Abstract:
An inflatable sport ball, such as a basketball, a football, a soccer ball, a volley ball or a playground ball, is provided with self-contained inflation means for inflating or more likely adding pressure to the ball. The inflation means is a vessel inside of the ball containing a high pressure gas which may be bled form the vessel into the interior of the ball surrounding the vessel such as by valve means operable from the outside of the ball.

Description:
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/159,311, filed Oct. 14, 1999. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to sport balls which contain mechanisms for inflating or adding pressure to the balls. 
     Conventional inflatable sport balls, such as basketballs, footballs, soccer balls, volley balls and playground balls, are inflated through a traditional inflation valve using a separate inflation needle that is inserted into and through a self-sealing inflation valve. A separate pump, such as a traditional bicycle pump, is connected to the inflation needle and the ball is inflated using the pump. The inflation needle is then withdrawn from the inflation valve which self-seals to maintain the pressure. This system works fine until the sport ball needs inflation or a pressure increase and a needle and/or pump are not readily available. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides a sport ball which has a self-contained inflation mechanism. The object is to be able to inflate or add pressure to a sport ball without the need for separate inflation equipment such as a separate inflation needle and pump. Specifically, the invention relates to a sport ball which contains on the inside a source of high pressure gas such as air or carbon dioxide with means to release a quantity of that high pressure gas from the source into the ball to achieve the desired pressure. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 illustrates a sport ball with a cut away section showing a self-contained high-pressure gas source operable from outside the ball for releasing gas into the ball. 
     FIG. 2 is a detailed sectional view of the valve mechanism of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 3 is a sport ball with a cut-away section showing another embodiment of the invention with a different high pressure gas source. 
     FIG. 4 is a detailed sectional view of the gas source and valve mechanism of the FIG. 3 embodiment. 
     FIG. 5 is a sectional view of an adjustable, self-regulating pressure relief valve. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring first to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, a sport ball  10  is illustrated incorporating one embodiment of an inflation device of the invention. The ball which is illustrated is a typical basketball construction comprising a carcass  12  which is shown in FIG. 2 as having a rubber bladder  14  for air retention, a layer  16  composed of layers of nylon or polyester yarn windings wrapped around the bladder and an outer rubber layer  18 . For a laminated ball, an additional outer layer  20  of leather or a synthetic comprises panels which are applied by adhesive and set by cold molding. The windings  16  are randomly oriented and two or three layers thick and they form a layer which cannot be extended to any significant degree and which restricts the ball from expanding to any significant extent above its regulation size if it were to be inflated above its normal playing pressure. This layer for footballs, volleyballs and soccer balls is referred to as a lining layer and is usually composed of cotton or polyester cloth that is impregnated with a flexible binder resin such as vinyl or latex rubber. 
     In accordance with the present invention, the sport ball contains a separate vessel on the inside which contains a gas at a higher pressure than the normal inflation pressure of the ball. For example, the normal inflation pressure of various inflatable sports balls can range from about 5 psig to 15 psig depending on the particular type of ball. The separate high-pressure gas vessel may contain a gas at perhaps as much as 100 psig whereby gas can be released from the high-pressure vessel into the lower pressure internal volume of the ball to increase the ball pressure. 
     FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of such an arrangement comprising the sport ball  10  having the carcass  12 . Mounted inside of the ball  10  is a vessel  22  which is the vessel containing the gas at a high pressure. The vessel  22  may be of any desired material which will contain the high gas pressure but it is preferably as lightweight as practical. Some examples of materials for the vessel  22  are polyethylene terephthalate and nylon. The vessel  22  is illustrated as being mounted in the ball  10  by the vessel gas release device  26  although other mounting arrangements can be used. 
     The vessel filling tube  24  is a hollow tube which is preferably flexible and which is connected into the vessel  22  and is joined to a typical sport ball needle valve  28 . A conventional inflation needle is inserted through the needle valve  28  and gas, usually air, is pumped through the tube  24  into the vessel  22 . The needle is then withdrawn and the needle valve  28  prevents the escape of pressure from the vessel  22 . The ball may also have a separate needle valve  30  for the initial direct inflation of the ball in a conventional manner. The inflation device of the present invention is usually used for adding pressure to an already inflated ball rather than for the initial inflation. 
     The vessel gas release device  26  is illustrated in some detail in FIG. 2. A tube  32  is attached into the carcass  12  at  34  and is attached into the vessel  22  at  36 . Extending through the tube  32  is a valve stem  38  terminating at the valve member  40  which mates with the valve seat  42  at the end of the tube  32 . The valve stem  38  is biased by the spring  44  to maintain the valve member  40  sealed to the valve seat  42 . When the button  46  on the outside end of the valve stem  38  is pressed in against the spring pressure, the valve is opened and pressure is released from the vessel  22  into the pipe  32  and out through the aperture  48  into the internal volume of the ball thereby increasing the ball pressure. 
     Another embodiment of the invention is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 in which the vessel of high-pressure gas is a prepressurized gas vessel such as a carbon dioxide cylinder  50 . The gas may be contained at such a high pressure that it exists in a liquid form within the vessel. Similar cartridges are used in paint ball guns and are readily available. The gas vessel  50  is contained in a chamber  52  which is covered with a flexible disk  54  to maintain the bounce of the ball. A flip-up flap  56 , which may be held down with velcro, provides access for replacing the vessel  50 . FIG. 4 shows the details of the vessel  50  in the chamber  52  including the valving arrangements for releasing gas pressure from the vessel  50  into the inside volume of the ball. At the end of the vessel  50  is a valve seat  55  and a valve  57 . The spring  58  surrounding the valve stem  60  and acting on the plate  62  attached to the valve stem  60  forces the valve  57  into the closed position against the valve seat  54 . A resilient ring  64  between the vessel  50  and the end portion  66  of the chamber  52  maintains the spacing  68 . When the other end of the vessel  50  at the carcass is pressed, the resilient ring  64  compresses and forces the plate  62  against the post  70 . This forces the valve  57  to open releasing gas from the vessel  50  through the holes  72  into the interior of the ball. 
     Since the pressure in a sport ball can be too high through overinflation or a temperature increase, it is advisable to have a way to bleed pressure from the ball when the conventional inflating needle is not available. Such an arrangement is shown in FIG. 5 involving a self-regulating, adjustable pressure relief valve  74 . This comprises an aperture  76  through the carcass  12  covered on the inside by the cup-shaped enclosure  78 . The enclosure  78  has an opening  80  with a valve seat  82 . The valve  84  seals against the valve seat  82  to hold the pressure in the ball. The valve stem  86  is threaded through a disk  88  whereby the disk  88  can be moved axially on the valve stem  86  by turning the head  90  of the valve stem  86 . A spring  92  is located around the valve stem  86  between the disk  88  and the carcass. Therefore, turning the head  90  and valve stem  86  moves the disk  88  axially on the valve stem and adjusts the pressure of the spring  92 . The pressure of the spring  92  is adjusted such that an over pressure in the ball will force the valve to open and bleed pressure and then close when the desired pressure is reached. 
     A further embodiment of the invention is a variation of the embodiment depicted in FIG.  1 . This comprises a sphere, such as the sphere  22 , of high pressure air or other gas supported inside of the ball. In this case, the sphere  22  is formed form a polymeric material which is semi-permeable and which has a known rate of diffusion of the contained air or other gas out through the sphere into the ball. Suitable materials for the sphere can be selected from polymeric materials known to diffuse gases such as polyethylene terephthalate and polyvinyl chloride. For any particular type of ball and ball construction materials, an air loss rate is established. On that basis, a particular size sphere with a corresponding surface area and diffusion rate is selected to match the air loss rate from the ball with the air flow out of the sphere into the ball. In this embodiment, the gas release device  26  is omitted and a support for the sphere is substituted. The vessel filling tube  24  is retained to replenish the air in the sphere which has diffused out into the ball. This will then bring the pressure in the sphere up to the initial pressure to maintain the desired diffusion rate.