Abstract:
A device for launching a plurality of party streamers using an air inflated envelope which is manually compressed to expel the streamers which are randomly disposed in a pocket in the envelope, the streamers being spirally wound with a weighted inner end and an unrolled outer end.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION  
       [0001]     The invention relates generally to a device for providing multiple streamers of the type used at celebrations such as New Years Eve, birthday parties and wedding receptions, and specifically relates to hand held devices for expelling a plurality of plastic streamers simultaneously high into the air.  
         [0002]     The use of rolled paper streamers at celebrations such as New Year&#39;s Eve and weddings is old and well known. Each streamer is a rolled paper strip, the roll being a few inches in diameter. These streamers are typically hurled into the air while holding one end of the streamer so that it unrolls as it arcs away from the thrower. The unrolled streamer creates an exciting visual effect as it drops across those participating in the celebration. The proper throwing of the streamer to achieve complete unrolling requires a level of skill often not acquired until after many attempts. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide streamers that may be consistently deployed to the completely unrolled state at a well lofted trajectory by a unskilled an inexperienced person.  
         [0003]     Of interest with respect to the present invention are the U.S. patents to Cheng U.S. Pat. No. 5,338,442, U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,644 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,209,596 which are directed to devices for scattering confetti and the like. The Cheng patents show inflatable hand held envelopes which maybe squeezed by hand pressure to cause the forceful discharge of the confetti. In the case of confetti, the design or arrangement of the material to be discharge in of no great concern and presents no problem since the confetti is simply expelled into the air.  
         [0004]     In the Cheng patents, the inflatable envelopes are disclosed as taking various shapes including bottle shape and a truncated cone shape. The envelopes are disclosed as having a center portion at which to apply hand pressure to cause expelling of confetti from the envelope, the envelopes having end potions extending beyond the center hand gripped portion.  
         [0005]     It is also known in the art to use firecracker-like devices to throw a number of streamers from a hand held device. These devices have not found widespread commercial acceptance because of safety concerns and the poor distribution and incomplete unrolling of the streamers.  
       SUMMARY OF INVENTION  
       [0006]     The invention is directed to a device for discharging simultaneously a plurality of small streamers using a plastic envelope which is inflated by the blowing into an inflation tube and then squeezing with hand pressure the envelope to fracture a closure member allowing the enclosed air pressure to throw the streamers high into the air. For a device of this type to be considered an effective alternative to the individually thrown paper streamers, it is important that the device function to cause the streamers to fully deploy or unroll and that they are projected well away from the user and to a reasonable elevation on the order of eight to fifteen feet. In the present invention this objective is accomplished by controlling the length and width of the streamers and by having the ends of the streamers formed in a particular manner. This is accomplished by weighting the inner end of the rolled streamer with a very small weight and providing an unrolled portion at the outer end of the roll. The effectiveness of the air pressure in the envelope in discharging the streamers from the pocket in the envelope is enhanced by having the envelope small enough to be enclosed in the hand grip. This arrangement results in the squeezing action of the hand producing a maximum percent reduction in the pressurized volume in the envelope and results in more pressure to reverse the position of the enclosed pocket which improves the upward force expelling the streamers.  
         [0007]     The unrolling of the streamers in the desired manner is made possible through the use of a light weight plastic material that is loosely rolled and on the order of 40 inches in length. Shorter lengths tend to tangle together and longer lengths will not completely unroll or deploy. A streamer width of {fraction (3/16)}″ provides the desired visual effect while deploying satisfactorily and being compact enough to maximize the number of streamers that may be contained in the envelope pocket.  
         [0008]     An aspect of the invention facilitating the manufacture of the subject streamer device is the lack of any need to orient the individual streamers in any particular position or relative orientation within the containment envelope. The streamers are disposed in a completely random orientation within the envelope. This random orientation of the streamers results in improved separation as they are explosively expelled into the air from the envelope. This better separation and distribution eliminates any clumping together of the streamers and provides a desirable visual effect appearing as a large mass of streamers floating down from the level of eight to fifteen feet.  
         [0009]     In order to minimize the size of the inflatable envelope while providing a sufficient amount of pressurized air to forcefully expel the streamers to the desired height, it has been determined that the envelope need be no larger than that which may be conveniently gripped in the palm of the hand in its inflated condition. An envelope which is generally rectangular and about three by four inches in its flattened condition is easily enclosed in the hand in its inflated condition.  
