GB2047850A

GB2047850A - A stop-cock for a rubber balloon

Info

Publication number: GB2047850A
Application number: GB7926929A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Fuji Latex Co Ltd
Current assignee: Fuji Latex Co Ltd
Priority date: 1979-04-28
Filing date: 1979-08-02
Publication date: 1980-12-03
Also published as: DE2940130A1; FR2455228A1

Abstract

A stop-cock 1 for a rubber balloon incorporates a sealing material 10 between a valve means 8 and a valve stand 3, so that pressure of gas introduced into the balloon moves the valve means 8 to open the passage of the stop-cock 1 and, after the introduction of gas the valve means 8 is urged against the valve stand 3 by the internal gas pressure, the sealing material occupying any space between the valve means 8 and valve stand 3 to help the valve means 8 close off the stop-cock 1; use also being made of a flexible mooring plate 36 and associated mooring thread 39 in some embodiments to control opening and closing of the gas passage. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A stop-cock for a rubber balloon The present invention relates to an improvement of a stop-cock for a rubber balloon.

The conventional stop-cock for a rubber balloon comprised a simple check valve system. As this stop-cock permits the escape of gas which was introduced into the balloon, it is impossible to use the stop-cock for hours.

The conventional stop-cock for a rubber balloon, for example, has a projecting plate at the lower end of the aperture through which helium gas or the like is introduced into the balloon, one end of the mooring thread being held by means of Hotchkiss or the like, the rest of the mooring thread being wound round the outside of the aperture. At the time of flying the balloon, the mooring thread is unwound from the aperture, and the balloon can be fiied to the desired distance by controlling the length of the mooring thread. The above-mentioned conventional stop-cock has some disadvantages. For example, it is not strong in structure and is not free from fear that it may get off during the use because one end of the mooring thread is locked only by means of Hotchkiss.Further, the mooring thread is apt to get loosened and therefore gives the user some inconvenience because the mooring thread is only wound round the aperture with its end not secured.

The present invention is related to an improved stop-cock for a rubber balloon with a sealing material such as of tackifier, tacky substance or viscoelastic substance provided between a valve means and a vale stand, wherein a gas pressure when helium gas is introduced into the rubber balloon causes the valve means to be pushed up to open the passage of the stop-cock, and the valve means, after the completion of the introduction of the gas, is pressed tightly against the valve stand by the inner pressure, so that the sealing material fills any space between the valve means and the valve stand to help the valve means close the passage of the stop-cock tightly.

The present inventor has found that the above drawbacks can be overcome by presenting the present invention in which the mooring thread is secured at two parts; it is secured at one part by the winding method and at the other part by the pinching method.

The present invention is to solve the above drawbacks by presenting an improved stop-cock for a rubber balloon, which comprises a flexible mooring projecting plate provided continuously at the lower portion of the aperture for introducing helium gas or the like, one end of the mooring thread being fastened round the mooring projecting plate, the mooring projecting plate being turned up towards the outside of the aperture, the rest or some part of the mooring thread being wound round the outside of the aperture with the mooring projecting plate pressed to the aperture, so that the other end or the optional part of the mooring projecting plate can be held between the mooring projecting plate and the outside of the aperture.

The sealing material to be used in the present invention includes any that does not lose a sealing property during the use of the stop-cock for a rubber balloon. They aretackifier, tacky substances, viscoelastic substances and the like. The examples are as follows: vistanex alone or with various kinds of additives; tackifiers of chlorinated rubber system; GRS (butadiene styrene rubbers); tackifiers and greases of polyvinyl butyral system, polyvinyl butyl ether system, natural rubber system, polystyrol system, polyvinyl-acetate system, ethylcellulose system or nitrocellulose system.

The above-mentioned sealing materials are spread over the valve means and/or the valve stand or filled in the groove.

The valve means is composed of porous material alone; or porous material with its lower surface plastered with plastic film, plastic plate or film by means of adhesive; or plastic film or plastic plate. The lower surface of the valve means is coated with the above-mentioned sealing material. When the valve stand is provided with the sealing material, however, it is not necessarily required to coat the sealing material over the lower surface of the valve means. It is preferable to use the porous material as the valve means, for its elasticity ensures the tight contact of the valve means with the valve stand at the time when the valve means is closed.

The valve stand is provided, on the surface thereof, with either at least one circular ridge or at least one circular groove in order to close the passage with the valve means. In the former case, the valve stand comes into contact with the sealing material provided on the lower surface of the valve means, or the valve means contacts with the sealing material provided on the circular ridge. In the latter case, the circular groove is filled with the sealing material, to which the valve means adheres.

The following statement is to illustrate the embodiments of the stop-cock for a rubber balloon according to the present invention.

