#1531: ConvoluteSuit

Today’s invention is a safety device for firefighters.

This takes the form of a fireproof suit with a wrinkled surface – a little like that of the cerebrum. Essential tools and other items could be held on by straps to the outside, as usual, but the wrinkles would tend to trap air pockets without collapsing under load and provide better insulation for eg shoulders when in contact with flames.

The suit would be equipped with a canister of nitrogen.

When the interior temperature was approaching a dangerous level, a valve on the canister would release, causing the suit to inflate a little and distancing it from the surface of the body.

The inflation could take place over a few seconds and the suit’s surface wrinkles would still allow freedom of movement, whilst an escape was effected.