Numerous different types or styles of garden hoses are known in the art and commercially available.
For example, traditionally conventional hoses are polymeric and can be reinforced, have a substantially fixed longitudinal length, and have relatively low radial expansion upon internal application of fluid pressure. Due to their construction, some conventional hoses can be relatively heavy and cumbersome to use and store.
More recently, garden hoses longitudinally expandable along their length multiple times as compared to the length of the hose in an unpressurized or contracted state have been introduced. In some embodiments such hoses have a construction that includes a jacket that surrounds an expandable fluid conveying tube. Longitudinally and radially expandable hoses are popular for a variety of reasons including, but not limited to, lightweight construction and ease of storage when not in use.
Longitudinally expandable hoses are commercially available from a number of sources. The hoses are also described in various patents and publications, see for example: U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,948,527; 7,549,448; 8,371,143; 8,776,836; 8,291,942; 8,479,776; 8,757,213; as well as U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2014/0150889; and 2014/0130930.
A problem with some of the length expandable hoses is that they can kink, bulge, fail and/or exhibit leakage, at one or more points along their length, for example at a connection point to a coupler or fitting at the end of the hose, after a number of expansion and contraction cycles.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds