U.S. patent application number 11/166846 was filed with the patent office on 2006-01-12 for sports ball device with internal noise maker.
Invention is credited to Mark J. Chernick, Webb T. Nelson.
Application Number | 20060009319 11/166846 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 35542099 |
Filed Date | 2006-01-12 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060009319 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Nelson; Webb T. ; et
al. |
January 12, 2006 |
Sports ball device with internal noise maker
Abstract
A novelty ball assembly that produces noise when squeezed. The
ball assembly includes a resilient shell that defines an internal
chamber. The resilient shell has a structure that is self-expanding
into a fully expanded condition. Consequently, when the resilient
shell of the ball assembly is squeezed, it returns to its fully
expanded shape on its own accord. A first vent port is present
disposed in the resilient shell. When the resilient shell is
squeezed, air from the internal chamber is displaced through the
first vent port. A noise maker is disposed within the resilient
shell, proximate the first vent port so that air displaced through
the first vent port passes through the noise maker. As air passes
through the noise maker. The noise maker produces an audible
sound.
Inventors: |
Nelson; Webb T.;
(Woodinville, WA) ; Chernick; Mark J.;
(Woodinville, WA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
LAMORTE & ASSOCIATES P.C.
P.O. BOX 434
YARDLEY
PA
19067
US
|
Family ID: |
35542099 |
Appl. No.: |
11/166846 |
Filed: |
June 24, 2005 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
60582978 |
Jun 28, 2004 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
473/571 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63B 2208/12 20130101;
A63B 43/00 20130101; A63B 2071/0633 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
473/571 |
International
Class: |
A63B 39/00 20060101
A63B039/00 |
Claims
1. A novelty ball assembly, comprising: A resilient shell that
defines an internal chamber, wherein said shell is self expanding
into a fully expanded condition where said internal chamber is at a
maximum volume; a first vent port disposed in said shell, wherein
air from said internal chamber is displaced through said first vent
port when said shell is compressed from said fully expanded
condition; and a noise maker disposed within said shell, proximate
said first vent port, wherein air displaced through said first vent
port passes through said noise maker, thereby causing said noise
maker to produce audible sound.
2. The assembly according to claim 1, further including a second
vent port leading into said internal chamber of said shell.
3. The assembly according to claim 2, further including a one way
valve disposed within said second vent port that enables air to
only enter into said internal chamber through said second vent
port.
4. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein said shell has the
external shape of a football.
5. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein said shell has the
external shape of a sports ball, selected from a group consisting
of soccer balls, footballs, and baseballs.
6. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein said noise maker is a
collapsed tube that vibrate in a whoopee cushion fashion as air
passes through said collapsed tube.
7. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein said noise maker is
includes a reed that vibrates and produces audible sound when air
passes through said noise maker.
8. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein said noise maker is
selected from a group consisting of collapsed tubes, reeds,
whistles and kazoos.
9. A toy football assembly, comprising: a resilient shell having an
external shape of a football, wherein said resilient shell is
structurally biased into a fully expanded condition; a collapsed
tube contained within said resilient shell, wherein air from within
said resilient shell passes through said collapsed tube when said
resilient shell is deformed out of said fully expanded condition,
wherein air passes through said collapsed tube causes said
collapsed tube to vibrate and produce noise.
10. The assembly according to claim 9, further including a one-way
valve disposed in said resilient shell to enable air to enter said
resilient shell.
11. The assembly according to claim 10, wherein said resilient
shell is molded from a plastic foam.
12. A whoopee cushion ball assembly, comprising: a resilient shell
structure that is self supporting in a fully expanded condition,
wherein said resilient shell structure defines an internal chamber
that is at its maximum volume when said shell structure is in said
fully expanded condition; an exit port for enabling air to exit
said internal chamber when said shell structure is compressed from
said fully expanded condition; a collapsed whoopee cushion tube
disposed in said exit port, wherein air passing through said exit
port passes through said whoopee cushion tube and produces
noise.
13. The assembly according to claim 12, further including an inlet
port for enabling air to enter said internal chamber without
passing through said exit port.
14. The assembly according to claim 13, further including a one-way
valve disposed in said inlet port for enabling air to only flow
into said internal chamber.
Description
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the priority of Provisional Patent
Application No. 60/582,978, entitled Sports Ball Device With
Internal Noise Maker, which was filed Jun. 28, 2004.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] The present invention relates to noise makers, such as
whoopee cushions, that make noise when the noise maker is
compressed. The present invention also relates to compressible
sports balls, such as foam-filled footballs, soccer balls and
basketballs.
[0004] 2. Prior Art Description
[0005] There exist many sports, such as football, soccer, and
basketball, that use some form of a ball. However, regulation balls
tend to be made of leather and are firmly inflated. As such, the
sports balls are hard and are difficult to handle by children.
Because regulation sports balls are hard, the balls can cause harm
to a child who lacks the muscle strength and coordination to catch
or kick the ball properly.
[0006] It is for these reasons that "toy" sports balls are
manufactured. Toy sports balls have the appearance of regulation
sports balls, but are made from softer materials and often in
smaller sizes. The prior art is replete with toy sports balls. In
this art record, many secondary features have been added to sports
balls that are intended to increase the play value of the toy
sports ball and make that toy sports ball more appealing to
children. For instance, lights have been added to many toy sports
balls that enable the toy sports ball to internally illuminate.
Furthermore, noise makers, in the form of whistles have been added
to toy sports balls, such as footballs, that are commonly thrown.
