axis 43 . a corresponding threaded worm 42 arranged on the motor axis 47 of an underlying electric motor 48 engages the toothing of the spur gear 44 . in the case of release , the electric motor 48 gets its electric energy from a battery 40 which can be inserted into a battery compartment 41 provided in the upper part of the releasing unit 11 . said battery compartment 41 can be closed with the aid of a screwed cap 39 which protects the battery 40 and , at the same time , makes contact to the battery 40 . at the bottom side of the releasing unit 11 a sensor 49 is arranged which , after getting into contact with water , transmits an electric release signal which , by means of an adequate electric circuit , such as the one shown in fig7 or 8 , causes an activation of the electric motor 48 . fig3 shows a further preferred embodiment example of the inventive device . this embodiment example , with respect to the opening mechanism provided in the housing 10 , in its structure is completely identical to the example of fig2 . the releasing unit 11 , however , is different therefrom in structure and function . there the lever arm 46 of the release lever 31 , in the operative tensioned state , is prevented by the locking plunger 57 of a releasing means 53 from making a pivoting upward movement , which locking plunger 57 with its plunger head 58 provided below engages to the upper side of the lever arm 46 and with its upper end is supported by a transversely arranged , electrically destructible locking element 55 . with the aid of a guiding ring 56 said locking plunger 57 is guided within a plunger bore 54 but , by means of the undestroyed locking element 55 , is prevented from urging into the bore 54 . said locking element 55 at both ends comprises electric contacts , which , in the case of release , serve for firing it . as soon as the locking element 55 is destroyed as a result of the firing , said locking plunger 57 with its upper end urges into the plunger bore 54 to cause the release lever 31 to pivot upwardly into the release position . the destroyed locking element 55 can be replaced by removing a sealing cap 52 on the upper side to allow the releasing means 53 to be removed at least partly . with respect to the electronic release , the principle of a flash bulb should be applied . this flash bulb should be covered with plastic material to prevent the glass splinters from falling into the housing during firing . the bulb , however , needs to be destroyed so as to cause release of the locking plunger 57 . the locking element 55 can also be defined in the form of a tablet outside and consist of two thin sheets of glass comprising a layer of magnesium powder therebetween . in the case of release , the magnesium powder is passed by an electric current which causes the magnesium powder to oxidize all of a sudden which results in a destruction of the sheets of glass and , consequently , in a movement of the locking plunger 57 locked before . the firing power is got from a battery 59 in the form of a round cell . the release is controlled by a sensor 60 ( capacitive or resistance sensor ) arranged on the bottom side . another preferred embodiment example which differs from the previous ones ( fig2 and 3 ) only in the structure of the releasing unit 11 and is electrically released as well is shown in fig4 . in this case , the lever arm 46 of the release lever 31 is held in the locking position by means of a locking lever 67 which substantially is normal to the lever arm 46 and is mounted pivotally sidewards about a pivoted axis 64 . the lever arm 46 is locked by means of a locking bolt 66 which is provided on the locking lever 67 and acts upon the upper side of the lever arm 46 . thereat the locking bolt 66 is arranged below the pivoted axis 64 so as to allow the spring - loaded release arm 31 to pivot said locking lever 67 to the right without any additional measures . in the operative state of the device , such a pivoting movement is prevented by a locking pawl 69 provided at the bottom end of the locking lever 67 which locking pawl 69 , in the passive state , is kept in the locking position by means of a bias spring 71 and , in the case of release , can be released from its locking position by means of an electromagnet 74 acting against the spring pressure . the locking position is determined by an abutment ring 70 which is permanently connected with the locking pawl 69 . also in this case the release pulse is transmitted by a sensor 73 which is arranged at the bottom side of the releasing unit 11 . for the battery 62 a battery compartment 63 -- analogous to fig2 -- is provided which can be closed by means of a screw - in cap 61 . to enable the locking lever 67 to return to its locking position after release the releasing unit 11 at the side is closed by a covering portion 68 adapted to be pivoted about a pivoted axis 65 outwardly . a further embodiment example allowing an all - mechanical release is shown in fig5 . the opening mechanism is again identical to the mechanism of the examples shown in fig2 and 4 . the releasing unit 11 with the locking lever 77 adapted to be pivoted about the pivoted axis 75 , the locking bolt 76 and the covering portion 78 adapted to be pivoted about the pivoted axis 82 outwardly , in its structure , is comparable to fig4 . the electrically controllable locking pawl , however , here is replaced by a tablet 79 known per se , which tablet 79 is provided within a disposable supporting means and loses its solidity when getting into touch with water . the lever end 81 of the locking lever 77 , after decomposition of the tablet 79 , can pivot to the right so as to permit the release lever 31 to move upwardly for the purpose of release . a window 80 usefully is provided for controlling the condition of the tablet 79 , through which window 80 one can have a look from outside at at least parts of the tablet 79 . as already mentioned previously , the described various releasing units 11 can be combined with one and the same releasing mechanism provided in the housing 10 . to demonstrate this flexibility fig6 shows the different possibilities side by side again , 11a showing the release by the tablet according to fig5 b showing the release by means of the locking plunger and the locking element according to fig3 c showing the release by means of the electromagnetically controllable locking pawl , and 11d showing the release by means of the