Editing Personal flotation device (section)

== History ==
[[Image:PSM V31 D669 Cork jacket and life buoy.jpg|thumb|A typical cork jacket from 1887]]

The oldest examples of primitive life jackets can be traced back to inflated bladders, animal skins, or hollow sealed gourds for support when crossing deep streams and rivers. Purpose-designed buoyant safety devices consisting of simple blocks of wood or [[Cork (material)|cork]] were used by [[Norway|Norwegian]] seamen.{{Citation needed|date=June 2021}}

In a letter to the Naval Chronicle, dated February 1802, Abraham Bosquet proposed issuing Royal Navy Ships with "strong canvas bags of dimensions, when filled with cork shavings, equal to about that of a bed bolster, coiled in manner like a collar, and sufficiently wide for the head and shoulders to pass through."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/navalchronicle00jonegoog/page/n152 |title=The Naval Chronicle Volume IV|access-date=2019-09-02 |date=Feb 1802}}</ref>

In 1804, a cork life jacket was available for sale in ''The Sporting Magazine''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/sportingmagazin51unkngoog |title=The Sporting Magazine|access-date=2019-07-28 |date=October 1804|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100925081654/http://www.archive.org/details/sportingmagazin51unkngoog |archive-date=2010-09-25 |pages = 149–150|quote= It consists of two simple pieces of cork, placed in such a manner on the human body, as to assist it in swimming either on the back or belly at will...}}</ref>

In 1806, Francis Daniel, a physician working at Wapping, exhibited an inflatable life preserver, mounting a demonstration in which a number of suitably equipped men jumped into the Thames below [[Blackfriars Bridge]], and variously played musical instruments, smoked pipes, discharged guns and drank wine, as the tide took them upstream. Daniel pursued his idea for some years, by his own account receiving a gold medal from the [[Royal Society of Arts]] after surrendering the idea to them.<ref>{{cite book|title=Memoir of Sir F. C. Daniel, Knt., M.D., Inventor of the Life Preserver, used in cases of shipwreck, bathing, &c |date=1821 |first=Francis Columbine |last=Daniel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HaBM3TJT1fwC |pages=21–38}}</ref>

Personal flotation devices were not part of the equipment issued to naval sailors until the early 19th century, for example at the Napoleonic [[Battle of Trafalgar]], although seamen who were [[Impressment|press-ganged]] into naval service might have used such devices to jump ship and swim to freedom.{{citation needed|date=May 2014}}

Following the 1852 sinking of the troopship [[HMS Birkenhead (1845)|Birkenhead]], Ensign G.A. Lucas of the 73rd Regiment of Foot wrote "Cornet Bond, 12th Lancers, was...the only person to have a lifejacket – a privately owned ''Macintosh Life Preserver'' and seems to have got ashore fairly easily."<ref>{{cite web|title=The Wreck of HM Steamer "Birkenhead" – 26 Feb 1852|url=http://capeinfo.com/more/myths-legends-a-old-folks-stories/568-the-wreck-of-hm-steamer-qbirkenheadq-26-feb-1852 |publisher=Capeinfo |access-date=12 May 2013}}</ref>

It was not until [[lifesaving|lifesaving services]] were formed that the personal safety of [[lifeboat (rescue)|lifeboat]] crews heading out in pulling boats in generally horrific sea conditions was addressed. The modern life jacket is generally credited to the Inspector of Lifeboats at the [[Royal National Lifeboat Institution]] in the [[UK]], Captain [[John Ross Ward]] (later [[Vice Admiral]] of the [[Royal Navy]]). He created a brown cork vest in 1854 to be worn by [[Lifeboat (rescue)|lifeboat]] crews for both weather protection and [[buoyancy]].<ref name=lewischange>{{cite web | title=From the brink of disaster: Richard Lewis and the making of the modern RNLI | website=RNLI | date=3 March 2017 | url=https://rnli.org/magazine/magazine-featured-list/2017/march/from-the-brink-of-disaster-richard-lewis-and-the-making-of-the-modern-rnli | access-date=8 December 2020}}</ref> They would be worn over the blue/grey waterproof oilskins.
In 1900, French electrical engineer, [[Gustave Trouvé]], patented a battery-powered wearable lifejacket. It incorporated small, rubber-insulated maritime electric batteries not only to inflate the jacket, but also to power a light to transmit and receive [[SOS]] messages and to launch a distress flare.{{Citation needed|date=June 2021}}

