Patent Publication Number: US-2023158419-A1

Title: Vertical bubble blower

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/833,319 filed Jun. 6, 2022, entitled VERTICAL BUBBLE BLOWER, which is a non-provisional of U.S. Patent Application No. 63/196,829 filed Jun. 4, 2021 entitled VERTICAL BUBBLE BLOWER, which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties. 
    
    
     A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the reproduction of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Not Applicable 
     REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING OR COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING APPENDIX 
     Not Applicable 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present disclosure relates generally to a toy and more particularly a toy bubble blower machine. 
     Various types of bubble blower machines are known in the art. Conventional toy bubble blowers typically include, at a minimum, a source of bubble-forming liquid and some type of ring shaped dipper to pick up the bubble-forming liquid. Currently existing toy bubble blowers take all kinds of shapes and sizes. Some of these include bubble “blasters” or “shooters” that take the shape of a gun and typically rely on a battery powered or mechanically activated trigger-pull mechanism to form and shoot the bubbles. Others are push/pull bubble blowers that rely on the physical application of force to activate the creation of bubbles, such as “bubble lawn-mowers” that create bubbles when pushed by a child. Others take the shape of simple wands that can be manually dipped into a bubble solution and blown by the user to create bubbles. 
     However, each of these types of blowers come with their own variety of problems. For example, the use of simple wands results in the unnecessary and undesirable loss of bubble solution when excess bubble solution collected on the wand drips off the wand onto the ground or a user&#39;s body when the user is blowing air into the wand to form bubbles. Also, breath-actuated bubble devices such as wands can result in users getting tired or light headed from exhaling too much air in too short a time. Bubble guns require users to squeeze a trigger for bubble creation and blasting. Because children run around using such bubble guns to shoot at their friends, large amounts of bubble solution often leak from the gun and create a mess. Also, constant trigger activation is required of the user in order to produce a steady reliable stream of bubbles. 
     On the other hand, mechanically activated blowers are not ideal due to their inability to create a relatively continuous stream of bubbles. Mechanically activated bubble blowers, such as push/pull “lawnmower”-type blowers and wind-up blowers, typically require a large degree of effort to maintain a steady output of fully formed bubbles. This is because mechanically activated blowers must be physically moved with a sufficient degree of speed and force in order to effectively operate the blower&#39;s internal bubble making and blowing mechanisms. Failure to move the mechanically activated blowers with sufficient force will result in the blower&#39;s failure to produce bubbles. Requiring such levels of effort from younger users can often lead to the child becoming physically exhausted and losing their motivation to make bubbles. Furthermore, currently existing bubble blowers become messy when trying to add bubble solution, and can be difficult to use and expensive to manufacture. 
     What is needed then are improvements to toy bubble blower machines that address these and other problems. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY 
     This Brief Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. 
     One aspect of the disclosure is a bubble blower apparatus. In an embodiment, the bubble blower apparatus can comprise a main body, a base that is connected to the main body by a plurality of legs, a motor, a fan, a liquid fountain unit configured to hold a bubble solution, a gear shaft, and a plurality of bubble wands rigidly affixed to an upper portion of the gear shaft. In an exemplary embodiment, the fan can be operably coupled to the motor to blow an upward stream of air, the liquid fountain unit can be operably coupled to the motor to blow the bubble solution in a generally upward direction, and the gear shaft can be operably coupled to the motor to rotate about a rotational axis. In these embodiments, when the gear shaft is rotating about the rotational axis, each of the plurality of bubble wands are repetitively cycling between (1) passing over the liquid fountain unit so as to amass upwardly blown bubble solution, and (2) passing over the fan such that the amassed bubble solution contacts the upwardly blown air and forms a bubble. In this manner, a continuous stream of fully formed bubbles are created. 
     Another aspect of the disclosure is a method for blowing bubbles. Such a method may comprise providing a bubble blower apparatus, providing a bubble solution, activating the motor of the bubble blower apparatus, and continuously rotating the gear shaft about the rotational axis, such that each of the plurality of bubble wands repetitively cycle between (1) passing over the liquid fountain unit so as to amass upwardly blown bubble solution, and (2) passing over the fan such that the amassed bubble solution contacts the upwardly blown air and forms a bubble. 
     Numerous other objects, advantages and features of the present disclosure will be readily apparent to those of skill in the art upon a review of the following drawings and description of a preferred embodiment. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG.  1    is a perspective view of an embodiment of a bubble blowing machine. 
