Inflatable Container

Technical Field

This invention relates to the field of inflatable containers of resilient sheet material, comprising interconnected panels to form the end and peripheral side walls.

Background Art

In accordance with the present invention, an in- inflatable container is provided which includes a peripheral side wall and end walls, in which the peripheral side wall includes a plurality of in¬ flatable cells of flexible sheet material. The greater the number of inflatable cells for a given dimensional wall area, the closer to a given geometric configuration can such wall area be maintained when it is inflated. If for example a wall panel of sub¬ stantially flat geometric configuration has only one inflatable panel, when inflated it will tend to balloon into an ovular or circular configuration. By contrast, if such wall panel is made up of a plurality of in¬ flatable cells, as taught by the invention described herein, the panel will more nearly retain its intended flat geometric configuration. Each cell being smaller, its ballooning dimension will be less. By reducing the ballooning dimension of each inflatable wall panel or cell, the storage cavity will likewise be increased.

Disclosure of Invention

It is an object of the invention to provide an in- flatable container including inflatable wall portions

having a plurality of inflatable cells for each such wall portion to improve the maintenance of a given ^• geometric configuration of such container when in¬ flated and to increase the storage capacity of such container when inflated.

It is an object of the invention to provide an inflatable container having a plurality of cells for each wall portion, and air passage means inter¬ connecting said cells. It is an object of the invention to provide an inflatable container having a peripheral wall por¬ tion encircling a storage cavity, said peripheral wall portion including a plurality of interconnected inflatable cells, and inflatable end wall means to enclose the ends of said cavity.

Brief Description of Drawings

Fig. 1 is an isometric view of an inflatable con¬ tainer in accordance with this invention shown with its inflatable cells being inflated. Fig. 2 is an isometric view of the inflatable container of Fig. 1 shown with its access opening in an open position.

Fig. 3 is a section view taken on line 3 - 3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a por¬ tion of an end wall shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a section view taken on line 5 - 5 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a por- tion of the section shown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is an isometric view of an inflatable con¬ tainer as shown in Fig. 1 but with its inflatable cells deflated.

Fig. 8 is an isometric view of a modified infla¬ table container in accordance with this invention.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

An inflatable container 1 includes a peripheral side wall 2 having a plurality of individual but interconnected inflatable cells 3. An air valve 4 is mounted on one of said inflatable cells 3. When air is pumped through the valve 4 into said cell 3, the air is forced into all of the interconnected inflatable cells 3 which make up the peripheral side wall 2. In the container shown, the peripheral side wall has a circular cross-sectional configura¬ tion but the cross-sectional configuration of the peripheral side walls may be of other geometric shapes.

Inflatable end walls 5 and 6 are provided to enclose each end of the container 1 and of the stor¬ age cavity 7 bounded by said peripheral side wall 2 and end walls 5 and 6. Each end wall is provided with an air valve, such as air valve 8 for inflatable end wall 5 and air valve 9 for inflatable end wall 6. An access opening 10 is provided in the peripheral side wall 2, the access opening 10 being openable and closeable by open and close means such as the zipper assembly 11.

The peripheral side wall 2 and its interconnected inflatable cells 3 are formed by two overlaid sheets 12 and 13 of flexible sheet material impervious to air, such as rubber, or a flexible plastic such as soft vinyl. The peripheral edges 14 of the overlaid flexible sheets are sealed such as by heat welding them together. In the odificiation shown, opposite peripheral edges 14a and 14b are brought together as

shown in Figs. 5 and 6 to form a circular or annular cross-sectional configuration of the peripheral side wall 2. The zipper assembly 11 is connected between the opposite peripheral edges 14a and 14b of the peripheral side wall 2, such as by heat welding to the longitudinal edges 15 of the zipper assembly 11. The opposite peripheral edges 14a and 14b of peri¬ pheral side wall 2 are substantially parallel when side wall 2 is not flexed or stretched out of its normal shape. Since side wall 2 is formed by two flexible sheets 12 and 13, the edges 14a and 14b may of course be moved out of such parallel rela¬ tionship when the side wall 2 is flexed or stretched. The individual inflatable cells 3 in the peri- pheral side wall 2 are formed by providing spaced apart longitudinal weld strips or boundary lines 15 which extend from the end region 17 near end wall 5 to the end region 18 near opposite end wall 6. The weld strips or boundary lines 16 are formed by heat welding or bonding flexible sheets 12 and 13 together along a substantial portion of the weld strips or boundary lines 16, leaving certain portions unwelded and free to provide air passageways from one cell 3 to its adjacent cells 3 on each side thereof. The end walls 5 and 6 are similarly formed by two overlaid sheets 19 and 20 of flexible sheet material impervious to air such as rubber, or a flexible plastic material such as soft vinyl. The peripheral edges 21 of the overlaid flexible sheets are sealed such as by heat welding the sheets to¬ gether, and the peripheral edges 21 of the end walls 5 and 6 are in turn bonded to the peripheral edges 14c and 14d of the peripheral side wall 2, to make a continuous wateright seal between the respective

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end walls 5 and 6 and the peripheral side wall 2.

A tote bag modification can be made by omitting the inflatable end walls 5 and 6, and in lieu there¬ of bonding the opposite peripheral edges 14c and 14d of peripheral wall 2 together in an airtight and watertight seal, such as by heat welding. Alterna¬ tively, the peripheral edges 14a and 14b of peri¬ pheral wall 2 can be bonded together directly in an airtight, watertight seal, rather than to the zipper assembly 11, this making a completely imperforate peripheral side wall 2, and in such case only one of the other peripheral edges 14c and 14d would be bonded together in an airtight and watertight seal. For example, edge 14c could be bonded together, leaving the opposite peripheral edge 14d open to pro¬ vide an access opening into the storage cavity 7.

As shown in the drawings, the inflatable cells 3 of peripheral side wall 2 are closely adjacent each other to provide a substantially continuous insulated side wall to retard heat transfer from within the storage cavity 7 through the side wall 2 when the cells 3 are inflated with air. Also as shown in Figs. 1-4 of the drawings, inflatable end walls 5 and 6 are directly joined in an airtight and water- tight seal at each opposite end to peripheral side wall 2. Said end walls 5 and 6 are also inflatable throughout. Thus, when the end walls 5 and 6 are inflated with air, they provide insulated end walls to also retard heat transfer from within the storage cavity 7 through the end walls 5 and 6 when so in¬ flated. When the access opening 10 is closed, the storage cavity 7 is thus bonded substantially con¬ tinuously by insulated walls which retard heat transfer therethrough when inflated.

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In the tote bag modification illustrated in Fig. 8, the substantially continuous insulated wall bounding storage cavity 7 is formed by bonding the opposite peripheral edges 14c and 14d of peripheral wall 2 together (or by bonding one of such peripheral edges together leaving the other unbonded to provide an access opening in a modification in which the zipper assembly 11 is omitted) as described above.

Industrial Applicability Thus the storage cavity 7 is both watertight and insulated against heat transfer into and out of said cavity. The inflatable bag in accordance with this invention may therefore be utilized as a portable refrigerator or cooling container by filling par- tially with ice together with whatever contents de¬ sired to be kept cool for a substantial length of time.