RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Patent Application 61/412,885, filed November 12, 2011, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The field of the invention is a water park amusement attraction and, specifically a tank that fills and sprays guests who participate in this water attraction.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] The development of water parks is a major guest feature at hotels, resorts and retail facilities, and the new construction of mega outdoor water parks is ongoing.

[0004] The competition among water parks has become significant. There is increasing pressure to build novel, interesting and tension building attractions that keep patrons interested and increase the chance that they will return to the water park on many occasions.

[0005] The prior art discloses tipping buckets that fill up with water, become unstable, and then tip, causing the water to cascade or "dump" on the participating guests. In many cases the guests can tell when the bucket will tip and may or may not know when the bucket is becoming full of water. Also, the "dump" or cascade of water from such buckets and can be sudden and not last more than a couple of seconds due to the "dump" or cascade effect of the discharge of the water when the bucket tips - i.e., all of the water is discharged at once.

[0006] There is a need for a water tank attraction that is attractive, fills up quickly with water, can be seen filling by participating guests, is triggered electrically or mechanically at a time unknown to at least some of the guests, and, when triggered, discharges the water in a variable way, such as a spray, dome, umbrella, directional stream, or other pattern, instead of dumping the water on participants all at once.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] A tank is mounted on top of a play unit. The tank fills with water through one or more fill pipes. The tank may be translucent or opaque and may appear in many different shapes and sizes. A valve is attached to the bottom of the tank. When the valve is triggered, it opens, allowing the water to rush out of the tank and is discharged in a pattern.

[0008] The valve may be activated by either mechanical or electrical means when the tank reaches a certain fill level or when the tank has filled with water for a specified or random period of time. The valve may also be triggered when a guest triggers a switch or button, again maintaining the interest of the guests or allowing the guests to compete with one another or surprise other guests who participate in the attraction.

[0009] One or more pattern forming systems are used to create a variety of water discharge patterns to maintain the interest of participants and guests.

[0010] Once the tank is empty the valve resets to a closed position, and the tank refills with water.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the tank discharge water attraction of the invention showing a valve inside the tank in dashed lines.

[0012] Fig. 2 is an exploded view of a tank, valve extension, plate, and dish of the invention.

[0013] Fig. 3 is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of the tank of the invention.

[0014] Fig. 4 shows an air ram means of discharging water from the tank of the invention, the air ram being in a closed position.

[0015] Fig. 5 shows an air ram means of discharging water from the tank of the invention, the air ram being in an open position.

[0016] Fig. 6 shows a pattern forming system for creating a spray pattern, the pattern forming system being in a closed position.

[0017] Fig. 7 shows a pattern forming system for creating a spray pattern, the pattern forming system being in an open position.

[0018] Fig. 8 shows an alternative dish that may be used as a part of an alternative pattern forming system.

[0019] Fig. 9 shows an alternative pattern forming system with a pin for diverting the discharging water from spaying in certain parts of a dish. [0020] Fig. 10 shows an alternative pattern forming system using two flat plates sealed together.

[0021] Fig. 11 shows a warning system that may be used with the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0022] Fig. 1 shows the tank discharge water attraction 10, which is installed atop a play unit (not shown). The play unit may be of any style or theme, so long as the tank discharge water attraction 10 is installed in a location above the area in which guests will populate the play unit.

[0023] The tank discharge attraction 10 comprises a tank 15, a valve 20, and a fill pipe 30, together with connecting piping or other conduits (not shown) capable of carrying water to the tank 15. The tank 15 is filled with water by pumps or other devices capable of pumping or conveying the water to the tank 15. After the water is emptied from the tank 15, it may be collected in a pool or other reservoir so that it may be pumped back into the tank 15.

[0024] A valve extension 25 is secured to the valve 20. When the valve 20 is opened, the water in the tank 15 flows out of the tank 15 and into a pattern forming system which forms the water into a pattern that, in turn, sprays on the guests.

