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Bladder-inflating structure

Bladder-inflating structure description/claims

The present invention is related to an improved bladder-inflating structure, and more particularly to an inflating pump directly connectable to an inflatable bladder for inflating the same. The inflating pump has simplified structure and can inflate the bladder at higher pumping efficiency.

It is a conventional technique to inflate a bladder to form a compressible article such as an inflatable mattress, an inflatable pillow, an inflatable toy, an inflatable cushion, etc.

Taiwanese Patent Application No. 91213606 discloses an inflatable cushion structure including an inflating bag disposed on one side of an inflatable cushion. The inflating bag has a sponge layer and a check valve. Another check valve is disposed on one side of the inflating bag, which is fitted in a column hole of a fixing block. The check valve has a ventiduct. One end of the check valve is disposed in the inflatable cushion.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,144,708 entitled “check valve for fluid bladders” discloses a bladder combined with an inflating pump. The bladder is composed of an upper sheet and a lower sheet which define two chambers and a fluid passage therebetween. A check valve is disposed in the fluid passage. The check valve is composed of two plastic membranes with equal lengths. The plastic membranes are positioned in the fluid passage, permitting the fluid to one-way flow from one chamber of the bladder to the other.

In the above inflating pump structure, a sponge layer (or spring) is disposed in the inflating pump (inflating bag) for supporting and restoring the inflating pump. In use, a user presses the surface of the inflating pump with a finger. Under such circumstance, simply the portion around the pressed section is deformed and sunk to exhaust the air. In order to increase the pumping amount, it is necessary to enlarge the volume of the inflating pump. Also, the sponge layer will hinder the air from flowing. This will affect the intake/exhaustion efficiency of the inflating pump. Moreover, the inflating pump is generally fixedly mounted inside a specific inflatable bladder or on the periphery thereof. That is, the inflating pump is only applicable to a specific inflatable cushion or bladder combined with the inflating pump. It is impossible to use the inflating pump to inflate other air cushions or bladders as necessary. This limits the application range of the inflating pump.

Taiwanese Patent Application No. 94216572 discloses a pump structure easily and quickly connectable with an air cushion or bladder. The pump structure includes a flexible main body, a check valve and a passage. The flexible main body has a compressible and self-restorable chamber and a clack only permitting the fluid to one-way flow into the chamber. The check valve is connected to the chamber via an output tube. The passage is equipped with a relieve valve communicating with the output tube to form a relieve way. The output tube is easily selectively connectable to and extendable into a bladder for sending the pumped fluid into the bladder. This structure is not only applicable to a specific inflatable bladder and is widely applicable to various inflatable bladders. However, such structure still fails to help in reducing the volume of the inflating pump and enhancing the pumping efficiency.

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved bladder-inflating structure which can be conveniently used to inflate the bladder at higher pumping efficiency.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide the above bladder-inflating structure which has minified volume and can be easily stored and carried.

According to the above objects, the bladder-inflating structure of the present invention includes a resilient air chamber having a receiving space which can be reciprocally compressed and released. After released, the resilient air chamber itself can resiliently restore to its original state. An inflatable bladder is connected to one side of the resilient air chamber. An intake valve is disposed on the resilient air chamber. When the resilient air chamber is compressed and released, the intake valve only permits external air to one-way flow into the receiving space. A one-way membrane nozzle is disposed on one side of the resilient air chamber. The one-way membrane nozzle has an internal fluid passage. The fluid passage has an inlet end extending into the receiving space and an outlet end extending into the bladder. The one-way membrane nozzle only permits the fluid to one-way flow from the receiving space of the resilient air chamber into a bladder to inflate the bladder.

The present invention can be best understood through the following description and accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective exploded view of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective assembled view of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a front sectional view of the present invention, showing the resilient air chamber is compressed in pumping operation;

FIG. 3A is an enlarged view according to the circled area of FIG. 3;

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of the present invention, showing the resilient air chamber is compressed in pumping operation;

FIG. 4A is an enlarged view according to the circled area of FIG. 4;

FIG. 5 is a front sectional view of the present invention, showing the resilient air chamber is released in pumping operation;

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• Utility Patent

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