         [0010]     Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved party streamer delivery device that will propel multiple streamers high into the air while causing the streamers to assume a completely unrolled condition as they float down.  
         [0011]     It is another object of the invention to provide an improved party streamer device having an envelope inflatable by the user and containing a reversible pocket receiving a plurality of randomly disposed rolled streamers which are propelled upwardly by air pressure when the envelope is manually squeezed to rupture a closure for the pocket.  
         [0012]     It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved device for expelling multiple streamers into the air by means of a inflatable envelope having a reversible pocket enclosing a plurality of small plastic rolled streamers each of which includes a weighted inner end at the axis of each roll and an unrolled outer end at the periphery of the roll causing the streamers to unroll completely as they are propelled in an arch shaped trajectory.  
         [0013]     The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate one embodiment of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       [0014]      FIG. 1  is plan view of the streamer containing envelope of the present invention;  
         [0015]      FIG. 2  is a sectional view taken on line  2 - 2  of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0016]      FIG. 3  is a side view of one of the streamers included in the device of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0017]      FIG. 4  is a side view of the inner end of the streamer of  FIG. 2  shown in an unrolled condition;  
         [0018]      FIG. 5  is a view of the envelop of  FIG. 1  shown in its position after having discharge the streamers there from; and  
         [0019]      FIG. 6  is a view of the streamers and the envelope after the streamers have been discharged into the air from the envelope. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0020]     The present invention involves an improvement over the above cited Cheng patents directed to hand held devices for discharging or expelling confetti from a pressurized envelope. There are many problems associated with confetti which have caused the public to essentially abandon the use of confetti at weddings and other celebrations. These problems involve safety, clean-up and the staining of floors and clothes by the colored pieces of confetti. While the use of streamers at such celebrations represents a suitable alternative, the conventional individual hand held paper streamer causes safety concerns when thrown and is generally inconvenient to handle because of the large size of each individual streamer.  
         [0021]     Accordingly there have been marketed some small hand held devices which expel a plurality of small streamers by the use firecracker-like devices. These devices have not been favorably received because of safety concerns and the fact that they fail to satisfactorily deploy the streamers. To accomplish the desired deployment of the streamers, they must be separated from one another and must be unrolled and thrown into the air to a sufficient height to create the attention getting effect desired.  
         [0022]     As illustrated in  FIG. 1  of the drawings, there is shown an air propelled party streamer device designated by reference numeral  11 . The device  11  includes an inflatable envelope  13  having a first portion which is inflatable to discharge streamers  15  one of which is shown in  FIG. 2 . Connected to and forming a part of the envelope  13  is a second portion  17  which serves as a containment vessel or pocket for the streamers  15 . The portion  17  forms a pocket which is reversible from the position shown in  FIG. 1  located entirely within the envelope  13  to the outwardly extending position shown in  FIG. 4 . In the enclosed position of the pocket or second portion, there are contained in the pocket a plurality of streamers  15 . While the number of streamers contained in the pocket may be varied considerably, it has been found that a number of on the order of  10  may conveniently be enclosed in the hand held device of  FIG. 1 .  
         [0023]     The pocket portion  17  has a mouth which is defined by the edges  13   a  of the envelope, these edges being uppermost as viewed in  FIG. 1 . In order to maintain the pocket portion  17  in its enclosed position as shown in  FIG. 1  and to retain the streamers within the pocket, the opposed edges  13   a  on the opposite sides of the pocket are secured together by a frangible tape  19  which extends across the mouth of the pocket. The tape  19  is formed of a light weight plastic strip on the order of 0.001 inches thick which is easily torn under the desired pressure level in the envelope  13 . When the air pressure within the envelope exceeds a predetermined level, the tape  19  separates lengthwise to allow the mouth of the pocket  17  to open and for the pocket itself to move from the enclosed to the outward extending position, resulting in the streamers being thrown into the air with considerable velocity.  
