1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a game table, and more particularly to an air-blowing assembly of a game table. The air-blowing assembly is able to blow air out of the table face of the game table.
2. Description of the Related Art
A hockey game table or a game table with a hockey game table face provides a hockey game simulating hockey sport. The conventional hockey game table is designed with an air-blowing mechanism for blowing air out of the table face so as to reduce the frictional resistance against the slide of the puck on the table face. The table body of such game table has an internal space positioned under the table face. The table face is formed with numerous fine orifices densely distributed over the table face. A fan is used to blow air into the space and make the air flow out from the fine orifices.
In order to guide the air to flow within the space, U.S. Pat. No. 6,419,224 discloses a complex multifunctional game table structure in which a wooden wind-guiding board is installed in the table body as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 of the above Patent. The wind-guiding board is formed with wind-guiding channels for guiding the air to every part of the space.
The wooden wind-guiding board is made of a considerably large amount of timbers and is manufactured at higher cost. This fails to meet the requirement of environmental protection. Also, it is hard to manufacture the wooden wind-guiding board. Moreover, it is necessary to secondarily process the timbers. As a result, the wind-guiding board is likely to warp and lose its planarity. Accordingly, the wind-guiding board is often manufactured with an error in size. This will lead to difficulty in assembling the wind-guiding board. Furthermore, the wooden board has a quite heavy weight. This fails to meet the requirement of lightening.
In addition, the wind-guiding channel formed on the wind-guiding board has no transverse (widthwise) air outlet. Therefore, the air can only flow along the wind-guiding channel in the longitudinal (lengthwise) direction thereof. Under such circumstance, the resistance against the flowing of the air is quite large so that it is hard to uniformly guide the air.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide an air-blowing assembly of a game table. The air-blowing assembly is able to guide air to uniformly flow within the interior of the game table under lower resistance against the flowing of the air.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide the above air-blowing assembly of the game table, which includes one or more flow guide members. The flow guide members are plane and unlikely to warp. In addition, the flow guide members are easy to manufacture and easy to assemble in the air-blowing assembly.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide the above air-blowing assembly of the game table, which includes one or more flow guide members. The flow guide members are made of recoverable material to meet the requirement of environmental protection. In addition, the flow guide members are lighter than the conventional wooden board to meet the requirement of lightening.
The air-blowing assembly of the game table of the present invention is installed in a table frame of the game table, which includes a face board, an inner board and an air space defined between the face board and the inner board. One or more flow guide members are arranged in the air space. Each flow guide member has multiple lattices arranged in at least two rows. At least one air guide channel is formed on each flow guide member, and the air guide channel has at least one lattice row formed with longitudinal notches. Accordingly, the flow guide member has at least one longitudinal airflow passage. At least one fan is used to blow air into the air space. Under the guide of the flow guide members, the air can flow to every part of the air space and flow out of the face board from multiple fine orifices thereof.
In the above air-blowing assembly, the air guide channel can also form lateral notches on the lattice row of the flow guide member to provide transverse airflow passages, whereby the air can flow between the lattices of different lattice rows.
The air can flow out of the flow guide member through the lateral notches.
Preferably, the flow guide members are made of paperboards and are easy to manufacture and assemble. Moreover, the flow guide members have the advantages of planarity, low cost, lightweight and low resistance. In addition, the flow guide members are able to bear heavy load.
Multiple flow guide members can be arranged in the air space to partition the air space into multiple elongated compartments. Alternatively, a one-piece flow guide member with a size approximately equal to that of the air space can be arranged in the air space.
The present invention can be best understood through the following description and accompanying drawings, wherein:
The present invention relates to an air-blowing assembly installed on a game table. The game table provides a hockey game. The air-blowing assembly 10 is installable on a game table G1 as shown in
Please refer to
The face board 20 is formed with multiple fine orifices 22 densely distributed over the face board 20 and passing through the face board 20 from a top face to a bottom face thereof. The fine orifices are regularly arranged, for example, longitudinally and transversely arranged.
The inner board 30 is positioned under the face board 20 to define an air space 25 between the face board 20 and the inner board 30. An air inlet 32 is disposed on the inner board. The periphery of the space 25 is sealed with several strip-shaped sealing members 34. As shown in
In this embodiment, three elongated flow guide members 40 are installed in the air space 22. Referring to
To easily distinguish between the air guide channels, the straight lines denoted by numeral 44a or 44b as shown in
According to the above arrangement, the air guide channels 44 of the flow guide member 40 provide longitudinal airflow passages (formed of the longitudinal notches 45) and transverse airflow passages (formed of the lateral notches 46 to 49). Therefore, the air can flow in both the longitudinal (lengthwise) direction and transverse (widthwise) direction of the flow guide member. The lattices of the three lattice rows L1 to L3 communicate with each other through the lateral notches 47, 48, whereby the air can flow and exchange between the lattices of different lattice rows. In addition, a wing plate 43 outward extends from the outer lateral wall of each lattice 42 of each lateral lattice row. Each two wing plates 43 define therebetween an air outlet for guiding the lateral airflow.
