AU2013201668B2 - Inflatable modular ball pool structure - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is an inflatable modular ball pool structure includes an elastic frame and an inflatable wall. The elastic frame includes an inflatable cushion and partitions, and two sides of each partition are connected sequentially to form a three-dimensional 5 circular structure, and the three-dimensional circular structure is installed around the periphery of the inflatable cushion. The inflatable wall includes inflatable units sequentially connected to from a three-dimensional circular structure in a shape corresponding to the interior of the elastic frame, and the inflatable wall is bent and installed in the elastic frame to define a safe space. During use, children and an 10 appropriate number of toy balls and/or other toys are put into the safe space. In the safe place, children do not fall down carelessly, and their feet will not get stuck since there is no gap at the bottom of the ball pool structure. 2410722vl

Description

INFLATABLE MODULAR BALL POOL STRUCTURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention 5 The present invention relates to the field of children toys, and more particularly to an inflatable modular ball pool structure for letting children play therein. 2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in the process of children growing, the children's curiosity about things 10 around has not diminished after they have learned how to crawl, stand up and walk. However, a living environment is not generally designed for children only, so that there are potential risk factors. In addition, children's limbs are not fully developed, and children may fall down or get hit or injured very often when they are playing. Since this stage of the growth process is a quick growth period of the children's sensory 15 integration, it is a major issue for parents to provide a recreational facility for children to play safely and achieve the children's sensory integration quickly. Therefore, related manufacturers developed a ball pool structure that can be built indoors at home quickly to provide a space for children to play toy balls safely, and the ball pool structure of this sort comprises a plurality of high-elasticity thin steel wires 20 and a fabric frame construction composed of a plurality of fabric materials. During the resilience of the high-elasticity thin steel wires is used for spreading a fabric material flatly open to form an enclosed space, and then a buffering material such as foam, inflatable pad or cloth pad is laid at the bottom of the ball pool structure and provided for putting children and toys. In practical applications, the high-elasticity 1 steel wires and the fabric frame construction formed by enclosing the fabric material without a good support usually fail to support the children's weight. As a result, the children may push down the ball pool structure when they fall down or want to hold on a side of the ball pool structure, or the children may fall down when the ball pool 5 structure is tilted, or the children may be hit or injured when the children fall to the outside. Obviously, the conventional ball pool structure requires improvements. Therefore, a fenced pool structure composed of a plurality of inflatable blocks is introduced into the market and provided for children to play in the pool structure. Although the fenced pool structure has good supportive and protective effects, yet gaps 10 are formed between the connected inflatable blocks after the pool structure is inflated. In particularly, the gaps are usually occurred at the bottom and the periphery of the pool structure and may trap the children's feet or injure the children very easily. Since the children cannot express their pain, they may cry very often or are unwilling to walk, and all these affect the children's development significantly. In addition, the inflatable 15 blocks may be spread open or even cracked by external force easily, so that it is difficult to maintain the conventional ball pool structure. Obviously, such conventional ball pool structure requires improvements. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 20 In view of the problems of the prior art, it is a primary objective of the present invention to provide an inflatable modular ball pool structure comprising an elastic frame and an inflatable wall combined with each other to enhance the supporting effect of the ball pool structure, and the bottom of the elastic frame comes with the design of an inflatable cushion which can be used when it is inflated or not inflated. No gap is 2 formed, even when the inflatable cushion is inflated, so that the children's feet will not get stuck in any gap, and the invention can provide a safer effect. To achieve the aforementioned objective, the present invention provides an inflatable modular ball pool structure, comprising: an elastic frame, including an 5 inflatable cushion, formed by sealing a first plastic sealing film after the inflatable cushion filled with a gas and internally expanded by the gas; and a plurality of partitions, installed in the periphery of the inflatable cushion, and two sides of each the partition being connected sequentially to form a three-dimensional circular structure; and an inflatable wall, disposed in the elastic frame, and formed by sealing a second plastic 10 sealing film after the inflatable wall filled with the gas and internally expanded by the gas, and the inflatable wall including a plurality of inflatable units, which is located inside the elastic frame and positioned on and inboard the inflatable cushion, and each inflatable unit having a shape corresponding to the partition, and two sides of each inflatable unit being connected sequentially to form a three-dimensional circular 15 structure in a shape corresponding to the interior of the elastic frame. During use, the inflatable units of the inflatable wall are inflated and expanded, and then slightly folded to reduce its volume to facilitate the inflatable units to be passed through an opening of the elastic frame and put into the elastic frame, and then the inflatable units resume its original shape automatically and they are snapped into the 20 elastic frame, and then user can inflate the inflatable cushion selectively. Wherein, each partition has an elastic support strip installed around the external periphery of the partition, and the elastic support strip is a high-elasticity thin steel wire. The partition is made of an elastic fabric, so that the storage volume of the partition decreases with the twisting and deformation of the elastic support strip and the partition 3 can resume its original shape quickly. In addition, the inflatable modular ball pool structure of the present invention further comprises at least one mesh viewing window disposed on the at least one partition, and the at least one inflatable unit of the inflatable wall has a window hole 5 corresponding to the mesh viewing window, and the window hole is disposed opposite to the mesh viewing window and provided to facilitate parents to observe their children's activity and facilitate the children to observe the conditions outside. In an embodiment, the elastic frame is a six-sided box structure and the inflatable wall is a six-sided three-dimensional circular structure. 