KAPOK LIFEJACKETS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 134, 3 December 1929, Page 10

KAPOK LIFEJACKETS

BUOYANCY OF MATERIAL

MUCH BETTER THAN CORK

(From "The Post's" Representative.)

LONDON, 18th October.

"We do not recommend any alteration in the present designs of E.N.L.I. and Board of Trado lifejackets," stated the Departmental Committee on Kapok in their report issued on 16th October.

The committee was appointed by the Board of Trade to examine statements and recommendations on the use of kapok as a buoyant material made in the report of the Court of Inquiry into the loss of the Eyo Harbour lifeboat last November. Other conclusions . reached by theCommittee are:— "Only the best quality Java kapok should be used for providing the buoyancy in E.N.L.I. and Board of Trade kapok lifejackets. There should be strict supervision over the manufacture of such lifejackets and the selection of the kapok used in them. (Kapok, it Is stated, is subject to adulteration and to injury in cleaning.) "We suggest that the possibilty of a new covering material for the Board of Trade lifejaeket should not be lost sight of, and that certain trials in seagoing ships of suitable materials should be made. "We do not recommend any alteration in existing E.N.L.I. and Board of Trade lifejaeket regulations." It is recalled that after vessels had been sunk in the war bodies in kapok lifebelts were found floating with their heads above water some days later. Eegarding buoyancy values, the Committee state that kapok has considerable advantages over cork. Per pound of lifejaeket the supporting force of kapok is three and a half times that of cork.

"Kapok," they emphasise, "is especially suitable for the use of women and children. In addition to the lighter weight, it 13 soft and kindly to the body and tends to keep the wearer warm. On the other hand, kapok is subject to adulteration and also to injury by the use' of deleterious cleaning materials."