U.S. patent application number 12/155302 was filed with the patent office on 2008-12-04 for inflatable beam truss and structure.
Invention is credited to Jean-Marc Daniel Turcot.
Application Number | 20080295417 12/155302 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 40086588 |
Filed Date | 2008-12-04 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080295417 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Turcot; Jean-Marc Daniel |
December 4, 2008 |
Inflatable beam truss and structure
Abstract
A segmented inflatable beam truss includes at least first,
second and third separate inflatable beams mounted or mountable to
one another and having, respectively, first, second and third
lengths and a substantially constant diameter among all of the
three beams. Each beam of the three separate beams includes an
outer flexible substantially non-resilient sleeve along the entire
length of the beam and an inner inflatable bladder extending
substantially entirely along and in the entire length of the
sleeve.
Inventors: |
Turcot; Jean-Marc Daniel;
(Kelowna, CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Antony C. Edwards
P.O. Box 26020
Westbank
BC
V4T 2G3
CA
|
Family ID: |
40086588 |
Appl. No.: |
12/155302 |
Filed: |
June 2, 2008 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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60924847 |
Jun 1, 2007 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
52/2.13 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E04H 15/20 20130101;
E04H 2015/201 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
52/2.13 |
International
Class: |
E04G 11/04 20060101
E04G011/04 |
Claims
1. A segmented inflatable beam truss comprising: at least three,
that is, first, second and third, separate inflatable beams mounted
or mountable to one another and having, respectively, first, second
and third lengths and a substantially constant diameter among all
of said three beams, wherein each beam of said three separate beams
includes an outer flexible substantially non-resilient sleeve along
the entire length of said beam and an inner inflatable bladder
extending substantially entirely along and in said entire length of
said sleeve, wherein said each beam is substantially linear when
unconstrained and inflated, and wherein said each beam is flexible
so as to form an arch-shape when opposite ends of said each beam
are constrained by anchoring of said opposite ends on the ground at
a distance between said ends which is less the length of said each
beam, and wherein at least said first and second beams are of
substantially equal length and are mounted adjoined to one another
in side-by-side parallel relation so as to be co-extensive with one
another along said arch-shape, and wherein said third beam is
mounted adjoined to said first and second beams so as to extend
therealong in side-by-side parallel relation and positioned so as
to extend over at least a vertex portion of said arch-shape.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional
Patent Application No. 60/924,847 filed Jun. 1, 2007 entitled
Inflatable Beam Truss and Structure.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] This invention relates to the field of inflatable structures
and in particular to an inflatable beam truss and the resulting
inflatable structure using the beam truss or trusses, where each
beam truss includes multiple separate or segmented pneumatic
beams.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Inflatable tents for use in camping are known in the prior
art and are sold commercially by for example Airzone Recreation
Products of Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. Such tents typically
replicate camping tents available commercially which rely on bent
fibreglass poles for their support structure and instead substitute
inflatable poles which, when bent, provide the supporting framework
for the exterior fabric skin or canopy of the tent over which a
so-called fly sheet may be mounted. In the other extreme, large
tents are known in the prior art for use such as by the military
for providing field barracks, field hospitals and various depot
facilities, such tents often being made of canvas and supported on
tubular metal-pole supporting structures.
[0004] Applicant believes that a commercial need exists for
relatively large pneumatically inflatable tent-like structures
which are much larger than conventional recreational camping tents.
It is believed that such structures will find commercial acceptance
and use by the owners of large for example sport utility vehicles,
boats, trailers, and other wheeled vehicles or towables which
ordinarily would require a large garage or shed for their safe
storage and which are often not housed in, for example,
conventional residential homes as not having extended garage
facilities. Also applicant believes that commercial acceptance and
use of such larger pneumatically inflatable tent-like structures
may include those in the field of general purpose coverings such as
portable corporate sponsorship pavilions for example for use in
trade-shows, portable pneumatically inflatable recreational and
professional sports shelters for sheltering equipment, non-engaged
players, or sickly or wounded players on for example the side-lines
of a sports field, portable medical or military or emergency relief
housing or shelters or the like.
[0005] What is required, is a relatively larger pneumatically
inflatable structure which may be readily transportable in that,
when collapsed, the structure is not exceedingly heavy or overly
bulky so the structure may be transported in light trucks including
for example sport utility vehicles, in mini-vans, or in the beds of
ordinary pickup trucks and the like, and for example may be carried
by two or more adult males to a convenient location for their use,
and wherein the structure may be erected using for example a high
volume, low pressure air compressor running for example from the
twelve volt power source of the vehicle used to transport the
collapsed structure.
