Pneumatic operated devices, such as vehicles, are known in the art. These vehicles require at the very least a chamber to hold a pressurized fluid and a pump of some kind to re-fill or charge the reservoir. The pumps are attached to an intake valve on the vehicle and then a reciprocating pump handle is used to charge the reservoir. Upon activated, virtually all of the pneumatic operated vehicles utilize substantially all of the air in the reservoir to move the vehicle. Moreover, most pneumatic operated vehicles are activated by pushing the vehicles across a surface. If the vehicle is unintentionally moved or pushed across a surface during filling the vehicle may prematurely launch. In these instances, the full potential of the vehicle's travel will not be realized and the user may become disinterested in playing with the vehicle. As such it is desirable to maintain or hold these vehicles stationary until the reservoir is filled and the user is ready to launch the device.
While some prior patents have attempted to solve this problem for flying vehicles, the prior art has not addressed the issue as it relates to wheeled vehicles. U.S. Pat. No. 6,079,954 is directed to an air pumping station for pneumatic planes that suspends the plane in the air to protect the structure of the plane and prevent the propellers from unintentionally rotating. U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,153 is directed to a pressurized rocket launcher that holds the rocket vertically until the user desires to launch the rocket.
A need, therefore, exists to improve upon the prior art to provide a pneumatic pump that prevent the pneumatic operated vehicle from prematurely launching and/or expelling the pressurized air held inside.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds