How the idea was born

           An entrepreneur Pavel Mukhortov is a well-known journalist in the past, who accomplished the professional cosmonaut training and became the cosmonaut research scientist. A few years ago, he came up with the Helper — a useful device for safe swimming.


 

        The idea of creating of this device came to me after one accident which took place in Thailand. It happened that I saved a drowning man. Surprisingly it was very close to the coast, it was not deep and you could touch the bottom with your feet. There were quite a few people around but nobody paid attention to this. Luckily, my wife noticed it from the beach that the man behaves strangely: he jumped out of the water, then disappeared again, the glasses on his face were twisted in a strange way but he did not fix them. I was swimming not far from him and my wife shouted to me that something was wrong with the man. Then I dived and pushed the drowning man to the shore, where he was able to stand up. He was very scared. We wondered why he had not screamed for help. But it turns to be that when a person is drowning, a spasm seizes the throat not allowing to scream. This accident made a deep impression on us. I realized that there was a necessity for a device that could help in such cases. Furthermore my children learnt to swim independently, took off their water wings. From that point all parents think of is how to protect their kids on the water. I started to work in this direction. But it has been a long way from the brilliant idea to the real reliable product.

First I had the idea to make it as a wristwatch. Later, having analyzed all drawbacks of that model, I stopped on the neck bracelet. After activation, the head of a person stays on the surface and the hands are free to swim or to wave to attract attention.  By the way, while I was looking for a reliable manufacturer and sending the idea of my project all around the world, a similar gadget appeared on  the market. But they made it reusable. That is, after the device has worked, you can blow it off, put it back in a special case, and screw the new gas cylinder into the launching and inflation system of the rescue chamber. And here there are questions: did you put the camera back correctly, is it still safe after several test launches, was the new gas cartridge installed in a right way, is the activation system still in a working condition?

For safety reasons the self-replacement of the cartridge is excluded. You cannot use the Helper device after activation for the second time. The obvious advantage of Helper is that the gas cylinder and the activation system itself are installed inside the rescue chamber in the factory. Therefore, if for some inexplicable reason the gas comes out of the cartridge, you will find it out — since your rescue chamber will be inflated. Also, since the gas cylinder is inside the camera and the camera is inside a durable outer case, there is no danger that you will injure yourself when assembling the device, as the gas cylinders are under high pressure and potentially dangerous. Our device for safe swimming is always ready for launch, always ready to help. There are no fuses that people always forget to unlock. Everything is simple — pull the start handle and you are safe. Yes, this can be done once and you need to buy a new one. But you do not drown every time you go swimming! Hopefully you will never activate it. Thus, you can swim with the Helper safely for a long time.

Just keep in mind that in the world every year there are more than four hundred thousand cases of drowning.  Death in water ranks second after car crash death. That’s why I promote the idea that we have to learn to swim with insurance, as we take it for the rule to wear a seat belt in a car.

Helper, the floating neck bracelet for safe swimming, is a modern device that increases the safety of adults and children in the water: in the sea, in the river, in the lake, in the pool — in any pond where you can swim, dive, play and relax in the water. There are two sizes available. For your comfort we recommend the small size for children and adults weighing up to 70 kg and the large size for people over 70 kg. It is up to the parents to decide from what age a child can wear Helper. But with or without it, you must never leave children unattended in the water!

The Helper device has CE certification. It is not a PFD (Personal Flotation Device) and cannot replace a life vest where it is required to use. Helper is a supporting device that provides additional security in water. It has a buoyancy of more than 50 newtons (11.2 pounds of buoyancy).  Thanks to Helper, a swimmer is able to provide himself with the first aid when confronted with an unforeseen situation in the water.