 The patent for the inflatable escape chute assembly was submitted by Boyle in 1954 and the designs was patented in 1956 under patent number 2,765,131.Today Air Cruisers is part of Zodiac Aerospace and ultimately owned by Safran who are the world's largest provider of evacuation slides.Prior to inflatables, some passenger aircraft utilized canvas type slides which required the crew to undertake an extensive rigging procedure.