[0025] One embodiment of the pattern forming system includes a plate 26 and a dish 27 that are secured to the valve extension 25. The plate 26 and the dish 27 are shown in assembled in Fig. 1 and in an exploded view in Fig. 2. The plate 26 has slots 28 in one or more locations as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, The dish 27 has the shape of a half torus. When the valve 20 is open, water flows into the dish 27 and is discharged from the slots 28 in the plate 26. The half torus shape of dish 27 in combination with the slots 28 in the plate 26, causes water 50 that is discharged through the slots 28 to have an umbrella or dome shape (see Fig. 3) as it exits the slots 28 and descends upon the guests.

[0026] Thus, the water spray 50 may surround the play unit in a 360 degree pattern of different or varying diameters. Specifically, the plate 26 may have one or more slots 28 in different locations to provide various patterns and shapes of water discharge 50. The valve 20 may also be constructed or adjusted so that the spray only spreads over a 30 degree angle instead of spreading in a full 360 degree pattern. The spray 50 may also have a spread of less than or more 30 degrees, depending on the construction or adjustment of the valve 20. The slots 28 in the plate 26 may also be located so that the discharged water or water spray50 sprays in two or more directions, such as between 20 degrees and 30 degrees, between 100 degrees and 130 degrees, or between 200 and 240 degrees. As shown in Fig. 1 , the water spray 50 may be discharged in a segmented or intermittent manner from around the circumference of the plate 26, thus varying the nature of the spay 50 and maintaining the interest of the guests.

[0027] The plate 26 may also be rotated so that the water spray 50 may be discharged in different directions and in different moving patterns. Of course, the patterns and directions may be varied from time to time by rotating the plate 26 on the dish 27, allowing more variation to maintain the interest of the participating guests;

alternatively, the plate 26 may rotate continuously, clockwise or counterclockwise (or alternating between clockwise and counterclockwise) to establish a moving pattern of discharge.

[0028] The tank 15 may be made of material that is transparent, translucent, or opaque, as desired, and may have a variety of different shapes. For, example, as shown in Fig. 3, a tank 45 may be a random shape. The tank 45 may also be constructed in a shape that is consistent with a water park or water park attraction theme, such as a duck or an airplane. Of course, the tank 15, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, may be spherical. The tank 15 may also be a cube, cylinder, pyramid, or other shape.

[0029] The tank 45 shown in Fig. 3 is translucent, which allows guests to see the tank 45 fill with water and, as a result, increase the tension of the attraction.

Transparent versions of tank 45 could be used to the same end. An opaque tank, such as tank 15 shown in Fig. 1 , could be used to conceal the amount of water in the tank 15 and provided additional tension to the participants in that manner. Of course the tank 15 may also be made of a combination of opaque, translucent, and transparent portions in whatever designs are desired. For example, the tank 15 may have transparent windows in otherwise opaque or translucent sections.

[0030] Various methods known in the art may be used to trigger the valve 20. Examples include an electrical trigger set to discharge the water at a selected time or an electrical trigger set to discharge the water at a random time. In the latter case, the water would discharge at a time not expected or anticipated by the guests. Other examples include mechanical or electrical triggers that may be activated by guests who may want to surprise other guests, or who may want to complete with other guests to see which guest can discharge water on another. [0031] Additional shapes of plates 26, slots 28, and dishes 27 may also be used to create novel or varying spray configurations. The slots 28, for example, may have the shape of a circle, square, rectangle, crescent, or triangle.

[0032] As shown in Figs. 4 and 5, an air ram or piston 60 may be used as a means for discharging the water from the tank 15, as an alternative to the valve 20 described above. The air ram 60, when closed as shown in Fig. 4, may be connected to a timer set to trigger a flap 66 of the air ram 60 at a time set by the timer. When triggered, the flap 66 would open, as shown in Fig. 5 and allow the water in the tank 15 to discharge into the dish 27 and down upon the guests in a variety of patterns as discussed above and below with respect to the dish 27.

[0033] Figs. 6 and 7 show an alternative pattern forming system having multiple ports 70, which may be used to discharge the water into the dish 27. The use of the multiple ports 70 reduces the force needed to open the individual ports 70 and improved the seals around the ports 70. The closed ports are shown in Fig. 6. The ports 70 may be connected to a float (not shown) that may be used to pull upon a connecting ring 71, which is, in turn, connected by multiple wires or lines 72 to a series of flaps 73 on the ports 70. When the water reaches a certain level in the tank 15, float pulls upon the connecting ring 71 and a force is applied to the lines or wires 72 such that the flaps 73 are pulled open, as shown in Fig. 7. When the flaps 73 are open, the water in the tank 15 drains down upon the guests in a variety of patterns depending on the configuration of the dish 27 and the pattern forming system as discussed above and below.

[0034] Alternatives to the dish 27 may be used as part of the water pattern forming system. As shown in Fig. 8, a tray shaped pan 80 is configured so that the water discharged from the tank 15 goes in three paths, 81, 82, and 83, once it is discharged into the pan 80. The pan 80 may, alternatively, be made in a trough shape similar to path 81 (omitting paths 82 and 83), so that the water is discharged in a single path as it is discharged from the tank 15.

[0035] As shown in Fig. 9, another alternative pattern forming system uses a pin 90 (or multiple pins 90) connected perpendicularly to the dish 27 to prevent or divert the discharging water from spraying into certain parts of the dish 27, again creating a different water spray pattern to cascade upon the guests.

[0036] As shown in Fig. 10, another alternative pattern forming system may employ a sealed flat plate 95. In this alternative, the flat plate 95 may be made of two plates 96 and 97 sealed together, with a cavity between the plates such that the water may be discharged though openings 98 around the circumference of the sealed plates 96 and 97.

[0037] As shown in Fig. 11, the tank 15 may also have a hose or hoses 100 that drain some of the water out of the tank 15 once the water in the tank 15 has reached the level of the hose. The water so drained may be directed to a water wheel 101 which turns until a warning bell is triggered, warning the guests that the water will be discharged.

[0038] When the water is discharged from the tank 15 or 45, the water may be collected in a reservoir or other container (not shown), and the valve 20 may close to allow the tank 15 or 45 to refill through the fill pipe 30 through the action of a pump or other means that would return the water to the tank 15 or 45.

[0039] Another way to increase the water flow out of any tank 15 and create a desired spray affect, is to use a completely mechanized valve activation component to allow the tank 15 to fill with water to a desired level and to trigger a valve flapper to open using one of more floats and allowing the valve to stay open using a second float. Using such a configuration, the tank 15 will, at first, have little or no water in it. At this time the valve flapper is closed and all floats are at their lowest point. As water begins to fill into the tank, pressure builds up in the tank and begins to push down on the valve, giving it a tight seal. A significant amount of torque is required to force the valve open at this point. Using two different types of floats, the valve will be opened and forced to stay open for a set amount of time. Both floats are required to accomplish this affect. When water fills up to or past the first type of float, the valve remains closed. This first float is meant to keep the valve open once it is forced open, but does not have enough pull to open it on its own, but, rather, only keep it open once it has been forced open. By adjusting the length of a lead on this float the amount of water per cycle may be controlled to empty more water or less water per cycle.

[0040] As water continues to fill until the tank 15 and reaches a point where there is a second type of float hinged so as to create a high torque pull on the valve flapper, thrust it open, and allow water to rush through the drain or conduit it once covered. Using this type of configuration allows water to rush out of the tank 15 at a higher rate and allows for another desired spray effect to be created. As the water slowly drains out of the tank 15, it reaches the same level as the float used to hold the flapper up once it's open. Water continues to lower past this float, which in-turn brings the float lower and lower until the flapper eventually and abruptly closes on the drain or conduit creating a tight seal. Thereafter, the cycle may begin again.