US2719982A - Collapsible containers for liquids - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 11, 1955 v. H. HASSELQUIST 2,719,932

COLLAPSIBLE CONTAINERS FOR LIQUIDS Filed Nov. 24, 1950 j 5 wafaa fi-ig .527470%? United States latent Oflice 2,719,982 Patented Oct. 11, 1955 COLLAPSIBLE CONTAINERS FOR LIQUIDS Victor H. Hasselquist, Akron, Ohio, assignor to The B. F. Goodrich Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application November 24, 1950, Serial No. 197,498

6 Claims. (Cl. 4177) This invention relates to collapsible containers for liquids and is especially useful in the manufacture of portable wading and swimming pools, although the invention is also useful in containers for storing liquids, such as, wash tubs, stock-water tanks, and tanks for similar purposes.

In my Patent No. 2,529,872 a collapsible container is shown in which a flat bottom is united to a normally flat marginal wall, the wall being of double-walled construction and being inflatable so that the upper edge of the marginal Wallis held above the liquid in the container by the buoyance of the rim which floats upon the surface of the liquid in the container. In the manufacture of such containers of large dimension it has been found desirable to stilfen the inflatable rim portion by the use of an inner .tube inserted within the doublewalled portion of the marginal wall. Such a construction permits use of a relatively stiff inner tube which may be inflated to a higher pressure than would be permitted with a single walled container and the inner tube provides against leakage of air. It has been found, however, that a container of that type has presented difficulties of manufacture and in case of injury to the inner tube, the tube could not be removed for repair without disturbance of the container. Furthermore, the thin rubber-like material comprising the marginal wall of the container was subject to leaks due to fine pin holes in the material and under hydrostatic pressure of the liquid within the container filling of the sidewall with liquid would occur at times which liquid has been inconvenient to remove. Furthermore, the stiifness of the inner tube made it diflicult to fold such a container containing the tube in a small space for storage.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome the foregoing and other difliculties by providing a container of this type in which access to the inner tube may be conveniently eflected or in which the inner tube may be readily removed for repair purposes or storage of the container.

Other objects are to provide for constant drainage of liquid from between the double-walled structure of the sidewalls, such as necessitated by insignificant slow leaks at the inner layer of the sidewall; to provide for an access opening at the bottom of the container; to provide self-restraining of the outer layer of the sidewall while permitting drainage of the sidewall; to provide efiective marginal reinforcement of the top of the sidewall; to stabilize the container when placed upon sloping surfaces, and to provide for storage of the container in a minimum of space.

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 filled container in use.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the inner tube.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the superimposed layers of sheet material assembled in the position of the layers in the article, but spaced from each other to show their relative arrangement and before they are seamed together.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the container with the parts of Fig. 4 in assembled and seamed relation, the flattened container being shown in full lines, and the position of the outer layer when assembling the inner tube with the other parts of the container being indicated by dot and dash lines.

Referring to the drawings, the container has a flat bottom 10 of flexible impervious sheet material, preferably of circular form. To the margin of the bottom 10, the marginal wall 11 is secured by an inwardly turned marginal seam 12. The marginal wall comprises an inner layer 13, an outer layer 14, and a restraining band 15, united to each other as by an inwardly directed seam 16, which joins the inner layer 13 and outer layer 14 to each other and in an inwardly directed seam 17 uniting the outer layer 14 to the restraining band 15. All of these parts of the container are formed of flat material as indicated in Fig. 4, the portions 13, 14, and 15 being in the form of fiat rings. While it is possible to make each of these parts from a single sheet of material each of them may be made by piecing together strips or segments of material as desired.

Between the inner layer 13 and the outer layer 14 of the marginal wall, an inner tube 20 is inserted. The tube may be of rubber or other rubber-like material suitable for holding air at low pressure and it is preferred to make this tube of butyl rubber which is highly impervious. The tube 20 has a valve stem 21 whereby it may be inflated by any suitable means (not shown) such as by a bicycle pump or an air line. The valve stem 21 is made to extend through the marginal wall of the container but may be contained in the pocket which houses the inner tube. For retaining the outer marginal layer 14 in position, the restraining band 15 has its inner margin hemmed too, about the endless restraining cord 22,

. the cord being smaller in circumference than the bottom of the container so thata liquid in the container presses outwardly against the marginal wall and tensions somewhat layer 14 by the cord-restrained margin. The retaining ring being of smaller circumference than the body of the liquid in the container, this will prevent the outer marginal wall from being drawn outwardly and upwardly. When it is desired to remove the inner tube 20, as for storage of the container or repair of the inner tube, the liquid may be removed from the container and thereafter the corded margin of the outer layer of the marginal wall may be slid over the inner wall, or in other words, bottom 10 of the container may be grasped and pulled through the opening in the restraining band 15 so that the tube may be readily removed.

