US1168381A - Packaging toy balloons. - Google Patents

Description

ATTORNEY.

THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH c0., WASHINGTON, n c.

HAROLD A. DODGE, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

mcxnorrne' Tor BALLOONS.

Application fi1ed J'u1y 11, 1914. Serial No. 850,311.

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, HAROLD A. DODGE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain Improvements in Packaging Toy Balloons, of

, which the following is a specification.

The objects of this invention are to package a toy balloon with its stick so as to enable the same to be handled as a unit and thus facilitate distribution and sale of them; to prevent crumpling and damaging the balloon, and to utilize the rigidity of the stick for that purpose; to prevent the balloon from shifting unduly in said package; to enable the balloon to be delivered in good sanitary condition for applying to the lips to expandit; to position the balloon within the package so that a plurality of such packages may be compactly stored; to secure simplicity and cheapness, and to obtain other advantages and results as may be brought out in the following description.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, in which like numerals of reference indicate the same parts throughout the several views, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a sealed package containing a toy balloon and stick ready for delivery according to my invention; Fig. 2 is a similar perspective view with parts of the envelop torn open; Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view on line AA of Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 is a longitudinal edge view of a closed package containing a toy balloon and its stick.

In the specific embodiment of the invention illustrated in said drawings, the reference numeral 1 indicates a deflated toy balloon adapted to be inflated by the purchaser through its open end or mouth-piece 2. Such balloons are usually made from a thin elastic material which allows the balloon to increase to a considerable size by filling with air and is subject to considerable strain when so filled, and any weakness of the material results in rupture and ruin of the balloon. It has been found in the sale of these toys that to handle the balloons and sticks loosely mixed not only results in confusion and great loss of time, but also the delicate material of the balloons is crumpled and creased and damaged either before or after delivery to purchasers, so that the balloons often spring a leak when inflated. Although not actually punctured, the bal- Specification of Letters Patent;

Patented Jan. 18, 1916.

loon is likely to have weak places which enlarge and stretch when the balloon is inflated, until the material ultimately tears. Both the mouth piece and the sticks are liable to injure the balloons or actually punch holes in them when the balloons and sticks are promiscuously mixed and handled together. Also, merely to crease the balloon material one way, for instance in a longitudinal direction or direction axially of the'mouth-piece, and then crease it again transversely thereto, results in a weak spot at the intersection of the two creases which under the strain of inflation will break through, and it is desirable to keep the balloons out smooth so that they cannot get creased that way.-

According to my invention, I lay the deflated balloon 1 longitudinally of the stick 3 which is sold with it for a handle, near one end thereof, so that the stick will prevent transverse creasing of the balloon; in this position and relation I place them within an envelop 4 long enough to receive the stick but not wide enough to allow the balloon to shift with respect to the stick, as shown. Preferably I make the envelop 4 of such size that the balloon will frictionally engage the walls thereof and remain in substantially the position stated regardless of the usual and ordinary handling of the package. In this manner, the only creasing of the balloon occurs in a longitudinal direction necessary to reduce the spherical shape of the balloon to a flattened shape, and the mouthpiece 2 is prevented from doing any harm; also the stick 3 is held with its ends covered and is prevented from injuring the balloons, and furthermore the stick is utilized to keep the collapsed balloon in shape and aid in its safe handling and transportation. Obviously, in packaging the balloons this way, the thickness of the balloon will make a bulge 5 in the package, and in order that the packages may be stored as compactly as possible, I preferably position the balloon at one end of the package as close to the end of the stick as practicable without endangering the balloon to damage by the stick, so that in stacking the packages one may be laid with the bulge at one end of a pile and the next with the bulge at the other end, making a compact and neat arrangement. Inasmuch as the balloon will not slide in the package normally, its disposition which I "hare described therefore --enables-*andi.

facilitates the convenient stacking or pilingup of the packages. Y

In order to deliver the balloons to the purchaser in sanitary condition and rfreevfrominfective germs I preferably seal the pacle age 'by-Inea-nsof:oppositeend fiaps=6, 6.: Thisv insures that when the child inflates the balloon, the mouth-piece 2 is clean for hi'm to" 7 otherwise separate and detach edifr'om them except fora frictional engagement withthe balloon *Which' will hold-Ht inqsuch position that 1 the *stick prevents bending and i crum plin'g-;of" the balloon.v

2;";Thecombination of a collapsed balloon and -a stick th'erefor several times as: long; as the same, sa i'd balloon and stick; being separate and detached fromeach otherand arranged longiti'i'd-inally side bysid-With -sp ectto= the=stick, whereby the stick-prevents bending and crnmpling of theballoon and we similar-such packages will lie compactly together with the bulge of one against the oppositeend portionof the'others'- Y a 31 "The combination of' aicoll apsed balloon and' a stick "therefor several times-as *ldngas the same;saidfb alloon and stick being' separate and detached from"each other and ar ranged "longitiidinal lfy side; byysid," and ai rectangularenvelop inclosi ng said stickand balloon with its length corresponding to the length, of 'the -stick -*and "its widtl 1 such that the --enve"lop receives the bal loon i with 1 suffi? cintfriction to prevent 5 displacement of it" longitii'di iiallwk said envelop: being otherwise separate and detached from the stick and V I: r v HAROLD AE- DODGE: Witnessess j r Howine n-iKmea JANET Copies of this "patent "may be obtalified for 'fiii cents 6 i fiiig tth r Commissioner' orfl'af m Wishington',-&D2c;f*

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