CA1224732A - Inflatable container - Google Patents

Abstract

" INFLATABLE CONTAINER"
ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

An inflatable container having an inflatable peripheral side wall formed by inner an outer essentially concentric cylindrical members to define an essentially annular thermal insulating inflatable air space. The inflatable container includes two inflatable end walls, each watertight sealed to respective ends of the inflatable peripheral side wall in order to define a closed, watertight cylindrical enclosure. The inflatable container includes along a linear top portion thereof, a zipper mechanism attached to opposed linear edges of the peripheral side wall for permitting access into the cylindrical cavity defined by the container. Proper radial spacing of the inner and outer cylindrical sheets of the peripheral side wall is maintained by a plurality of individual point attachments therebetween which maximize the effective insulating surface area of the side wall, while simultaneously improving the structural rigidity in the linear and transverse directions. The two end pieces of the inflatable container are similarly and individually inflated in order to provide thermal insulation and structural rigidity to the respective end walls. The inflatable container also includes a strap mechanism which is removably attached to respective ends of the cylindrical peripheral side wall in a manner such that the user may carry the inflatable container about by positioning the strap over the user's shoulder.

Description

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1 ~1

2 1 INFLATABLE CONTAINER

5 ,BAC~G~OUND OF THE INVENTION
6 This invention relates to inflatable containers of 7 flexible sheet material, and more specifically to an inflatable 8 ¦container of the type having a peripheral side wall and two end 9 ¦walls, each designed to provide maximum insulating characteris-10 'Itics.
11 j Heretofore in the field of inflatable containers of 12 I this sort, containers have been formed by bonding together a pair 13 1~ of flat resilient sheets in a manner to result in a plurality of 14 1 parallel elongate inflatable tubes, the parallel tubes being 15 ¦¦ interconnected at one or both ends thereof in a manner to equal-16 li ize the pressure therein. The resulting structure has sufficient 17 1, structural rigidity in the axial direction of the elongate tubes, 18 jl but has essentially no resistance to bending in the direction 19 ¦ transverse to the elongate tubes. Additionally, and more impor-20 I tantly, much of the surface area comprises actually the axial 21 ¦I bonding strips which bond the two sheets together between the 22 I elongate tubes, thereby severely reducing the effective surface 23 I area of the thermal insulating surface. Additionally, when a 24 I structural container is made from a light weight, flexible material, it becomes difficult to attach a handle or other means 26 for carrying the container thereto because of the areas of 27 concentrated tension and sheer stress on the flexible material at 28 the points of attachment of the handle thereto. To overcome this 29 deficiency, the handles are attached to the flexible material by being axially attached to a rigid structural member positioned on 31 the opposite side (underside) of the flexible material in a 32 manner to dissipate the sheer forces created at the points of 33 connection of the handle to the container. This structural 34 member has the negative efects of adding to the bulkiness and ~ h~ r~nt~iner. and more importantly 122473~

1 eliminating, or at least ~eve~ely restricting, the abi1ity of the 2 inflatable container to be folded up into a compact size upon deflation.

3 Accordingly, it has been considered highly desirable to

4 prov;de an inflatable container which affords increased thermal insulating surface area between the interior and exterior thereof, while simultaneously 6 providing an improved means for carrying the container which avoids the 7 prior art problems of highly concentrated areas of sheer stress at the 8 points of attachment of a handle to the container.
9 Broadly stated, the invention is an inflatable container comprising: (a) an inflatable, peripheral side wall formed of two 1l sheets of flexible and impermeable material bonded together at sele~ted 12 locations thereof to define a single, inflatable cell having spaced 3 side walls comprising essentially concentric cylinders,said side walls 4 having a first pair of opposed edges, said first pair of opposed edges being convex when said peripheral side wall is in a deflated state 16 prior to being formed into a cylindrical shape, and a second pair of 17 opposed edges, said second pair of opposed edges being essentially parallel 18 to each other and essentially parallel to a line bisecting said first 19 pair of opposed edges; (b) a pair of inflatable end portions, each of said end portions being bonded to respective ones of said first pair 21 of opposed edges of said side wall to define a closed water tight 22 cylindrical container, said inflatable end portions being essentially 23 oval to effect a proper seal with respective ones of said first pair of 24 opposed edges at each end of said container, said inflatable end portions being inflatable throughout essentially the entire respective surface 26 areas thereof, (c) closure means bonded to said peripheral side wall 27 second pair of opposed edges in a manner to form said side wall into 28 essentially a cylindrical container, said closure means defining an 29 access opening in said container into the interior of said container,said closure means comprising a zipper mechanism; and (d) carrying means 31 comprising a pair of closed loop sections adapted to surround respective 32 ends of said container adjacent respective ones of said first pair of ~2Z4732 1 opposed edges of said side wall to thereby support said container, an 2 elongate strap section interconnecting said pair of closed loop sections 3 adjacent respect;ve ends of said z;pper mechanism. and attachment means 4 for removably attaching said carrying means to said container.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE~DRAWINGS
6 Specific features of the invention, as well as additional 7 objects and advantages thereof, will become more readily understood by 8 reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction 9 with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts, and in which:
11 Figure 1 is a pictorial view of the inflatable container 12 of the present invention;
13 Figure 2 is a front view of the inflatable container;
14 Figure 3 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of the inflatable container taken along lines 3--3 shown in Figure 1~
16 Figure 4 is a vertical transverse sectional view taken along 17 lines 4--4 shown in Figure 1, 18 Figure 5 is a pictorial view of the inflatable container 19 of the present invention shown in its deflated~ collapsed state;
Figure 6 is a plan view of the peripheral side wall shown 21 in its flattened state subsequent to forming but prior to bonding to the 22 end pieces to form the basically cylindrical container; and 23 Figure 7 is a sectional view of the snap mechanism used 24 in attaching the strp loops to the inflatable container.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
26 Turning now to the drawings, and more specifically to 27 Figure 1, the inflatable container of the present invention is lZ2473Z

l ¦shown generally illustrated by the numeral lO. The container lO
2 is sh~wn to comprise an inflatable, peripheral side wall 12 3 formed into a generally cylindrical configuration, and a pair of 4 inflatable end sections 14, 16 bonded to respective ends of the peripheral side wall in a manner to form a watertight essentially 6 cylindrical enclosure. As best shown in FIG. 4, the inflatable 7 peripheral side wall 12 is formed of an inner and an outer sheet 8 of flexible and permeable material 18, 20, respectively. The 9 inner and outer sheets 18, 20 forminy the peripheral side wall 12 are basically of identical size and shape, the major difference 11 being that the inner sheet 18 is slightly smaller than the outer 12 Isheet 20 in the direction transverse to what will become the 13 axial direction of the inflatable container when the container is 14 formed into a generally cylindrical configuration as shown in FIG. 1. The reason for this is so that the inner and outer 16 sheets of material 18, 20 may be bonded together around their 17 respective peripheries, and result in essentially a cylindrical 18 ¦ configuration when inflated.
l9 ¦ Referring to FIG. 6, the peripheral side wall 12 in-cludes a first pair of opposed edges 24, 26 which are of a basic 21 convex configuration when the side wall is in a flattened state 22 prior to being formed into the basically cylindrical 23 configuration, as will be described in greater detail 24 hereinbelow. The peripheral side wall 12 also includes a second pair of opposed edges 28, 30 which are essentially straight and 26 parallel with each other, so that when the second pair of opposed 27 edges are joined together the resulting configuration is basical-28 ly cylindrical. Additionally, the first pair of opposed edges 29 24, 26 are oriented such that a line bisecting this first pair of edges is also essentially parallel to the second pair of opposed 31 edges 28, 30 in both the flat, deflated state and the inflated, 32 cylindrical configuration of the peripheral side wall 12.
33 At the time the peripheral side wall 12 is formed 34 ~ . when the inner and outer sheets of flexible material 18, lZZ473Z
l process) the inner and outer sheets are additionally bonded 2 together in a specific pattern of locations which will result in 3 the inner and outer sheets of material being ~ormed into 4 essentially concentric cylinders when the peripheral side wall is inflated. Those skilled in the art will appreciate ~hat the 6 entire periphery of the side wall 12 is sealed air tight in a 7 manner to define a single, inflatable cell having spaced side 8 walls (the inner and outer flexible sheets 18, 20), defining a 9 thermal insulator.
At the same manufacturing step wherein the inner and 11 outer sheets 18, 20 are bonded together around their peripheries 12 to form the peripheral side wall 12, the sheets are also bonded 13 ¦together in a specific pattern across the surface areas thereof 14 in a manner to retain the inner and outer sheets in a specified 15 ¦spaced relation when the peripheral side wall is inflated. The 16 specific bonding pattern is formed by a plurality of selected 17 heat-sealed or sonic welded locations. At each of these 18 locations, the inner and outer sheets are sealed together across 19 a small circular area approximately one-half inch or less in diameter. These individual circular seal spots are referred to 21 ¦ in the trade as "buttons" 32. These buttons 32 may be in a 22 square grid pattern, or may be in a pattern of parallel rows in a 23 first direction and staggered or offset in a linear direction 24 normal to the first direction. It has been found that either 25 ~ pattern works sufficiently well to accomplish the desired effect.
26 Specifically, the peripheral side wall 12 serves to (1) provide a 27 maximum insulating surface area (by utilizing minimum areas of 28 bonding the two sheets together wherein no actual thermal 29 insulation is present); (2) maintain the inflated radial distance between the two generally concentric cylinders of material to be 31 as constant as is realistically possible in using fluid pressures 32 against a nonrigid surface; and (3) improve the structural 33 integrity of the device in all directions as opposed to only in a 34 single linear direction.

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1 I As shown in FIGS. l, 3 and 4, the peripheral side wall 2 ¦ includes a zipper mechanism 34 bonded to the second pair of the 3 ¦ opposite edges 28, 30 of the peripheral side wall in a manner to 4 complete the general cylindrical configuration of the side wall.

5 The zipper mechanism 34 is bonded to the respective opposed edges

6 in a manner to define an access opening into the cylindrical con-

7 tainer along essentially the entire length thereof in a manner to

8 provide easy access into the container. The peripheral side wall

9 12 also includes an air valve 36 for mechanically or orally

10 inflating the peripheral side wall when desired.

11 The inflatable end sections 14, 16 of the inflatable

12 ¦ container 10 of the present invention are bonded to respective

13 I ends of the cylindrical, peripheral side wall 12, specifically to

14 ¦ respective ones of the first pair of convex opposite edges 24, 26

15 I of the peripheral side wall. As best shown in FIG~ 3, each of

16 ~ the inflatable end sections 14, 16 includes respective outer end

17 j section sheets 14a, 16a and inner end section sheets 14b, 16b.

18 In the embodiment shown, these respective outer and inner sheets

19 are bonded together only around their respective peripheries, 38,

20 40~ This results in a significant ballooning effect of the two

21 end sections when inflated, which actually increases the thermal

22 ¦ insulating properties of the respective end sections 14, 16.

23 Alternatively, it should be readily apparent that buttons similar

24 to the buttons 32 in the peripheral side wall may be utilized to

25 maintain the respective inner and outer end section sheets in

26 appropriate spaced relation.

27 As best shown in FIG. 2, the effect of the peripheral

28 side wall first pair of opposite edges 24, 26 being convex in

29 ¦ shape will result in the inflatable container being c>f a

30 trapezoidal shape when viewed from the side. The purpose of this

31 is to lower the effective center of gravity of the inflatable

32 container, and, of course, its contents, in order to prevent the

33 container from toppling over and spilling the contents or other-

34 wise leaking water through the zipper mcchanism 34 or through a ~Z~73~
1 hereinbelow. Those skilled in the art will readily appreciate 2 that aue to this trapezoidal shape of the inflatable container of 3 the present invention, the respective inflatable end sections 14, 4 16 are of an oval configuration in ord~r to properly mate with 5 the respective convex edges 24, 26 of the peripheral side wall 6 and form a proper watertight seal therewith. Additionally, of 7 course, each of the inflatable end sections includes an air valve 8 42a, 42b to permit the mechanical or oral inflation of the end 9 sections as in the peripheral side wall 12.
The inflatable container 10 of the present invention 11 also includes means for conveniently carrying the container 12 ~ about. As shown in FIG. 2, this carrying means comprises a strap 13 I section 44 which is connected at each end thereof to a respective 14 I loop section 46a~ 46b, each loop section being adapted to 15 ¦ surround a respective end of the container in a manner to 16 ¦ conveniently support the container. As shown, the loop sections 17 ¦ 46a, 46b are essentially parallel to the juncture of the 18 ¦ peripheral side wall and respective end sections, in order that 19 the line of force of the strap section and respective loop 20 sections be maintained essentially linear.
21 The inflatable container also includes means for 22 attaching the strap and loop sections to the container to main-23 tain the strap in a functional position and prevent the strap and 24 loop sections from sliding toward the center of the container, as 25 may otherwise happen but for the attachment means. In the ~6 embodiment shown (see FIG. 3), the attachment means takes the 27 form of a tab portion 48a, 48b of the strap section having a snap 28 mechanism 50a, 50b affixed thereto which engages a mating snap 29 mechanism 52a, 52b formed with or otherwise affixed to the 30 inflatable container adjacent respective ends of the zipper 31 mechanism 34. In this manner, the carrying strap 44 may be 32 easily removed from the inflatable container, when desired, and 33 may be removably attached to the inflatable container and 34 retained in place, when it is desired to transport the container, ~C ~ a,~ r th~ user's shoulder.

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1 Additionally, the snap mechanism 50a, 50b, 52a, 52b retains the 2 carrying strap and loop sections in functional position when the 3 inflatable container is in its deflated state, as shown in FIG.
4 5, to prevent the natural tendency of the loops to slide off of the container when deflated to a smaller size.
6 Referring to FIG. 7, a further advantage of utilizing 7 the particular snap mechanism to attach the strap and loop 8 sections to the inflatable container is that the particular snap 9 mechanism used includes a through passageway 54 interconnecting the interior of the container with the container exterior. In 11 this manner, water (melted ice) that has collected in the 12 container may be easily removed by turning the inflated container 13 upside down (the zipper remaining closed to prevent a sudden rush 14 of water) to permit the water to drain therefrom in a controlled manner through the passageways 54 formed in the snap mechanisms.
16 Although a preferred embodiment of an inflatable 17 container in accordance with the present invention has been 18 described in detail, it should be understood that various substi-l9 tutions, alternatives and modifications may become apparent to those skilled in the art. These changes may be made without 21 departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined 24 ~ b the appended claims.

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Claims (4)

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. An inflatable container comprising:
(a) an inflatable, peripheral side wall formed of two sheets of flexible and impermeable material bonded together at selected locations thereof to define a single, inflatable cell having spaced side walls comprising essentially concentric cylinders, said side walls having a first pair of opposed edges, said first pair of opposed edges being convex when said periph-eral side wall is in a deflated state prior to being formed into a cylindrical shape, and a second pair of opposed edges, said second pair of opposed edges being essentially parallel to each other and essentially parallel to a line bisecting said first pair of opposed edges;
(b) a pair of inflatable end portions, each of said end portions being bonded to respective ones of said first pair of opposed edges of said side wall to define a closed water tight cylindrical container, said inflatable end portions being essentially oval to effect a proper seal with respective ones of said first pair of opposed edges at each end of said container, said inflatable end portions being inflatable throughout essentially the entire respective surface areas thereof;
(c) closure means bonded to said peripheral side wall second pair of opposed edges in a manner to form said side wall into essentially a cylindrical container, said closure means defining an access opening in said container into the interior of said container, said closure means comprising a zipper mechanism;
and (d) carrying means comprising a pair of closed loop sections adapted to surround respective ends of said container adjacent respective ones of said first pair of opposed edges of said side wall to thereby support said container, an elongate strap section interconnecting said pair of closed loop sections adjacent respective ends of said zipper mechanism, and attachment means for removably attaching said carrying means to said container.

2. The container as set forth in Claim 1, wherein said attachment means comprises mating, snap mechanisms positioned adjacent respective end portions of said container.

3. The container as set forth in Claim 1, wherein said peripheral side wall is bonded together at selected locations by sealing said side wall together in a pattern of small, circular bonded sections.

4. The container as set forth in Claim 1, wherein said attachment means defines a passageway interconnecting the interior of said container with the exterior thereof.