US2714726A - Collapsible container - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 9, 1955 v. H. HASSELQUIST COLLAPSIBLE CONTAINER Filed Nov. 2, 1950 aufs United States Patent O COLLAPSIBLE CONTAINER Victor H. Hasselquist, Akron, Ohio, assiguor to The B. F. Goodrich Company, New York, N. Y. a corporation of New York Application November 2, 1950, Serial N0. 193,633

1 Claim. (C1. 4--177) This invention relates to collapsible containers and is especially useful in the manufacture of Wading pools, bathing pools, and the like for portable use.

lt has been proposed heretofore to provide portable containers made of pliable sheet material for use as play ponds, wading ools, and the like in which the side Walls are held above the liquid in the container by their buoy ancy.

lt is an object of this invention to provide such a comtainer with increased resistance to distortion when placed on a sloping surface.

Other objects of the invention are to provide improvide control of shape of the container, to provide increased depth of the rim of the container, to provide greater strength and to provide improved appearance.

These and other objects Will appear from the following description and the accompanying drawings.

Of the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the container constructed in accordance with and embodying the invention, the container being shown as filled with liquid.

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view thereof, taken on line 22 cf Fig. 1, other parts being broken away.

Fig. 3 is a perspective exploded view of one-half of each part cf the container in superimposed and spaced-apart relation before assembly thereof.

Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation of the container before being filled.

Referring to the drawings, the container has a flat bottom 10, usually round and of sheet material such as pliable plastic. About the bottom and attached thereabout by a seam 11 is a sidewall 12 of pliable sheet material and comprising a normally flat outer Wall member 13 and a normally flat inner Wall member 14. Figure 3 illustrates the manner in which the several parts are assembled, the resulting container being inside out with respect to the form in which it is intended to be employed. As Seen in Fig. 3, the Wall member 14 is of less radial width than the Wall member 13 but is coustructed of the samt: outside diameter, the outer diameters of both Wall members being about equal to that of the bottom member.

The sidewall members and the bottom member are all united to each other about their peripheries at the seam 11 and the inner and outer Wall members are united to each other along their inner peripheries, as at the seam 15. As the inner Wall member 14 is of less width than the outer Wall member 13 and the inner periphery of the inner wall member is of less circurnference than that of the outer wall member 13, this eircurnference is stretched to the circumference of the inner periphery of the outer Wall member when seaming them together. This results in the seam 15 being drawn under the upper margin of the Z,?M,?2 Patented Aug. 9, 1955 completed wall as indicated in Fig. 2 thereby providing a deep rolled margin when the parts of the container have been united and turned inside out from the positions shown in Figure 3.

The inner and outer walls are also united to each other circumferentially at a position between their upper and lower margins as at 16, the seam being discontinuous as shown at 17 in Fig. 1 where the seam is discontinued at spacedapart positions to provide communication between upper 18 and lower 19 inflatable spaces.

An inflation tube 20 is secured in an aperture of the inner Wall member. One end thereof extends downwardly as at 21 when the container is filled, and is sealed by the liquid in the container. The opposite end 22 stands ereet in the space 18 above the level of liquid Within the container so that the liquid does not enter the spaces 18, 19.

The bottom and Wall members may be made of plasticized vinyl resin material and tight seams may be made therein by heating sealing. This enables the sidewall and bottom members to be made up of separate pieces if desired. When this is done the sidewall members are preferably made of segrnelits joined With searns 23, 24 extending radially of the container. The bottom member rnay also be pieeed as at 25. The seams 11, 15 and 16 are made by heat seaming.

The seam 16 reduces transfer of tension from the inner Wall member to the outer Wall member and preserves the thickened form of the upper margin of the sidewall while also improving the contour of the outer Wall by providing a more deeorative appearance thereto. Moreover, this construction provides a flexible hinge between the two pockets or chambers 18 and 19 permitting limited relative movernent therebetween so that a force applied to the margin or rim of the container does not necessarily deform the entire sidewall in the region of the force. By making the seam 16 discontinuous,. air passages 17 are provided which perrnit air to cireulate between chanr bers 18 and 19.

The tube 22 extends above the level of liquid in the container at all tirnes and prevents passage of liquid into chambers 18 and 19 while the searning of the inner and outer Wall members at 16 keeps the Wall member 12 bowed above the opening 22 so that it does not close ofi the opening.

In use of the container, air is blown into the tube 20 or the Wall members are grasped and drawn apart so as to cause air to enter charnber 18. Liquid is then placed in the container and causes the sidewall. to rise with the liquid by its buoyancy.

Variations may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as it is defined by the following claim.

I clairn:

An open top collapsible liquid container comprising an impervious flexible bottom With a flexible impervious wall extending around the periphery of said bottom, the said Wall including inner and outer portions of impervious flexible sheet material providing an air chamber therebetween extending continuously thereabout, the periph oral dimension of the upper edge cf said Wall being less than the peripheral dimension of the bottom thereby adapting the Wall to extend upwardly and inwardly from said bottom, the said inner and outer portions being joined to each other in a circurnferentially extending region intermediate the top and the bottom of the Wall by a discontinuous circurnferential searn. to provide two flexibly hinged peripherally extending air pockets With the discontinuities in said seam providing communicating passages betWeen said pockets, and means for introducing air between said portions, whereby said Wall is adapted to be buoyed upon the liquid in the container and the upper of said pockets can move relative to the lower of said pockets.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Feb. 19, 1903

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