Figs. 1 to 3 are cross-sectional views showing the first embodiment of the present invention. As seen from the drawings, the stop-cock 1 has a hollow structure with a substantially T-shaped section. The inside of the hollow structure forms a passage 2 which is provided at the upper portion with a valve stand 3. The valve stand 3 has a circular ridge 7. The passage 2 consists of a larger-diameter portion 4 and a smaller-diameter portion 5. The former portion 4 constitutes a stop-cock body and the latter portion 5 an aperture into which a nozzle 12 to let into gas such as helium gas is inserted.

Inside the larger-diameter portion 4, the valve means 8, made of the porous material 9 the lower surface of which is covered with the sealing material 10, is placed on the valve stand 3. Further, at the end of the larger-diameter portion 4, a cover plate 11 having openings is set through a hollow 6. It will be seen that the valve means 8 is so constructed as to move between the valve stand 3 and the cover plate 11 by the gas-pressure and the restoring force of the porous material.

The stop-cock 1 thus constructed is attached into the mouth portion of the rubber balloon 13 with the larger-diameter portion 4 in the lead. Next, the nozzle 12 is inserted into the smaller-diameter portion 5 and then helium gas is introduced through the nozzle 12, when the porous material 9 is pushed up in the direction of the cover-plate 11 together with the sealing material 10 by the pressure of the helium gas, with the result that the valve means 8 opens the passage 2 and the helium gas flows into the balloon through the passage 2 and the space made between the sealing material 10 and the valve stand 3.

When the balloon 13 is swollen to the desired size and the nozzle 12 is pulled out of the smallerdiameter portion 5 by the restoring force of the porous material 9, and the sealing material 10 is forced to be in contact with the circular ridge 7 on the valve stand 3 of the passage 2, with the result that the spring property of the porous material 9 and the tackiness of the sealing material 10 close the passage 2 tightly and therefore help prevent any leakage of the+; gas from the balloon.

The cover plate 11 having openings may be of any shape so long as it does not prevent the smooth flow of the helium gas into the balloon 13 through the porous material 9. For example, it may be the one which is substantially cross-shaped as shown in Fig.

4, in which case most of the porous material 9 is exposed. Fig. 5 shows another example in which the outside edge is cut away at optional parts, And Fig. 6 shows still another example in which the central part is cut away.

The shape of the larger-diameter portion 4 of the stop-cock 1 is not limited to a cylindrical one so long as it is suitable for putting in and out of the nozzle 12, because it has no function as a stop-cock.

Both Fig. 7 and Fig. 8 show the second embodiment of the present invention. The stop-cock 15 has a hollow structure with a substantially T-shaped section. The inside of the hollow stop-cock 15 constitutes the passage 16 which is provided, at its upper portion, with the valve stand 17 on which two circular ridges 20 are made. The passage 16 of the larger-diameter portion 18 is wider than that of the smaller-diameter portion 19. The larger-diameter portion 18 constitutes a stop-cock body, while the smaller-diameter portion 19 an aperture for the nozzle 12 through which the helium gas is introduced into the balloon. The larger-diameter portion 18 has a few axially paralleled L-shaped projection 21.

Within the larger-diameter portion 18, the valve means 23, the lower surface of which is covered with the sealing material 25, is placed on the valve stand 17 provided at the upper portion ofthe passage 16.

The valve means 23 has openings 24 and is so placed that it may be prevented from coming off the ridges 22 provided on the L-shaped projections 21.

This means that the valve means 23 can move bet weon the valve stand 17 and the ridges 22 in accordance with the gas pressure.

The stop-cock thus constructed is attached into the mouth portion of the rubber balloon 13 with the larger-diameter portion in the lead. Next, the nozzle 12 is inserted into the smaller-diameter portion 19 and the helium gas is introduced through it, when the valve means 23 is pushed up towards the ridges 22 by the gas pressure, and the helium gas flows through the passage 16 and the space between the valve means 23 and the valve stand 17 and is supplied into the balloon 13.

When the rubber balloon is swollen to the desired size, the nozzle 12 is pulled out of the smallerdiameter portion 19; then the valve means 23 which has been pressed by the pressure of the helium gas is pushed in the opposite direction, that is, towards the smaller-diameter portion by the pressure within the rubber balloon 13, and is pressed and sticks against the circular ridge 20 provided on the valve stand 17 of the passage 16, and closes the passage 16 so tightly as if in a sealing condition that any leakage of gas out of the balloon can be prevented.

The above statement is the explanation about the embodiments in which the sealing material is provided on the valve means. According to the present invention, the sealing material can also be provided on the valve stand. In this case, the way of attaching the rubber balloon or of introducing gas such as helium gas is the same as mentioned above. Therefore any explanation about it is omitted here.

