Buoys – rafts – and aquatic devices – Body supporting buoyant device – With seat
Reexamination Certificate
2002-05-31
2004-03-09
Avila, Stephen (Department: 3617)
Buoys, rafts, and aquatic devices
Body supporting buoyant device
With seat
C441S040000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06702635
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an inflatable chair that can be used for resting or amusement.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
U.S. Pat. No. 4,687,452 discloses a floating inflatable chair intended to be used on water, including a seat portion fixed to a toroidal flotation chamber. A water ballast tank is formed by a top wall and a bottom wall that close off the bottom end of the flotation chamber and is intended to be filled with water to improve the stability of said inflatable chair.
It is therefore necessary to have a source of water nearby and to empty out the water contained in the inflatable chair after use. One wall of the ballast tank must include a water inlet valve.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention proposes an inflatable chair that is easy to use and can be inflated manually.
The invention also proposes an inflatable chair that is suitable for different uses and more stable, especially on a liquid surface.
The invention finally proposes a seat that can be produced at low cost.
The inflatable chair according to the invention includes an annular body, forming a toroidal chamber which has a top axial end and a bottom axial end and can be filled with air, two plane walls perpendicular to the axis of revolution of the annular body, a central chamber coaxial with the annular body formed by an interior portion of the annular body and said two plane walls fixed to the interior portion of the annular body, characterized in that the plane walls are at an axial distance from the top and bottom axial ends of the annular body in order to leave free spaces in the vicinity of the top and bottom axial ends of the annular body.
The plane walls are perpendicular to the axis of revolution and form a seat that makes the inflatable chair more comfortable to use. At the bottom, the space near the bottom axial end of the annular body improves the stability of the seat on any kind of surfacing, and more particularly on a liquid surface, in particular by reducing the pressure in this space, which presses the inflatable chair onto the ground or the liquid surface. The free space in the vicinity of the top axial end of the annular body, which has a hollow concave wall facing upward, provides a stable and comfortable seat for a user.
The plane walls are advantageously symmetrical with respect to an equatorial plane of the annular body. The inflatable chair is then symmetrical and can be used with a first plane wall or a second plane wall serving as the seat.
In one embodiment, the plane walls define with the interior portion of the annular body a central circular chamber which can be filled with air by means of a valve. Filling the central chamber with air makes the overall structure of the inflatable chair more rigid and the required level of comfort of the central seat of the inflatable chair can be adjusted.
The radius of the circular section of the toroidal chamber is preferably from 25% of the radius of the circle of revolution of the toroidal chamber to 85% of the radius of the circle of revolution of the toroidal chamber.
The axial distance between one axial end of the annular body and the adjacent plane wall is preferably from 25% of the radius of the circle of revolution of the toroidal chamber to 85% of the radius of the circle of revolution of the toroidal chamber. These proportions produce a comfortable seat and a stable seat at the same time as reducing the pressure inside the free space near the bottom axial end of the annular body sufficiently to improve the stability of the inflatable chair.
In one embodiment the walls are heat-welded to each other.
To be more precise, the free space between the plane wall and a top axial end of the annular body forms a stable and comfortable seat for a user. The free space between one plane wall and the bottom axial end of the annular body enables some of the air in the free space formed between the bottom plane wall and the bottom axial end of the annular body to be expelled by pressing on a top portion of the annular body or on the top plane wall. If the force exerted on the annular body or on the top plane wall is reduced, the pressure of the air in the toroidal chamber tends to return the inflatable chair to its initial shape, while the axial end of the annular body in contact with the plane surface forms a seal that prevents air penetrating from the outside toward said free space, so that the pressure inside said free space is reduced, which increases the stability of the inflatable chair on a hard surface or on a liquid surface.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2173963 (1939-09-01), Eubank
patent: 4601667 (1986-07-01), Hull
patent: 4687452 (1987-08-01), Hull
patent: 4962921 (1990-10-01), Simmons
patent: 6217401 (2001-04-01), Peterson
patent: 93 04 319 (1993-08-01), None
patent: 2 116 846 (1972-07-01), None
Avila Stephen
PSCV
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