10 In addition, the inflatable cushion of the present invention is inflated to expand its volume, situated inside or outside a fence structure formed and enclosed by the partitions, such that the children's feet will not be trapped into any gap. The present invention provides a method of manufacturing an integrally formed ball pool structure, and thus not only improving the safety of use, but also lowering the manufacturing cost 15 and enhancing the strength of the ball pool structure effectively. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 20 FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 4 is a schematic view of an application of a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of another preferred embodiment of the present 4 invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The technical content of the present invention will become apparent with the 5 detailed description of preferred embodiments and the illustration of related drawings as follows. With reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 for an exploded view, a perspective view and a cross-sectional view of an inflatable modular ball pool structure in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention respectively, the inflatable modular ball 10 pool structure comprises an elastic frame 11 and an inflatable wall 12. The elastic frame 11 includes an inflatable cushion 111 and a plurality of partitions 112. The inflatable cushion 111 is formed by sealing a first plastic sealing film after the inflatable cushion 111 is filled with a gas and internally expanded by the gas. The partitions 112 is a substantially rectangular structure made of an elastic fabric, and each 15 partition 112 has an elastic support strip 1121 installed around the external periphery of the partition 112, wherein the elastic support strip 1121 is a high-elasticity thin steel wire capable of resuming its original shape quickly and installed at the periphery of the inflatable cushion 111, and the inflatable cushion 111 is combined by a high frequency bonding or hot melt bonding method, and two sides of each of the partitions 112 are 20 connected sequentially to form a three-dimensional circular structure by a sewing method as shown in the figure. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the elastic frame 11 is a six-sided box structure comprised of six partitions 112 and the inflatable cushion 111, and the elastic frame 11 includes but not limited to an eight-sided multi-sided box structure or a substantially circular multi-sided box 5 structure. It is noteworthy that the inflatable cushion 111 is inflated to expand its volume and situated inside a fence structure formed and enclosed by the partitions 112. When the inflatable cushion 111 is not inflated, the features of the elastic frame 11 that can be 5 twisted and deformed together with the elastic support strips 1121 and the flexibility of the partitions 112 allow users to bend or fold the inflatable cushion 111 to reduce its storage volume and resume its original shape quickly. The inflatable wall 12 is formed by sealing a second plastic sealing film after the inflatable wall 12 is filled with the gas, and the inflatable wall 12 includes a plurality of 10 inflatable units 121, each having a shape corresponding to the partition 112 which is substantially in a rectangular shape, and two sides of each inflatable unit 121 are connected sequentially to form a three-dimensional circular structure in a shape corresponding to the interior of the elastic frame 11, wherein the connection can be achieved by a high frequency bonding method or a hot melt bonding method, and the 15 inflatable wall 12 is a six-sided three-dimensional circular structure comprised of six inflatable units 121. Each of the partitions 112 has a mesh viewing window 1122, and each of the corresponding inflatable units 121 has a window hole 1211 corresponding to the mesh viewing window 1122, and the window hole 1211 is disposed opposite to the mesh 20 viewing window 1122. With reference to FIG. 4 for a schematic view of an application of a preferred embodiment of the present invention as well as FIG. 1, children are put in a safe space formed by the elastic frame 11 and the inflatable wall 12. Particularly, the safe space has no gap between the inflatable wall 12 and the inflatable cushion 111 that may trap 6 the children's feet, and thus any children activity taken place in the safe space becomes safer. In addition, the inflatable wall 12 has the window hole 1211 formed thereon and the elastic frame 11 comes with the design of the mesh viewing window 1122 to facilitate parents to observe their children's activities and facilitate children to observe 5 the conditions outside. Further, the exterior of the inflatable wall 12 is covered tightly by a layer of the partitions 112 to provide a more secured overall structure to prevent children from falling down. With reference to FIG. 5 for a cross-sectional view of another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the inflatable cushion 111 is inflated to expand its 10 volume and disposed outside a fence structure formed and enclosed by the partitions, so that after the inflatable wall 12 is placed into the elastic frame 11, there is no risk of trapping the children's feet into a gap. The terms "comprise", "comprises", "comprising" and similar terms are intended to mean a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a system, method or apparatus that 15 comprises a list of elements does not include those elements solely, but may well include other elements not listed. 71

