FR2783176A1 - Harness for sports balloon has ring surrounding lower part of tube with depending tubes attached to suspension strap - Google Patents

Abstract

The fastening for a balloon harness has a load ring (4) enclosing a lower part of the balloon (1) to which is attached by guy wires (3). The ring has two depending rigid tubes (5) attached to it with reinforcing tubes. A suspension strap (7) is connected to the tubes by pulleys (9).

Description

The invention relates to a device for securing a balloon

  to a support and more particularly a device which allows the ball to remain in a substantially stable vertical position relative to the support. The device is designed in such a way that the distance separating the ball from the support remains constantly substantially equal, in particular when the ball is in an outdoor environment in the presence of wind or when the active support is caused to move or

untimely movements.

  The term "support" preferably designates a movable operating member such as a man. However, in an alternative embodiment the term "support" can relate to any inert object or surface, mobile or immobile such as a vehicle or the ground, or a piece placed

on the ground.

  The term "balloon" designates a balloon of spherical or other form, consisting of an airtight envelope which can contain according to the desired use a gas less dense than air (helium for example) and which can include an internal lighting . The envelope of the balloon does not have any direct opening with the outside for two main reasons: to keep a sufficient pressure inside the balloon to keep the envelope tight, - to limit the mixture of the gas contained by the envelope if this gas is less dense than air with gases

denser contained in the air.

  The balloon, therefore, has a inflation and shutter valve hermetically installed on the

envelope surface.

  We know in particular from FR 2423395 a sport and play device which implements a helium balloon to which is hung a suspension strap and a safety cord connecting the balloon to a mooring point. A user attached to the strap and supported by the ball can jump. The lifting force of the balloon is adjusted to a value lower than that of the weight of the user, weight applied to the strap (s)

suspension.

  A fraction of this weight is compensated and it becomes possible for the user to carry out certain movements as he would do if the effect of gravity were reduced. The ball has an average diameter of 6 meters and a volume of 100 to 160 cubic meters

helium.

  Such a device can find its use in the fields of leisure, sport, advertising games or more occasionally can be reserved for purely fun, educational, educational, re-educational functions,

  or combining several of these uses.

  With this device the helium balloon is trapped and retained by a net covering a little more

  the upper half of the surface of the balloon envelope.

  The lower part of the net is directly and directly connected to the flexible suspension straps which hold the pilot. This device for fixing the balloon to the support is characterized by the use of essentially extensible and highly flexible materials connecting

the user / balloon couple.

  It is easily understood that in the case of a fastening device of this type, at the moment of the pilot's impulse, when used in the presence of even light wind, the pilot cannot be situated vertically on his balloon , that is to say on the vertical axis thereof. It has no means of voluntary maneuver to place itself on this axis. The balloon is permanently offset from the support, that is to say its point of attachment. In this configuration, this prejudices the optimal use of the performances of such an apparatus, since the balloon is fixed but is not integral with its operating member,

  its movements being independent of those of the support.

  With this known device, the apparatus is connected by several cords and at separate points in order to limit the inadvertent movements of the balloon caused by lateral winds and in particular to maintain the balloon in a centered and substantially stable position vertically from the user. But if these cords are stretched to avoid the drift of the balloon, they will also avoid

  way the elevation of the latter.

  From three cords, it is possible to determine with precision the apex of the trajectory of the bond, which is defined by the point of the pyramid determined by the three cords and whose base corresponds

  to the triangle fixed by the three mooring points.

  The use of several cords connecting the ball to the ground limits the movement of the user and hinders the practical use of the device. If the cords are long enough to allow the entire aircraft to take off, on the other hand they have the drawback of allowing uncontrolled movements of the balloon, thus positioning it in perpetual offset with its support,

  because of the wind or displacements of said support.

  Connect the balloon with several cords to stabilize it relative to the support, before the jump or at the top of the jump and in all other circumstances, do not

  therefore not an appropriate solution.