Fig. 9 is a variation of Fig. 1, in which the sealing material is provided not on the lower surface of the porous material but on the circular ridge 7 of the valve stand 3 by means of coating or plastering technique. In this variation, the valve means 9 is composed of nothing but the porous material 9. And the valve mechanism works in the same way as in the embodiment of Fig. 1, except in that the porous material 9 adheres to the sealing material 26 when it is forced to contact with the valve stand 3 by the restoring force of the porous material 9, and ensures the perfect sealing of the passage.

Fig. is a variation of Fig. 9, in which there are provided two circular ridges 7 in order to enlarge the contact face between the sealing material 26 and the porous material 9.

Fig. 11 shows an embodiment in which there are provided, as in Fig. 10, two circular ridges 7, the sealing material 28 being given within the circular groove 27 formed between the ridges.

Fig. 12 is a variation of Fig. 7 in which the sealing material is provided not on the lower surface of the valve means 23 but on the circular ridge 20 of the valve stand 17 by means of coating or plastering technique.

Figs. 13 and 14 are a variation of Fig. 12, in which the outer shape of the larger-diameter portion 21 is different. The outer shape of Figs. 13 and 14 can be used as a variation of the embodiment shown in Fig.

7.

Fig. 15 is a variation of Fig. 13, in which the sealing material 31 is provided within the circular groove 30 formed by the two circular ridges 21 on the valve stand 17.

Fig. 16 is a variation of Fig. 14, in which the sealing material 33 is provided within each of the two circular grooves 32 formed by three circular ridges 21 on the valve stand 21.

As stated above, the stop-cock for a rubber balloon according to the present invention has a sealing material on the valve means and/or the valve stand, which configuration makes it possible for the sealing material to seal any space between the valve means and the valve stand when the valve means is pressed on to the valve stand to close the passage by the inner pressure of the balloon or the restoring force of itself after the introduction of the gas. Therefore the present invention can be used as a highly reliable stop-cock for a rubber balloon without permitting any leakage of the gas.

Fig. 17 is a side view showing one embodiment of the stop-cock according to the present invention.

The mooring projecting plate 36 is provided outside the aperture 35 of the stop-cock 34, and another mooring projecting plate 37 is provided at the lower portion of the aperture 35 of the stop-cock 34.

The mooring projecting plate 36 is given a taper 36' inside its top portion, that is, near the outside of the aperture 35, so that the space 38 is formed between the aperture 35 and the mooring projecting plate 36.

Further, the mooring projecting plate 37 at the lower portion has a large-diameter top portion 37' to prevent the wound mooring thread 39 from getting off.

The handling of the stop-cock thus constructed is as follows. The stop-cock 34 is inserted into the mouth portion of the rubber balloon 41. After the balloon 41 is supplied with helium gas until it is swollen to the desired size, one end 39' of the mooring thread 39 is fastened as shown in Fig. 18. All or some part of the remaining thread is wound outside the aperture 35, and the top end or the optional part of the mooring thread 39 is pinched or locked in the space 38 formed between the outside mooring projecting plate 36 and the aperture 35, so that the mooring projecting thread 39 may not get loosened.

When it is desired to fly the balloon 41, the top end of the mooring thread 39 is pulled and unlocked out of the outside mooring projecting plate 36 and then the thread wound round the outside of the aperture 35 is loosened. When it is not necessary to use every inch of the mooring thread 39, the rest of it is again pinched in the space 38 formed between the mooring projecting plate 36 and the aperture 35. When the full length of the thread 39 is necessary, on the other hand, such an operation is not required; that is, the user has only to hold the part near the end 39" of the mooring thread 39 or fasten it to some object, for example, a pillar.

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a cut 40 of any shape between the lower mooring projecting plate 37 and the aperture 35. By sticking the mooring thread 39 wound round the outside of the aperture 35 as shown in Fig.

18 in the cut 40, the same effect as when the mooring thread 39 is stuck in the space can be obtained.

The cut 40 can have a reliable function to hold the thread if it is tapered in either direction.

According to the present invention, there are provided two parts for securing the mooring threads 39.

This means that it is possible to select any one of them freely at the time of use.

As seen from the above, the present invention can secure the mooring thread reliably and is free from fear that it may get off during the use. Beside that, the present invention is advantageous in handling.

Fig. 20 is a side view showing one embodiment of the stop-cock according to the present invention.

The flexible mooring projecting plate 44 is provided continuously at the lower portion of the aperture 43 of the stop-cock 42. Further, the mooring projecting plate 44 has a large-diameter top portion 44' to prevent the wound mooring thread 46 from getting off.

