Patent Application
20100167851
The present invention is directed to a hooded valve and valve assembly for use in inflatable objects, especially inflatable balls with an internal bladder that are inflated through insertion of an air needle. The valve includes an exterior chamber for easy insertion of the needle, a closed central portion for retention of air once the needle is removed, and a flexible interior chamber for enabling air to flow from the needle and to prevent the needle from puncturing the ball or the bladder.
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Inflatable balls come in many different forms with a wide variety of valves, including valves that can be opened and blown into by a user and valves that can only be filled with a special needle designed to attach to a pump. This latter type of valve is commonly used in athletic balls, such as soccer, volleyballs, footballs, tetherballs, etc., where the balls are filled with air or other gases to create internal pressure. Non-controlled deflation through the valve opening would be highly undesirable. An example of one such valve is shown in Baltronis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,342,043, in which the valve for an American football is described as extending through a hole in one exterior panel and through the bladder for inflation and deflation purposes. Other versions of valves are shown in Ochoa, U.S. Pat. No. 3,107,683, and O'Hara et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,403,003, as well as O'Neill et al., U.S. Publication Number 2006-0205547 A1.
As the most common type of valve assembly used in most bladder-based inflatable balls is not fully illustrated in any of the aforementioned references, an example of one such prior art valve assembly is depicted in
Around the valve 10, the bladder has a thicker area 22 to provide more rigidity for the valve 10, and a bulbous (i.e.: valve housing) area 24, which is glued to the thicker area 22 and that holds the valve 10 in place against the thicker area 22. The combination of the valve 10 and the valve housing 24 form what is referred to herein as the “valve assembly” in bladderless balls, while in bladder-based balls, the valve housing further includes the bladder itself, usually in the form of the thicker area 22. When a needle is inserted through the exterior open chamber 12, it is directed toward the solid interior portion 14, where it pierces the rubber along a line 26 and exits into the interior area of the ball. The needle 30 is shown in
To reduce shipping container space when balls are shipped from the manufacturer to a distributor, to save on storage space at various distributors, and to save space on receiving docks, balls are commonly shipped deflated. This is particularly true when balls are sent to institutions, such as schools and volleyball clubs. It is preferable to leave the balls completely or partially deflated (referred to herein as a “deflated ball”), until they are ready to be used by the consumer, at which point they are inflated. A deflated ball is typically folded, which causes the internal bladder wall 20 to fold over and in front of the valve assembly. When a consumer inserts a needle 30 into the valve 10 of a deflated ball, it is not uncommon to have the needle 30 extend beyond the end of the valve assembly and pierce a portion of the bladder 20 that gets in the way of the needle 30.
In addition to being filled with air/gas, the bladder of some balls, primarily soccer balls, are also filled with a fine filament material to give the ball a different feel and density. When a needle is inserted into a ball with these filaments, it is not uncommon for a number of the filaments to get pulled into the opening along the line 26 created in the solid interior portion 14, which allows air to leak out of the valve. To prevent this from occurring, as illustrated in prior art
PRIOR ART
PRIOR ART
The present invention is directed to a hooded valve and valve assembly for use in inflatable objects, especially inflatable balls with an internal bladder that are inflated through insertion of an air needle. The present invention could be used in any type of inflatable object that has an air retainer, i.e., the ability to retain air, which might be the walls of the ball itself, or some type of inserted object, such as an air bladder. As depicted in
The valve 100 is inserted through a hole formed in an outer portion or panel 108 of the ball and through a hole in an interior bladder 110, typically made of butyl. The retainer ring 107 holds the valve 100 in place against the thicker area 112 of the bladder 110 until the valve housing 114 is glued to the thicker area 112 so as to affix the valve 100 in place. When a needle is inserted through the exterior chamber 102, it is directed toward the closed central portion 104, where it pierces the rubber along a line 116.
The closed central portion 104 of the valve 100 may be pre-pierced with a sharp, narrow diameter instrument when the valve 100 is manufactured to make sure that the needle will travel along the line 116 and not exit through the side of the central portion 104 and defeat the purpose of the hooded area 118. Upon exiting the central portion 104, the needle will enter the flexible interior chamber 106 rather than the interior portion of the ball. Prior art valves are approximately 10 mm in length. The valve 100 of the present invention would be almost three times as long so as to assure that the air needle will not be able to extend beyond the interior end of the valve 100. The added length of the valve 100, when made of the same rubber material as prior art valves, only adds about 0.4 grams (0.02 ounces) of weight and should not introduce wobble or unbalancing of the ball or affect playability.
In addition to having the bladder protection benefits noted below, the addition of the hooded area 118 also eliminates the need to glue a foam filter around the interior portion of the valve 100. The small opening formed by the interior chamber 106 to the interior of the ball would also prevent filaments from being able to enter the interior chamber and the needle 120 from being able to pull those filaments into the central portion 104 when the needle 120 was withdrawn by a user. Hence, the single valve of the present invention could be used on all bladder based balls as well as filament filled balls in place of current prior art solutions.
As illustrated in
Various alternatives to the present invention include forming the valve of a combination of materials, versus the same materials as the rest of the valve, or creating a different shape for the hooded area, such as a bulbous end to the valve. For example the hooded area could be formed of a harder more rigid material than the flexible rubber portion of the valve. This has the advantage of decreasing the likelihood that the needle tip could puncture through the sides of the hooded area, but it has disadvantages as well. Mixing two materials, the rubber of the valve with the harder material of the hooded area will require additional labor and material costs and introduces a potential point of failure should the hardened portion break away from the rubber portion. Further, if a user pushed hard enough against the combination of the needle and the valve assembly during an attempted inflation attempt, the needle may be bent, thereby making it impossible to withdraw from the ball or requiring the needle to be replaced.
Likewise, creating a different shape to the hooded area has both advantages and disadvantages. While a bulbous hooded area would insure that it would be impossible to puncture the sides of the valve, due to the thick sides created by the bulbous hooded area, needle bending would still be a problem and the bulbous hooded area would add extra weight to the balls, which would unbalance the balls and impact playability. Hence, the narrow interior chamber of the present invention and illustrated in the various figures herein is the preferred embodiment.
While the present invention has been illustrated and described in terms of a preferred embodiment and several alternatives herein in association with the various drawing figures, it should not be limited to just the particular description contained in this specification. Additional alternative or equivalent components and steps could be used to practice the present invention.
