Inflatable Toy with Pop Mechanism and Pop Target

Abstract

An inflatable toy having a balloon, a pop mechanism, and a pop target sticker. The pop target sticker has an alignment marker and is applied to the balloon surface. The pop mechanism has a blunt popping device that is aligned with the sticker alignment marker and activated to pop the balloon. When the balloon is popped, the deflated balloon remains in one piece, and the popping sound intensity is reduced.

Description

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates to an inflatable toy with a pop mechanism and a pop target. The toy provides audio-visual stimulation and excitement during game play while reducing harmful effects of excessive sound and debris.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

Inflatable toys such as balloons are popular with children and adults because they add an element of surprise and excitement when the balloon is inflated and subsequently popped. Balloons are popped due to overinflation or filling of a fluid, intentional popping with a popping device such as a sharp point or are popped due to impact against a surface.

While the inflating and popping of a balloon can be fun, such activities pose risk of harm. For example, the use of popping mechanisms with sharp points presents a risk of injury to children. The bursting of a balloon against a person's body may cause a snapping pain. When a balloon is popped, the balloon is destroyed into multiple pieces and debris that is difficult to clean and often left on the ground as litter. That litter consequently pollutes the outdoors and harms animals.

In addition, the popping sound can be too loud, making games unpleasant and damaging hearing. Typically, a balloon inflated to rupture peaks at approximately 168 decibels but can range from about 125 to about 160 decibels. For perspective, the sound of a balloon popping is louder than that of thunder (120 decibels), firecrackers (140 decibels), and a twelve-gauge shotgun (165 decibels). Generally, sound levels exceeding 85 decibels are harmful to human hearing and can cause permanent hearing loss. This is problematic especially since people, especially children, are around balloons at parties, fairs, schools, amusement centers, auditoriums, and at home.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

What is needed is an inflatable toy with a pop mechanism and a pop target that reduces sound and debris when the inflatable toy is popped or deflated.

In one embodiment, the inflatable toy is a balloon coupled with a friction popping mechanism and a separate sticker or pop target with an adhesive surface.

In an alternative embodiment, the inflatable toy is a balloon coupled with a friction popping mechanism having a tacky surface that is directly connected to the balloon.

Methods of playing a game with an inflatable toy with pop mechanism and pop target include attaching a pop target to a balloon surface and aligning the pop target with the pop mechanism. Another method includes attaching a pop mechanism with a tacky surface to the surface of a balloon.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings that are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification illustrate several embodiments of the disclosure. Together with the description, they serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

FIG. 1 illustrates a front view of an exemplary inflatable toy with a pop mechanism and a pop target.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exploded view of an inflatable toy with a pop mechanism and a pop target.

FIG. 3 illustrates a front view of an alternative embodiment of an exemplary inflatable toy with a pop mechanism and a pop target.

FIG. 4 illustrates exemplary method steps for using the exemplary inflatable toy with a pop mechanism and pop target.

FIG. 5 illustrates exemplary pop target aperture configurations.

NUMERALS OF THE FIGURES

• • 1. Inflatable toy
  • 3. Pop mechanism
  • 6. Pop target
  • 9. Inflatable toy surface
  • 12. Attachment dock
  • 15. Blunt popping device
  • 18. Alignment indicator edge
  • 21. adhesive
  • 24. Pop target top surface
  • 27. Pop target bottom surface
  • 30. Pop target aperture
  • 33. Spinning friction device
  • 36. housing
  • 39. Friction point
  • 42. motor
  • 45. Activation switch
  • 48. Inflated state
  • 51. Deflating state
  • 54. Deflated state
  • 57. inflated the inflatable toy to an inflated state
  • 60. placing a pop target on the inflated toy surface
  • 63. contacting a pop mechanism to the pop target on the inflatable toy
  • 66. activating the pop mechanism

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure provides generally for inflatable toys with associated pop mechanisms and pop targets and methods of use thereof. The pop mechanism and pop alignment target are applied to a balloon, activated, and then cause the balloon to deflate or burst.

In the following sections, detailed descriptions of examples and methods of the disclosure will be given. The description of both preferred and alternative examples are exemplary only, and it is understood that to those skilled in the art that variations, modifications, and alterations may be apparent. It is therefore to be understood that the examples do not limit the broadness of the aspects of the underlying disclosure as defined by the claims.

Detailed Descriptions of the Drawings

Referring now to FIG. 1, a front view of an exemplary inflatable toy with a pop mechanism and a pop target is shown. The inflatable toy is a balloon or other fillable bladder. The pop mechanism comprises a motor and a blunt popping device such as a frictional popper. The frictional popper contacts the inflated balloon surface, causing the balloon to burst. A pop target is applied to the balloon surface and modulates the rate of deflation, helps to keep the deflated balloon in one piece, and reduces and modulates the popping sound intensity.

Pop targets may be stickers or otherwise have one tacky surface applied to the balloon surface and one smooth surface. The pop targets may have pop target alignment markers that may be an aperture exposing the balloon surface or may have an alternative texture such as netting or mesh. The blunt pop device contacts the balloon surface at the alignment marker. The alignment markers may have various configurations as shown which may modulate air escape affecting the rate of deflation and the sound of deflation.