[0006] In the prior art applicant is aware of the following issued
patents illustrating aspects of the state of the art in
pneumatically erectable structures including tents:
[0007] U.S. Pat. No. 2,591,829 which issued April 1952 to
Katzenmeyer et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 2,830,606 which issued April 1958
to Daugherty; U.S. Pat. No. 3,145,719 which issued August 1964 to
Johnson; U.S. Pat. No. 3,899,853 which issued August 1975 to
Wertman; U.S. Pat. No. 3,999,333 which issued December 1976 to
Amarantos; U.S. Pat. No. 4,068,418 which issued January 1978 to
Masse; U.S. Pat. No. 4,197,681 which issued April 1980 to Holcombe;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,271,642 which issued June 1981 to Karr; U.S. Pat.
No. 4,709,718 which issued December 1987 to Nichols; U.S. Pat. No.
4,766,918 which issued August 1988 to Odekirk; U.S. Pat. No.
4,819,389 which issued April 1989 to Kihn; U.S. Pat. No. 4,825,892
which issued May 1989 to Norman; U.S. Pat. No. 4,876,829 which
issued October 1989 to Mattick; U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,481 which
issued February 1990 to Seeley, Jr.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,918,877 which
issued April 1990 to Dutka; U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,322 which issued
April 1991 to Mattick et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,212 which issued
April 1991 to Fritts et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,122,400 which issued
June 1992 to Stewart; U.S. Pat. No. 5,205,086 which issued April
1993 to Heim; U.S. Pat. No. 5,247,768 which issued September 1993
to Russo; U.S. Pat. No. 5,421,128 which issued June 1995 to
Shapless et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,570,544 which issued November 1996
to Hale et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,636,478 which issued June 1997 to
Chen; U.S. Pat. No. 5,987,822 which issued November 1999 to McNiff
et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,014,982 which issued January 2000 to
Strevey; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,263,617 which issued July 2001 to
Turcot.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] In the field of air inflatable structures, the applicant has
determined, contrary to conventional wisdom which would require
that the pneumatic beams be increased in diameter as their length
increases in order to support larger enclosures, and in one aspect
of the present invention, that the use of relatively narrow high
aspect ratio pneumatic beams may be used to span relatively great
distances if a multiplicity of such narrow beams are combined in
side-by-side parallel array to form a single segmented beam
truss.
[0009] As used herein the term truss is intended in its alternate
meaning from the conventional, namely, any of various structural
frames constructed on principles other than the geometric rigidity
of a triangle or deriving stability from other factors, as the
rigidity of joints, the abutment of masonry, or the stiffness of
beams (emphasis added). Thus according to one embodiment of the
present invention at least a pair of two relatively narrow beams
are mounted side-by-side in a length sufficient to span over the
desired enclosure and a third for example much shorter pneumatic
beam is mounted along the pair of beams over only the vertex
segment of the longer pair of beams. This has been found to provide
remarkable stiffness to the beam truss.
[0010] Although it is understood that the pair of longer beams and
shorter vertex beam may be used in combination with further longer
or shorter inflatable beams all mounted side-by-side to one another
to span even greater distances, in this aspect of the present
invention, the pair of longer beams and single shorter vertex beam
work in combination when mounted to one another to lend sufficient
rigidity to the resulting combined pneumatic segmented beam truss
so as to span relatively greater distances than heretofore possible
in the prior art using single narrow inflatable beams. This
structure also does not necessarily result in a vertex of the beam
truss which is overly high above the floor of the enclosure. In
other words, it is not required with the present invention to form,
using one or more inflatable beam trusses, an air-inflated
structure in the manner of a tepee-shape or conventional tent shape
where the vertex is relatively quite high above the floor of the
enclosure, due for example to the beam truss forming a semi-circle,
in order to provide rigidity to the structure.
[0011] In summary, the segmented inflatable beam truss according to
one aspect of the present invention may be characterized as
including at least three, that is, first, second and third,
separate inflatable beams mounted or mountable to one another and
having, respectively, first, second and third lengths and a
substantially constant diameter among all of the three beams. Each
beam of the three separate beams includes an outer flexible
substantially non-resilient sleeve along the entire length of the
beam and an inner inflatable bladder extending substantially
entirely along and in the entire length of the sleeve.
