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Inflatable plastic articles with sealed internal illuminationInflatable plastic articles with sealed internal illumination description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20080090487, Inflatable plastic articles with sealed internal illumination. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0001]This application is based on U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/851,803 filed on Oct. 13, 2006 and claims priority benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120. BACKGROUND [0002]1. Field of the Invention [0003]This invention is in the field of inflatable articles formed of thin sheet plastic as replicas of real products such as blimps, automobiles, beer bottles, animals, humans, characters, lawn decorations and furniture. [0004]2. Prior Art [0005]The prior art includes inflatable replicas both with and without internal or integrated electrical illumination. Inflatable replicas without illumination are exemplified by applicant's U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,512,002 and 6,659,837 for inflatable cars, U.S. Pat. No. 6,161,902 for an inflatable chair, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,322,107 for an inflatable polyhedron calendar. Inflatable replicas with internal illumination are exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,609,411, and 2,936,366. [0006]These inflatable replicas have great use as promotional and decorative items and as toys. Their size can range from moderate as seen in store promotions to huge as seen in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade floats. For a relatively small cost they can replicate extremely expensive products such as race cars, airplanes, famous buildings, etc. [0007]When deflated such inflatable replicas can be stored and/or shipped in relatively small and light containers. They can be inflated and deflated relatively quickly and inexpensively, and new ones can be created in little time and low cost. Lastly, their appearance can be enhanced significantly with steady intermittent or flashing internal illumination. [0008]In illuminated inflatable articles in the prior art, a significant problem is air leakage at the junction where electric wires from a stationary or battery powered source must intersect and pass through the plastic sheet to reach the electric light bulbs or other light medium situated within the inflatable replica. Efforts to prevent air leakage are often unreliable or temporary and invariably add substantial cost to an otherwise inexpensive product. [0009]The present invention addresses and provides a solution to the air leakage problem and the substantial extra costs seen in prior art efforts to deal with air leakage. OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE NEW INVENTION [0010]The present invention provides an inflatable replica which includes a novel construction to permit internal electrical illumination without the conventional risk of leakage and without the excessive cost to minimize risk of air leakage. The new inflatable product has: (a) a primary chamber of an interesting shape, such as a blimp, formed of a flexible thin plastic sheet, this product being sealed to contain a quantity of air, and (b) a secondary chamber within and sealed to the primary chamber, but independent of the inflation of the primary chamber. The secondary chamber contains an illumination sub-assembly including LEDs, wires and a battery pack. Because the secondary chamber and its contents of LEDs, wires and battery are independent of the primary chamber, there is no need to have wires intersect any wall of the sheet material that defines the primary chamber, and thus the risk of leakage from such intersections is totally avoided, and the cost of trying to avoid such leakage is similarly avoided. [0011]One preferred embodiment of this invention is a blimp replica; however, the concept is also easily applied to inflatable beer bottle replicas and many other inflatable articles. In the new blimp replica there is an inflatable main body or primary chamber having the blimp shape and a tubular secondary body that intersects one wall of the main body in an airtight intersection and extends as a pocket into the main body. Within the pocket is an illumination subassembly including one or more LEDs, control circuitry and a replaceable battery. While the pocket is open at one end to receive the battery and thus is open to the atmosphere, it is closed at the other end. The open end of the pocket is sealed around its edges to the wall of the main chamber so that there is no need to seal or attempt to seal the main chamber from air leakage about the wires situated within the pocket. [0012]Because the inner chamber's cylindrical walls are inside the main body, pressure in the main body will push radially inward and collapse the inner chamber walls about the illumination means, which is not a problem, since such illumination means consists only of LEDs or light bulbs, wires, a control circuit device and a battery. Replacement of a battery may be done without deflating the main body, since the battery is contained in the inner tube which is independent of the main body. Stated differently, the main body when inflated defines within it a space occupied by air and by the inner chamber. The wires, LEDs and battery are within the inner chamber, but not in said air space of the main chamber. Thus, the wires do not intersect and pass through any wall defining the air space of said main chamber, and thus there can be no air leakage problem occurring due to an improper air seal about a wire. [0013]In the blimp embodiment the main body includes at the bottom cabin or gondola extending below the basic oblong and cylindrical body chamber. When the present invention is applied to the blimp product, a tubular secondary chamber intersects the main chamber from top to bottom, with the top end of the tubular chamber open to the atmosphere and the bottom end of the tubular chamber situated in the gondola area at the bottom of and extending below the main chamber of the blimp. Within and at the bottom of the tubular chamber is an LED or other illumination means. Wires and other control circuit means for flashing or other lighting event control lay in the mid-section of the tubular chamber, and the battery lies at the top end of the tubular chamber. Thus illumination sub-assembly components within the tubular chamber are also within the main body but are isolated from and independent of inflation of the main body. [0014]With this type of construction an inflatable replica can include an illumination means such as flashing LEDs with a hidden battery and circuit means, which is situated within the pocket that extends into a main body. The pocket flanges are heat sealed to the main body, so there is no need to seal around the wires within the pocket. [0015]The intersecting inner tube can be easily and inexpensively incorporated into the blimp or other structure by conventional heat sealing techniques. The inflatable product is made of conventional heat-sealable plastic sheet such as PVC. The illumination means may be selected from conventional flashing or steady light systems with a battery power supply, an on/off switch and known control circuit means. [0016]It is thus an object of this invention to provide an inflatable replica made of thin flexible plastic sheet that defines a main inflatable chamber and a secondary or inner chamber at least partially within the main chamber and adapted to contain illumination means, wires for powering same and a replaceable battery, where the main body is sealed without any need to create a seal about wired that enter the main body. While the main chamber may have a variety of external extensions, as for legs of a defined replica, and may have other internal parts, the wiring does not penetrate any sheet material that constitutes the sealed main chamber. [0017]A further object of this invention is to provide an inflatable replica having internal electrical illumination means which is safe from air leakage and is relatively easy and economical to design and manufacture. [0018]A still further object of this invention is to provide an inflatable replica having within the main chamber, a secondary or inner chamber at least partially within the primary chamber, where the inner chamber contains illumination means and is open to the atmosphere. [0019]The objects described above and others will be demonstrated more clearly by the drawings presented below and by the detailed descriptions of these drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0020]FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a first embodiment of my new invention in the form of an inflatable blimp replica, Continue reading about Inflatable plastic articles with sealed internal illumination... Full patent description for Inflatable plastic articles with sealed internal illumination Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Inflatable plastic articles with sealed internal illumination patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like Inflatable plastic articles with sealed internal illumination or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: Resilient ball containing looped segments Next Patent Application: Drive unit for mobile assembly Industry Class: Amusement devices: toys ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the Inflatable plastic articles with sealed internal illumination patent info. 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