Referring now to FIG. 2, an exploded view of an inflatable toy with a pop mechanism and a pop target is shown. In some embodiments, the balloon and the pop mechanism are arranged perpendicularly, but some arrangements may be orthogonally or stacked. The sticker is placed on the balloon surface as a patch or as a ring around the balloon. The sticker may have an alignment target. The pop mechanism with the motor and blunt popping device are aligned with the alignment markers on the sticker pop target. The pop mechanism may be mounted on or over an inflatable toy with an attachment dock that may encircle the circumference of an inflatable toy such as a linear balloon used in a sword fight game.

The pop mechanism may comprise a housing with a spinning friction device serving as a blunt popping device. The spinning friction device may have a friction point that contact the inflatable toy. The pop mechanism is activated with an activator switch which initiates a motor to drive the spinning friction device. The activation switch may be a switch, button, or wireless activation receiver connected to a power source.

Referring now to FIG. 4, a front view of an alternative embodiment of an exemplary inflatable toy with a pop mechanism and a pop target is shown. In some embodiments, the pop mechanism has a blunt popping apparatus such as a friction popping device and a motor. In some embodiments, the pop target applied to the inflatable toy surface has a tacky surface on both its top surface and bottom surface, so the pop target sticks to the inflatable toy surface and sticks to the pop mechanism. In another example, the reusable tacky surface may comprise a self-healing polymer, a silicone, a jelly, a gel, or an adhesive. The reusable tacky surface may comprise one part or may have a plurality of parts applied to the balloon surface. A friction popping mechanism may be placed between an arrangement of plurality of tacky surfaces.

Referring now to FIG. 5, exemplary method steps for using the exemplary inflatable toy with pop mechanism and pop target are shown. The inflatable toy is inflated to an inflated state. A pop target is placed on the inflated toy. A pop mechanism is placed in contact with the inflatable toy and aligned with the pop target. The pop mechanism is activated to initiate contact with the blunt popping device friction point to the inflatable toy surface. The motor drives the spinning friction device to cause a friction puncture that causes the inflatable toy to be in a deflating state for approximately 1 second to approximately 20 seconds until the inflatable toy reaches a deflated state. In the deflated state, the inflatable toy remains intact with the exception of a friction puncture.

Referring now to FIG. 6, exemplary pop target configurations are shown. The various configurations show six examples of pop target configuration. The pop targets have at least one aperture. The aperture can be a circle, polygon, rectangle, rounded rectangle, or linear slit to reveal the inflatable toy surface. The pop target has an alignment indicator edge around the aperture. The pop target has a bottom surface that comes in contact with the inflatable toy surface and preferably has an adhesive such as glue, resin, wax, plastic, rubber, or adhesive polymer, and combinations thereof. The pop target has a top surface that may be non-adhesive or adhesive. Exemplary materials include paper, foil, or plastic sheeting or combinations thereof.

The aperture configuration affects the decibel of sound volume and the length of time the inflatable toy remains in the deflating state. In one embodiment, a pop target with one small aperture between 1 mm and 1 cm in diameter has a deflating period from about 1 second to about 10 seconds and a decibel from about 70 decibels to about 30 decibels at standard temperature and pressure. Examples include deflation time of 2 seconds, 3 seconds, 4 seconds, 5 seconds, 6 second, 7 seconds, 8 seconds, and 9 seconds. Examples include all decibels within 30 to 70 such as 40 decibels, 50 decibels, and 60 decibels.

In another examples, a pop target with a plurality of apertures may have a faster deflation phase from about 0.5 seconds to 2 seconds and lengths of time in between

Conclusion

A number of embodiments of the present disclosure have been described. While this specification contains many specific implementation details, these details should not be construed as limitations on the scope of any disclosures or of what may be claimed.

Certain features that are described in this specification in the context of separate embodiments can also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment can also be implemented in combination in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination. Moreover, although features may be described above as acting in certain combinations and even initially claimed as such, one or more features from a claimed combination can in some cases be excised from the combination, and the claimed combination may be directed to a sub-combination or variation of a sub-combination.

Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results.

Thus, particular embodiments of the subject matter have been described. Other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims. In some cases, the actions recited in the claims can be performed in a different order and still achieve desirable results. Nevertheless, it will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the claimed disclosure.

Claims

1. An inflatable toy, comprising: a pop mechanism and a pop target wherein the pop mechanism has a blunt popping device, and wherein the pop target is a separate sticker placed on the surface of the balloon and wherein the pop target has a top surface and a bottom surface comprising an adhesive.

2. The inflatable toy of claim 1 wherein the pop target further comprises an alignment indicator edge.

3. The inflatable toy of claim 1 wherein the pop mechanism blunt popping device is frictional.

4. The inflatable toy of claim 1 wherein the pop target has a reusable tacky surface on the top surface and on the bottom surface.

5. The inflatable toy of claim 4 wherein the pop mechanism blunt popping device is frictional.

6. The inflatable toy of claim 1, wherein a popping sound is modulated by air escaping through a plurality of apertures.

7. The inflatable toy of claim 1, wherein the pop target has an aperture between 1 mm and 1 cm in diameter has a deflating period from about 1 second to about 10 seconds and a decibel from about 70 decibels to about 30 decibels at standard temperature and pressure.

8. A method of popping the inflatable toy of claim 1, the method steps comprising: inflating the inflatable toy to an inflated state,placing a pop target on the inflated toy surface,contacting a pop mechanism to the pop target on the inflatable toy,activating the pop mechanism to initiate contact with a blunt popping device friction point to the inflatable toy surface; so that the motor drives the spinning friction device to cause a friction puncture that causes the inflatable toy to be in a deflating state for approximately 1 second to approximately 20 seconds until the inflatable toy reaches a deflated state.