Inflatable Armbands - History

History

There are a number of historical devices that had similar purposes as inflatable armbands.

In 1907, swimming became part of the school curriculum and caused parents to become more concerned with their children's safety in the water. In response to parent's worries, the Dean's Rag Book Company, London, introduced the Swimeesy Buoy, inflatable armbands with a colourful design that looked like the wings of a butterfly. A plain white version was also available. The product became so popular that it was available, almost unchanged, until the outbreak of World War II.

In October 1931, a design for water wings appeared in the magazine Modern Mechanix. They were made of rubber, consisted of two parts, were worn on the upper arms, and inflated through a valve. They were first demonstrated in public on the beaches of Los Angeles, California, USA.

A similar design of inflatable armbands for swimmers was invented by Bernhard Markwitz in Hamburg, Germany. In 1956, Markwitz's three-year-old daughter fell into a goldfish pond and nearly drowned. As a result, Markwitz invented and developed a swimming aid that would be safer for children than swimming rings, which at the time, were made of cork. A lottery win of 253,000 Deutsche Marks gave him a suitable start capital. In 1964, Markwitz developed the armbands in their final form and marketed them under the name "BEMA". Their modern name in German, Schwimmflügel, literally translates as "swimming wings".