  We note on the one hand that in this case of precise configuration, these cords connecting the balloon to the ground as numerous as they are, require a few meters of slack when the pilot and the aircraft are on the ground so that the latter have room to jump. We obviously see that if the cords are soft, inevitably the balloon is offset. On the other hand, these cords interfere with the practical use of this device by limiting sport or play to vertical leaps (assuming that the cords have enough slack and therefore devoid of any usefulness) and with very limited possibilities for the user to move and evolve

  forward, backward or sideways.

  The balloon is connected to its user via the net and then suspension straps, materials which have the characteristic of being extremely flexible and extensible. It is easy to understand that with such a device for attaching a balloon to a support, the balloon cannot feel the pilot's impulse, the latter being unable to transmit its impulse to the balloon during the execution of a jump. Given that the speed of a balloon containing a gas less dense than air, at the start of flight, is slower than the speed of a man making a jump, we understand that for an apparatus of this kind, devoid of any device for securing a balloon to a support, the aerostatic balloon has reduced utility and assistance. Indeed, by imagining the pilot to jump so that his jump is assisted by the upward force of the balloon, it is easy to imagine that the net made of an advantageously flexible and highly flexible material, serving to contain the balloon in its upper part and connecting the pilot in his lower part, relaxes for a fraction of a second under the effect of the pilot's impulse. The latter necessarily approaches the envelope of the balloon, the speed of the user's body at the time of the pulse being greater than the natural progressive upward speed which characterizes the flight of an aerostatic body. We can even imagine that if the pilot was too close to the balloon, his head would hit the surface of the envelope during the impulse! The invention aims to avoid these drawbacks by proposing a device making it possible to secure a balloon to a support and to allow the balloon to remain in a stable position, and at a constantly substantially equal distance from said support. More specifically, in a preferred embodiment, the device is adapted to be supported by a movable operating member of human nature. The device allows its user in particular to control the position of the balloon from his cockpit so that he can be on the vertical axis of the latter at any time. A single cord is necessary to connect the device to the ground and its use is characterized by a safety role in order to prevent the flight of the balloon and its pilot if the entire device had to endure too much wind violent or if a problem should arise during the handling of the pilot's strapping or during the ballasting procedure of the craft. One of the advantages of the device according to the invention is to provide the user of the device with great freedom of movement and movements. Another object of the invention is to allow the user to transmit his impulses to the ball. More concretely, it is for the pilot to direct and push the ball upwards. In this way the pilot parks very substantially at equal distance from the balloon before the jump, during the pulse and at the end of the jump. This device considerably optimizes the upward effect of the balloon, that is to say its ability to assist the jump of the user. We can deduce that the device according to the invention allows a lesser volume of helium to

  equal effect with a balloon not having said device.

  The use of ballast remains however necessary.

  Another object of the invention is also to considerably reduce the deformations of the envelope of the balloon caused by the movements of said support and in particular the

impulses from a user.

  The main object of the invention is therefore a device for securing a balloon to a support, the balloon consisting of a closed hermetic envelope and the support being a movable operating member such as a man or a vehicle or being a stationary body resting on the ground which consists of a load circle covering the lower part of the envelope of the balloon to which it is attached, and of a rigid structure having a determined dimension connected at at least one point at the level of the termination above the load circle and of which at least

  a lower termination is connected to the support.

  According to particular features of the invention, nets covering the envelope of the balloon are fixed to the load circle to maintain it without floating or pivoting against it, the load circle is

  located at the level of the first lower tenth of the balloon.

  According to another main characteristic of the invention, the rigid structure is formed of two tubes branching into several secondary tubes at their end

  higher or at their lower end.

  More specifically, the tubes arranged laterally to the support constituted by a suspension strap, have a

  shape that goes around the user's shoulders.

  Other special features and

  advantages of the invention will emerge from the description

  following of several preferred embodiments, taken by way of nonlimiting examples, and in which reference is made to the appended drawings which represent: - Figure 1 a simplified schematic representation of a known device whose balloon is connected to its user but devoid of securing device - Figure 2 a schematic representation of the device whose balloon is attached to its user and provided with the securing device according to the invention Figure 3 a side view of the device of Figure 2 - Figures 4a and 4b schematic representations of alternative embodiments - Figures 5 and 6 of other alternative embodiments of a device for securing a balloon to a support such

than the ground.