The whistles produce sound as air passes the toy sports ball when
it is in flight. However, such noise makers do require that the toy
sports ball be thrown before noise will be created.
[0007] The one feature that typically differentiates a toy sports
ball from a regulation sports ball is its degree of
compressibility. Toy sports balls are typically made to be much
softer, and thus more compressible, than are regulation sports
balls. In the prior art record of noise makers, there exist noise
makers that utilize an object's compression to move air and create
noise. A common example of such a noise maker is a whoopee cushion.
Variations of the whoopee cushion are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No.
6,331,131 to Selevan, entitled Self Inflating Noise Maker.
[0008] Although, compressible noise makers do exist and
compressible balls do exist, no prior art instances have been
discovered of combining a compressible noise maker into a
compressible ball to create a new novelty ball. The present
invention presents such a novelty ball, as described below.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] The present invention is a novelty ball assembly that
produces noise when squeezed. The ball assembly includes a
resilient shell that defines an internal chamber. The resilient
shell has a structure that is self-expanding into a fully expanded
condition. Consequently, when the resilient shell of the ball
assembly is squeezed, it returns to its fully expanded shape on its
own accord.
[0010] A first vent port is present disposed in the resilient
shell. When the resilient shell is squeezed, air from the internal
chamber is displaced through the first vent port. A noise maker is
disposed within the resilient shell, proximate the first vent port
so that air displaced through the first vent port passes through
the noise maker. As air passes through the noise maker. The noise
maker produces an audible sound. In the preferred embodiment, the
audible sound is that of a whoopee cushion.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] For a better understanding of the present invention,
reference is made to the following description of exemplary
embodiments thereof, considered in conjunction with the
accompanying drawings, in which:
[0012] FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an exemplary embodiment
of a novelty ball; and
[0013] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an alternate embodiment
of a novelty ball.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0014] Although the present invention novelty ball can be
configured as any sports ball, such as a soccer ball or baseball,
the shown embodiment is shaped as a football. Such a shape
selection is merely exemplary and should not be considered a
limitation of the present invention to balls of different
shapes.
[0015] Referring to FIG. 1, a ball assembly 10 is shown. The ball
assembly 10 includes a hollow ball shell 12. The ball shell 12 can
be spherical and can be shaped like a soccer ball or a baseball.
However, in the shown exemplary embodiment, the ball shell 12 has
the elongated external shape of a football.
[0016] The ball shell 12 defines an internal chamber 14. The ball
shell 12 is made of air impermeable material, such as plastic or a
closed cell plastic foam. The ball shell 12 is compressible. That
is, the ball shell 12 is flexible enough so that it can be squeezed
to a point where the internal chamber 14 partially collapses
inwardly. The ball shell 12 is also manufactured to be resilient in
shape. In this manner, once the ball shell 12 is compressed, it
will automatically return to its original fully expanded shape as
soon as the compression forces are removed.
[0017] Two vent ports are disposed in the ball shell 12 that allow
air to flow into and out of the internal chamber 14 as the ball
shell 12 is compressed and expands back into its original shape. In
the shown embodiment, there is an inbound vent port 18. A one-way
valve 20 is positioned in the inbound vent port 18 that only
enables air to flow into the internal chamber 14 from the exterior
of the ball shell 12. The second vent port is an outbound vent port
22. The outbound vent port 22 enables air from the internal chamber
14 to exit the ball shell 12 as the ball shell 12 is
compressed.
[0018] A noise maker 30 is disposed in the path of the outbound
vent port 22. Consequently, any air passing out of the internal
chamber 14 of the ball shell 12 is forced to pass through the noise
maker 30. The flow of air through the noise maker 30 is used to
power the noise maker 30 and create the desired noise.
[0019] In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the noise maker 30 contains a
segment of a collapsed tube 32. As air passes through the tube 32,
the tube 32 expands and vibrates. This produces the same sound as
does a traditional whoopee cushion. It will therefore be
understood, that when the ball shell 12 is compressed, air from
within the internal chamber 14 will pass through the noise maker 30
and produce a whoopee cushion noise. After the compression forces
are removed from the ball shell 12, the ball shell 12 returns to
its normal shape as air returns to the internal chamber 14 through
the inbound vent port 18.
[0020] Referring to FIG. 2, an alternate embodiment of the present
invention novelty ball 40 is shown. In this embodiment, a round
ball shell 42 is provided. The round ball shell 42 defines an
internal chamber 44. The internal chamber 44 is accessed by an
inbound vent port 46 and an outbound vent port 48. The inbound vent
port 46 is smaller than the outbound vent port 48. Thus, when the
ball shell 42 is compressed, air will travel out through the larger
outbound vent post 48, since that is the path of least
resistance.
[0021] As the ball shell 42 is compressed, air exits the outbound
vent port 48. A noise maker 50 is provided in the path of the
outbound vent port 48. The noise maker 50 is a reed noise maker
that contains an internal reed 52 that vibrates and creates noise
as air passes the reed 52 in the noise maker 50. When the
compression force is released, air flows back into the ball shell
42 through the inbound vent port 46.
[0022] It will be understood that the embodiments of the present
invention novelty ball that are illustrated and described are
merely exemplary and that a person skilled in the art can make many
variations to those embodiments using functionally equivalent
components. For example, there are many types of noise makers that
can be used as part of the present invention. Any noise makers,
such as whistles and kazoos, that are powered by the flow of air,
can be adapted for use by the present invention. All such
modifications, variations and alternate embodiments are intended to
be included within the scope of the present invention.
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