Patent Abstract:
A floating apparatus for aerating a fluid having a duck shaped body with a buoyant shell, water sealing removable underside battery tray with water sensing contacts, waterproof inner compartment containing: electronic power and control logic board, gas &amp; liquid pumping system, wherein the pumping system comprises of inlet ports, exhaust ports, inlet tubing, and exhaust tubing. An electrical control logic scheme is an on-off of a pump which is triggered by the status of water sensing contacts.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of Invention 
         [0002]    The invention relates to a self-contained bubble generating apparatus, and more specifically to battery powered aquatic toys using pumps to aerate a fluid to generate bubbles for use in water such as in a bathtub. 
         [0003]    2. Prior Art 
         [0004]    Toys, which resemble aquatic animals or aquatic vehicles and provide an electronically powered function, are well known. Such toys in the prior art tend to have their functionality limited to simple movement, spitting water, or making entertaining displays of lights and sounds. The toys in the prior art which include functionality for movement through the water do induce some surface effects on the water, but said effects are merely coincidental to the nature of disturbing water. 
         [0005]    It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a self-contained aquatic toy with an electrically powered gas expulsion that aerates the surface of a fluid with micro pockets of gas, for the purpose of dense bubble generation. 
         [0006]    It is further an object to provide a gas expulsion system that provides a gentle motive for propulsion as if the accumulation of bubbles is pushing away the body of the present invention. 
         [0007]    These objects are attained according to the present invention in a self-contained aquatic toy with an enclosed pump that aerates near the surface of a fluid to generate bubbles on a surface bearing a surfactant while simultaneously providing propelled motion, wherein said device maintains the shape of an aquatic animal or object for the purposes of entertainment. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    The present invention is a floating apparatus for aerating a fluid having a body with a buoyant shell, water sealing removable underside battery tray with water sensing contacts, waterproof inner compartment containing: electronic power and control logic board, gas &amp; liquid pumping system, wherein the pumping system comprises of inlet ports, exhaust ports, inlet tubing, and exhaust tubing. One example of a buoyant shell is a duck. An example of an electrical control logic scheme is an on-off cycle for the pump triggered by the status of the water sensing contacts. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]      FIG. 1  is a see-through view of complete assembly of invention. 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  is an isometric partially exploded view. 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  is an isometric view that is further exploded to show all components. 
           [0012]      FIG. 4  is an isometric view of the sub-assembly with components housed in  20 . 
           [0013]      FIG. 5  is an underside view of isolated housing  10 . 
           [0014]      FIG. 6  is a top, rear near-isometric view, showing the isolated housing  10 . 
           [0015]      FIG. 7  is a specific alternative embodiment of  10 . 
           [0016]      FIG. 8  is a specific alternative embodiment of  10 . 
           [0017]      FIG. 9 . is a cross section view of the completely assembled invention taken at exact center of body. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0018]    Turning now to the drawings in which like reference characters indicated corresponding elements throughout the several views. The main structure of this embodiment of invention, as shown in  FIG. 2 , is comprised of the modules:  10 , the top of the aesthetic design shell;  20 , the carrier component housing the crucial electronic components;  30 , the aesthetic design shell bottom with pump discharge outlet;  40 , the on/off button. 
         [0019]    Looking at  FIG. 2  the outer shell  10  and bottom shell  30  work, when water tightly fused, to form the aesthetic characteristics of a desired shape. Outer shell  10 , can be of a typical construction prevalent in many toy designs being generally made of a soft child safe plastic, one method of manufacture is rotational molding. In this case, the design of bottom shell  30  is such that in assembly the carrier component  20  and it&#39;s housed subcomponents, shown in  FIG. 3 ,  50 ,  60 ,  70 ,  75 ,  80 ,  90 , and  95  are immovably affixed to the bottom shell  30  before the entire sub assembly consisting of  20 , 30 , 50 ,  60 ,  70 ,  75 ,  80 ,  90 , and  95 , is immovably affixed to the outer shell  10  forming the final assembled form  100  as shown in  FIG. 1 ; The arrows  1  through  4 , shown in  FIGS. 2 and 4  , depict this assembly to be taken in the order of the arrow integer designations. This final assembled embodiment of invention leaves a water and air tight final assembly  100  with one point of ingress,  11  in  FIG. 6 , and one point of egress,  31  in  FIG. 9 . 
