Patent Application
20080202625
This invention is in the field of car accessories or other fields where there is a need for air under pressure and more specifically a refillable container of pressurized air.
Vehicle tire emergency equipment is known in the art and usually takes the form of pressurized cans with a substance inside that is capable of stopping up relatively small holes in the tire. When such cans are applied to punctured tires, the pressurized air in the can blows air into the tire and the said substance does its job of repairing, often only temporarily, the hole that caused the puncture. The disadvantage of such cans is that the tire repair substance is said to damage tires or cause instability to the wheel and should be removed as soon as possible. Such removal is a messy and time consuming work.
Another disadvantage is that car owners do not always want to inject repair fluids into the tire for example if the tire is missing a small amount of air and needs just a top-up. Another disadvantage of the cans is that they are one time disposable items resulting in a costly product if they are needed any more than infrequently.
This invention reveals a method of inserting air into tires or any other items that need air under pressure inserted in them where the container containing the air can be re-filled.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description present embodiments of the invention and are intended to provide an overview or framework for understanding the nature and character of the invention as it is claimed. The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated into and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate various embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles and operations of the invention.
This invention reveals a container or other kind of vessel that is capable of withstanding high pressure gas inside. The container would have a one-way valve for inserting air under pressure and a different one-way valve for allowing air to exit into the object desired to be filled. The said two kinds of valves would have external attachments or adapters to facilitate connection to air pressure apparatus and car tire valve fitments respectively. There could be further adaptors to enable the container to attach to other items like, for example, an inflatable mattress, an inflatable boat, a football or an outdoor grill to fan the flames of the smoldering coals. There could be a handle with a squeeze trigger or button to release the out-going air in a controlled manner. There could be safety device like a removable pin across the movement radius of the trigger to prevent accidental release of air. A release button could have an on/off switch to prevent accidental release of air.
The filling and re-filling of the container of air could be at any place that has a source of high air pressure and a connection to suit the adaptor of the inflow air of the container. Examples of such places are gas stations that have tire filling machines or workshops that have air compressor machines. These air compressor machines could be adjusted to a pressure much higher than needed in the tire so that the container would be filled with air at this higher pressure.
The container would be so filled with air at high pressure and when desired, the air would be released into a tire or other inflatable object where the pressure would be less because the volume of the receiving vessel is usually greater than that of the pressurized container.
There could be a pressure gauge on the input valve to measure the pressure of air entering the container and a pressure gauge on the output valve to measure the pressure of the air in the tire or other vessel.
There could be a pressure gauge on the container that would indicate the pressure in the container at all times. In addition or alternatively there could be a scale to indicate what starting pressure is necessary to fill a car tire to a given pressure. For example, a user has a car whose tires need 28 pounds per square inch of pressure and the scale would indicate that he would need to fill the container with air to a pressure of 90 psi. in order to reach 28 psi. in the tire.
Alternatively, there could be a control valve on the container that could be set to 28 psi. and it would let out the appropriate amount of air.
There could be safety features like childproof operating handles as sometimes seen on fire fighting sprays to prevent accidents and children playing games with the pressured air.
The air pressure gauges could be mechanical or digital. The high pressure container could be attached to the wheel of a vehicle or built into inflatable vessels like an inflatable boat or inflatable swimming pool. This feature to attach or build-in would serve to store the container in a safe and known place when not in use and be readily available when needed.
The high pressure container could be made to a size and shape suitable for attaching to bicycles and being a volume suitable for bicycle tires and made to handle air pressure suitable for bicycle tires.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description, serve to explain by way of example only, the principles of the invention:
As will be appreciated the present invention is capable of other and different embodiments than those discussed above and described in more detail below, and its several details are capable of modifications in various aspects, all without departing from the spirit of the invention.
Accordingly, the drawings and description of the embodiments set forth below are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not restrictive.
The connector 106 is for attaching to objects that require filling with air for example tires of vehicles. The connector 106 would have an adaptor to suit the connection piece of the object receiving the air, in above example, the valve of a vehicle tire. The connector 106 would have a one way valve that would allow the air to exit from container 100 when a piece protruding from the receiving object pushes in the valve control 110 being a small rod at the entrance to the valve of connector 106 that would need to be pushed in to open the said valve to allow air flow from the container 100 into the object being filled with air. A tube with the appropriate fittings could be used to aid making the connection between the exit connector 106 and the item requiring inflation.
There could be a number of air pressure gauges on the container 100 to indicate the air pressure at different places. One gauge 112 could be attached to the air entrance connector 102 to measure the incoming air pressure. Another gauge 114 could be attached to the air exit connector 106 to measure the out-going air pressure and the pressure in the item that has had air inserted in it. Another gauge 116 could show the air pressure in the container 100 at any given time. There could be a sliding scale 118 attached to the container 100 that could assist users to fill the correct amount of air pressure to fill their object for example a tire, to the correct pressure without relying on gauges. The scale 118 could show for example, in order to fill a tire to 28 psi., fill the container to 90 psi. and so on. Then a user could go to a gas station or other source of compressed air and adjust the air compressor gauge to 90 psi., attach the connector 102 and fill to capacity. He would then empty all the air in that container 100 into the tire by connecting the connector 106 to his tire. The result would be that the tire would be at approximately 28 psi.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60903030 | Feb 2007 | US |
