BALLOON SCULPTURING DEVICE
A balloon sculpturing device includes a weight unit and a plurality of sculpturing rings. The weight unit includes a weight member and a long cord member having a first end connected to the weight member. Each of the sculpturing rings includes a cylindrical body, which has a first and a second open end and is formed with a plurality of longitudinally extended and circumferentially spaced slots. At each of the slots, a balloon can be mounted and held to the sculpturing ring. A second end of the cord member is sequentially extended through the sculpturing rings having balloons mounted thereon, so that all the balloons are combined into a decorative arrangement.
The present invention relates to a balloon sculpturing device, and more particularly to a balloon sculpturing device that enables quick combination of a plurality of balloons into a required decorative arrangement.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONToday, balloons are no longer simply ornaments or children's toys. In the past, balloons were used individually in a monotonous manner. Now, a large number of balloons are used together to create different balloon sculptures. Balloon sculptures can be generally divided into two types. The first type balloon sculptures are respectively formed by changing the shape of the balloon, and are often seen in night markets or carnivals. More specifically, after being inflated, the balloons are individually curved, twisted or bent to form the shapes of cute animals or other attractive configurations. The second type balloon sculptures are respectively formed by mounting a plurality of balloons on a stand to form a specific design having desired dimensions, such as balloon arches used in wedding parties.
In practical forming of a balloon sculpture of the second type, complicated procedures are involved. As shown in
There are some inherent problems when mounting the balloons 10 to the stand 12. First, the post 14 of the stand 12 has a thickness, which might vary from post to post. Therefore, the thickness of the post 14 must be taken into consideration in the course of knotting the balloons 10 and then connecting them in pairs, and a sufficient length of each balloon 10 near the inflation aperture must be reserved for the typing operation, so that the balloons 10 can be successfully mounted on the post 14. Since the balloons 10 are knotted manually, the lengths of the balloons reserved for the tying operation might not be equal among the balloons 10. A balloon 10 will be unable to fix to the post 14 in the event the reserved length thereof is too short, or will become protruded from others or located at an undesired position in the balloon sculpture in the event the reserved length is too long. All these problems increase the difficulty in forming the second type balloon sculpture.
Second, the stand 12 forms a necessary foundation in forming the balloon sculpture. Since differently sized stands 12 must be prepared for forming balloon sculptures suitable for different occasions, extra cost must be expended to design, develop, manufacture, transport and store stands 12 of different sizes, which results in largely increased cost.
As an example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,985 discloses a balloon sculpturing system that uses a support post as a foundation for supporting balloons, and a sculpturing ring for clamping and mounting one or more balloons thereto. The sculpturing ring can be held to the support post at a desired position.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONA primary object of the present invention is to provide a balloon sculpturing device that enables combination of a plurality of balloons into a required decorative arrangement without the need of using a stand.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a balloon sculpturing device that enables quick combination of a plurality of balloons into a desired decorative arrangement.
To achieve the above and other objects, the balloon sculpturing device according to the present invention includes a weight unit and a plurality of sculpturing rings. The weight unit includes a weight member and a long cord member having a first end and a second end. The cord member is connected at the first end to the weight member. Each of the sculpturing rings includes a cylindrical body, which has a first and a second open end and is formed with a plurality of longitudinally extended and circumferentially spaced slots. At each of the slots, a balloon can be mounted and held to the sculpturing ring. The second end of the cord member is sequentially extended through the sculpturing rings having balloons mounted thereon, so that all the balloons are combined into a decorative arrangement.
The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein
The present invention will now be described with a preferred embodiment thereof and with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Please refer to
The balloons 40 shown in
The sculpturing ring 30 has a cylindrical body 31 defining a longitudinal axial bore 32 therein. The cylindrical body 31 has a first open end 33 and an opposite second open end 34, and is formed with a plurality of longitudinally extended and circumferentially spaced slots 35. Each of the slots 35 is extended from the first open end 33 toward the second open end 34 by a predetermined distance, which is preferably about three-quarters of a full length of the cylindrical body 31, and includes a forward tapered slot section 36 and a balloon locating hole 37 communicable with a reduced front end of the tapered slot section 36. The balloon locating hole 37 has a diameter larger than a width at a joint of the tapered slot section 36 and the balloon locating hole 37.
In the illustrated preferred embodiment, there are four slots 35 formed on the cylindrical wall 31 of the sculpturing ring 30. In practical implementation of the present invention, each of the sculpturing rings 30 can be formed with more than four slots 35 for mounting more than four balloons 40 thereon.
To combine a large number of balloons 40 into a particular decorative arrangement, first mount four balloons 40 on each of the sculpturing rings 30. As shown in
The present invention has been described with a preferred embodiment thereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications in the described embodiment can be carried out without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.
Claims
1. A balloon sculpturing device for creating a decorative arrangement of a plurality of balloons, each of the balloons having an inflation aperture forming an end thereof, an imperforate inflatable sidewall forming another end thereof and a knotted section formed between the inflation aperture and the inflatable sidewall after the balloon is inflated, comprising:
- a weight unit including a weight member and a long cord member; the cord member having a first end and a second end, and being connected at the first end to the weight member; and
- a plurality of sculpturing ring, each of which includes a cylindrical body; the cylindrical body having a first open end and an opposite second open end, and being formed with a plurality of longitudinally extended and circumferentially spaced slots; each of the slots being extended from the first open end toward the second open end by a predetermined distance; and the knotted section of each balloon being sidewardly extended into the sculpturing ring via one of the slots to thereby mount and hold the balloon to the sculpturing ring;
- whereby when the second end of the cord member is sequentially extended through the sculpturing rings having the balloons mounted thereon, all the balloons are combined into a decorative arrangement.
2. The balloon sculpturing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the slots includes a forward tapered slot section and a balloon locating hole communicable with a reduced front end of the tapered slot section; and the knotted section of the balloon being extended through the slot via an expanded rear end of the forward tapered slot section before being further moved upward to locate behind the balloon locating hole.
3. The balloon sculpturing device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the balloon locating hole has a diameter larger than a width at a joint of the tapered slot section and the balloon locating hole.
4. The balloon sculpturing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second end of the cord member, after being extended through a last one of the sculpturing rings, is wound around and thereby fixed to the last sculpturing ring.
Type: Application
Filed: Dec 12, 2013
Publication Date: Jun 18, 2015
Inventor: Wen-Chih HSIAO (Yilan County)
Application Number: 14/104,615