System and method for filling containers with fluids
AssigneeTinnus Enterprises, LLC
InventorJoshua Malone
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An example embodiment of an apparatus includes a housing with an opening at a first end and a plurality of holes at a second end, a plurality of hollow tubes attached to the plurality of holes, a plurality of containers removably attached to the hollow tubes, and a plurality of elastic fasteners, each elastic fastener clamping each container to a corresponding hollow tube, such that when the containers are filled with fluid and detached from the corresponding hollow tubes, each elastic fastener seals each container with the fluid inside.
Claims21
An apparatus for filling a plurality of balloons with a fluid, the apparatus comprising:
- a fitting configured to couple to a fluid supply;
- and
- a plurality of branch assemblies extending from the fitting, each branch assembly comprising:
- a tube coupled to the fitting at a first end of the tube;
- a balloon removably coupled to a second end of the tube, the balloon having a neck portion defining an air gap that separates an inner surface of the neck portion from an outer surface of the tube, the inner surface of the neck portion extending around an inner circumference of the balloon, and the outer surface of the tube extended around an outer circumference of the tube;
- and
- a valve configured to automatically seal the opening of the balloon if the balloon is decoupled from the tube;
- wherein the apparatus is sufficiently compact to be operated while being held by hand.
An apparatus comprising:
- a fitting comprising an inlet configured to connect to a fluid source and a bulkhead joining at least three branch assemblies, each branch assembly comprising:
- a tube having a first end coupled to the bulkhead;
- and
- an automatically-sealing balloon with a neck disposed around and removably attached to a second end of the tube, such that the balloon, if sufficiently filled with water, is detachable by gravity or by gravity combined with a manually applied acceleration of the tube.
An apparatus comprising:
- at least three branch assemblies each comprising an automatically-sealing balloon with a neck disposed around and removably attached to a first end of a tube;
- and
- a fitting comprising an inlet configured to connect to a fluid source and a bulkhead joining the at least three branch assemblies at respective second ends of their respective tubes;
- wherein the apparatus is sufficiently compact to be operated while being held by hand, and is configured to enable a single operator to simultaneously introduce fluid into each balloon of the at least three branch assemblies and to simultaneously detach each balloon of the at least three branch assemblies.
An apparatus comprising:
- at least three branch assemblies each comprising an automatically-sealing water balloon with a neck disposed around and removably attached to a first end of a tube;
- a fitting comprising an inlet configured to connect to a fluid source and a bulkhead joining the at least three branch assemblies at respective second ends of their respective tubes, the fitting and the at least three branch assemblies at least partially defining fluid paths extending from a common point within the fitting to the inside of each balloon of the at least three branch assemblies, the fluid paths having no valve capable of stopping fluid at least while the balloons of the at least three branch assemblies remain attached to their respective tubes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.