 |
Air Bag Jacket Saves Life Of Motorcyclist
This story is a little out of date, but I finally have the reference for it. In 2007, Joseph McPhatter of Randallstown, MD was in a crash on Interstate 83 after being cut off by another motorist.
According to police reports, McPhatter was ejected 100 feet, hitting the ground at an estimated 140 miles per hour.
And yet he survived, probably due to his Impact Jacket, which inflates like an airbag when a motorcyclist is in a wreck, with nothing more than sore ribs and bruised knees.
(Impact Jacket video)
Neal Stephenson fans with excellent memories will remember something similar - an airbag jacket from his 1992 novel Snowcrash:
she jerks the manual release on her cervical collar and goes into full Michelin Man mode as tiny gas cartridges detonate in several strategic locations around her bod. The biggest one goes off like an M-80 at the nape of her neck, unfurling the coverall's collar into a cylindrical gasbag that shoots straight up and encases her entire head. Other airbags go off around her torso and pelvis, paying lots of attention to that spinal column...
From WBAL Baltimore and Impact Jacket website; thanks to Dennis Kelly for the tip and the reference.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 6/23/2009)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion (Back On) ( 3 )
Related News Stories - (" Clothing ")
Sweat Be Gone! Non-Wetting Fabric
'The skin-contact layer is porous.'- Frank Herbert, 1965.
Superomniphobic Fabrics Are Super Clean
'Most gentlemen's and ladies' gloves nowadays were constructed of infinitesimal fabricules that knew how to eject dirt...'- Neal Stephenson, 1995
Sean Jean 'Fashion Video Name Tag' Fleece
Why not a display to go with your sleeve communicator? Murray Leinster would have been down with it.
Body Scanner May Improve Online Shopping
'...the tailor pulled out a number of slotted arms terminating in little discs...'- H.G. Wells, 1899.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Current News
Sweat Be Gone! Non-Wetting Fabric
'The skin-contact layer is porous.'
German Firm Seeks To Recruit Autistics
Not a deficit, but a strength.
NASA Supports Pizza Printer
Is it extra with printed pepperoni?
Could Ground-Based Lasers De-Orbit Space Junk?
'Then their lasers vaporized the smaller satellites...'
'Hello, Computer!' Google Now Highlighted at IO13
'Hello, computer!'
MIT Robot Cheetah Video Shows Gait Transition
'The legs are long, curled way up to deliver power, like a cheetah's.'
TrackingPoint Smart Rifle
Not your typical 'smart bullet' approach.
Sky City's 220 Stories Are Go
'It rested among green parklands and... stood in total isolation, a glittering block of whites and flashing windows dotted with colors.'
CARMAT Bioprosthetic Total Human Heart Replacement
'George Walt's corporate existence proved the workability of wholly mechanical organs...'
Personal Sniffer Robots
'...The ticking combinations of the olfactory system of the hound.'
Physical Exam? We've Got Apps
See the future of handheld, personal medical devices.
The Interplanetary Internet, Vint Cerf Speaking
'This was the center of Interplanetary Communications.'
Drosophila Robotica, The Mechanical Fly
'... the Scarab [flying robot] buzzed into the great workroom as any intruding insect might...'
Robo-Raven Flapping Wing Robot Bird
'When he had first built them, they had been crude indeed, flying mechanisms with little more than a reflex-response unit.'
Japan's Nursing Home Robot Plan
Let's make the Roujin Z-0001 Robotic Bed!
Samsung Smart TVs With Gesture Control
'He waved his hand and the circuit switched abruptly.'
