Inflatable article with an illuminating device

An inflatable article includes a rounded wall that encloses a first space. An illuminating device is mounted inside the rounded wall and occupies a portion of the first space. The device includes a base bonded sealingly and integrally to the rounded wall. The base confines a second space hermetically sealed from a remaining portion of the first space, and has a part exposed from the rounded wall and an opening for access to the second space. A light emitting element is disposed interiorly of the opening. A power source has a negative electrode proximate to the opening and a positive electrode connected to a first terminal of the light emitting element. A conductive member extends axially and outwardly of the power source and is connected to a second terminal of the light emitting element. A conductive cap closes the opening and is movable between a conducting position and a non-conducting position. At the conducting position, the cap engages an upper end of the conductive member to activate the emitting element. At the non-conducting position, the cap is spaced apart from the upper end of the conductive member so as to deactivate the light emitting element.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The invention relates to an article which incorporates an illuminating 
device, more particularly to an inflatable article, such as a ball or the 
like, which has an illuminating device. 
2. Description of the Related art In U. S. Pat. Appln. Ser. No. 08/660,577, 
now U.S. Pat. No. 5,609,141 the applicant disclosed an inflatable article 
which includes a gas-tight hollow body and an illuminating device. The 
gas-tight hollow body has a rounded wall which encloses a first space. The 
illuminating device is mounted inside the hollow body and occupies a 
portion of the first space. The illuminating device includes containing 
means with a base bonded sealingly and integrally to the rounded wall. The 
containing means confines a second space hermetically sealed from a 
remaining portion of the first space. The base has at least a part exposed 
from the rounded wall and an opening formed in the part for access to the 
second space. The illuminating device further includes electric circuit 
means which is received in the second space, and which has a light 
emitting element and a power source. A cap is mounted removably for 
closing the opening in the base of the containing means. The electric 
circuit means further includes a switch for energizing the same in 
response to movement of the gas-tight hollow body. 
Because the switch is responsive to every movement of the rounded wall, the 
power source in the aforementioned inflatable article should be removed 
from the rounded wall during daytime in order to prolong the service life 
of the power source. The cap must be removed from the rounded wall prior 
to removing the power source from the rounded wall. This annoys the user 
of the inflatable article. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The object of this invention is to provide an inflatable article which 
includes a cap unit and a power source receptacle unit which are disposed 
in the rounded wall and which can dispose selectively the illuminating 
device at an ON or OFF condition without the need for removing the power 
source from the rounded wall. 
The inflatable article of this invention includes a gas-tight hollow body 
and an illuminating device. The gas-tight hollow body has a rounded wall 
which encloses a first space. The illuminating device is mounted inside 
the rounded wall and occupies a portion of the first space. The 
illuminating device includes containing means with a base bonded sealingly 
and integrally to the rounded wall so as to confine a second space 
hermetically sealed from a remaining portion of the first space. The base 
has at least a part exposed from the rounded wall and an opening for 
access to the second space. The containing means includes a primary 
mounting seat which is formed integrally with the base and which has an 
inner wall that defines a cavity therethrough in communication with the 
opening, and an annular groove that is formed in the inner wall. The 
containing means further includes a tubular secondary mounting seat which 
is disposed in the cavity and which has an annular outward flange 
press-fitted into the annular groove of the primary mounting seat so as to 
form a first gas-tight seal between the primary and secondary mounting 
seats. The illuminating device further has electric circuit means which is 
received in the second space and which includes a light emitting element 
disposed interiorly of the opening and formed with a first electric 
terminal and a second electric terminal. A power source is disposed 
between the opening and the light emitting element and has a negative 
electrode proximate to the opening and a positive electrode in electrical 
contact with the first electric terminal of the light emitting element. A 
conductive member extends axially and outwardly of the power source. The 
conductive member has a lower end connected to the second electric 
terminal of the light emitting element and an upper end disposed so as to 
be more proximate to the opening than the negative electrode. A conductive 
cap closes the opening of the base and is movable axially relative to the 
primary mounting seat between a conducting position and a non-conducting 
position. A conductive biasing member is disposed between the cap and the 
negative electrode of the power source such that, when the conductive cap 
is at the conductive position, the cap engages the upper end of the 
conductive member against biasing action of the biasing member. When the 
conductive cap is at the non-conducting position, the cap is spaced apart 
from the upper end of the conductive member so as to deactivate the light 
emitting element.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Before the present invention is described in greater detail, it should be 
noted that same reference numerals have been used to denote like elements 
throughout the disclosure. The first preferred embodiment of an inflatable 
article according to this invention includes a gas-tight hollow body and 
an illuminating device. 
As illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the gas-tight hollow body has a rounded 
wall 20 of a rubber material which encloses a first space 21 therein. The 
illuminating device is mounted inside the rounded wall 20 and occupies a 
portion of the first space 21. The illuminating device includes containing 
means which confines a second space hermetically sealed from a remaining 
portion of the first space 21, and electric circuit means 70 received in 
the second space. The containing means includes a hollow primary mounting 
seat 30, a generally tubular secondary mounting seat 40, an insulative 
receptacle 60, a transparent light housing 50, and an inner seal 51. 
The primary mounting seat 30 is made of a rubber material and has a base 
30A bonded sealingly and integrally to the rounded wall 20. A part of the 
base 30A is exposed from the rounded wall 20 and has an opening 30B formed 
therein for access into the second space. The primary mounting seat 30 has 
an inner wall that defines a cavity 31 therethrough in communication with 
the opening 30B, and an annular groove 32 formed in the inner wall. The 
secondary mounting seat 40 is disposed in the cavity 31 of the primary 
mounting seat 30 and has a converging outer wall and an annular outward 
flange 41 press-fitted into the annular groove 32 so as to form a first 
gas-tight seal between the primary and secondary mounting seats 30, 40. 
A conductive member 44, in the form of a tubular sleeve, is disposed in the 
secondary mounting seat 40 and has an upper end disposed adjacent to the 
opening 30B of the primary mounting seat 30. 
The insulative receptacle 60 is disposed in the secondary mounting seat 40 
and is in the form of a hollow tube. The insulative receptacle 60 has an 
axial hole 63 formed through a lower portion thereof, and an axial length 
shorter than that of the conductive member 44. The plastic light housing 
50 can be passed through the opening 30B and the cavity 31 of the primary 
mounting seat 30 and through the secondary mounting seat 40. An inner seal 
51 is coupled sealingly to a second open end 502 of the light housing 50 
so as to receive the electric circuit means 70 therein. A first open end 
501 of the light housing 50 is coupled sealingly to a lower portion 42 of 
the secondary mounting seat 40. 
The power source 62, such as mercury cells, is disposed in the receptacle 
60 in such a manner that a negative electrode of the power source 62 is 
proximate to the opening 30B while a positive electrode of the power 
source 62 extends through the axial hole 63 of the insulative receptacle 
60 to connect with the first electric terminal 74 of the electric circuit 
means 70. The second electric terminal 73 of the electric circuit means 70 
is in electrical connection with the conductive member 44. In this 
embodiment the electric circuit means 70 includes an integrated circuit 
board with a plurality of light emitting elements 72 fixed thereon. Under 
this condition, the insulative receptacle 60 prevents formation of an 
electrical connection between the power source 62 and the conductive 
member 44. 
The cap 80 includes external threads 81 which engage the internal threads 
431 of the secondary mounting seat 40. A conductive biasing member 84 is 
disposed between the cap 80 and the negative electrode of the power source 
62. The cap 80 is movable axially relative to the primary mounting seat 30 
between a conducting position and a non-conducting position. As best shown 
in FIG. 2, when the cap 80 is at the non-conducting position, the cap 80 
is spaced apart from the upper end of the conductive member 44 so as to 
deactivate the light emitting elements 72. As illustrated in FIG. 3, when 
desired, the cap 80 can be threaded further into the secondary mounting 
seat 40 against biasing action of the biasing member 84 so as to dispose 
the cap 80 at the conducting position. At this time, a conductive pad 83 
on the cap 80 engages the upper end of the conductive member 44, thereby 
forming an electrical connection between the first and second electric 
terminals 74, 73 of the light emitting element 72 so as to activate the 
latter. The cap 60 is provided with a straight slot 82 to facilitate 
turning of the same. 
Note that the primary mounting seat 30 further has an annular inward 
projection 33 that abuts sealingly against the converging outer wall of 
the secondary mounting seat 40, thereby forming a second gas-tight seal 
between the primary and secondary mounting seats 30, 40. 
Referring to FIG. 4, a second preferred embodiment 90 of the inflatable 
article of this invention is shown to be generally similar to the previous 
embodiment. The transparent light housing 34 of the second embodiment, 
however, has a closed lower end and an upper open end coupled sealingly 
and integrally to a lower portion of the primary mounting seat 30. 
With this invention thus explained, it is apparent that numerous 
modifications and variations can be made without departing from the scope 
and spirit of this invention. It is therefore intended that this invention 
be limited only as indicated in the appended claims.