         [0020]    Operation of the invention is best illustrated by  FIG. 9 . Activation of power could be made via an on/off switch  40  actuated via pinching pressure applied to a convenient surface on the outer shell  10 , such as the beak of a duck  12 . Actuation of switch  40  turns on power to the fluid/gas pump  75 , generally of a water and gas capable style, that sucks air from inlet  11  through inner inlet piping  90  to the sealed pump  75  and then accelerates out this air first through inner exhaust piping  95  and then out through nozzle  31  to form bubbles behind the floating aesthetic outer shell  10  in a liquid that has agents capable of forming bubbles. The arrow  8  shows the flow of air into inlet  11  and the arrow  9  shows the flow of exhaust gases out the exhaust nozzle into the area of bubble formation. The flexible exhaust tube  95  is substantially secured and sealed to the exhaust nozzle  34  and  75  in a manner appropriate of a device where water tightness is critical. The flexible inlet tubing  90  is substantially secured and sealed to the inlet nozzle  11  and  75  in a manner appropriate of a device where water tightness is critical. 
         [0021]    Looking now at  FIG. 5  we see an isolated view of the outer shell  10 ; it is comprised of a thin walled material manufactured in a variety of methods suiting thin walled construction, rotational molding as an example. The design of the outer shell is subject to artistic freedom of a designer but with some restrictions on the feasibility of a shape from an engineering standpoint, mainly that it must be stable and float in a body of water. There generally exists two holes in the outer shell  10 ; the first being on the top portion  11 , best shown in  FIG. 6  to allow an inlet of generally low in water mixture of air for said pump  75 ; the second hole  13  on the bottom portion of the thin walled shell is large enough to allow the entrance of the component carrier  20  and is sealed closed by the bottom shell  30  in assembly. Design alterations to this generally flat bottom structure of the outer shell  10  when combined with the bottom portion of the shell  30  may be made to increase the total volume of water displaced to increase the buoyant force applied to the invention to give more desirable floating and stability effects. A possible design alteration is shown in  FIG. 7 : a boat like bottom hull  120 . The general purpose of these alterations of the invention are to increase the buoyant force on the body by increasing the amount of water displaced with added effect of increased water surface tension area and a lowering of the center of gravity and center of pressure on device into a more stable sub water line position. Likewise a design alteration  130  of outer shell  10  is seen in  FIG. 8  showing modification that increases the surface area resting on the top of water for an increase in both buoyant force and surface tension. 
         [0022]    Directing attention to  FIG. 3  we will now break down the factors of design on the bottom portion of the outer shell  30 . The bottom portion of outer shell  30  is a generally thin component matching in thickness and material as the outer shell  10 . Any standard plastic manufacturing process is suited for this component; Plastic Injection molding as an example. The generally flat shape of  30  can be adjusted in altered designs when needed for engineering requirements discussed earlier and the alterations to meet this design can be seen in  FIGS. 7 and 8 . An alternate embodiment of the invention comprises a change in the setup of said battery  70 , by making component  34  removably affixed to  10  by a sealed gasket with the addition of a battery tray, thus making a removable battery alternative. The components attached to the outer shell bottom  30  rely on its shape for their general base design and layout and shall be adjusted around the general shape of outer shell bottom  30 . These components of whom are children, in design to  30 , are generally: the component carrier  20  along with all intricacies, the recharger contact plate  50 , and the layout of components  60 ,  70 ,  75 ,  80 ,  90 , and  95 . The component  30  contains a number of raised standard bosses  32  that are used to immovably affix the component carrier  20  to the bottom outer shell  30 . Attention turning to  FIG. 9 , a depression  33  from the shape of outer shell bottom  30  of same general wall thickness is typically included to allow a nozzle like form for exhaust gas/fluids to exit away from the body. This depression generally has an inward facing raised boss  34  that connects in a standard male to female type to the outlet tubing  95  coming from the pump  75 . The end, or water facing surface of the depression  33  is capped with an outlet nozzle  31  with a number of arranged holes whose size, shape and quantity are allowed to vary to separate the exhaust flow into a certain number of varying size and flow rate bubble streams; the exact design of  31  is generally dependent on the components used in manufacture of this invention and the desired end result in produced bubble density. As shown in  FIG. 3 , Holes  34  are slotted into  30  to allow for the recharger contact points  51  to pass through the thin walls of the material and make contact with an external recharger. The recharger contact plate  50  consists of two metal contacts  51  in the shape of an external re-charger&#39;s terminal points with a thin intermediary body whose shape matches the contours of the bottom outer shell  30 . The recharger contact plate is immovably and substantially affixed to the inner portion of  30  with methods of adhesion appropriate in creating a waterproof seal. An alternative embodiment for sending a power signal to said pump  75  comprises a modification of said contacts  51  to be water sensing power cycle triggers. 
