This Application claims priority from Chinese Application CN202022025278.8, filed Sep. 16, 2020, in China, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Apparatuses and methods consistent with example embodiments relate to floating structures for entertainment or sports, and in particular, to a multi-air-chamber surfboard.
Related art surfboards are often large and cannot be folded, and as such, are inconvenient to carry. Inflatable surfboards are becoming increasingly popular because they can be deflated, folded, and then placed, when not in use, for example, in a backpack. However, existing inflatable surfboards may have only one air chamber, and if air leakage occurs when the air chamber becomes cracked when in use, a surfer may drown due to being unable to swim back to the shore without the assistance of a flotation device.
Example embodiments may address at least the above problems and/or disadvantages and other disadvantages not described above. Also, example embodiments are not required to overcome the disadvantages described above, and may not overcome any of the problems described above.
One or more example embodiments may provide a multi-air-chamber surfboard, and, according to one or more example embodiments, air chambers of the multi-air-chamber surfboard may be independent from each other.
According to an aspect of an example embodiment, a surfboard is provided, the surfboard comprising: at least a first air chamber and a second air chamber; and a partition arranged between the first air chamber and the second air chamber, the partition comprising: a first connecting portion connected to a top wall of the first air chamber and to a top wall of the second air chamber; a second connecting portion connected to a bottom wall of the first air chamber and to a bottom wall of the second air chamber; and an intermediate portion extending between the first connecting portion and the second connecting portion.
The intermediate portion may consist of only a single, integral piece of material.
The intermediate portion may separate the first air chamber from the second air chamber, and be integrally formed with at least one of the first connecting portion and the second connecting portion.
The intermediate portion may be connected to the first connecting portion and to the second connecting portion.
The first connecting portion may comprise two top wall connecting pieces, each comprising an extension piece extending between the first air chamber and the second air chamber. The second connecting portion may comprise two bottom wall connecting pieces, each comprising an extension piece extending between the first air chamber and the second air chamber.
The intermediate portion may be integrally formed with the extension pieces of at least one of the first connecting portion and the second connecting portion.
The intermediate portion may be connected to the extension pieces of the first connecting portion and the second connecting portion by at least one of high-frequency welding, hot melting, and gluing.
The surfboard may further comprise a reinforcing piece disposed on and covering one of the first connecting portion and the second connecting portion.
The second air chamber may be arranged around the first air chamber, and the reinforcing piece may comprise an annular reinforcing piece surrounding and covering the one of the first connecting portion and the second connecting portion.
The second air chamber may be arranged around the first air chamber, and the reinforcing piece may comprise a planar reinforcing piece covering at least one of the first air chamber and the second air chamber and covering the one of the first connecting portion and the second connecting portion.
The surfboard may further comprise an auxiliary reinforcing piece arranged between the reinforcing piece and the one of the first connecting portion and the second connecting portion, the auxiliary reinforcing piece surrounding and covering the one of the first connecting portion and the second connecting portion.
At least one of the reinforcing piece and the auxiliary reinforcing piece may be connected to another element by at least one of high-frequency welding, hot melting, and gluing.
The first air chamber may comprise a first air valve, and the second air chamber may comprise a second an air valve.
Each of the first air chamber and the second air chamber may comprise a drop-stitch material.
According to an aspect of another example embodiment, an inflatable device is provided, the inflatable device comprising: a first air chamber partially enclosed by a first top wall and a first bottom wall; a second air chamber partially enclosed by a second top wall and a second bottom wall; and a partition arranged between the first air chamber and the second air chamber, the partition comprising: a first connecting portion connected to the first top wall and the second top wall, a second connecting portion connected to the first bottom wall and the second bottom wall, and an intermediate portion extending between the first connecting portion and the second connecting portion.
The inflatable device may further comprise: a top reinforcing piece disposed on the first connecting portion; and a bottom reinforcing piece disposed on the second connecting portion.
The top reinforcing piece may be disposed on and cover at least a portion of the first top wall and an entirety of the second top wall; and the bottom reinforcing piece may be disposed on and cover at least a portion of the first bottom wall and an entirety of the second bottom wall.
The inflatable device may further comprise: an auxiliary top reinforcing piece disposed on and covering the top reinforcing piece; and an auxiliary bottom reinforcing piece disposed on and covering the bottom reinforcing piece.
The auxiliary top reinforcing piece may be disposed on and covers at least a portion of the first top wall and an entirety of the second top wall; and the auxiliary bottom reinforcing piece may be disposed on and covers at least a portion of the first bottom wall and an entirety of the second bottom wall.
The first connecting portion may comprise two top wall connecting pieces respectively connected to the first top wall and the second top wall; the second connecting portion may comprise two top wall connecting pieces respectively connected to the first bottom wall and the second bottom wall; a top edge of the intermediate portion may be sandwiched between the two top wall connecting pieces; and a bottom edge of the intermediate portion may be sandwiched between the two bottom wall connecting pieces.
The above and/or other aspects will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of example embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Reference will now be made in detail to example embodiments which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout. In this regard, the example embodiments may have different forms and may not be construed as being limited to the descriptions set forth herein.
It will be understood that the terms “include,” “including”, “comprise”, and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
It will be further understood that, although the terms “first,” “second,” “third,” and “upper,” “lower,” “inside,” “outside,” etc., may be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections, these elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections may not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or section from another element, component, region, layer or section.
As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. Expressions such as “at least one of,” when preceding a list of elements, modify the entire list of elements and do not modify the individual elements of the list.
Various terms are used to refer to particular system components. Different companies may refer to a component by different names—this document does not intend to distinguish between components that differ in name but not function.
Matters of these example embodiments that are obvious to those of ordinary skill in the technical field to which these exemplary embodiments pertain may not be described here in detail.
The implementation and application of example embodiments will be discussed in detail below.
A surfboard according to one or more example embodiments may comprise a surfboard, a stand-up paddle board, a pair of water skis, or another recreational flotation device.
According to example embodiment A2, as shown in
Alternately, though not illustrated in
According to example embodiments A1 and A2, the first air chamber 11 and the second air chamber 12 may be separated by the intermediate portion 133, which may be made of a single piece of material and may be connected to each air chamber by means of the first connecting portion 131 and the second connecting portion 132.
A double-air-chamber surfboard, as described for example in the above example embodiments, may be manufactured as described below.
According to an example embodiment of a manufacturing method, a drop-stitch material sheet, with the overall contour of the desired surfboard, may be cut from a larger piece of drop-stitch material. The overall contour of the cut portion may be the same as a desired an outer contour of the second air chamber 12. An inner portion is then cut from the cut material sheet, the inner portion having an outer contour corresponding to a desired shaped of the first air chamber 11, such that an opening matching the desired outer contour of the first air chamber 11 is formed in the middle of the drop-stitch material sheet with the overall contour, thereby forming a second drop-stitch material sheet.
The partition 13 may be made by connecting a single piece of strip-shaped material, such as a single piece of PVC material or a single piece of laminated PVC mesh material, end to end to form an annular intermediate portion 133. The annular intermediate portion 133 may be connected to the first connecting portion 131 and the second connecting portion 132 by high-frequency welding, hot melting, gluing, and or another connection method,
The first connecting portion 131 of the partition 13 may be connected to the top wall 111 of the first drop-stitch material sheet having the outer contour of the desired first air chamber 11. The second connecting portion 132 of the partition 13 may be connected to the bottom wall 112 of the first drop-stitch material sheet having the outer contour of the desired first air chamber 11. That is, the first drop-stitch material sheet and the partition 13 are connected, forming the first air chamber 11.
The first connecting portion 131 of the partition 13 may be connected to the top wall 121 at a middle opening of the second drop-stitch material sheet having the outer contour of the desired second air chamber 12. The second connecting portion 132 of the partition 13 may be connected to the bottom wall 122 at the middle opening of the second drop-stitch material sheet having the outer contour of the second air chamber, such that the first drop-stitch material sheet having the outer contour of the first air chamber 11 is located at the middle opening of the second drop-stitch material sheet having the outer contour of the second air chamber 12, and the outer contour of the second drop-stitch material sheet is sealed by an edge sealing material. That is, the second drop-stitch material sheet, the partition 13, and the edge sealing material are connected, forming the second air chamber 12.
According to another example embodiment, as shown in
According to another example embodiment, the surfboard may further comprise an auxiliary reinforcing piece arranged between the reinforcing piece and the first connecting portion and/or between the reinforcing piece and the second connecting portion. As shown in
According to an example embodiment, one or both of the reinforcing piece and the auxiliary reinforcing piece may be suitable to be connected to another piece via high-frequency welding, hot melting or gluing. The annular reinforcing piece 14, the annular auxiliary reinforcing piece 15, the annular auxiliary reinforcing piece 25, and the annular auxiliary reinforcing piece 35, may each be connected by means of high-frequency welding, hot melting, gluing, and/or another method, and the planar reinforcing piece 24 and the through planar reinforcing piece 34 may be connected by means of gluing or another method.
A double-air chamber surfboard, including a reinforcing piece and/or an auxiliary reinforcing piece, may be manufactured as described below.
According to an example embodiment of a manufacturing method, the reinforcing piece and/or the auxiliary reinforcing piece may be connected such that at least the first connecting portion and the second connecting portion are covered, thereby providing further connection between the first air chamber and the second air chamber.
As shown in
An example manufacturing method of the double-air-chamber surfboard may further comprise arranging one or more other safety assistance accessories, such as the anti-slip layer.
It may be understood that the example embodiments described herein may be considered in a descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. Descriptions of features or aspects within each example embodiment may be considered as available for other similar features or aspects in other example embodiments.
While example embodiments have been described with reference to the figures, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope as defined by the following claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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202022025278.8 | Sep 2020 | CN | national |
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Entry |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20220081077 A1 | Mar 2022 | US |