Claims (11)

1. An inflatable modular ball pool structure, comprising: an elastic frame, including: an inflatable cushion, formed by sealing a first plastic sealing film after the 5 inflatable cushion being filled with a gas and internally expanded by the gas; and a plurality of partitions, installed in the periphery of the inflatable cushion, and two sides of each the partition being connected sequentially to form a three-dimensional circular structure; and an inflatable wall, disposed in the elastic frame, and formed by sealing a second 10 plastic sealing film after the inflatable wall being filled with the gas and internally expanded by the gas, and the inflatable wall including a plurality of inflatable units, which is located inside the elastic frame and positioned on and inboard the inflatable cushion, and each inflatable unit having a shape corresponding to the partition, and two sides of each inflatable unit being connected sequentially to form 15 the three-dimensional circular structure in a shape corresponding to the interior of the elastic frame.

2. The inflatable modular ball pool structure of claim 1, wherein the elastic frame is a six-sided box structure and the inflatable wall is a six-sided three-dimensional circular structure. 20

3. The inflatable modular ball pool structure of claim 1, wherein the inflatable cushion is inflated to expand its volume and situated inside a fence structure formed and enclosed by the partitions.

4. The inflatable modular ball pool structure of claim 1, wherein the inflatable cushion is inflated to expand its volume and situated outside a fence structure 8 formed and enclosed by the partitions.

5. The inflatable modular ball pool structure of claim 1, wherein each partition has an elastic support strip installed around an external periphery of the partition, and the elastic support strip is a high-elasticity thin steel wire. 5

6. The inflatable modular ball pool structure of claim 5, wherein the partition is made of an elastic fabric, and a storage volume of the partition decreases with the twisting and deformation of the elastic support strip.

7. The inflatable modular ball pool structure of claim 6, further comprising at least one mesh viewing window disposed on the at least one partition. 10

8. The inflatable modular ball pool structure of claim 7, wherein the at least one inflatable unit of the inflatable wall has a window hole corresponding to the mesh viewing window, and the window hole is disposed opposite to the mesh viewing window.

9. The inflatable modular ball pool structure of claim 7, wherein the elastic frame is a 15 six-sided box structure and the inflatable wall is a six-sided three-dimensional circular structure.

10. The inflatable modular ball pool structure of claim 7, wherein the inflatable cushion is inflated to expand its volume and situated inside a fence structure formed and enclosed by the partitions. 20

11. The inflatable modular ball pool structure of claim 7, wherein the inflatable cushion is inflated to expand its volume and situated outside a fence structure formed and enclosed by the partitions. 9