         [0024]     In order to inflate the envelope  13  and provide the pressure necessary to launch the streamers, the device  11  is provided with a fill valve  21  located in the lower right corner of the envelope  13  as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 4 . The fill valve  21  includes a small plastic tube which extends through the wall of the envelope  13  with an exterior portion  21   a  through which a user may blow air into the envelope and an interior portion  21   b  which is within the envelope and to which is attached a one way check valve  23 . The check valve  23  comprises flat spaced plastic walls  23   a  sealed together along their lengthwise extending edges forming a conduit sealed at its lower end as seen in  FIG. 4  to the portion of the tube  21   b  within the envelope  13  to allow air to pass into the envelope  13  but being pinched close to prevent air from passing outwardly.  
         [0025]     As is best shown in  FIG. 1 , the rolled streamers  15  are disposed in the pocket  17  with a completely random orientation. It has been discovered that this random orientation enhances the dispersion of the streamers  15  when they are expelled from the pocket  17  when it moves from the first position shown in  FIG. 1  to the second position shown in  FIG. 4 . This reversal of the position of pocket  17  is accomplished by first filling the envelope  13  with air delivered through the tube  21   a  of the valve  21  and then the rupturing of the strip  19  by applying hand pressure squeezing the envelope  13 .  
         [0026]     The envelope  13  has been made as small and compact as possible while still providing an envelope that contains an adequate quantity air at an air pressure developed by the user through valve  21  so that the streamers may be forcefully expelled from the pocket  17 . Maintaining the device  11  as small as possible is desirable to minimize the cost and to permit the users to carry a number of them in a pocket or purse. In addition the use of the grip sized envelope permits the user&#39;s squeezing of the envelope to produce a greater percentage reduction in the pressurized volume than one which extends well outside of the closed hand. The inflatable envelopes of the above cited Cheng patents are disclosed as having various shapes but are similar in having a central hand gripping portion with the envelopes extending outwardly from the gripping portion. In contrast, the envelope  13  of the present Invention is sufficiently compact so that it may be enclosed within the grip in the palm of the hand. The flat, uninflated size of the envelope  13  is on the order of 3 by 4 inches which may be easily gripped in the palm of the user to apply the pressure to fracture the strip  19 , reverse the pocket  17  and expel the streamers  15 .  
         [0027]     As the streamers are expelled from the pocket  17 , they are disposed as shown in  FIG. 2  having a spirally rolled portion  15   a  with an unrolled portion  15   b  which is on the order of 2 to 3 inches long. At the inner end of the rolled portion  15   a , the inner end is attached to a tubular axle member  15   c  which serves as a weight to aid in unrolling the streamer as it floats down from top of the trajectory to which it has been thrown. In order to obtain the most favorable effect from the streamers, it is important that they be thrown high enough to be visible above a crowd of spectators (usually 8 to 15 feet) and that they become completely unrolled as they drift down from the top of their trajectory. The unrolled portion  15   b  functions to unroll the streamer as it rises and the weighted end causes the streamer to extend to its full length as the weighted end drifts down before the remainder of the streamer which is lighter in weight. This effect is illustrated somewhat schematically in  FIG. 5  showing the weighted ends falling faster than most of the unrolled portions of the streamers.  
         [0028]     It has been determined that it is important to loosely roll the streamers  15  and to keep the unrolled length  15   b  to less than 3″. Any substantial lengthening of the unrolled portion  15   b  causes the streamers  15  to become entangled and to prevent proper deployment of all of the streamers.  
         [0029]     There are obvious limitations in the power available for the expelling of the streamers since the pressure generated in the envelope  15  by hand pressure squeezing the envelope is not great. In order to achieve the desired trajectory height for the streamers  15  as they are expelled from the pocket  17 , the size and weight of the streamers must be limited while still being large enough to achieve the desired visual effect. It has been found that balance of these aspects is achieved by using thin, color fast plastic material having a thickness of 0.002″ and a width of {fraction (3/16)} inches and a length on the order of 40 inches. The streamers  15  are typically colored appropriately for the type of celebration, party or holiday on which the devices are being used. For example, green colored streamers  15  can be used for Saint Patrick&#39;s Day, orange and black colored streamers  15  for Halloween and white, silver and gold colored streamers  15  for weddings.  
         [0030]     It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations may be made in the disclosed preferred embodiment without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. Thus it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of this invention, provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their legally permissible equivalents.