Buoys – rafts – and aquatic devices – Body supporting buoyant device – With seat
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-19
2001-08-21
Basinger, Sherman (Department: 3617)
Buoys, rafts, and aquatic devices
Body supporting buoyant device
With seat
Reexamination Certificate
active
06276979
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an improvement in water toys and more particularly to a floating chair.
Pool and water toys have long been popular with both young and old alike. One water toy to recently be used is a long closed cell foam, such as ETHAFOAM, tube or noodle. This toy is puncture resistant and can be used as floating toy, and thus has very popular. The tube or noodle has also been used in conjunction with other parts such as mesh or cloth pieces to form inexpensive water loungers, rafts and chairs. These chairs in the past have been constructed of several pieces of material and have thus been unnecessarily expensive and difficult to manufacture. From this discussion it can be seen that it would be desirable to create a chair that can utilize the tube or noodle for floatation and to make this chair in an inexpensive manor so as minimize the cost to the end user. Further it would be advantageous to make this chair as versatile as possible so as to maximize the end user's enjoyment of the water toy.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is the primary objective of the present invention to provide a method by which a swimmer can relax in a chair at the surface of the water while allowing their bodies to be mostly submerged in the water.
It is an additional objective of the present invention to provide such a method that will employ the use of commonly used cylindrical water floatation devices made of closed cell foam and marketed under the trademark WATER NOODLE.
It is still a further objective of the present invention to provide a device that suspends a durable mesh seat between two arms of the cylindrical floatation device which will support a swimmer's body.
It is still a further objective of the present invention to provide such a device that is inexpensive to manufacture and purchase and that can be operated safely by swimmers of varying degrees of ability.
These objectives are accomplished by the use of a U-shaped mesh seat which has, along the outer edge of the hemispherical portion of the U-shape, a sewn tube which is of the correct inside diameter to allow a commonly used cylindrical closed foam water toy to be inserted into it. The water toy provides floatation to the mesh seat which allows a swimmer to place it on the surface of a body of water (such as a swimming pool or lake) and then place himself on the mesh seat, having his back resting on the closed portion of the U. This configuration allows the swimmer to float on the surface of the water without expending any energy to stay afloat and, thus, enhances a swimmer's enjoyment of water recreation.
The present invention uses a variety of means to secure the cylindrical floatation device (herein after “float”) within the mesh of the chair. The standard method to accomplish this is to construct the floatation device tube so that its inside diameter is just large enough to allow the float to be threaded through it. In this method the friction between the float tube and the float itself is sufficient to hold the float in place within the mesh seat.
The second method of securing the float within the mesh seat is to place an elastic cord on the leading edge of the seat (that portion which spans the terminal ends of the U) and which encircles the terminal ends of the floatation securement tubes. In this configuration, as downward pressure is placed on the portion of the elastic cord that spans the U, it closes the portion surrounding the float which in turn holds the float within the floatation tube.
Finally, the third method uses a float tube that can be opened to allow for the insertion of the float and then closed and held in place by the use of Velcro, snaps, cord with a slip knot or other securement device. This design allows for the use of floats of varying outside dimensions with a single embodiment of the present invention.
The general design of the present invention also allows a user to join two floating chairs together to form one large chair. This is accomplished by the use of a joining sleeve (or other joining device) into which the ends of two floats can be inserted to form one long float. By using two of these joiners, one can form a circular float over which two mesh chairs can be suspended to form a large floating chair for use by two people or to form a floating bed for use by one person.
REFERENCES:
patent: 1960474 (1934-05-01), Browne
patent: 5520561 (1996-05-01), Langenohl
patent: 5562514 (1996-10-01), Rowe
patent: 5571036 (1996-11-01), Hannigan
patent: 5628658 (1997-05-01), Clifford
patent: 5885123 (1999-03-01), Clifford
Saltel Cameron J.
Saltel Daniel L.
Saltel Ronald L.
Basinger Sherman
Harr Curtis V.
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