  FIG. 1 illustrates a device for suspending a person from a balloon known for example by the patent

  previous mentioned previously.

  The device comprises a balloon 1 consisting of a hermetic envelope 2, said balloon being trapped in its upper part in a net 3 and a support for example a person (not shown) is attached to the balloon 1 by means of suspension straps 7 and net 3. In practice, balloon 1 contains helium, a gas lighter than air. This gas develops a lifting force, also called lift, which has the effect of keeping the balloon in the air so that it always tends to rise. However, whatever the type of use of such a device - leisure, sport or advertising for example - and whatever the type of support - a man, a vehicle or the ground for example - the balloon 1 suffered, in a certain propensity, the vagaries of the wind or the displacements and different movements of a mobile support, which cannot therefore remain vertical to said support along the axis 10. The position 1 ′ shown in dotted lines, practically constantly off-axis from the balloon causes an inclination 10 'of the axis 10 and does not allow

  than reduced use of device capabilities.

  When the support is a man and the latter wishes to make jumps with such a device, considering that the ball is located vertically from its fixing base, the user held by the suspension strap 7 and connected to the ball via the net 3 cannot transmit its impulses to the balloon 1 given the extraordinary suppleness and flexibility of the two

above items 3 and 7.

  A balloon is light, it can float in the air if it contains a gas such as helium, and in all cases it is exposed to the wind in an outdoor environment. Currently, the device shown in Figure 1 is not designed to allow a balloon to remain in a stable position, and at an equal distance from the support, whatever the

Terms of use.

  We see in Figures 2 and 3 the device according to the invention, for securing a balloon to a support, in this case a man, according to a preferred mode of

production.

  The device comprises a balloon 1 consisting of a completely hermetic envelope 2 and devoid of openings. The balloon 1 is fixed and secured to a load circle 4, without floating or possibility of pivoting, by means of a suitable fixing means and more particularly to at least one thread 3, which can be divided into two parts. The piece of net covering all or part of the

  upper surface of the balloon envelope and located above

  above the load circle 4 is called the upper thread 3a.

  The piece of net covering all or part of the lower surface of the balloon envelope and located under the load circle is called lower net 3b. Preferably, the threads 3a and 3b must cover two thirds of the total surface of the envelope of the balloon 1 to ensure sufficient maintenance of the latter. The threads 3a and 3b are fixed to the load circle 4 so as to leave no floating or any possibility of pivoting between the balloon 1 and the circle 4. In this configuration of a device designed and adapted for use by a man moving and performing jumps, each of the pieces of net 3a and 3b has its role; the upper thread 3a holds the balloon 1 so as to prevent it from flying off and positions it permanently in contact with all the points inscribed on a line on the inside circumference of the load circle 4. The lower thread 3b serves " of seat "to balloon 1 in order to distribute all of the forces caused by the impulses of the pilot 13 over a larger surface of the envelope 2. For a balloon of this size devoid of" seat ", the impulse of the user would deform the envelope of the balloon at the level of contact with the circle of

charge.

  On a horizontal plane, the load circle 4 which covers the lower part of the balloon 1 is located in the zone defined between the middle and the lower end of the balloon 1, preferably at the level of the first lower tenth. It is thus located to minimize the weight of the device and seems to present the best efficiency / weight ratio at this level. In the example of a balloon of spherical shape, the load circle has substantially the same shape, continuous or discontinuous, as the perimeter of the

  section of the balloon at which it is located,

  ie in the form of a circle. This has a substantially circular section for better resistance and not to alter the surface of the envelope

of the ball.

  It is made of a highly resistant material, not extensible, preferably rigid in order to avoid deformations, friction or ruptures which can occur when the support is a man engaging in the continuous exercise of execution of jumps. This circle can also be made of a flexible material nevertheless still resistant, of the cable or cord type protected by a sheath when the balloon is not of very large size or in order to minimize the weight of the entire device. An aluminum tubular frame seems best suited because it has the advantage of being hollow, solid, resistant and light. A composite material

  can also meet the requirements of the device.

