Patent Application
20070087142
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an inflatable tree useful for consumer or commercial applications, and can be displayed in yards, homes or businesses for seasonal decorating or other personal or business purposes.
2. Related Art
Existing inflatable trees such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. Des. 406,787, Des. 413,831, Des. 435,479, and others that are commercially available, typically comprise one or more inflatable regions, and have the appearance of simple inflatable balloons.
Described herein is an apparatus for an inflatable tree that may be used as an indoor or outdoor decoration, particularly during the Christmas holiday season. In one embodiment, the inflatable tree comprises (i) an inflatable bladder having a substantially conical or cylindrical prism shape, wherein the axial direction of the bladder is oriented along a vertical axis, and (ii) a plurality of conical skirts attached to the bladder, wherein the plurality of conical skirts are attached to the bladder at different points along the vertical axis, that is, at different heights.
The inflatable bladder may be air-blown, such as by a continuously operating fan, or may be inflated and sealed to retain its shape without the need for continuous inflation. Thus, the material used for the inflatable bladder may be a fabric, such as nylon and may be semi-gas-permeable, or may be plastic, Mylar, or vinyl or other substantially gas-impermeable material.
The bladder is preferably substantially symmetrical about the vertical axis so as to have a similar appearance from all sides of the tree, and may have a cylindrical shape or conical shape, or substantially similar to those shapes so that the overall appearance of the inflatable bladder and conical skirts is tree-like.
The skirts are annular in shape in that they have an opening in the center where they attach to the central bladder. They may be fastened to the bladder such as by glue or may be sewn together, or the skirts may be detachable, such as by buttons, snaps, zippers, or hook and loop fasteners.
The skirts are also conical in shape so that they appear to hang down and provide the general appearance of a tier of branches of a coniferous or evergreen tree. The skirts are thus attached to the inflatable bladder at different heights to give the appearance of branches. The skirts need not be precise circular conical annular regions. That is, the skirts may be described as having an inner circumferential edge and an outer circumferential edge, where both circumferential edges are concentric circular regions, or one or both of the circumferential edges may be elliptical. The conical skirts may all have the same interior conical angle, that is, the skirts may all form the same angle with the vertical axis of the inflatable bladder, or they may have varying interior conical angles. The conical skirts may also include material, such as additional fabric or plastic that extends past the outer circumferential edge to provide an appearance of irregular branches.
The conical skirts may be made of semi-rigid plastic, or may be made of fabric, plastic, vinyl, etc. In some embodiments, the conical skirts may also include a rigid member attached to the conical skirt to allow the skirt to hang properly, or to otherwise form the shape of a cone. The rigid member may be made of metal, such a wire, or a metal or plastic ring, and may be attached to the skirt by sewing, glue, or other means, or by forming the rigid member integrally with the conical skirt. The rigid member may also be inflatable, such as an annular bladder attached to the skirt, where the skirt itself is not inflatable. The annular bladder may be substantially gas-impermeable so that they can be inflated and sealed when the tree is displayed, and can be deflated for storage. In embodiments using an air-blown bladder, the annular bladder may also be interconnected to the main bladder at one or more points to allow sufficient airflow from the air-blown bladder to flow into the annular bladder to provide the necessary rigidity to extend the annular conical skirt. In the various embodiments, the rigid members are preferably attached substantially near the outer circumferential edges of the conical skirts.
The conical skirts may be stored in a number of ways. The conical skirts may stack one within the next, in the way that cones are stackable. The rigid member of the conical skirts may also be sufficiently flexible so as to allow each skirt to be twisted upon itself so that the rigid member, such as a wire or plastic ring, forms two or three loops. Alternatively, the skirts may have a radial seam to allow for the separation of the conical skirt along the radial direction of the skirt to allow for easy storage of the skirts. In these embodiments, the rigid member preferably also separates along the radial seam.
In some embodiments, the inflatable tree may include a string of lights internal to the inflatable bladder extending substantially along the vertical axis. In addition, the tree may include lights, such as light-emitting diodes, placed along the annular conical skirts. Still further, the tree may include ornaments attached to the conical skirts.
These as well as other aspects, advantages, and alternatives, will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art by reading the following detailed description, with reference where appropriate to the accompanying drawings. Further, it should be understood that the foregoing summary, like the other description provided below, is intended to illustrate the invention by way of example only and not by way of limitation.
The inflatable tree may be used as an indoor or outdoor decoration, particularly during the Christmas holiday season. The inflatable tree may be an outdoor yard decoration, or may be used indoors. The inflatable tree may also be filled with helium or other lighter-than-air gas, to make a balloon. The scale of the tree may be quite large, such as ten or twenty feet tall, or taller, or may be considerably smaller, such as one or two feet tall. The desired size and use of the tree will dictate in large part the particular materials and components used for the inflatable tree.
With reference to
The inflatable bladder 126 may be air-blown, such as by a continuously operating fan 128. Fans used to inflate decorative figures that may be used with the tree apparatus described herein are known, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,764,201, assigned on its face to the Gemmy Industries Corporation of Irving, Tex., entitled “Inflatable Figure Assembly” issued Jul. 20, 2004, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. In a fan-blown, or air-blown, embodiment, the material used for the inflatable bladder may be a fabric, such as nylon and may be semi-gas-permeable.
Alternatively, inflatable bladders 126, 206 may be inflated and sealed (by a plug, knot, clip, etc.) to retain their shape without the need for continuous inflation. Thus, the material used for the inflatable bladder may be substantially gas-impermeable, such as plastic, Mylar, or vinyl or other substantially gas-impermeable material.
Attached to the bladder 126 (or 206) are a plurality of conical skirts 102, 104, 106, 108, 110, 112, 114. The conical skirts are attached to the bladder at different heights, and preferably have increasing diameters towards the bottom of the tree to give the appearance of tree branches, or tiers of branches of a tree. They may be fastened to the bladder such as by glue or may be sewn together, or the skirts may be detachable, such as by buttons, snaps, zippers, or hook and loop fasteners.
The skirts are annular in shape in that they have an opening in the center where they attach to the central bladder. With reference to
The conical skirts may be made of semi-rigid plastic such as the skirt 300 in
The rigid member may also be inflatable, such as an annular bladder 312 attached to the skirt 304 of
The conical skirts may be stored in a number of ways. The conical skirts may stack one within the next, in the way that cones are stackable. As shown in
As shown in
The skirts need not be precise circular conical annular regions. One or both of the circumferential edges may be elliptical. In one preferred embodiment 600 shown in
In some embodiments, the inflatable tree may include a string of lights 122 internal to the inflatable bladder extending substantially along the vertical axis, as shown in
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been described above. Those skilled in the art will understand, however, that changes and modifications may be made to these embodiments without departing from the true scope and spirit of the present invention, which is defined by the claims.
