Patent Publication Number: US-2003234312-A1

Title: Water hose winding apparatus

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001] 1) Field of the Invention  
       [0002] The present invention relates to a water hose winding apparatus, more particularly to a winding apparatus characterized by being capable of retracting the flexible water hose, suitable for using on a regular lawn via fixedly inserting the winding apparatus on the lawn at any time, allowing one end of the water hose coiled thereon to be pulled out to connect with a water faucet and the other end to be pulled out from one side for obtaining a very convenient application.  
       [0003] 2) Description of the Prior Art  
       [0004] Accordingly, a regular garden or lawn has to be watered constantly or sometimes a vehicle is washed on a lawn. The water source for household usages is usually supplied via a faucet, a water tower or tank. To use that water source, a user has to directly connect a hard pipe from the indoor to the lawn for coupling with a water hose. However, it is very troublesome to connect and dispose the hard pipe; furthermore, the hard pipe used outdoors might be easily subjected to crack due to man-made mistakes, such as being run by wheels and being kicked, or due to natural damage caused by the wind, sun and rain. It is hard to notice any leakage in this kind of application since the water permeates into the dirt directly. Furthermore, the water hose laid on the ground might trip any person passing-by; the installation fee is high too. Those are the shortcomings of the conventional application. There is a more economical application and that is to directly connect a very long and flexible water hose from the indoor to the lawn. However, the drawbacks of this kind of application include that, first, it is troublesome to pull or retract the long hose for use or for storage; secondly, when a certain length of the water hose is used for watering the nearby lawn or washing the objects, the excessive and not used length laid and tangled on the ground tends to trip people or cause dangers. Furthermore, the tripping and kicking might easily damage the water hose and shorten its useful life. In addition, this kind of application does not make a pleasant view on the lawn.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0005] Therefore, the primary objective of the present invention is to design a winding apparatus for a flexible water hose for easy coiling without occupying considerable space when it is not in use; when in use, the present invention can be pulled out fast and a proper length can be adjusted for application to reduce the chance of tripping the user by the scattered hose body. The application is convenient, safer and able to reduce the accident of being kicked and damaged. That is the feature of the present invention.  
       [0006] In order to abovementioned objectives, the present invention is implemented through comprising an upright plate and a fastening frame, wherein the top portion of the upright plate forms a handle ring and the lower end thereof is disposed with a peg rod; two lateral end portions of the fastening frame form bend portions with forked openings at the distal ends; one end portion of a shaft sleeve pivotally couples at the center of a support plate; the center of a rotary disc is disposed with a shaft hole which has one side extends to form an extension slot with a distal end enlarges to form a through hole with a longer diameter; the end portion on the other side is disposed with a push post to insert in, fasten and align with the shaft hole area as well as be fixed by a screw to rotate synchronously with the rotary disc and a shaft. One end of the hose inserts into the through hole of the rotary disc thereby coiling the hose body around the shaft sleeve; the other end thereof is stored at or pulled outwardly from the forked opening area to achieve an efficient and convenient pulling and retraction of the water hose.  
       [0007] To enable a further understanding of the structural features and the technical contents of the present invention, the brief description of the drawings below is followed by the detailed description of the preferred embodiment. dr  
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]FIG. 1 is an exploded drawing of the structure of the present invention.  
       [0009]FIG. 2 is a pictorial drawing of the assembly of the present invention.  
       [0010]FIG. 3 is a lateral and cross-sectional drawing of the present invention.  
       [0011]FIG. 4 is a structural drawing of the front plane of the present invention.  
       [0012]FIG. 5 is a bird&#39;s-eye view drawing of the structure of the present invention.  
       [0013]FIG. 6 is a drawing of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention in storage.  