The mooring projecting plate 44 can be molded together with the stop-cock 42 or can be bonded to it by means of adhesive or the like afterwards.

The handling of the stop-cock 42 thus constructed will be explained hereinafter. After the stop-cock 42 is inserted into the mouth portion of the balloon 47 and helium gas or the like is introduced into the balloon until it is swollen to the desired size, one end 46 of the mooring thread 46 is fastened as shown in Fig.

20, and the rest or some part of the thread 46 is wound round the outside of the aperture 43, as shown in Fig. 21, with the mooring projecting plate 44 turned up and pressed towards the outside of the aperture 43 and then the front portion or the optional portion of the mooring thread 46 is stuck in the space formed between the mooring projecting plate 44 and the aperture 43 in order to prevent the mooring thread from coming loose. When it is desired to fly the balloon 47, the top end of the mooring thread 46 is pulled and unlocked from the mooring projecting plate 44 and then the thread wound round the outside of the aperture 43 is loosened. When it is not necessary to use every inch of the mooring thread, the rest of it is again pinched in the space 45 formed between the mooring projecting plate 44 and the aperture 43.When the full length of the thread 46 is necessary, on the other hand, such an operation is not required; that is, the user has only to hold the part near the end 46" of the mooring thread 46 or fasten it to some object, for example, a pillar.

Fig. 1 is a side view, partly cut away, showing the condition in use of one embodiment according to the present invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional view showing the closed state of the stop-cock shown in Fig. 1. Fig.

3 is a view iilustrating how to assemble the present stop-cock. Each of Figs. 4 to 6 shows an example of the variation of the cover plate. Fig. 7 is a sectional view showing another embodiment. Fig. 8 is a view illustrating how to assemble the embodiment of Fig.

7. Figs. 9 to 16 are sectional views showing still other embodiments according to the present invention.

Fig. 17 is a side view showing one embodiment of the stop-cock according to the present invention. Fig.

18 is a side view showing the state where the embodiment is really used. Fig. 19 is an enlarged view showing another embodiment. Fig. 20 is a side view showing one embodiment of the stop-cock according to the present invention. Fig. 21 is a side view showing the state where the embodiment is really used.

Claims

1. A stop-cock for a rubber balloon, characterized by the fact that a sealing material such as of tackifier, tacky substance or viscoelastic substance is provided between the valve means and the valve stand.

2. A stop-cock for a rubber balloon as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the valve means consists of a porous material, porous material with the lower surface thereof plastered with plastic film, plastic plate or paper, or plastic film or plastic plate.

3. A stop-cock for a rubber balloon as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the sealing material is provided on the lower surface of the valve means.

4. A stop-cock for a rubber balloon as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the sealing material is provided on the valve stand.

5. A stop-cock for a rubber balloon as claimed in Claim 3, wherein the sealing material is applied on the lower surface of the porous material, the plastic film or the plastic plate.

6. A stop-cock for a rubber balloon as claimed in Claim 3 wherein the sealing material is applied on the lower surface of the plastic film, the plastic plate, or the paper with which the lower surface of the porous material is plastered.

7. A stop-cock for a rubber balloon as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the valve stand is provided with at least one circular ridge.

8. A stop-cock for a rubber balloon as claimed in Claim 4, wherein the sealing material is applied to the valve stand.

9. A stop-cock for a rubber balloon as claimed in Claim 4, wherein the sealing material is applied to the circular ridge provided on the valve stand.

10. A stop-cock for a rubber balloon as claimed in Claim 4, wherein the valve stand is provided with a circular groove to which the sealing material is applied.

11. A stop-cock for a rubber balloon, comprising a mooring projecting plate at each of the outside and the lower portion of the aperture for introducing helium gas or the like into the balloon, one end of the mooring thread being fastened round the mooring projecting plate at the lower portion of the aperture and the rest or some part of the mooring thread being wound round the outside of the aperture, the other end or the optional part of the mooring thread being pinched between the outside mooring projecting plate and the outside of the aperture.

12. A stop-cock for a rubber balloon as claimed in Claim 11, wherein a cut is provided between the lower mooring projecting plate and the lower part of the aperture to secure the mooring thread there.

13. A stop-cock for a rubber balloon, comprising a flexible mooring projecting plate provided continuously at the lower portion of the aperture for introducing helium gas or the like, one end of the mooring thread being fastened round the mooring projecting plate, the mooring projecting plate being turned uptowardsthe outside of the aperture, the rest or some part of the mooring thread being wound round the outside of the aperture with the mooring projecting plate pressed to the aperture. so that the other end or the optional part of the mooring projecting plate can be held between the mooring projecting plate and the outside of the aperture.