Patent Application
20120190269
This invention relates to inflatables.
Known inflatables are available in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, for example representing humanoid or animal figures. However, as far as the inventor is aware, previous inflatables that are tall and narrow, at least at their base, are not self-supporting, i.e. they will generally fall over if placed in an upright position on level ground.
It is an object of the invention to provide an inflatable that, when placed on a flat surface in deflated form, can be inflated into a form that is taller than its greatest width and can then stand upright.
It is another object of the invention to provide a self-supporting inflatable having a narrow stem portion and an upper portion that, viewed from above, extends further than a base of the inflatable.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a game comprising a plurality of novel, amusing, self-supporting inflatables.
The invention provides an inflatable with an air inlet and having, in inflated form, a height and a greatest base dimension, being the length of the longest straight line that can be contained within a base of the inflatable, said height being greater than said greatest base dimension, and at least one substantially horizontal internal dividing wall, the at least one wall having an aperture arranged to admit air therethrough.
The inflatable may have at least one extension provided in an upper half of the inflatable and extending beyond the base when viewed form above. The inflatable may have a generally humanoid form. If so, it may have two arms as extensions.
For greater stability, a weight may be contained within the base. The weight may comprise fluent material such as sand.
The at least one internal dividing wall may be rigid and the aperture may be at the centre thereof. A lower part of the inflatable may have a generally frustoconical form. A plurality of internal dividing walls may be provided, of successively smaller area in an upwards order.
The present invention will now be described in more detail, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
The drawings show an inflatable having a generally humanoid form when inflated. The inflatable has a trunk 1 with a base 2, a head 3, and arms 4 extending from the trunk 1 outwardly beyond the area of the base 2. An air inlet 5 is provided near the base 2.
The inflatable is formed from a flexible polymeric material such as poly vinyl chloride.
The base 2 is provided with a weight pocket 6 internally of the inflatable. This contains sand 7 which keeps the base 2 flat on the ground and therefore keeps the inflatable upright.
The inside of the inflatable is divided by a plurality of transverse dividing walls 8. In this case there are three dividing walls. The walls each consist of upper and lower layers of the flexible material housing a rigid disc 9. An aperture 10 is formed in the center of the disc 9. The upper and lower layers of material each have a smaller aperture 11 in their center and are attached together through the disc aperture 10 around the smaller aperture 11.
In this example there are also flexible dividing walls 12, 13 also having central apertures, located above the rigid dividing walls 7. The uppermost dividing wall 13 has a squeaker 14 in its central aperture, which emits a squeak when the head 3 of the inflated figure is squeezed.
The rigid dividing walls 8 ensure that the figure is inflated in a “bottom up” manner. In its inflated state the inflatable can be packed into a volume having a height less than the diameter of the base 2. Air is introduced into the air inlet 5, for example by means of a pump. Firstly the chamber between the base 2 and the lowermost rigid diving wall 8 is inflated. Then successively higher chambers are inflated. Finally the head 3 is inflated and simultaneously the arms 4 are inflated in a manner pleasing to a child.
One example of a game according to the invention comprises a number of inflatables, each with a pump, and rules stating that the game is won by the first player to finish inflating an inflatable.
Inflatables according to the invention can have shapes different to the generally humanoid shape described above. For example, the inflatable could be in the form of a tree, with branches or fronds extending beyond the diameter of its trunk.