         FIG.  2    is a front view of an embodiment of a bubble blowing machine resting on a flat surface. 
         FIG.  3    is an exploded view of an embodiment of a bubble blowing machine. 
         FIG.  4    is a perspective view of an embodiment of a bubble blowing machine having a single liquid fountain bubbler. 
         FIG.  5    is a perspective view of an embodiment of a bubble blowing machine having a plurality of liquid fountain bubblers. 
         FIG.  6    is a top view of an embodiment of a bubble blowing machine having a single liquid fountain bubbler. 
         FIG.  7    is a top view of an embodiment of a bubble blowing machine having two liquid fountain bubblers. 
         FIG.  8    is an isometric view of an embodiment of a bubble wand member. 
         FIG.  9    is an isometric view of an embodiment of a liquid fountain unit. 
         FIG.  10    is an isometric view of another embodiment of a liquid fountain unit. 
         FIG.  11    is a perspective view of particular embodiments of a bubble wand member. 
         FIG.  12    is a perspective view of an embodiment of a bubble blowing machine blowing small discrete bubbles. 
         FIG.  13    is a perspective view of an embodiment of a bubble blowing machine blowing larger bubbles grouped together. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     While the making and using of various embodiments of the present invention are discussed in detail below, it should be appreciated that the present invention provides many applicable inventive concepts that are embodied in a wide variety of specific contexts. The specific embodiments discussed herein are merely illustrative of specific ways to make and use the invention and do not delimit the scope of the invention. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize numerous equivalents to the specific apparatus and methods described herein. Such equivalents are considered to be within the scope of this invention and are covered by the claims. 
     In the drawings, not all reference numbers are included in each drawing, for the sake of clarity. In addition, positional terms such as “upper,” “lower,” “side,” “top,” “bottom,” etc. refer to the apparatus when in the orientation shown in the drawing. A person of skill in the art will recognize that the apparatus can assume different orientations when in use. 
     Referring now to the drawings,  FIGS.  1  and  2    illustrate an embodiment of a bubble blowing apparatus  100  including a main body  10  having a bottom side  44  and a top side  46 . Main body  10  in some embodiments includes a plastic molded main body housing. In various embodiments, main body  10  is manufactured via rotational molding, injection molding, 3D printing, or any other suitable methods of manufacture. The bottom side  44  of the main body  10  may be connected to a base  12  by a plurality of legs  14 . Base  12  enables bubble blowing apparatus  100  to sit upright on a flat resting surface such as a table or the ground, as is depicted in  FIG.  2   . Furthermore, main body  10  of apparatus  100  houses a plurality of bubble wand members  26 . The bubble wands  26  are at least partially responsible for the creation of bubbles. 
     Referring now to  FIG.  3   , in an exemplary embodiment, the bubble blower apparatus  100  further includes a motor  16 , a fan  18 , a liquid fountain unit  20  and a gear shaft  22 , each of which are housed inside of the main body  10 . The motor  16  may be a battery powered electrical motor or any other suitable motor. Fan  18  is the bottom-most internal component of bubble blower apparatus  100 , generally located at the main body bottom side  44 . Fan  18  is operably coupled to the motor  16  to rotate about a rotational axis  24  and produce an upward stream of air  40  that exits from the main body top side  46 . The gear shaft  22  is internally located in a central portion of apparatus  100  and runs throughout main body  10  from the main body bottom side  44  to the main body top side  46 . Gear shaft  22  is operably coupled to motor  16  to rotate about a rotational axis  24 . In this exemplary embodiment, the plurality of bubble wands  26  are rigidly affixed to a top portion of the gear shaft  22  and comprise the top-most located internal component of bubble blower apparatus  100 , generally found closest to the main body top side  46 . Because of their rigid affixation to gear shaft  22 , bubble wands  26  are also configured to rotate about rotational axis  24 . Liquid fountain unit  20  is located directly beneath the plurality of bubble wands  26 , and operably coupled to motor  16  to blow a bubble solution in a generally upward direction  42 . 
