U.S. patent application number 08/749090 was filed with the patent office on 2001-11-08 for portable hand operated fluid pump.
Invention is credited to FOSTER, FRANCIS X..
Application Number | 20010038798 08/749090 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 25012209 |
Filed Date | 2001-11-08 |
United States Patent
Application |
20010038798 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
FOSTER, FRANCIS X. |
November 8, 2001 |
PORTABLE HAND OPERATED FLUID PUMP
Abstract
A hand-held and hand-operated fluid pump capable of inflating
recreational equipment, as well as directing a stream of air to
clean delicate electronics or hard to reach locations, is provided.
The simple design of the inventive fluid pump permits it to be
equally useful for creating fluid streams to dislodge foreign
particles stuck in difficult to reach areas, such as corners and
enclosed pipe structures. Because the inventive pump uses only
human energy to transmit fluids or gases, it is ecologically
efficient exemplifying a "green technology" design.
Inventors: |
FOSTER, FRANCIS X.; (COCONUT
CREEK, FL) |
Correspondence
Address: |
KEVIN W GOLDSTEIN, ESQ.
RATNER & PRESTIA
P.O. BOX 7228
WILMINGTON
DE
19803
|
Family ID: |
25012209 |
Appl. No.: |
08/749090 |
Filed: |
November 14, 1996 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
417/478 ;
222/209; 417/435 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B08B 5/02 20130101; F04B
33/00 20130101; F04B 45/06 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
417/478 ;
417/435; 222/209 |
International
Class: |
F04B 043/08 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A hand-held and manually-operated multipurpose fluid pump for
forcing fluids into and drawing fluids out of containers,
comprising: a squeezable bladder having a unidirectional intake
valve and a unidirectional exhaust valve.
2. The hand-held and manually-operated fluid pump of claim 1,
further comprising flexible tubing attachable to the exhaust valve
to direct the exhausting fluid stream.
3. The hand-held and manually-operated fluid pump of claim 1,
further comprising flexible tubing attachable to the intake valve
to permit remote selection of the fluid source to be drawn into the
bladder.
4. The hand-held and manually-operated fluid pump of claim 2,
further comprising a connector attached to the free end of the
flexible tubing; and a nozzle attached to said connector; said
nozzle having a body with a plurality of holes therein.
5. The hand-held and manually-operated fluid pump of claim 2,
further comprising a connector attached to the free end of the
flexible tubing; and a pin attached to said connector; said pin
being used to inflate recreational equipment.
6. The hand-held and manually-operated fluid pump of claim 2,
further comprising a connector attached to the free end of the
flexible tubing; and a nozzle attached to said connector; said
nozzle having a single hole therein to create a narrow fluid
stream.
7. The hand-held and manually-operated fluid pump of claim 6,
wherein the nozzle attached to the connector comprises means to
adjust the shape of the fluid stream exiting the nozzle.
8. The hand-held and manually-operated fluid pump of claim 6,
wherein the nozzle is made of a non-electrically conducting
material.
9. The hand-held and manually-operated fluid pump of claim 1,
wherein all components are constructed of non-corrosive
materials.
10. The hand-held and manually-operated fluid pump of claim 1,
wherein each of the rigid valving components are constructed of a
stainless steel alloy.
11. The hand-held and manually-operated fluid pump of claim 2,
further comprising a connector attached to the free end of the
flexible tubing; and a controllable release valve coupled between
the bladder exhaust valve and said connector.
12. The hand-held and manually-operated fluid pump of claim 2,
further comprising a connector attached to the free end of the
flexible tubing; and a pressure gauge coupled between the bladder
exhaust valve and said connector.
13. A hand-held and hand-operated air pump for inflating
recreational equipment and related air inflatable objects,
comprising: a squeezable bladder having an intake orifice and
exhaust orifice such that air may be forced out of the bladder
through the exhaust orifice by squeezing the bladder, and
thereafter may be drawn into the bladder through the intake orifice
upon release of the bladder; flexible tubing coupled to the bladder
exhaust orifice; a connector attached to the end of the flexible
tubing; and means, attached to the connector, for transmitting the
air forced from the bladder through the flexible tubing into the
object to be inflated without loss of air pressure through the
connection.