This construction permits use of a separate inner tube without the necessity of employing buttons, snap fasteners, lacing, or other cumbersome and expensive fastener means for retaining it. Slow leaks in the inner layer 13 of the wall will drain without unfastening the marginal wall, and storage of the container when not in use will be facilitated.

Variation may be made without departing from the scope of the invention and as it is defined by the following claims.

I claim:

1. A collapsible container for liquid comprising a bottom, a marginal Wall thereabout and secured thereto, said wall comprising a double-walled construction of flexible sheet material extending over said bottom and providing a pocket between the inner and outer portions of the wall, an inflatable inner tube removably posimaintaining said inner and outer portions of the wall in enclosing relation about said tube. j

2. A collapsible container for liquid comp-rising'a bottom member of flexible material, a marginal wall extending upward and inwardly of the margin thereof and then returning outwardly and downwardly over itself to the bottom of the container to provide a buoyant pocket for floating the wall upon a liquid within the container, an inflatable inner tube removably positioned within said pocket at the upper margin of the wall, and means for retaining the downwardly extending portion of the wall at said bottom, said retaining means comprising a restraining member secured to the lower margin of the downwardly extending portion and underlying said bottom and defining an opening of smaller area than the bottom, the diflerence in area between the bottom and said opening providing the sole means for maintaining the marginal wall portion in enclosing relation about said tube.

3. A collapsible container for liquid comprising a flat circular bottom member of flexible impervious material, a marginal wall of flexible impervious material secured about said bottom and extending upwardly and inwardly therefrom above said bottom member, said wall comprising inner and outer wall members secured to each other at the upper margin of said wall and defining an annular pocket open at the bottom thereof, an inflatable inner tube removably positioned in said pocket for buoyantly supporting said wall above a liquid in the container and means for removably securing the outer wall member about said bottom member, said securing means comprising a flexible endless member smaller in circumferences than said bottom and secured to said outer wall member at a position underlying said bottom member, the difference in circumference of said flexible endless member and the margin of the bottom member providing the sole means for maintaining the inner and outer wall members in enclosing relation about said tube.

4. In a collapsible container having a flexible bottom, a marginal wall thereabout formed with an inner flexible member and an outer flexible member which define between them a pocket at the rim of the container, and an inflatable tube in the pocket for buoyantly supporting one rim of the wall on the liquid within the container, the improvement which comprises an outer flexible wall member which extends from the rim to the bottom of the container and which terminates at an edge spaced inwardly from and underlying the margin of the bottom, and an endless restraining cord secured to said edge of the outer wall and extending under the bottom to define an opening of smaller area than the bottom, the difference between the area of said opening defined till by the cord and the area of the bottom being the sole means for maintaining the outer flexible wall member in enclosing relation about said tube.

5. A collapsible container for liquid comprising a bottom of flexible sheet material, a marginal wall of flexible sheet material around the bottom to retain liquid and having an upper portion forming the rim of the container, the wall including an inner flexible member secured to the margin of the bottom and extending upwardly to the rim and an outer flexible member extending downwardly from the rim to the margin of the bottom of the container to define a pocket between the inner and outer members, the outer member removably engaging the margin of the bottom and extending around said margin to the underside of the bottom and terminating on the underside of the bottom at an edge which defines an opening of smaller area than the bottom, the difference between the area of said opening defined by said edge of the outer member and the area of the bottom being the sole means for maintaining the outer flexible wall member in the aforesaid position relative to the inner flexible member.

6. A collapsible container for liquid comprising a flat bottom sheet of thin flexible sheet material impervious to the liquid to be received in the container, and a continuous wall of thin flexible sheet material extending peripherally around the bottom sheet at the margin thereof, the wall including a first wall portion extending upwardly from said margins and inwardly over the bottom sheet and terminating at a narrow portion which defines a rim opening for the container of smaller area than the bottom and a second wall portion flaring outwardly from said rim opening and terminating at a wide portion which defines an opening substantially equal in area to the area of the bottom, a third wall portion projecting inwardly from said wide portion of the second portion to a terminal edge which defines an opening of smaller area than the bottom, said narrow portion of the wall being adapted to receive an inflatable tube in encircling relation and said bottom sheet and said first and second wall portions being adapted to be folded through said opening defined by said terminal edge of the third portion and then the bottom sheet flattened in face-to-face contact with said third portion to form a pocket between said first and second wall portions for enclosing said tube, the difference in area between said bottom and said opening defined by the terminal edge being the sole means of maintaining said first and second wall sections in enclosing relation about said tube.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,961,061 McCulloch May 29, 1934 2,084,236 Babb June 15, 1937 2,123,327 Biberthaler July 12, 1938 2,505,845 Alvarez May 2, 1950 2,551,673 Hasselquist May 8, 1951 I FOREIGN PATENTS 22,301 Great Britain Feb. 19, 1903

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