This invention relates to underwater signaling devices and emergency signaling devices used by scuba divers to perform multiple tasks in a diving emergency. SCUBA is an acronym referring to divers using a Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus.
Prior Art Underwater Signaling Devices in General.
Underwater signaling devices have been used in scuba diving for years. Some underwater signaling devices use air from the scuba tank which produces an audible low-frequency horn-like sound. Others are designed to bang against the outside of the scuba tank which produces an audible low-frequency clanking-type sound. Still others have been designed to produce a low rattle-type or clicking sound with very limited range.
A Key Need: Signaling Devices Tailored for Emergency Use.
These prior art existing signaling devices are general purpose in nature, and, without a great deal of pre-dive planning, their use in no way indicates an emergency situation in progress under water. Furthermore, they simply are not designed with the goal of effective management of an emergency situation.
To understand this, it must first be understood that sensory limitations, specifically visual and auditory limitations, make the scuba diving experience a somewhat isolating one. For example, because of the visual limitations inherent in scuba diving, divers typically pay attention only to their immediate surroundings, in a radius of ten to fifty feet around them, and their safety focus is therefore upon themselves and their diving buddy, who is ordinarily very close by.
In addition, auditory limitations, specifically the inability of other divers to hear the human voice, even when a diver is screaming or yelling for help underwater just a few feet away, force divers to rely almost entirely upon their limited sense of sight, specifically line-of-sight, to keep track of their dive buddy, and this is a serious limitation even in good visibility situations.
Studies of the nature and causes of underwater emergencies lend further support to the critical need for effective communication between and among divers during emergency situations. Statistics indicate that causes of dive emergencies fall in to several categories including: (a) separation from dive buddy (e.g., loss of visual contact due to water clarity; loss of visual contact due to obstructions and distance); (b) equipment failure; (c) underwater entrapment; (d) depletion of air supply; (e) panic; and (f) physical causes (e.g., injuries, illness, fatigue).
The situation is further complicated by the following unfortunate reality: notwithstanding the dictates of prudence, many divers simply do not carefully pre-plan audible emergency signal meanings and protocols with other divers in advance, and most carry no signaling device at all. This not only delays recognition of an emergency situation, in addition, it delays coordination of a response by the group. Group coordination is critical, because multiple divers may be necessary to address the emergency under water, and most dive boat captains are precluded from leaving the location of a dive without all divers in hand (and, yes, lives are lost due to delays in retrieving the entire starting contingent of divers).
Finally, even when an emergency is recognized, current diving emergency practices are frequently limited to the ineffectual use of underwater lights and hand signals as means of visual communication.
Against this backdrop is arrayed the current state of the art in underwater signaling devices, as described above. Tank bangers, air horns, and the like are useful, but these devices are all-purpose signaling devices which are typically used as an ad hoc means of merely attracting the casual, local, non-emergency attention of a single near-by diver. The sound produced by these all-purpose devices has no predetermined meaning to any diver in the water. As a result, other divers in the water regularly ignore these sounds, especially when they are perceived as being far away and not directed specifically to gain that specific diver's attention.
The problem, concisely stated, is this: prior art signaling devices are not specifically designed to address the signaling needs unique to underwater emergency situations. Furthermore, even among the various organizations whose missions include the development of improvements to diver safety oriented equipment and procedures, there is no standard signal, signaling protocol, or signaling device that specifically alerts divers to an underwater emergency.
After Ascent: the Need for Accurate Dive Information at the Surface.
Furthermore, emergencies don't end upon ascent. Frequently, after emergency ascents to the surface, a new problem arises. Divers forced to ascend rapidly due to an emergency may need to undergo recompression treatment, and there is therefore a critical need for comprehensive information about the diver's time under water from the onset of, during, and throughout the resolution of the emergency.
Although there is an increasing trend in diving practices towards the use of personal dive computers and electronic pressure gauges to provide the diver with normal diving information, the limitations of these systems in the face of a need for a clear, easily accessible dive record becomes acutely apparent. Prior art dive computers are simply not designed to record or log, for future use, emergency-related dive information. Also, data retrieval from these systems, in most cases, requires a working knowledge of the unit (and its proprietary user interface) and/or access to the proper hardware, software, and interfaces necessary to extract the data. Thus, valuable time is lost again as divers endeavor to extract critical information from dive computers with which they are not familiar. Finally, these devices typically stop recording data when they are brought to the surface.
It is to these underwater emergency management needs, and other circumstances in which expedited, efficient notification is required, that the instant invention is directed.