[0012] Each beam is substantially linear when unconstrained and
inflated. Each beam is flexible so as to form an arch-shape when
opposite ends of the each beam are constrained by anchoring of the
opposite ends on the ground at a distance between the ends which is
less the length of each beam.
[0013] At least the first and second beams are of substantially
equal length and are mounted adjoined to one another in
side-by-side parallel relation so as to be co-extensive with one
another along the arch-shape. The third beam is mounted adjoined to
the first and second beams so as to extend therealong in
side-by-side parallel relation and positioned so as to extend over
at least a vertex portion of the arch-shape.
[0014] Inflatable beam trusses may be employed as a frame for
mounting a canopy thereto to provide a covered structure such as a
housing, tent, shelter, sports enclosure whether fully or only
partly enclosed, storage facility to name just a few possible uses
of the many available. Such a covered structure may include a
plurality of inflatable beam trusses for example in a criss-cross
pattern as illustrated by way of example herein to form a
dome-style enclosure, or may for example be employed in a parallel
spaced-apart array to form a quonset-style enclosure to name just
two possible uses of the several or many available. The covered
enclosures may have doorways, or be otherwise open-ended or
open-sided or may be entirely open with merely a sun-shade on the
vertex of the enclosure.
[0015] The beam trusses may have various embodiments. For example,
they may include more than three individual separate inflatable
beams. The third beam, or at least one or more of the separate
beams where there are more than three separate beams in each beam
truss,.may be shorter than the two long separate beams, that is,
the minimum pair of first and second beams that span the entire
length of the truss.
[0016] Further, each separate beam may be tubular in shape, for
example such as described in shape and construction in my U.S. Pat.
No. 6,263,617, incorporated herein by reference. Advantageously at
least the first and second beams are substantially dimensionally
identical. The third beam may be of substantially the same diameter
as the first and second beams.
[0017] Further still, each of the separate beams, and in particular
at least the first and second beams have a high aspect ratio, that
is, a ratio of length to width which is much greater than one. For
example, if each separate beam is advantageously uniformly tubular
or cylindrical in shape when un-bowed, and if each separate beam
has a circumference of generally twenty-two inches for example,
meaning a diameter of approximately six to seven inches, and an
overall circumferential length arched between where the opposite
ends of the beam truss are anchored to ground (that is, directly to
the ground or to a base which itself may be anchored to the ground)
of generally twenty-four feet, then the beam truss has an aspect
ratio of approximately forty-five (288 inches long: 6.4 inches in
diameter).
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0018] In drawings which illustrate embodiments of the invention
wherein similar characters of reference denote corresponding parts
in each view,
[0019] FIG. 1 is, in perspective view, one embodiment of the
inflatable beam trusses according to the present invention employed
in a criss-cross fashion to form a dome-like enclosure.
[0020] FIG. 1a is, in perspective view, an alternative embodiment
shown in dotted outline, the structure of FIG. 1.
[0021] FIG. 2 is, in side elevation view, the structure of FIG.
1.
[0022] FIG. 3 is, in plan view, the structure of FIG. 1.
[0023] FIG. 4 is, in end elevation view, the structure of FIG.
1.
[0024] FIG. 5 is an enlarged partially cut away view of the
underside of the vertex of the structure of FIG. 1.
[0025] FIG. 6a is an enlarged partially cut away view taken from
FIG. 4.
[0026] FIG. 6b is an enlarged partially cut away view taken from
FIG. 4.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION
[0027] In the example illustrated, a relatively large inflatable
structure is supported by three criss-crossed segmented air beams
or inflatable beam trusses 10. It is understood that the use of
three such beam trusses 10 is by way of example only in that
structures employing fewer or greater numbers of the beam trusses
according to the present invention may also be useful.
[0028] Thus as may be seen, each beam truss 10 is comprised of a
bundle of separate inflatable tubes or beams. In the illustrated
example, each beam truss 10 includes a pair of long spanning tubes
12a and 12b mounted together side-by-side so as to be coextensive
between their opposite first and second ends. These longer spanning
tubes 12a and 12b form an arch extending between their opposite
ends when their opposite ends are fixed to the ground or to a base
such as base sheet 14. Thus with the first and second opposite ends
of the pair of tubes 12a and 12b constrained by being mounted to
for example the outer edges of base sheet 14, and advantageously,
with the edges of the base sheet secured to the ground, the length
of the spanning tubes dictates that they form an arch because their
length is greater than the diameter of the base.