motor driven locking cam . this illustration directly shows that a basic body can be easily equipped with any type of the release unit 11a - d according to demand . for the electrically controlled releasing units , embodiment examples of which are shown in fig2 and 4 , an electric release circuit is required which in response to the sensor 49 , 60 , 73 starts release . fig7 shows an exemplary block diagram of an electric release circuit which at the input end comprises a resistance sensor and which to use for the inventive device proves beneficial . the sensor is a resistance sensor 83 which between two electrodes measures the resistance of the medium therebetween , which , in the case of release , is water . the resistance sensor 83 together with another resistance 84 forms a voltage divider . the voltage lost in this voltage divider 83 , 84 is applied to the input of a threshold circuit 86 by means of an intermediate amplifier 85 . the output signal of the threshold circuit 86 drives an oscillator 87 , the oscillations or pulses of which are counted by a subsequently arranged counting means 88 which , by means of the output pulse of said threshold circuit 86 , at the same time had been reset via the reset input . when having reached a predetermined counter indication , which can be detected by means of a subsequently arranged decoder 89 , a release switch 90 is actuated for releasing the electrically controllable locking means which is shown as an actuator 92 here . the actuator may be the electric motor 48 of fig2 the electrically destructible locking element 55 of fig3 the electromagnet 74 of fig4 or any comparable means . as a result of the combination of an oscillator and a counter , release can be made after a certain delay of time which is desirable for a safe operation . the time delay can be preset by means of a predetermining timecounter 91 , with the aid of which the decoder 89 can be set to the corresponding counter indication . electric energy is supplied to the circuit by means of a battery 95 which is connected in parallel to a buffer capacitor 96 for buffering any peak current . the operativeness of the battery 95 can be checked with the aid of a push - button 93 which temporarily activates a display circuit 94 for the battery voltage and battery capacity , respectively . fig8 shows a block diagram of an exemplary electric release circuit comprising a capacitive sensor which block diagram is comparable to that of fig7 . with regard to the power supply 95 , 96 and check 93 , 94 of the same as well as the counting and actuating means 88 - 92 , the circuit is identical to that of fig7 . the use of the capacitive sensor 98 , however , makes another input wiring necessary . the capacitive sensor 98 together with a series resistance 99 forms a voltage divider . the voltage divider 98 , 99 is connected to the output of an oscillator or pulse generator 97 . the voltage pulses lost in said voltage divider 98 , 99 are applied to the input of a threshold circuit 101 . the counting means 88 already known is connected subsequent to said threshold circuit 101 . the clock - input of the counting means 88 is connected to the output of the oscillator 97 . the reset - input of the counting means 88 is connected to the output of the threshold circuit 101 . the threshold circuit 101 is responsive to all pulses from the oscillator 97 as long as the capacity of the capacitive sensor 98 is low , and resets the counting means 88 to avoid a build - up of the counter indication . if , however , the capacity of the sensor 98 increases all of a sudden the threshold circuit 101 will not be responsive any longer , the reset pulses stop and the counting means 88 is capable of counting without hindrance the pulses received from the oscillator 97 at the clock - input until a preadjustable counter indication is reached -- as described above -- and the device released . fig9 finally shows the block diagram of an exemplary release circuit for the inventive device which comprises a combination of a resistance sensor 102 and a capacitive sensor 113 . both sensors 102 and i 13 are connected to two signal inputs of a control circuit 103 . said control circuit 103 first actuates a charging switch 107 and , thereafter , a release switch 105 as soon as the case of release is detected by one of the two sensors 102 , 113 , which procedure takes place as follows : in the state of rest , the two electronic switches 105 and 107 are opened . the battery 109 provided for the supply of energy thus is neither connected to a parallel switchable buffer capacitor 106 nor to an actuator 104 . the energy reserve thereof , however , can be checked by temporarily connecting to the battery a lightemitting diode 112 via a series resistance 110 with the aid of a key 111 . the lightemitting diode 112 lights up to signalize that there is sufficient energy reserve for ensuring a proper function . in the case of release , which is detected by the control circuit 102 , the ( electronic ) charging switch 107 , first of all , is closed and the buffer capacitor 106 as an intermediate energy memory is charged via the charging resistance 108 . thereat the time constant for the charging procedure typically takes about 2 seconds . during the charging procedure , the voltage put on the buffer capacitor 106 is measured by the control circuit 103 . as soon as the voltage has reached a level being sufficient for the ignition procedure , the ( electronic ) release switch 105 is closed and the charge stored in the buffer capacitor 106 is discharged through the actuator 104 which procedure causes the mechanism to release in the before described way . detection can be made by measuring the ohmic resistance between the electrodes of the resistance sensor 102 as well as by additionally measuring a capacitance variation between the ( plain ) electrodes of the capacitive sensor 113 . there , in this way , is not only achieved a redundancy with regard to the sensors but it is also ensured that the device will be always responsive to any different properties of the releasing medium ( water ) as well . the control circuit e . g . may be defined as an integrated circuit component and comprise a microprocessor or a customized circuit ( asic ). all in all , the invention provides a flexibly employable and adaptable releasing and inflating device which , at the same time , features a reliable function and compact structure .