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Coupling assembly for inflating members

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a coupling assembly, and more particularly to an inflating member coupling assembly for coupling one or more balloons or gas inflating members and for allowing the balloons or gas inflating members to be coupled together in various suitable or selected shapes or patterns or configurations easily and quickly without additional tools or fasteners.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Typical balloons comprise an inflatable or inflating envelope body including a diameter reduced neck portion for forming or acting as an air port and for filling air or gas into the inflating envelope body. The air port or the diameter reduced neck portion of the inflating envelope body will then be twisted or tied into a knot for preventing the air or gas from flowing out of the inflating envelope body.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,094,347 to Ikemoto discloses one of the typical balloon neck fittings including a check valve section attached or coupled to the air port or the diameter reduced neck portion of an inflating envelope body or balloon, and a guide section coupled to the check valve section with a string for allowing the balloon or inflating member to be coupled and retained or positioned in place.

However, the typical balloon neck fittings may be used for coupling one inflating envelope body or balloon to the guide section only, but may not be used for coupling two or more inflating envelope bodies or balloons together.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,758,198 to Ishiwa, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,898,561 to Nottingham et al. disclose two of the typical gas inflatable toys each including an air valve for filling air or gas into the gas inflatable toys.

However, similarly, after the typical gas inflatable toys have been inflated with the air or gas, the typical gas inflatable toys may not be easily coupled together. The typical gas inflatable toys failed to provide any coupling assemblys for coupling one or more balloons or gas inflating members together.

For example, in the wedding ceremonies or the like, a number of balloons or gas inflating members are required to be coupled together into various suitable or selected shapes or patterns or configurations, but till now, the balloons or gas inflating members still may not be easily and quickly coupled together into various suitable or selected shapes or patterns or configurations.

The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages of the conventional coupling devices for coupling balloons or gas inflating members together.

The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a coupling assembly for coupling one or more balloons or inflating members and for allowing the balloons or inflating members to be coupled together in various suitable or selected shapes or patterns or configurations easily and quickly without additional tools or fasteners.

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, there is provided an inflating member coupling assembly comprising one or more inflating members each including at least one orifice formed therein, and one or more strings each including a retaining device attached to a free end portion thereof for engaging with the orifice of the inflating members and for coupling the retaining devices of the strings to the inflating members easily and quickly without additional tools or fasteners.

The retaining devices of the strings each include an opening formed therein for engaging with the orifice of the inflating members, and a spring-biased latch openably engaged in the opening of each of the inflating members for selectively enclosing the openings of the inflating members and for detachably coupling the retaining devices of the strings to the inflating members respectively.

The inflating members each include at least one ring member having the orifice formed therein for engaging with or for coupling the retaining devices of the strings respectively. The strings may be made of such as nylon materials or other strong materials. The inflating members may be made of such as polyvinyl chloride materials or the like. The strings may be coupled together at at least one knot for forming various kinds of suitable or selected shapes or patterns or configurations such as a string shape or a spherical shape or the like.

Further objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a careful reading of the detailed description provided hereinbelow, with appropriate reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a coupling assembly in accordance with the present invention for coupling balloons or gas inflating members together.

FIG. 2 is a partial exploded view of the coupling assembly;