  The fastening device according to the invention resides in the adaptation of a structure 5 of dimension D which is tubular, solid, resistant and completely

  rigid, between balloon 1 and support 7.

  The pilot is secured to the load circle 4 and therefore to the balloon 1 via two rigid and non-flexible tubular type links called tubes 5 and the suspension strap 7. Each tube 5 can branch into one or more others secondary tubes in particular at its upper end 5a or at its termination

lower 5b.

  The contact points 5a and 5b benefit from

  any type of fixing reinforcement at their respective levels.

  Thus in the upper part the points 5a for fixing with the load circle 4, and in the lower part the points 5b for the good support of the user or for a solid connection and

  resistant with any support.

  These tubes 5 can take various forms but are presented in a preferred embodiment so as not to hinder the user in his movements or during his rotations on a horizontal axis 11 by means of ball joints 9 to which the strap 7 is connected, fixed at the tubular terminations 5b. The side tubes 5 being fixed to the load circle 4 located above the user, it is mainly a question of giving them a shape which circumvents the shoulders of the latter from the rear, as can be seen

more specifically in Figure 3.

  The two ball joints 9 to which the suspension strap 7 is fixed have the sole role of providing the user of the device with greater freedom of movement by rotation on the axis 11 materialized by the two lower ends 5b of the tubes 5 s. extending on both sides of the user and more precisely at the level of

ball joints 9.

  The tubes 5, located laterally to the pilot, are provided with handles 6 preferably placed at or just above the level of the shoulders. These handles play an important role since located in this way, they allow the pilot to control the position of the ball and therefore to direct it, to contain it and to keep it located vertically during the preparation of a leap, a relocation

  or to counter a slight gust of wind.

  In addition, additional and removable straps 7 ′ are installed on these lateral tubes 5 at the level of the pilot's chest and connected by fasteners 8 to the top of the strap 7. They have the function of supporting the user even more if the user he does not wish to take advantage of the sensations that a rotation forward or back can give him, thanks to the ball joints 9 fixed

  the lower end 5b of the side tubes 5.

  The lower end 5b of each tube 5 goes into contact with the support, and since it is a man 13 shown in dotted lines in the figures, a suitable suspension strap 7 is necessary. This strap has an adjustment system to adapt it to the precise measurements of the pilot so that in all circumstances there can be no floating between the pilot and the latter and

  the lower end 5b of the tubular structure 5.

  In the embodiment presented, the two tubes 5 located laterally to the pilot branch so as to come into contact with the load circle 4 at four distinct points represented in FIG. 2 by the upper tubular terminations 5a. On a vertical plane, relative to the vertical axis 10 of the balloon 1, the contact points are positioned symmetrically on the

  load circle 4 - i.e. diametrically opposite -

  in order to balance the whole device.

  These tubes 5 which constitute the rigid structure have a substantially circular section, and are made of a material which is advantageously and strictly rigid, resistant, non-extensible and hardly flexible or inflexible. They can be of a complexion equivalent to that of the load circle 4, at least of the same material, if not more solid and rigid. In a preferred embodiment the two tubes 5 are diametrically opposed on the load circle 4 and go downwards so as to be located laterally to the pilot 13 up to the level of the hips at the lowest. The function of these strictly rigid tubes 5 is to connect the pilot 13 to the load circle 4 via the suspension strap 7. In addition to the particularities and requirements of the material, each tube 5 corresponds to a divisible entity; this means that a single tube has one or more points of contact with the load circle 4 at its upper end 5a and the same is true at the level of the lower end 5b in contact

  with the pilot's suspension strap 7 13.

  Still with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, it can be seen that the balloon 1 is no longer free and that it can only remain in a stable and controlled position, centered on the vertical axis 10 of the entire device and of the 'user. The ascending force of the balloon 1 is adjusted by ballasting the device when the pilot's weight is less than the balloon's lift 1. Ballast weights 12 can be adapted around each unit making up the rigid tubular structure 5 by weights of shape adapted to the tubes 5, conforming in length to the shape of the substantially circular tube 5, and fastened all along by velcro or snaps in order to accommodate the installation. Figures 4a and 4b illustrate alternative embodiments in which the same elements have the same references as in Figures 2 and 3. These variants apply to a balloon of smaller diameter which does not require a net. The means for fixing the load circle 4 is of any kind. In this configuration, the load circle can be reduced to its simplest expression and formed for example by a plasticized cable or cord. It is also possible to envisage a portion of a circle not completely surrounding the balloon as shown in FIG. 4a. The handles normally located at the level of the user's shoulders, as well as the ball joints are no longer essential. On the other hand, the strap 7 'can be reinforced in several levels between the side tubes 5 and

the bearer 13.