       [0014]FIG. 7 is a drawing of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention in application. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
     [0015] Referring to FIGS. 1, 2, and  3 , the present invention comprises a cross-shaped supporting stand ( 10 ) including an upright plate ( 11 ) and a transverse fastening frame ( 14 ), wherein the top portion of the upright plate ( 11 ) forms a handle ring ( 12 ) and the lower end forms an insert slot ( 13 ) to be inserted by a peg rod ( 20 ) disposed on an insert seat ( 21 ); two end portions on the sides of the fastening frame ( 14 ) bend forwardly to form bent portions with forked openings ( 15 ) formed at the distal ends thereof; push retain members ( 30 ,  31 ) are respectively disposed on the outer side of the forked opening ( 15 ) and around the central position of the fastening frame ( 14 ).  
     [0016] The end portion of a shaft sleeve ( 40 ) pushes against the central position of the support stand ( 10 ); a screw ( 70 ) with a washer ( 71 ) penetrates the support stand ( 10 ) from the back portion thereof to pivotally engage with the shaft sleeve ( 40 ); wherein an engage slot ( 41 ) is disposed on one side of an end on the inner side of the shaft sleeve ( 40 ). Referring to FIGS. 1, 3 and  4 , pushing the push retain member ( 30 ) on the support stand ( 10 ) downwardly to insert into the engage slot ( 41 ) limits the rotation of the shaft sleeve ( 40 ); reversely, pushing the push retain member ( 30 ) back to the original position allows the shaft sleeve ( 40 ) to rotate.  
     [0017] A rotary disc ( 50 ) in a shape of a cross has a shaft hole ( 51 ) disposed at the center; one side of the shaft hole ( 51 ) extends to form an extension slot ( 52 ) and the distal end thereof enlarges to from a through hole ( 53 ) with a longer diameter; the end portion on the other side is disposed with a push post ( 54 ) inserted in, fastened and aligned with the shaft sleeve ( 40 ) area and fastened by a screw ( 72 ). When the shaft sleeve ( 40 ) works as the center to push the push post ( 54 ), the rotary disc ( 50 ) and the shaft sleeve ( 40 ) rotate synchronously.  
     [0018] Referring to FIG. 1, a water hose ( 60 ) has connectors ( 61 ,  62 ) respectively disposed at two end portions; one of the connectors ( 61 ) penetrates the through hole ( 53 ) of the rotary disc ( 50 ); as shown in FIGS. 4, 5 and  6 , the hose body of the water hose ( 60 ) coils around the shaft sleeve ( 40 ) at the front aspect of the fastening frame ( 14 ), clamps at the forked opening ( 15 ) area, retains the push retain member ( 31 ) and pushes the push post ( 54 ) thereby gradually winding the water hose ( 60 ) on the shaft sleeve ( 40 ); reversely, when in use, as shown in FIG. 7, the user holds the handle ring ( 12 ) to insert the present invention into the ground via the peg rod ( 20 ) to connect one end of the water hose ( 60 ) with a water faucet and pull the other end to a certain length for watering; once a certain length is reached, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the push retain member ( 30 ) at the center is retained to limit the rotation of the shaft sleeve ( 40 ) thereby limiting the stretched length of the water hose ( 60 ) as indicated in FIG. 7 so as to prevent abnormal pulling. That is the feature of the present invention.  
     [0019] The present invention is designed through special ideas and has the following advantages in application:  
     [0020] 1. The present invention is capable of retracting the water hose at any time and being pulled to a proper length for use without leaving excessive hose body on the ground to cause danger such as a fall thereby protecting the water hose.  
     [0021] 2. The handle ring disposed on the upper aspect of the present invention is easy to hold; the peg rod disposed at the lower aspect inserts directly into the ground thereby holding the present invention on the lawn for a very convenient use.  
     [0022] 3. A push retain member disposed at the center and on one side of the present invention is capable of efficiently controlling the pulling and winding of the water hose without making mistaken puling or winding so as to specifically control the water hose.  
     [0023] It is of course to be understood that the embodiment described herein is merely illustrative of the principles of the invention and that a wide variety of modifications thereto may be effected by persons skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.