[[File:Men donning kapok suits on ship delivering oil to Allies during WWII (23558647890).jpg|215px|upright|right|thumb|Men in brown kapok suits on Allied oil tanker during WWII]]
In 1904<ref>{{Cite web | title=1854: First lifejackets - Timeline - Our history - RNLI | url=https://rnli.org/about-us/our-history/timeline/1854-first-lifejackets#:~:text=1904%20%E2%80%93%20the%20kapok%20lifejacket&text=At%20the%20start%20of%20the,to%20stuff%20cushions%20and%20toys. | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170319113222/https://rnli.org/about-us/our-history/timeline/1854-first-lifejackets | access-date=2025-03-24 | archive-date=2017-03-19}}</ref> the rigid cork material was supplanted by pouches containing watertight cells filled with [[Ceiba pentandra|kapok]], a vegetable material. These soft cells were much more flexible and comfortable to wear compared with devices using hard cork pieces. Kapok buoyancy was used in many navies fighting in [[World War II]]. 
In 1972 yellow or red Beaufort synthetic foam life jackets supplanted kapok for 'inherently buoyant' (vs. inflated and therefore not inherently buoyant) flotation.<ref>{{cite book | title = DCIEM / D.C.I.E.M. / Defence and Civil Institute for Environmental Medicine: 50 - The First Fifty Years, 1939 to 1989 | publisher = Defence and Civil Institute of Environmental Medicine | year = 1989}}</ref> These modern jackets could support not only the rescuer but the rescued at the same time.

The [[University of Victoria]] pioneered research and development of the UVic Thermo Float PFD,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.uvic.ca/torch/torch2003f/feature_survival_science.htm|title=Feature - Survival Science|access-date=23 April 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170516035442/http://web.uvic.ca/torch/torch2003f/feature_survival_science.htm|archive-date=16 May 2017}}</ref> which provides superior protection from immersion hypothermia by incorporating a neoprene rubber "diaper" that seals the user's upper thigh and groin region from contact with otherwise cold, flushing and debilitating water.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://learntokayak.wordpress.com/2010/05/05/sea-kayaker-deep-trouble-by-matt-broze-and-george-gronseth/|title=Sea Kayaker: Deep Trouble by Matt Broze and George Gronseth|date=5 May 2010|access-date=23 April 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304213416/https://learntokayak.wordpress.com/2010/05/05/sea-kayaker-deep-trouble-by-matt-broze-and-george-gronseth/|archive-date=4 March 2016}}</ref>

During World War II, research to improve the design of life jackets was also conducted in the UK by [[Edgar Pask]], the first Professor of [[Anaesthesia]] at [[Newcastle University]]. His research involved self-administered anaesthesia as a means of simulating [[unconsciousness]] in freezing sea-water. Pask's work earned him the [[OBE]] and the description of "the bravest man in the RAF never to have flown an aeroplane".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://research.ncl.ac.uk/nsa/pask.html|title=The bravest man in the RAF never to fly an aeroplane|access-date=23 April 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171022140945/http://research.ncl.ac.uk/nsa/pask.html|archive-date=22 October 2017}}</ref>

