Traditionally, conventional inflatable balloons have been linked together only in one dimension or in bundles with strings. Normally, a conventional balloon has only one spout, and is formed from thin walled resilient material such as rubber. The spout is used for inflating or deflating the balloon to a certain size. After inflating the balloon to the desired size, the spout is usually closed tight with a string to prevent gas from escaping the balloon.
For decorative purposes, a number of these balloons are tied together with strings to form a bundle of balloons for festive occasions. Each balloon spout is usually tied with a string. The strings are tied together at one or more knots. The balloons usually float freely about the knot point. Their movement is limited by the string length as well as the size and location of the adjacent balloons. The shape of the balloon bundle may be controlled by the length of the string attached to the balloon. However, since the balloons may float freely, it is difficult to fix their position with respect to a desired decorating pattern.
Further, once the balloons are tied down, the strings may become tangled, and untangling them becomes a difficult task. In addition, after the balloons are inflated and decoratively arranged, it is impractical to deflate them and leave the decorative arrangement intact. Thus, the balloons are usually inflated once and discarded after one use.
Inflatable toys formed of non-resilient material are also known. The toy consists of airtight fabric or flexible sheet material components that are connected to form the final toy. The interconnection between these inflatable components is usually done by glue or screw and nut. Further, the components may only be inflated to a predetermined size to obtain the proper shape of the toy, as determined by the size of the flexible but non-resilient inflatable components.
These toys are only limited to one configuration and may only be connected in one predetermined way. Further, these toys are not capable of forming a decorative structure of interconnected balloons.
Accordingly, the principal object of the present invention is to provide a decorative and versatile multi-dimensional network of thin walled, resilient and multiple spout balloons. The network shape may be modified readily by rearranging the balloons, or adding other balloons.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds