US3631544A

US3631544A - Inflatable wading pool or like article

Info

Publication number: US3631544A
Application number: US73960A
Authority: US
Inventors: Bernard Tytel
Original assignee: AWARD INTERNATIONAL Inc
Current assignee: AWARD INTERNATIONAL Inc
Priority date: 1970-09-21
Filing date: 1970-09-21
Publication date: 1972-01-04
Anticipated expiration: 1989-01-04

Abstract

An inflatable wading pool or like article whose upright wall is formed of a doubled-over sheet of material and is divided by airtight seams into upper and lower circumferentially continuous air compartments spaced by a series of vertically extending air pockets alternate one of which are connected to one another and to a common air inlet.

Description

United States Patent 2,084,236 6/1937 Babb Inventor Bernard Tytel New York, N.Y.

Appl. No. 73,960

Filed Sept. 21, 1970 Patented Jan. 4, 1972 Assignee Award International, Inc.

North Bergen, NJ.

INFLATABLE WADING POOL 0R LIKE ARTICLE 6 Claims, 8 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 4/172, 4/177 Int. Cl E0411 3/16, E04h 3/18 Field of Search 4/172, 172.11, 172.19, 177

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 9/1954 Mollica et al 4/177 UX 7/1958 Zakin 4/172.l9 9/1958 Mizrach et al. 4/177 1/1968 Friedlander 4/172 1/1969 Diemond et al. 4/172 FOREIGN PATENTS 9/1964 France 4/172.19 2/1963 France 4/172.19

Primary Examiner-Henry K. Artis Att0rney-Victor M. Helfand ABSTRACT: An inflatable wading pool or like article whose upright wall is formed of a doubled-over sheet of material and is divided by airtight seams into upper and lower circumferentially continuous air compartments spaced by a series of vertically extending air pockets alternate one of which are connected to one another and to a common air inlet.

PATENTEB JAN 4 I972 SHEET 1 (IF 2 INVLNTOR. Bernard Tyfel Fig. 4

PAIENIEB m 4% SHEET 2 OF 2 INVENTOR. Bernard Tyfel AT Y INFLATABLE WADING POOL OR LIKE ARTICLE The present invention relates to inflatable articles, particularly to inflatable wading pools for children, or the like.

Inflatable wading pools of the character described have generally been formed of thermoplastic sheet material, such as vinyl sheeting, and consist of a flat bottom wall and an inflatable sidewall which extends in an upright position when inflated. Such upright sidewall is generally formed of a foldedover sheet of the plastic material that is secured by its edges to the edges of the bottom wall and is divided into a plurality, generally three, individual, peripherally extending, continuous inflatable compartments, as by narrow, heat-seal-formed seams; each compartment having its individual means for inflation and deflation.

In a wading pool construction such as described, the pool or like article, when inflated, has an upright wall formed of vertically spaced, usually circular, continuous tubes of substantially circular cross section, connected by narrow seams. They are, consequently inform and flabby and tend to bend and sway along the narrow seams. Also, such walls are generally limited in height, as any increase in wall height generally requires an increase in the thickness of the individual tubular compartments, which necessitates an excessive use of the plastic sheeting and renders the compartment unduly difficult to inflate. Further, an increase in the wall thickness would render the pool clumsy in appearance and clumsy to handle.

It is the object of the present invention to provide wading pools of the character described having firmer side walls that will stay more firmly in upright position, when inflated.

It is another object of the present invention to provide wading pools of the character described which may be increased in depth by increasing wall height, without increasing wall thickness. 7

It is still another object of the present invention to provide wading pools of the character described which have a more graceful and attractive appearance.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide wading pools of the character described that present no undue difficulty to inflation of the sidewall.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the wading pools of the present invention, or like articles, will become more readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the embodiments thereof shown in the accompanying drawings and from the description following. It is to be understood, however, that such embodiments are shown by way of illustration only, to make the principles and practice of the invention more readily comprehensible, and without intent of limiting the invention to the specific details therein shown.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a wading pool of the present invention, as seen from the top, in inflated state;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary elevation, on an enlarged scale of the upright wall of the wadingpool of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a section taken on line 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a section taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to that of FIG. I, of a modified embodiment of the wading pool of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary, enlarged, elevation of the upright wall of the wading pool of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a section taken on line 7-7 of FIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 is a section taken on line 8-8 of FIG. 6.

Generally stated, the present invention contemplates the provision of wading pools, or like articles, of the character described in which the central peripheral section of the upright wall is formed with a plurality of transversely extending air pockets, alternate one of which are interconnected for air circulation and provided with a common, individual air inlet facility. In one form of the invention each series of air pockets is separated from both, the upper and lower tubular compartments as well as from the adjacent pockets of the alternate series. In another form of the invention, the pockets of each one of the alternate series of pockets is connected for air circulation to one peripheral compartment but is divided from the transverse pockets of the other of the alternate series of pockets and from the other peripheral compartment.