     As shown in  FIG.  8   , each of the plurality of bubble wands  26  comprise an extension member  28  and a hoop member  30 . In some embodiments, hoop member  30  may be shaped as a circle, oval, or as any other shape that is conducive to the accumulation and retention of a bubble solution. Further, hoop member  30  may include a plurality of ridges shaped thereon, to further aid in bubble solution accumulation and retention. As can be seen in  FIGS.  1  and  3 - 8   , hoop member  30  is located at a distal end of the extension member  28 , while the proximal end of extension member  28  is that which is rigidly affixed to the gear shaft  22 . Because of its rigid affixation to gear shaft  22 , the extension member  28  and the hoop member  30  of bubble wand  26  remain at a constant height at all times, never raising or lowering while in rotation about the rotational axis  24 . Further, extension member  28  is connected to gear shaft  22  at an angle that is perpendicular to the rotational axis  24  in some embodiments. In some other embodiments, each of the plurality of bubble wands  26  may be integrally formed as a single “bubble wand unit” or disc  26  that comprises a plurality of extension members  28  and hoop members  30 . 
     As shown in detail view of  FIG.  9    and in the embodiments contained in  FIGS.  3 ,  4 , and  6   , liquid fountain unit  20  may comprise a liquid basin  48 , a liquid bubbler  50 , and an open air section  52 . Liquid basin  48  is configured to hold a bubble solution, while liquid bubbler  50  is configured to blow the bubble solution in a generally upward direction  42 . Open air section  52  is the portion of the liquid fountain unit  20  that is configured to allow the upwardly blown stream of air  40  produced by fan  18  to pass through and out of the main body top side  46 . In some other embodiments, like those illustrated in  FIGS.  5 ,  7 , and  10   , liquid fountain unit  20  may comprise a plurality of liquid basins  48 , a plurality of liquid bubblers  50 , and a plurality of open air sections  52 . In such embodiments, each of the plurality of liquid basins  48  are configured to hold a bubble solution at separate locations along the liquid fountain unit  20 , while each of the plurality of liquid bubblers  50  are configured to blow the bubble solution in a generally upward direction  42  at multiple locations along liquid fountain unit  20 . Each of the plurality of open air sections  52  are also configured to allow the upwardly blown stream of air  40  from fan  18  to pass through multiple locations along liquid fountain unit  20 . In some embodiments, each of the plurality of liquid basins  48  are differently sized. 
     Now, the exemplary operation of bubble blower apparatus  100  will be described in detail. The production and dispersion of fully formed bubble by and from bubble blower apparatus  100  begins by the activation of motor  16 . Once motor  16  has been activated, fan  18  begins its rotation about rotational axis  24  and production of upwardly blown air  40 , liquid fountain unit  20  begins dispersion of upwardly blown bubble solution  42 , and gear shaft  22  begins its rotation about rotational axis  24 . As the gear shaft  22  continuously rotates about axis  24 , so too do bubble wands  26  rigidly affixed thereon. As bubble wands  26  continuously rotate about the rotational axis  24 , the bubble wand hoop members  30  repetitively cycle between: (1) passing over the liquid bubbler(s)  50  of the liquid fountain unit  20  and amassing upwardly blown bubble solution  42 , and (2) passing over the open air section(s)  52  of the liquid fountain unit  20 , such that the upwardly blown air  40  from fan  18  directly contacts the upwardly blown bubble solution  42  amassed on hoop member  30  and forms a bubble that exits from the main body top side  46 . In this manner, a continuous stream of bubbles is produced by the bubble blowing apparatus  100  when the motor  16  is activated. Further, excessive bubble solution collected on the hoop members  30  can drip off of the bubble wand  26  and into the liquid basin  48  of the liquid fountain unit  20  to be recirculated by the liquid bubbler  50 , rather than falling on the ground and going to waste. In some embodiments, the bubble wands  26  spend a greater percentage of time in contact with the upwardly blown air  40  from fan  18  than in contact with the upwardly blown liquid  42  from the liquid bubbler(s)  50  of liquid fountain unit  20 . 
     As can be seen in  FIG.  11   , there are many different possible embodiments of the bubble wand member  26 , each capable of producing different size or types of bubbles. In some embodiments, bubble wands  26  are interchangeable, allowing the consumer to change the bubble wand depending on the size and type of bubble they want the bubble blower machine  100  to produce. For example, in an embodiment like the one depicted in  FIG.  12   , operating bubble blower apparatus  100  with one type of bubble wand  26  yields the production of smaller discrete bubbles  54 . In other embodiments, bubble blower apparatus  100  may be fit with a different type of bubble wand  26  that produces larger discrete bubbles  54 . Still in some other embodiments like that depicted in  FIG.  13   , the usage of a different bubble wand  26  inside the bubble blower apparatus  100  may yield larger bubbles clusters  54  that become grouped together. 
     Thus, although there have been described particular embodiments of the present invention of a new and useful VERTICAL BUBBLE BLOWER, it is not intended that such references be construed as limitations upon the scope of this invention.