[0029] In the illustrated embodiment, which is not intended to be
limiting, each spanning tube 12a and 12b is itself made up of two
individual inflatable tubes mounted end-to-end at vertex 8 for
example by stitching the ends together. In this fashion, the entire
beam truss 10 may be constructed of a multiplicity of identical
shorter, for example approximately twenty-four foot long,
inflatable tubes which are used to construct, in this example, the
approximately forty-eight foot long spanning tubes 12a and 12b, and
to serve individually as the capping tubes 16.
[0030] A capping inflatable air tube, such as the illustrated
shorter capping tube 16, is mounted to the pair of spanning tubes
12a and 12b across the vertex 8 of the arch so as to extend
symmetrically along the arch from the vertex along a distance which
is proportionally shorter than the length of the spanning tubes.
The capping tube 16 provides both for strengthening and stiffening
of the vertex 8 of the beam truss 10 and for flattening the
curvature of the upper portion of the beam truss on either side of
the vertex along the length of the capping tube. The flattening of
the curvature of the arch reduces the height of vertex 8 above the
base sheet 14 and forces the ends of the spanning tubes where they
extend between the ends of the capping tube and the base sheet to
bulge outwardly and upwardly thereby forming more vertical wall
portions of the beam truss from the ends of the pair of spanning
tubes effectively raising the ceiling height around the perimeter
of the base and thereby making the enclosure more useful towards
and around the periphery of the base sheet.
[0031] Thus as may be seen in the illustrated embodiment, which is
not intended to be limiting, the length of the capping tube may be
approximately one half of the length of each of the spanning tubes
so as to provide the strengthening, stiffening and flattening of
the resulting beam truss 10 when the capping tube is mounted onto
the vertex portion of the pair of spanning tubes. Thus with each
beam truss 10 so formed, a plurality of beams trusses may be
mounted in radially spaced array about a vertical axis extending
through their common vertex so that, with the ends of the plurality
of beam trusses mounted to the corresponding circumferentially
spaced locations around the periphery of the base sheet, a rigid
inflatable frame is formed over or under which may be mounted a
flexible canopy to serve as the tent or other enclosure.
[0032] Advantageously, at least one air hose 18 is mounted in fluid
communication between each inflatable tube 12 and 16 in each beam
truss 10, and between adjacent beam trusses 10 so that the
inflation of a first beam truss causes simultaneous inflation of
the rest of the beam trusses in the frame so that the inflatable
frame becomes self-erecting for example when advantageously the
vertices of the beam trusses are mounted to one another and the
ends of the beam trusses are mounted to the base sheet and also
secured to the ground prior to inflation. For example, in each beam
truss, the pair of spanning tubes 12 and the capping tube 16 may be
mounted to one another by the use of straps which may include
hook-and-loop fasteners, and similarly, the vertices of each of the
beam trusses may be mounted to one another also by means of straps
or hook-and-loop fasteners or the like. Of course, the separate
tubes in each beam truss may also be stitched or otherwise fastened
to one another by known means in whole or in part, that is, with or
without the further use of hook-and-loop fastening straps or
strips.
[0033] As shown in dotted outline in FIG. 1a, capping tube 16 may
in one embodiment have a length substantially equal to the length
of the spanning tubes 12a and 12b. In alternative embodiments not
illustrated, each beam truss may include more than two spanning
tubes and more than a single capping tube in order to increase the
strength of the resulting beam truss to thereby accommodate
spanning greater distances without the need for supporting poles to
uphold, for example, the vertex of the inflated structure.
[0034] In one embodiment which is not intended to be limiting, each
spanning and the corresponding capping tube in each beam truss are
constructed as a separate sleeve for each tube, each sleeve
constraining a resilient inflatable inner tuber or bladder
extending the length of the sleeve. For example, each sleeve may
have a circumference of approximately twenty inches and the
spanning tubes may be approximately forty-eight feet long and the
capping tubes may be approximately twenty-four feet long in the
illustrated embodiment.
[0035] As will be apparent to those skilled in the art in the light
of the foregoing disclosure, many alterations and modifications are
possible in the practice of this invention without departing from
the spirit or scope thereof. Accordingly, the scope of the
invention is to be construed in accordance with the substance
defined by the following claims.
* * * * *