Speedo, the British swimsuit company, issued a press release in February to mark the launch of their new LZR Racer® swimsuit. What I believe are the patent applications for the new drag-saving technology were only published last Wednesday.
These are GB2444803 and GB2444804, both titled "Sports garment". The first is for a double layer of stretchable elasticated fabric which improve the swimmer's posture when tired so that the body does not sag, and stays streamlined. The second is for laminated panels placed on the outer surface of the base layer of the same fabric, which apparently also reduces drag. Here is the main drawing from GB2444804.
The results, say experts, is an improvement of 2% in performance with the new swimsuits -- a lot in competitive swimming. It was recently pointed out that 41 world records in swimming had been broken since February -- with 37 by swimmers wearing the new swimsuit. Many of the record breakers had not previously been highly rated. Normally only half a dozen records or so would have been broken in the same time period.
The new swimsuit is approved for use at the Beijing Olympics, where no doubt many more records will fall.
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