  Considering that the support is a man, this device represents the best compromise between the advertising balloon and the "sandwich man". The portable type advertising device on a man's back has the advantage of being aerodynamic, of presenting advertising signage visible from any side and of providing shade to its user during use on a beach.

for example.

  Figures 5 and 6 show two other alternative embodiments. In these two cases, the support considered is the ground 14. The tubular structure 5 is essentially a vertical mast, the upper branches 5a of which are connected at at least two points to the load circle 4. In the case of FIG. 5, the branches lower 5b are connected to a base 15 of circular shape, possibly anchored to the ground. In the case of FIG. 6, the structure 5 in the form of a mast is planted in a base 16, placed on the ground. In both cases it is

also of a rigid structure.

  These two variants are preferably used for balloons serving as an advertising or decorative support with or without an internal light source. This presentation is advantageously valid for balloons not exceeding a diameter of the order of three meters. The rigid structure allows stable and controlled use of the balloon especially in the presence of wind or

  when the assembly is mounted on a vehicle.

  In all the variants described above, the movements of the ball are fully controlled,

  determined and controlled by the support in the event that

  this is mobile or executing impulses in order to achieve leaps. Similarly, with the device, the ball remains in a very substantially stable vertical position and permanently at a very substantially equal distance from the support, whether the latter is mobile or stationary even in the presence of wind or despite the

  untimely movements of any active medium.

Claims (11)

  1.- Device for securing a balloon to a support, the balloon consisting of a closed hermetic envelope and the support being a movable operating member such as a man or a vehicle or being an immobile member resting on the ground characterized in that the device consists of a load circle (4) covering the lower part of the envelope (2) of the balloon (1) to which it is attached, and of a rigid structure (5) having a determined dimension D connected at at least one point at the upper termination (5a) to the load circle (4) and of which at least one lower termination   (5b) is connected to the support (7, 15, 16).   2. - Securing device according to claim 1 characterized in that the threads (3a, 3b) covering the envelope (2) of the balloon (1) are fixed to the load circle (4) to maintain it without floating or pivoting against him.   3. - Securing device according to claim 1 characterized in that the load circle (4) is located at the first lower tenth of the balloon (1).   4. - Securing device according to claim 1 characterized in that the rigid structure is formed of two tubes (5) branching into several secondary tubes at their upper end (5a) or at their lower termination (5b).   5. - Securing device according to   Claims 1 and 4 characterized in that the tubes (5)   arranged laterally to the support consisting of a suspension strap (7), have a shape which bypasses the shoulders of the user. 6. - Securing device according to   Claims 4 and 5 characterized in that the ball joints (9)   are attached to the ends of the lower terminations (5b)   and connected to the suspension strap (7).   7. - Securing device according to   Claims 1 and 5 characterized in that ballast weights (12) are adapted to the tubes (5).   8. - Securing device according to   Claims 1 and 5 characterized in that straps (7 ')   additional and removable connect the side tubes (5) on the strap (7).   9. - Securing device according to   Claims 1 and 5 characterized in that the tubes   side (5) are provided with handles (6) at the level of the user's shoulders.   10. - Securing device according to claim 1 characterized in that the load circle (4) is a portion of the circle not completely surrounding the ball.   11il. - Securing device according to claim 1 characterized in that the rigid structure is a vertical mast (5) whose upper end (5a) is   connected at least one point to the load circle (4).   12. - Securing device according to claim 11 characterized in that the lower branches (5b) of the mast (5) are connected to a base (15) possibly anchored to the ground.   13. - Securing device according to claim 11 characterized in that the mast (5) is planted in a base (16) placed on the ground.