14. The hand-held and hand-operated air pump of claim 13, wherein
the air transmission means is a pin used to inflate sports
balls.
15. The hand-held and hand-operated air pump of claim 13, wherein
the air transmission means is a screw-type valve used to inflate
pneumatic tires.
16. The hand-held and hand-operated air pump of claim 13, wherein
the air transmission means is a press fit type valve used to
inflate pneumatic tires.
17. The hand-held and hand-operated air pump of claim 13, further
comprising an air release valve coupled between the bladder exhaust
orifice and the air transmission means to controllably release air
from within the inflated object.
18. The hand-held and hand-operated air pump of claim 17, wherein
the air release valve is a turn screw mechanism.
19. The hand-held and hand-operated air pump of claim 17, wherein
the air release valve is a push button mechanism.
20. The hand-held and hand-operated air pump of claim 13, further
comprising an air pressure gauge coupled between the bladder
exhaust orifice and the air transmission means to measure the air
pressure within the object being inflated.
21. A hand-held and hand-operated air pump for inflating
recreational equipment and related air inflatable objects,
comprising: a squeezable bladder having an intake orifice and
exhaust orifice such that air may be drawn into the bladder through
the intake orifice and forced out of the bladder through the
exhaust orifice; a release valve attached to the bladder exhaust
orifice for controllably releasing air pressure from within the
inflatable object; flexible tubing detachably connected to the
release valve; and a pressure gauge communicating with the object
being inflated to measure the air pressure within the object.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to devices used to pump
fluids, and more particularly to a hand-held and hand-operated
fluid pump that can be used to, among other uses, inflate sports
and recreational equipment or any device that otherwise is
inflatable, in addition to being able to direct a stream of air or
other fluid for cleaning hard to reach areas and delicate
electronic devices. In a preferred embodiment the pump may also be
used to remove or drain fluids from various containers.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The current technology of sports and recreational equipment
air pumps includes generally large and cumbersome devices. An
example of this prior art is the well-known tube-type bicycle pump
with a long plunger and foot support. When extended, the
plunger/pump can result in a device that is a rather unwieldy two
to three feet in length.
[0003] A smaller version of this type of hand-operated air pump for
use to inflate sports balls is, while shorter in length, equally
cumbersome when the plunger is extended and during storage. In
addition, these small sports balls pumps use a "pin" rigidly
attached to the tube. This rigid attachment can result, during the
pumping operation, in large shear forces and stresses applied to
the ball valve and to the pin that often cause broken valves or
broken pins. In either case, broken valves or pins, the ball is
destroyed.
[0004] While these plunger air pumps have been used for many years,
they suffer from the same restrictions and limitations: they are
cumbersome, making storage and portability difficult; they are
difficult to use when attempting to inflate delicate recreational
equipment; and they are designed for but one use.
[0005] Two examples of this type of hand pump are U.S. Pat. No.
3,907,461 issued Sep. 23, 1975 to Bouder for "Hand Air Pumps," and
U.S. Pat. No. 4,120,614 issued Oct. 17, 1978 to the same inventor
for a "Hand Bicycle Pump With Pressure Preselection and Display
Means." Both the '461 and '614 patents disclose tubular type hand
pumps used to inflate bicycle tires and thus exemplify the
relatively cumbersome devices noted above. Moreover, they appear to
be useful only to inflate recreational and sports equipment.
[0006] The related technology of compressed air devices, that is
those devices used to release a stream of air to clean hard to
reach or enclosed spaces and to dislodge objects within enclosed
areas are often electrical/mechanical devices using motors to
increase air pressure, or are containers housing compressed gases,
including chloro-flourocarbons ("CFCs"). These type of compressed
gas containers with CFCs are currently under scrutiny as being a
cause of the depletion of the ozone atmospheric protective
boundary. As part of a trend towards reusable, renewable energy
sources, these CFC devices are also simply wasteful as requiring
the use of other non-renewable energy to generate the fluid or air
stream.
[0007] In comparison to this prior art, it would be desirable to
have a hand-held and hand-operated ("green technology") device
which could be used to inflate various recreational equipment, in
addition to being able to generate an air stream for cleaning hard
to reach areas, as well as generating a fluid stream for dislodging
particles stuck in restricted areas or for removing fluids from
containers. Such results have not been achieved in combination in
the prior art of hand-held and manually operated pumps.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] The above noted problems inadequately or incompletely
resolved by the prior art are addressed and resolved by the present
invention.
[0009] In a preferred aspect of the invention, the handheld and
manually-operated multipurpose fluid pump for forcing fluids into
and drawing fluids out of containers comprises a squeezable bladder
having a unidirectional intake valve and a unidirectional exhaust
valve. Other preferred embodiments further comprise flexible tubing
attachable to the exhaust and/or intake valve. Another preferred
embodiment comprises a nozzle attached to a connector which in turn
is attached to the exhaust valve flexible tubing. In one preferred
embodiment, the nozzle may be configured as a pin for use in
inflating recreational and sports equipment.
[0010] Another preferred embodiment of the hand-held and
manually-operated fluid pump comprises a connector attached to
flexible tubing attached to the exhaust valve and further
comprising a controllable release valve coupled between the exhaust
valve and the connector. A different preferred embodiment of the
pump comprises a pressure gauge instead of the controllable release
valve, although a combination of both pressure guage and release
valve would be another preferred embodiment.
[0011] The invention will be best understood by reading the
following detailed description of the preferred embodiments in
conjunction with the drawings briefly described below.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0012] For the purpose of illustrating the invention, the attached
drawings show several embodiments that are presently preferred.
However, it should be understood that the invention is not limited
to the precise arrangement, instrumentality or embodiment shown in
accompanying drawings.
[0013] FIG. 1: is a side perspective view of a preferred embodiment
of the hand-operated air pump;
[0014] FIG. 2: is a side view of a preferred embodiment of the
hand-operated air pump with a pressure release valve;
[0015] FIG. 3: is a top view of a preferred embodiment of the
hand-operated air pump with a pressure gauge;
[0016] FIG. 4: is a side view of a preferred embodiment of the
hand-operated air pump with a sports ball inflating pin;
[0017] FIG. 5: is a side view of a preferred embodiment of the
hand-operated air pump with an air directing nozzle;
[0018] FIG. 6: is a side cut-away view of a preferred embodiment of
the hand-operated air pump showing the intake valve interior;
and
[0019] FIG. 7: is a side cut-away view of a preferred embodiment of
the hand-operated air pump showing the exhaust valve interior.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0020] The present invention is a hand operated pump for moving
gases or fluids. In its broadest embodiment, the primary components
of the invention are a squeezable bladder having a unidirectional
intake orifice and a unidirectional exhaust orifice such that a
fluid or gas within the bladder may be expelled from the bladder
through the exhaust orifice by squeezing the bladder, and
thereafter a fluid or gas may be drawn into the bladder through the
intake orifice by releasing the bladder. In further preferred
embodiments, described in detail herein, various adapters, extender
devices or nozzles may be attached to either or both the intake or
exhaust orifices to direct the expelled fluid stream or select the
source fluid or gas drawn into the bladder.
[0021] In one preferred embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the fluid
pump 10 comprises a squeezable bladder 11 with a unidirectional
intake orifice 12 located at one end and a unidirectional exhaust
orifice 13 located at the opposite end of the bladder. In the
embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the intake and exhaust orifices are
designed to be unidirectional such that the fluid or gas can only
be drawn into the bladder through the intake orifice 12 and
thereafter can only be forced out of the bladder through the
exhaust orifice 13. The squeezable bladder 11 may be constructed of
a flexible and resilient rubber-type material, although any
air-tight material that is flexible and tends to return to an
unstressed state may be used.
