Portable and compactible scale
OwnerMitchell H. Greenberginventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A portable and compactible scale includes a flexible, compactible bladder providing an interior chamber in which a non-compressible fluid (e.g., hydraulic liquid) is retained. The bladder includes a top wall adapted to support the load to be weighed and spaced-apart support members extend downward from the top wall and terminate short of the bottom wall under no-load conditions. A plurality of spaced-apart, flexible, substantially non-stretchable tendon means optionally can be provided within the chamber to bridge the opposed top and bottom walls of the bladder and thereby impede outward bulging of the top wall during a weighing operation without inhibiting compressive deflection of the bladder.
Claims8
A portable and compactible scale characterized by a flexible, compactible bladder providing an interior chamber, said bladder including a flexible top wall adapted to support a load to be weighed and a flexible bottom wall adapted to conform to a scale-supporting surface;
- a non-compressible fluid filling the closed chamber and spaced-apart compressible elongated support members extending along said top wall in a first direction and downwardly from the top wall each of said support members terminating short of the bottom wall under no-load conditions, said top wall being more rigid in areas including the support members than in other areas, said elongated members defining therebetween plural, spaced-apart, substantially parallel flexure regions extending in said first direction about which said scale can be bent to compact the scale.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.