In this embodiment, the fan 50 is installed under the bottom face of the inner board 30 of the flow guide module 15 in alignment with the air inlet 32 as shown in
In this embodiment, the flow guide member 40 is made of a honeycomb paperboard. The paperboard can be stretched to form a structure as shown in
In the case that the air-blowing assembly 10 is installed on the game table G1 or G2, the face board 20 serves as a game face board of a hockey game. Referring to
When it is desired to play the hockey game, the fan 50 is powered on to blow airflow from the air inlet 32 of the inner board 30 into the space 25. Referring to
The flow guide module 15 of the second embodiment is identical to that of the first embodiment, including a face board 20 and an inner board 30. Four flow guide members 70 are arranged in the air space 25. The inner board 30 is formed with four air inlets 35 in alignment with the four flow guide members 70 respectively. An elongated air receptacle 80 is disposed under the bottom face of the inner board 30 to cover the four air inlets 35. The air receptacle 80 defines an internal chamber 82. The fan 50 is positioned under the bottom face of the air receptacle 80 for blowing air from an opening 84 of the air receptacle into the chamber 82, whereby the air can flow from the four air inlets 35 into the air space 25.
Please now refer to
Please now refer to
In use, the fan 50 blows the air to go from the air inlets 35 into the air space 25 and flow into the flow guide members 70. After the air flows into the flow guide members, the air longitudinally flows along the air guide channels 74 and transversely flows between the lattices of different lattice rows through the lateral notches 77, 78. Accordingly, the air can fill up the flow guide members to flow out from the fine orifices 22. Moreover, the air inlets 35 have a diameter larger than the width of the flow guide members 70 (not including the width of the wing plates 73). Therefore, part of the air is directly blown to the compartments R and flows out of the face board through the fine orifices 22 within the range of the compartments R.
In the above two embodiments, the compartments R and P are elongated narrow spaces with a specific direction. Accordingly, the air can efficiently flow in the longitudinal direction of the face board without producing any turbulence. Also, the flow guide members 40, 70 can make the air smooth flow without producing any turbulence. In addition, it is unnecessary to install the flow guide members in the space 25 with the fine orifices positioned within the range of the air guide channels. For example, as shown in
The design of the air receptacle 80 and the multiple air inlets 35 of the second embodiment is also applicable to the first embodiment.
The flow guide module 15, the face board 20, the inner board 30, the air inlets 35, the fan 50 and the air receptacle 80 of the third embodiment are identical to those of the second embodiment and thus will not be repeatedly described hereinafter.
Please refer to
When the fan 50 blows the air into the space 25, the flow guide member 100 can guide the air to flow out from the fine orifices 22 of the face board.
In this embodiment, the air guide channels are regularly disposed on the flow guide member 100. Each three lattice rows are provided with an air guide channel. Please refer to
Please refer to
It should be noted that in this embodiment, alternatively, an air guide channel is provided for each two lattice rows, rather than three lattice rows.
The flow guide member 110 is a one-piece honeycomb paperboard identical to that of the third embodiment. The flow guide member 110 has numerous lattices 112 arranged in rows. An air guide channel 114 is provided for each two lattice rows S1′ and S2′. The air guide channel 114 is disposed on the lattice row S1′ of the two lattice rows. The middle section 1121 of each lattice 112 of the lattice row S1′ is cut off by the air guide channel 114 to form a longitudinal notch 115, while the lateral walls 1122, 1123 of the lattice 112 are partially cut off by the air guide channel 114 to form lateral notches 116. After the air goes into the air guide channels 114, the air can flow along the longitudinal notches 115 in the longitudinal direction of the air guide channel. Also, the air can transversely flow to other lattice rows through the lateral notches 116. In this case, the air can transversely flow from one air guide channel 114 to another air guide channel through the lateral notches. Accordingly, the air can longitudinally and transversely flow between the lattice rows of the flow guide member and flow to every part of the air space 25 under the guide of the flow guide member.
The air guide channel disposed on the lateral walls shared by the lattices of this embodiment is also applicable to the flow guide member having at least two lattice rows.
The present invention provides a novel flow guide design for the hockey game table, which can guide the air to flow within the interior of the game table. By means of the flow guide design, the air can efficiently flow to every fine orifice of every part of the air space to create a uniform air-blowing effect.
The air-blowing assembly of the present invention has a modularized structure and is easy to install on the game table. Therefore, the production rate is increased.
In the preferred embodiments of the present invention, the flow guide member made of the paperboard is used instead of the conventional wooden wind-guiding board. The paperboard is easy to cut so that the flow guide member can be easily manufactured. In comparison with the wooden wind-guiding board, the cost is greatly lowered. After cut, the flow guide member has a uniform thickness and is planer than the wooden board. The flow guide member of the present invention has regular internal flow passages extending in all directions so that the resistance against the flowing of the air is smaller than that of the wooden wind-guiding board.
In addition, the flow guide member of the present invention is made of less material than the wooden board and is lighter than the wooden board to meet the requirement of lightening. The flow guide member has a structural strength sufficient for bearing the load. Moreover, the flow guide member is made of recoverable paper to meet the requirement of environmental protection.
The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the present invention, not intended to limit the scope thereof. Many modifications of the above embodiments can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, the flow guide member can be alternatively made of plastic material and the number of the air guide channels of the flow guide member is not limited to that of the above embodiments.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20130264772 A1 | Oct 2013 | US |