1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to underwater game balls.
2. Prior Art
Underwater game balls such as underwater rugby, underwater soccer are limited to negative buoyancy arrangements. Although some underwater soccer balls use only slightly negative buoyancy, their movement under water is limited to rolling on the pool bottom. There are neutral buoyant underwater foot balls that can be passed under water, but they require electrical power. Further, such underwater game balls can not rebound on impact to their original position naturally by their self when passed kicked or bounced.
The objectives of the present underwater play ball are:
To glide in a straight line just below the waters surface naturally long distances by itself when passed.
To repeatedly rebound on impact to its original position naturally by itself underwater when bounced.
The underwater play ball is comprised of a hollow cavity with a spherical shape, comprised of a strong flexible lightweight low density PVC material for holding both water and air pressure without rupturing. The cavity size is small enough to have a dry weight easily handled by children such as a soccer ball size. The cavity is inflated with a typical garden hose with an attached universal rubber nozzle used to fit standard and foreign hose sizes. The cavity includes a predetermined transparent fill level mark arranged around two valves at one end of the cavity. The water volume and air pressure inside the cavity is adjusted by filling water through a valve while releasing ambient air pressure simultaneously from a second valve until the volume of water and air pressure reaches a predetermined transparent fill level mark. The combination of a strong flexible lightweight low density PVC cavity inflated with a predetermined amount of water and ambient air pressure provides a neutral buoyant and pneumatic underwater play ball that can naturally glide under water in a straight line and repeatedly rebound on impact to its original position by itself when passed and bounced underwater for amusement and exercise.
A preferred embodiment of an underwater play ball 10 shown in
Although the foregoing description is specific, it should not be considered as a limitation on the scope of the invention, but only as an example of the preferred embodiment. Many variations are possible within the teachings of the invention. For example, different attachment methods, fasteners, materials, dimensions, etc. can be used unless specifically indicated otherwise. The relative positions of the elements can vary, and the shapes of elements can vary. Therefore, the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents, not by the examples given.
I claim the priority of provisional patent application 61/209,572 filed on Mar. 9, 2009. This application is related to my co-pending applications Ser. No. 9/902,386 Jul. 10, 2001 now, U.S. Pat. No. 6,443,799 and Ser. No. 11/007,966 Dec. 9, 2004 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,448,340.