Two-piece protective suit for hazardous environments

Abstract

A two-piece protective suit for use in hazardous environments includes a coat and trousers each of which includes an outer garment and a removable liner, the outer garment including an outer shell made of a flame protective material and an inner layer of a material which is moisture resistant and resistant to the passage of hazardous chemical and/or biological agents and liquids, the coat including a bottom closure mechanism to tighten the bottom of the coat towards the waist of a wearer and inhibit hazardous material entry in the coat from below, left and right cuff closure mechanisms to tighten the left and right cuffs towards the left and right arms of a wearer and inhibit hazardous material entry into the left and right sleeves, and a hood and neck tab which are deployable over the head and neck of a wearer and over a face mask worn by the wearer to protect the head and neck of a wear from the hazardous materials and inhibit entry into the coat through its neck opening.

1 . A protective suit for use in environments which may contain hazardous chemical and or biological agents, said protective suit including a coat and trousers, 
 said trousers including an outer garment comprised of an outer shell and an inner barrier layer, said outer shell defining a waist portion, a hip portion, left and right leg portions, and a waist collar which extends upwardly from said waist portion, and    said coat including an outer garment comprised of an outer shell and an attached inner barrier layer, said outer shell including a back panel, a left front panel, a right front panel, a left sleeve, a right sleeve, and a coat collar, said outer garment including a manually-operable bottom closure mechanism for tightening said inner barrier layer towards the torso of a wearer and against the waist collar of said trousers when both said coat and said trousers are worn by a wearer so as to inhibit contaminated environmental air or liquids from entering the closed coat.    
   
   
       2 . A protective suit according to  claim 1 , wherein said bottom closure mechanism includes a first releasable friction clamp attached to said left front panel, a second releasable friction clamp attached to said right front panel, and a first stretch cord which extends from said first releasable friction clamp, between said outer shell and said inner barrier layer and through said second releasable friction clamp.  
   
   
       3 . A protective suit according to  claim 2 , including a left pouch attached to said left front panel to define a left pocket between said left pouch and said left front panel, and a right pouch attached to said right front panel to define a right pocket between said right pouch and said right front panel, and wherein said first releasable friction clamp is located in said left pocket and said second releasable friction clamp is located in said right pocket.  
   
   
       4 . A protective suit according to  claim 3 , including a strip attached to said bottom edge of said outer shell which is located between said outer shell and said inner barrier layer and extends from behind said left pouch to behind said right pouch, said strip defining a channel through which said stretch cord extends.  
   
   
       5 . A protective suit according to  claim 1 , wherein said coat collar includes a center panel, a front flap attached to periphery of said center panel, and a rear flap attached to the periphery of said center panel so as to provide a hood storage chamber therebetween, and a hood with throat tab located in said hood storage chamber, said hood and throat tab being deployable from said hood storage chamber to cover the head and neck of a wearer and the face mask of an air supply apparatus worn by the wearer and inhibit exposure to hazardous environmental air or liquids.  
   
   
       6 . A protective suit according to  claim 5 , wherein a front edge of the hood defines a channel, wherein third and fourth releasable friction elements are attached to said hood on opposite sides thereof, and wherein a second stretch cord extends through said hood channel and said third and fourth releasable friction clamps so that pulling ends of said second stretch cord will cause the front edge of said hood to tighten toward the forehead of the wearer and against a face mask worn by the wearer.  
   
   
       7 . A protective suit according to  claim 6 , wherein said throat tab is connected to a side of said hood and includes a first releasable attachment means at a free end thereof, said throat tab being positionable between and against a face mask worn by the wear and the front left and right panels of the outer shell, and the first releasable attachment means being releasably attached to a second releasable attachment means on a back side of the hood.  
   
   
       8 . A protective suit according to  claim 1 , including a left cuff closure member attached to an end of the left sleeve of the coat outer shell, said left cuff closure member including a first tubular member made of the same material as said inner barrier layer and a first belt which can tighten said first tubular element towards a left arm of a wearer or a wristlet of a left sleeve of a removable liner mounted within the outer garment and thereby inhibit entry of contaminated air or liquids into the left sleeve.  
   
   
       9 . A protective suit according to claims  8 , wherein said first tubular member defines a first channel therearound, wherein said first belt extends through said first channel, and including a first buckle, one end of said first belt being fixedly attached to said first buckle and a second end adjustably extending through said first buckle and gripped thereby.  
   
   
       10 . A protective suit according to  claim 9 , including a right cuff closure member attached to an end of the right sleeve of the coat outer shell, said right cuff closure member including a second tubular member and a second belt which can tighten the second tubular member towards a right arm of a wearer or a wristlet of a right sleeve of a removable liner mounted within the outer garment and inhibit entry of contaminated air or liquids into the right sleeve..  
   
   
       11 . A protective suit according to  claim 10 , wherein said second tubular member defines second channel therearound, wherein said second belt extends through said second channel, and including a second buckle, one end of said second belt being fixedly attached to said second buckle and a second end extending through and being adjustably gripped by said second buckle.  
   
   
       12 . A protective suit according to  claim 1 , wherein said back panel of said coat defines an upper edge and a bottom edge, wherein said left front panel defines an upper edge, a side edge and a bottom edge, and said right front panel defines an upper edge, a side edge and a bottom edge, and wherein said inner barrier layer is sewn to the upper edges of said back, left front and right front panels the side edges of said left and right front panels and the bottom edges of said left and right front panels.  
   
   
       13 . A protective suit according to  claim 12 , wherein said inner barrier layer is releasably attached to the bottom edge of said back panel.  
   
   
       14 . A protective suit according to  claim 12 , wherein said left sleeve defines a cuff end and said right sleeve defines a cuff end, and wherein said inner barrier layer is sewn to said left and right sleeves at the cuff ends thereof.  
   
   
       15 . A protective suit according to  claim 1 , including a removable coat liner mounted within said outer garment of said coat, said removable coat liner being made of a heat protective material.  
   
   
       16 . A protective suit according to  claim 1 , wherein the left leg of the outer shell of said trousers includes a bottom closure means and the right leg of the outer shell of said trousers includes a bottom closure means.  
   
   
       17 . A protective suit according to  claim 16 , including a removable liner for the trousers mounted within said outer garment of said trousers, said removable trouser liner being made of a heat protective material.  
   
   
       18 . A protective suit according to  claim 17 , wherein said removable liner for the trousers includes legs having bottom portions made of the same material as is used for said inner barrier layer, and said bottom portions include straps for placement within boots to be worn by the wearer.  
   
   
       19 . A protective coat for a two-piece hazardous material-protective suit, said coat including an outer shell made of a flame-resistant material and an inner layer made of a material which is resistant to moisture, chemical agents and biological agents, said outer shell including a back panel, a left front panel, a right front panel, a left sleeve and a right sleeve, a bottom closure mechanism for manually tightening a bottom of the coat towards the torso of a wearer, and cuff closure mechanisms at the ends of the respective left and right sleeves for inhibiting hazardous material entry into the respective left and right sleeves.  
   
   
       20 . Trousers for a two-piece hazardous material-protective suit, said trousers including an outer garment and an inner layer, said outer garment including an outer shell made of a flame-resistant material and said inner layer made of a material resistant to moisture, chemical agents and biological agents, said outer shell including a waist portion, a hip portion, a left leg, and a right leg, and including cuff closure mechanisms at the bottoms of the respective left and right legs for inhibiting airborne and liquid hazardous material entry into the left and right legs.