=== M1926 Inflatable Life Preserver Belt ===
The M1926 Life Preserver belt was issued to US infantry where they were on ships or near the water, in particular amphibious landings such as D-Day. The belt had two {{CO2}} bottles that could be activated to inflate the belt if needed, or it could be blown up manually with a tube, if the {{CO2}} bottles failed.<ref>{{Cite web |title=44th Collectors Avenue - US Navy M1926 inflatable floatation belt / Life preserver - 08/25/1943 |url=http://www.44thcollectorsavenue.com/Militaria/WWII/US/Field-gear-and-equipment/US2-F-000005.html |access-date=2023-01-04 |website=www.44thcollectorsavenue.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=USN Life Preserver Belt |url=http://www.theoverlordcollection.co.uk/detail/life-belt.php?view=2 |access-date=2023-01-04 |website=www.theoverlordcollection.co.uk}}</ref>

=== Admiralty Pattern 14124 inflatable life ring ===
The Admiralty Pattern 14124 inflatable life ring was the main life preserver issued to British sailors at the start of World War&nbsp;II. It provided about {{convert|8.5|lb(f)|N}} of buoyancy. Its inherent flaw, and an issue with many life preservers at the time, was that it did not keep the wearer's head back out of the water while they were floating. This meant if they went unconscious they would roll forward and end up face down in the water and drown.<ref>{{Cite book |last=The Research and Technology Organisation (RTO) of NATO |title=Survival at Sea for Mariners, Aviators and Search and Rescue Personnel |publisher=NATO |year=2008 |isbn=978-92-837-0084-5 |pages=9B–4}}</ref>

=== Mae West ===
[[Image:Mae West life preserver.jpg|thumb|upright|A "Mae West" life preserver]]
The Mae West was a common nickname<ref name="ingersoll1940">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/ReportOnEngland#page/n165/mode/2up |title=Report on England, November 1940 |last=Ingersoll |first=Ralph |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=1940 |location=New York |pages=147, 158}}</ref> for the first inflatable life preserver, which was invented in 1928 by Peter Markus (1885–1974) ([[United States patent law|US Patent]] 1694714), with his subsequent improvements in 1930 and 1931. The nickname originated because someone wearing the inflated life preserver often appeared to be as large-breasted as the actress [[Mae West]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Mae West Crashes Oxford Dictionary|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19430806&id=37pSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EH0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4881,1303181&hl=en|access-date=29 June 2015|work=St. Petersburg Times|agency=INS|issue=13|date=6 August 1943|volume = 60|page=15|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426090848/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19430806&id=37pSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EH0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4881,1303181&hl=en|archive-date=26 April 2016}}</ref> It was popular during the Second World War with [[U.S. Army Air Forces]] and [[Royal Air Force]] servicemen, who were issued inflatable Mae Wests as part of their flight gear.{{Citation needed|date=June 2021}} Air crew members whose lives were saved by use of the Mae West (and other personal flotation devices) were eligible for membership in the [[Goldfish Club]].
	
British pilot [[Eric Brown (pilot)|Eric Brown]] noted in an interview that the Mae West device saved his life after he was forced into the ocean following the sinking of the aircraft carrier he was on, [[HMS Audacity|HMS ''Audacity'']], by a U-boat in WWII.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown CBE DSC AFC RN - Maritime Foundation |url=https://www.maritimefoundation.uk/in-memoriam/captain-eric-winkle-brown/ |access-date=2023-01-03 |website=www.maritimefoundation.uk |date=21 February 2016 |language=en-US}}</ref> Out of the twenty-four crew in his group in the water, the only two who survived were two pilots wearing Mae Wests, the rest were sailors wearing more basic flotation devices (inflatable rings) that kept them afloat, but did not keep their heads out of the water.<ref>{{Citation |title=The Pilot Who Flew 487 Different Aircraft & Landed 2,271 Times On A Carrier! Eric "Winkle" Brown | date=20 December 2022 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSRAdZzRycc |language=en |access-date=2023-01-03}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown – James Holland's Griffon Merlin |url=https://www.griffonmerlin.com/wwii-interview/captain-eric-winkle-brown/ |access-date=2023-01-03 |website=www.griffonmerlin.com}}</ref>