More specifically states, and with particular reference to the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 4, inclusive, of the drawings, the wading pool, generally designated as 10, is shown to comprise a flat bottom wall, 12, which may be formed of one or more plies of synthetic plastic sheet material, and an inflatable upright wall, generally designated as 14, connected to the edges of bottom wall 12.

As is conventional, wall 14 is formed of a doubled-over sheet of plastic material whose longitudinal edges are secured, as by heat-sealing to the edge of the bottom wall 12 and whose vertical edges of each of its plies are secured, likewise by heatsealing, to one another, to form a continuous, airtight compartment. This circumferential compartment is divided by substantially parallel, circumferentially extending horizontal, spaced heat-seal seams, l6 and 18, to divide it into a lower tubular compartment, 20, an upper tubular compartment, 22, both of which assume a cylindrical shape when inflated, and form, respectively the bottom and top edge portions of the sidewall 14, and an intermediate compartment, 26.

Compartment 26 is divided by a continuous, circumferentially extending, endless wavy or zigzag line, 28, formed by a heat-seal seam, whose crests, 30 and 30 and troughs, 32, y

are spaced from

scams

16 and 18, to form two series of noncommunicating, air pockets, 34 and 36,- which extend, respectively, downwardly and upwardly, in alternating relation, and are respectively connected by

narrow air passages

38 and 40, at their bases.

Compartments

20 and 22 and each of the alternating series of air pockets, 34 and 36, are provided with individual, sealable air inlets, 42, 44, 46 and 48, respectively, for inflation.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 5 to 8, inclusive, seams l6 and 18 and noncontinuous and are interrupted, respectively by gaps, 50 and 52, which are arranged in staggered relation to provide staggered seam portions between them each of whose ends are connected to the ends of two adjacent seam portions of the other interrupted seam, as by transverse lines 28, 34' and 36' that are respectively connected for airflow with circumferential compartments 20' and 22 and inflatable together with such compartments through air inlets 42' and 44'.

This completes the description of the inflatable wading pools, or like articles, of the present invention. It will be readily apparent that such articles, because of the transversely or vertically formed air pockets, provide a-firmer and more rigid sidewall for the article, the center section of which is relatively flatter than the end compartments thereof which are cylindrical when inflated, to thereby provide relatively taller sidewalls without any increase in the size of the plastic sheet material used, than possible with the articles of the prior art. It will also be apparent that the wading pools or like articles of the present invention are of enhanced decorative and ornamental appearance.

It will be further apparent that numerous modifications and variations may be made in the inflatablej wading pools or like articles of the present invention by any one skilled in the art, in accordance with the principles of the invention hereinabove set forth and without the exercise of any inventive ingenuity.

I claim:

1. A collapsible wading pool, including a bottom wall and a hollow, inflatable, airtight, peripheral upright wall connected to the edge of said bottom wall, said upright wall comprising peripherally continuous air compartments at the upper and lower edges thereof, substantially parallel to said bottom wall and spaced from one another by a central wall section, each said compartment having individual, closable air inlet and outlet means; said central section comprising a plurality of vertically disposed air pockets each open at one end with the open ends of alternate pockets oppositely disposed and connected to the adjacent air pocket.

2. The wading pool of claim 1, wherein said alternate transverse pockets are connected to one another and to a common air inlet and outlet means.

3. The wading pool of claim 1, wherein each of said peripherally continuous air compartments are defined from said central wall section by a continuous airtight seam and said alternate air pockets are defined by a continuous zigzag line extending around the periphery of said upright wall,; the crests and troughs of said zigzag seam spaced from said continuous seams.

4. The wading pool of claim 3, wherein each series of said alternate air pockets to one side of said zigzag seam is provided with individual air inlet and outlet means.

5. The wading pool of claim 1, wherein each of said peripherally continuous compartments is defined from the said center section by an intermittently broken, airtight seam to provide spaced seam portions extending around the periphery of said upright wall; each seam section of one of said compartments connected by its ends by seams to the adjacent ends of two adjacent seam sections of the other of said compartments, to thereby form alternately oppositely directed transverse air pockets each connected by an open end to one of said compartments.

6. The wading pool of claim 5, wherein said intennittently broken seams are interrupted by evenly sized and evenly spaced gaps, said gaps in said continuous seams being arranged in staggered relation to one another.

t I t t i

Claims

6. The wading pool of claim 5, wherein said intermittently broken seams are interrupted by evenly sized and evenly spaced gaps, said gaps in said continuous seams being arranged in staggered relation to one another.