         [0023]    Turning attention primarily to  FIG. 4 , immovably fixed in assembly to the bottom Shell is the carrier component sub assembly  20 . This component is guided in assembly, arrow  2 , to the intended location and affixed via extrude pins  23  on the bottom shell and hollow extrusions  24  on the carrier component  20  located at corner points that insure non movement of the parts when fully assembled. The hollow extrusions  27  are shown in this depiction of invention as having ribs  28  added to better support stresses on the structure and crucially prevent warping from uneven cooling during a plastic injection process, a possible method of manufacture for said carrier component  20 . The inside surface of the hollowed extrusion  27  is substantially fixed to the extrusion  32  by means of either friction, a hook and latch system, chemical welding, molecular welding, plastic welding, or other appropriate forms of adhesion. The carrier component  20  is a thin walled plastic device that houses the crucial components of: Vacuum or mixed fluid and gas pump  75 , battery  70 , battery  70  terminal connector  80 , re-charger connector plate  50 , PCB board  60  that contains all the necessary electronic components for operation of the invention, inlet pipe  90 , and the outlet pipe  95 . Electronic connectors to all components are not represented in the three dimensional Figs. Carrier component  20  is split into two halves  21  and  22  for assembly purposes and to allow the component to be manufactured using methods that require drafting and/or split lining. The components within the carrier sub assembly are held in place by various ribs  29  added to the thin shelled walls of  21  and  22  in positions that substantially hold the previously mentioned components within the carrier assembly  20 . The halves  21  and  22  of  20  are substantially affixed together with the interface of the cylindrical extrusions  23  and the hollow extrusions  24 , whose inner diameter is matched to the outer diameter of feature  23 . 
         [0024]    The components housed within the carrier component, during the assembly process are generally placed into one side either  21  or  22  of the carrier component  20  and held in the various and appropriately positioned ribs  29  by gravity as long as the half being used for this assembly process is turned up at an appropriate angle, arrow  1  shows this process. The other half can then be attached, immovably securing the components in their holding enclosures created by the ribs  29 , arrow  2  shows this process. This assembly is then immovably affixed to the bottom outer shell  30 , as shown by arrow  3  in  FIG. 2 , before being brought into the insides of  10  along arrow  4  where the hole  13 , shown in  FIG. 5 , and the outer edge of  30 , shown in  FIG. 3 , are sealed by a reliable welding or adhesion method including: chemical welding, ultrasonic welding, plastic/simple thermal welding, or by effective means of adhesion. 
         [0025]    The above described total embodiment of invention has numerous uses not to be limited to but included: an aquatic toy that floats on a surface and generates bubbles around it. It is to be understood that the foregoing description and specific embodiments are merely illustrative of a specific mode of the invention and the principles thereof, and that various modifications and additions may be made to the apparatus by those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention, which is, therefore, understood to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 1