[0022] The physical mechanism for forcing fluid or gas out 4 of the
bladder is to simply squeeze the bladder 11 thereby increasing the
pressure in the bladder 11. Due to the unidirectional functionality
of the two orifices, the increase in pressure within the bladder
forces the fluid or gas out of the exhaust orifice 13. Similarly,
upon release of the bladder 11, fluid or air is drawn into the
bladder through the intake orifice 12.
[0023] In order to direct and control the fluid or gas forced out
of the bladder when the user squeezes the bladder, flexible tubing
14 may be coupled to the bladder exhaust orifice 13. The coupling
should be sufficiently tight to ensure an airtight connection
between the bladder 11 and the tubing 14.
[0024] The tubing 14 is not restricted in length. However, if the
tubing is too short, the user will experience difficulty in
directing the fluid stream. Similarly, if the tubing is too long,
it will be cumbersome and may impede the flow of the fluid due to
friction within the tubing 14. Experience has shown that for a
preferred embodiment useful for sports and recreational equipment,
the tubing length that works best is within the approximate range
of 12 to 24 inches.
[0025] As noted, in the preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the
fluid pump 10 with flexible tubing 14 may be used to inflate sports
and recreational equipment, such as soccer balls, basketballs,
footballs, beach balls, inflatable beach/water rafts, river tubes
and similar items. Sports balls typically are manufactured with a
valve designed to accept a "pin" to transmit air into the ball.
[0026] As shown in FIG. 1, the fluid pump 10 may further comprise
an adapter 17 attached to the end of the flexible tubing 14 that is
designed to accept a sports ball "pin." In this preferred
embodiment, the hand-held fluid pump may be used to easily inflate
sports balls by holding the ball under one's arm and squeezing the
hand pump bladder repeatedly until the ball is inflated to the
desired or specified air pressure. Moreover, because of the
flexible tubing, there is no or limited lateral stress applied to
the sports ball valve or the pin during the inflation process.
Accordingly, there is is less chance of damaging the sports ball
valve or breaking the pin. In either case--damage to the valve or
the pin the ball is rendered useless.
[0027] In a further preferred embodiment, and as shown in FIG. 2, a
release valve 15 may be incorporated downstream of the exhaust
orifice 13 to allow the user to release the fluid pressure within
the object being inflated. As such, and for the use described
above, where the hand pump 10 is used to inflate sports balls, the
user may pump up the ball to the required pressure, and if over
inflated, pressure may be controllably and easily released by
opening the release valve 15.
[0028] Moreover, most manufacturers recommend that the air pressure
within sports balls be released when the ball is not in use. With
the inventive hand pump 10 in the embodiment comprising the release
valve, the user can simply and quickly release the air pressure for
storage of the equipment. This also helps to reduce the storage
needs of the sports equipment by reducing the overall volume of the
equipment.
[0029] Another preferred embodiment of the inventive hand pump 10,
as shown in FIG. 3, further comprises a fluid pressure gauge 16
incorporated downstream of the exhaust orifice. The pressure gauge
measures the fluid pressure within the flexible tubing 14 and
accordingly the pressure within the object being inflated. As such,
the inventive hand pump with a pressure gauge allows the user to
pump up the sports balls or other equipment to the recommended
pressure, thereby eliminating any need to guess or estimate the
pressure.
[0030] In combination, the pressure release valve 15 and the
pressure gauge 16 can both be incorporated to the hand pump 10,
making the inventive embodiment ideally suited as a portable device
for accurately inflating and deflating sports balls and
equipment.
