Patent Application
20170190393
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The disclosed invention is an inflatable ride-on water toy. There are many shapes and sizes of inflatable ride-on water toys available on the market today. One of the most widely used designs for inflatable ride-on water toys is a one-piece body with shapes ranging from stylized horses, animals, or fictional characters to amorphous shapes. Many of these commercially available one-piece designs have large circular flotation areas designed to maximize the overall stability of the ride-on device. With these designs, the user has a platform on which to balance and ride the inflatable animal shape. The user adjusts the stability of the platform by inflating or deflating the toy. U.S. Pat. No. 2,404,729 discloses an inflatable ride-on water toy having a one-piece structure wherein four balloon legs serve to stabilize the toy so as to make the toy suitable for riding in the water. U.S. Pat. No. 4,718,661 discloses a one-piece ride-on water toy having handles that stabilize the user. U.S. Pat. No. 1,851,768 discloses a one-piece ride-on water toy shaped like a swan wherein two pontoons serve to stabilize the toy. There are other unitary designs that do not have concentric stabilizing structures but these designs are difficult to master in the water. U.S. Pub. No. 2005/0233676 A1 discloses an animal-like inflatable toy figure wherein the belly of the animal is designed to bounce and rock on the ground.
One-piece designs are largely chosen because they are easier to manufacture on a commercial scale and have fewer parts to assemble by the customer. There are drawbacks to a one-piece design. First, the main adjustable feature is the amount of air and inflation pressure, so users are limited as to the range of adjustments that can be made to alter stability of the unit. Second, one-piece designs limit the safety options. As users ride the toy in the water they risk injuring themselves on nearby edges when falling off the toy. The present disclosure serves to address the foregoing problems.
Disclosed is a multi-piece inflatable ride-on water toy wherein a stylized body is designed for maximum range of activity is connected via tethers to a separately inflated safety ring that protects a rider from injury. The invention comprises a stylized body, which accommodates a rider and simulates the motion of a bucking bull or wild horse. The stylized body is inflated using one or more air inlet ports and includes one or more handles for the user to grasp. When riding the stylized body the invention simulates a bull riding competition.
A separate inflatable safety ring encircles the body of the toy and serves to protect the rider from injury. The safety ring is connected to the stylized body with a plurality of adjustable tethers. A user may preferentially adjust the tethers to select for a degree of stability in accordance with skill level. The tethers can be connected to the safety ring using several various mechanisms, all of which have the purpose of allowing quick detachment from the safety ring in the event the rider strikes one or more tethers.
Pull ropes are connected to a rigid motion bar oriented transverse to the stylized body. The pull ropes allow non-riding participants to create motion with the goal of unseating the rider. These and other advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description which, when viewed in light of the accompanying drawings, disclose the embodiment of the invention.
In this first preferred embodiment the ride-on inflatable water toy comprises an inflatable safety ring 101 connected to an inflatable body 103 with a plurality of tethers 105. The safety ring 101 is oval in shape, although other shapes may be used. The safety ring 101 has at least one air inlet port 111 to allow for rapid inflation or deflation. The air inlet port 111 is preferably on the underside of the safety ring 101, although it may be placed anywhere. The safety ring 101 encircles the inflatable body 103 and is laterally connected to the inflatable body 103 via a plurality of tethers 105. The safety ring 101 has a plurality of connection points.
The tethers 105 have two ends. In this first preferred embodiment, the first end is looped through a tether body anchor plate 110, which is fused to the inflatable body 103. At the second end, as shown in
In this first preferred embodiment, the tethers 105 are adjustable using tether adjustment buckles 107. The tethers 105 and the tether adjustment buckles 107 serve two purposes. First, they serve to prevent the inflatable body 103 from interfering with the safety ring 101. Second, they serve as the means by which the user can preferentially select the degree of stability of the inflatable body 103.
The tether-safety ring couplings 109 are designed such that if the rider falls off the body 103 and comes into contact with a tether 105, the tether-safety ring coupling 109 may release from the safety ring 101 so as to minimize the risk of a rider from becoming entangled therein.
The inflatable body 103 may be of any shape sufficient to support a rider in the water although the current disclosure embodies a bull. The inflatable body 103 has an air inlet port 111 to allow for inflation and deflation. The air inlet port 111 is preferably on the underside of the inflatable body 103, although it may be placed anywhere on the body 103. The body 103 has a plurality of connection points.
The body handle 121 is attached to the inflatable body 103 in a manner similar to that shown in
The mounting handle 119 is preferably attached to the anterior of the inflatable body 103 substantially shown in
Two motion bar sleeves 115 are located near the underside of the inflatable body 103. As shown in
As shown in
The pull ropes 117 have a first and second end with the first end being loop shaped in nature and the second end having a pull rope hook end 118. The first looped end serves as the means by which non-riding participant(s) hold the pull ropes 117. The second end or pull rope hook end 118 serves as the means by which the pull ropes 117 attach to the motion bar 113 via the motion bar eyelet anchor 114. The pull ropes 117 are of sufficient durability. The motion bars 113 in conjunction with the pull ropes 117 serve to efficiently transfer energy to the inflatable body 103, thereby allowing non-riding participant(s) to create motion in the inflatable body 103 of the toy and unseat the rider.
A second preferred embodiment of this inflatable ride-on water toy contains those elements set forth in the first preferred embodiment with the exception of the tether-safety ring coupling 109 and the tether-safety ring eyelet anchor 108. In this second preferred embodiment the tethers 105 are attached to the safety ring 101 via a ball stud 123 and a socket anchor 125, as shown in
A third preferred embodiment of this inflatable ride-on water toy contains those elements set forth in the first preferred embodiment with the exception of the tether-safety ring coupling 109, the tether-safety ring eyelet anchor 108, the tether adjustment buckle 107, and the tether-body anchor plate 110. In this third preferred embodiment the body 103 and the safety ring 101 are connected using a plurality of tethers 105, with different tethers serving as corresponding elements to a hook and loop closure 127. By example, a first tether 105 is connected to and extends from the safety ring 101, and using a hook and loop closure system 127, such first tether 105 attaches to a second corresponding tether 105 that is mounted to and extends from the (stylized) body 103. When mated together, the first tether 105 and the second tether 105 have a corresponding hook and loop closure 127 and the union creates a unitary tether 105 that connects the body 103 to the safety ring 101. The distance between the safety ring 101 and the body 103 may be preferentially adjusted by changing the mating point at which corresponding tethers 105 would attach to each other using the hook and loop closure system 127.