[0031] In addition to inflating sports balls and other sports
equipment, in a preferred embodiment, the inventive hand pump is
very effective as a cleaning tool capable of dislodging small
particles from locations that are difficult to reach, essentially
enclosed, or are sensitive to the type of tool used to reach these
locations. Examples of these "locations" include computer or
terminal keyboards, electronic devices and circuit boards. The
current technology for cleaning such devices includes aerosol
dispensers containing pressurized air or a gas and often containing
CFCs. These CFCs are a known danger to the ozone layer and are the
reason for recent legislation attempting to curtail and eventually
prohibit the use of CFCs.
[0032] The inventive hand pump in a preferred embodiment provides a
simple "green technology" solution to the increasing need to clear
and clean difficult to reach and sensitive locations. In this
embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the hand pump 10 comprises
the squeezable bladder 11, an appropriate length of flexible tubing
14 attached to the exhaust orifice 13 and a nozzle 18. This
particular embodiment of the inventive hand pump may be used to
easily clear food or other foreign particles from computer
keyboards, circuit boards and similar type of devices. By directing
the air stream from the nozzle 18 in between the keys of a keyboard
and squeezing the bladder repeatedly, the air stream will force
foreign particles out of the keyboard area.
[0033] The type of nozzle attached to the flexible tubing 14 may
contain a single or multiple orifices. For example, with a single
nozzle orifice, the fluid or gas exhaust stream from the hand pump
10 will be directed in a single direction. With multiple orifices
in the nozzle, a broader spread of the fluid or gas stream will
result and can be used to clear a broader area.
[0034] Because circuit boards often have open circuitry and
electrical current, there is a danger of a short circuit or
electrical shock if the device used to clear foreign particulars is
metallic or is capable of conducting electricity. As such, in a
preferred embodiment, the nozzle 18 attached to the adapter 17
attached to the flexible tubing 14 may be manufactured from a
nonconductive material such as plastic or rubber.
[0035] The inventive hand pump also provides a "green technology"
means of transferring a variety of fluids or gases from one
location to another. Instead of an electric powered or gasoline
powered pump, the inventive hand operated pump is a simple device
using only the strength of the operator to move fluids or gases.
For example, the hand pump 10 can be used to empty standing water
from a clogged sink. In this preferred embodiment, a length of
tubing could be attached to the intake orifice 12 similar to the
above described attachment of flexible tubing 14 to the exhaust
orifice 13.
[0036] In addition to being capable of emptying a backed-up sink,
the hand pump 10 also provides a non-chemical means of dislodging
the particles clogged within the drain piping. By guiding the
flexible tubing 14 into the enclosed piping to the blockage and
forcing the nozzle 18 into the blockage, it has been found that
often the blockage is dislodged after pumping air into the
blockage.
[0037] The inventive hand pump may also be used to "prime" a
powered pumping system. In this embodiment, the inventive hand pump
could be used to force water or another fluid into powered pump
system cavities, thereby eliminating the air in the system--that
is, "priming the system."
[0038] Accordingly, and as described herein, in various preferred
embodiments, the inventive hand pump may be used to transfer a gas
from one location to another location (e.g., the sports ball pump);
transfer a fluid from one location to another (e.g., the clogged
sink pump); or force air or a gas into a fluid medium (e.g., the
clogged pipe deblocker).
[0039] While the pressure capable of being generated by the
inventive hand pump is a direct function of operator's strength, it
has been determined that the specification pressures for sports
balls and recreational beach equipment--generally less than 25
pounds per square inch--are easily attainable with the hand pump by
the average child and adult. Similarly, the force required to pump
a fluid out of a sink or to dislodge a pipe blockage are generally
less than the forces capable of being generated by the inventive
hand pump.
[0040] The above detailed description teaches certain preferred
embodiments of the present invention hand operated pump. While
preferred embodiments have been described and disclosed, it will be
recognized by those skilled in the art that modifications are
possible and such modifications are within the true scope and
spirit of the present invention. It is likewise understood that the
attached claims are intended to cover all such modifications.
* * * * *