GB2250032A - Device for tying knots - Google Patents

Abstract

A device for knotting balloons or bladders which can be moulded of plastics and is simple and cheap to make has a body 10 with upstanding pegs 11, 12 and 13 and an aperture 14 extending through it and preferably a gap 15. The body may be horseshoe shaped with three or more pegs or U-shaped with two pegs at its respective free ends. The neck of the balloon or bladder is brought up through the aperture 14 and wound around the pegs and is then taken round its own portion 16. <IMAGE>

Description

DEVICE FOR TYING:KNOTS in a strand such as This invention relates to a device for tying a knotlin the neck of an inflated balloon or bladder. Balloons, such as party balloons, small advertising balloons, balloons for manipulating into shapes such as animal shapes, and also bladders such as are sometimes used in footballs and other balls used in sport, and bladders which are used to store gases or liquids, all being of an inflatable kind, all suffer from the same difficulty of tying a knot manually in the neck of the balloon or bladder once it has been inflated or filled with gas or liquid.

Most people find it difficult to retain the full inflation of a balloon or bladder whilst tying an efficient knot in the neck. It is particularly difficult for small children when they are trying to blow up party balloons and for elderly people who have lost some of the dexterity of their fingers.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple but very effective device which may be used to assist the person to tie e.g., a knct/in the neck of a balloon or bladder manually.

In accordance with the present invention, a knotter comprises a body portion and at least two spaced apart posts or projections upstanding from the body portion, there being an aperture extending through the body portion, the posts or projections being spaced around or on opposite sides of said aperture, the strand to be knotted such as the knotter being so arranged that the/neck or nozzle of a balloon or bladder may be passed up through the aperture and taken around the posts to enable a knot to be tied in the strand which is then slipped off the posts when the knot is tied.

Preferably there is a gap in the periphery of the body portion leading to said aperture with two posts being arranged one on either side of said gap.

The knotter is preferably in the form of a disc, being generally of horseshoe shape in plan if three or more posts are employed.

If the knotter has only two posts, then it is preferable that the body is in the shape of a'U'with the two posts upstanding from positions adjacent the ends of the arms of the'U'.

There may be two, three or four posts or more if desired, but the optimum is believed to be three posts, although a satisfactory knotter can be made using two posts or four posts.

If two posts only are used, then they are preferably of sufficient cross sectional diameter to cause the neck of the balloon, when wrapped around the posts, to have sufficient spacing between adjacent portions of the wrapped around neck to allow a knot to be formed manually.

The knotter may, for example, be moulded from plastics material as a single injection moulding with the body and posts integrally formed. Alternatively, a wooden or metal construction may be used and the posts may be of wood or metal attached to the body portion by usual methods such as use of bolts, screws, welding etc.

From another angle, the invention comprises a combination of a bag of uninflated balloons containing a balloon knotter of the kind described in the main statement of the invention above. Thus the purchaser of a bag of balloons will have ready to hand a suitable knotter which will enable the balloons to be blown up quickly and easily even by children.

The posts may be in the form of upstanding pegs of uniform diameter in cross section or they may be tapered in the form of conical pegs with the apices of the cones furthest from the body portion.

From yet another aspect the invention relates to a method of tying a knot in a balloon in which the neck of the balloon is taken up through an aperture in the body portion of a balloon knotter, the neck is then taken around three upstanding pegs and brought back from the third peg to cross over the portion between the other two pegs, the end of the neck being then taken downwardly around said portion and upwardly through the gap between the remaining portions of the neck and pulled tight to form a knot, the knot then being pulled off the pegs to release the balloon from the balloon knotter.

In the accompanying drawings: Figures 1 - 6 show various stages in the knotting of a balloon using a balloon knotter in accordance with the present invention; and Figures 7 - 10 show a similar series of operations using a balloon knotter with only two pegs rather than the three peg knotter shown in Figures 1 - 6.

In Figure 1 is shown a balloon knotter having a horseshoe shaped disc-like body 10 with three upstanding pegs 11, 12 and 13. The pegs are preferably about 2 cm in height and may be of uniform diameter or tapered.

The body 10 has an aperture 14 extending through it and a gap 15 in the periphery of the body between the ends of the horseshoe shaped disc which form the body.

In tying a knot in a balloon or bladder, the neck of the balloon or bladder is brought up from underneath the balloon knotter through the aperture 14 and is taken around peg 1 as shown in Figure 1, then around peg 2 as shown in Figure 2, then around peg 3 as shown in Figure 3.

Then as shown in Figure 4, the balloon end is pulled tight over the portion 16 of the balloon neck. It is then taken under that portion and pulled up through the aperture 14 between the remaining parts of the neck of the balloon as shown in Figure 5. The balloon end is then pulled out and the balloon neck slides off the pegs and the knot is formed.

While it is not absolutely essential to have the gap 15 between the pegs 12 and 13, it does assist the user to tie the knot since it allows more space to work.

In Figure 7 is shown an alternative form of balloon knotter 17 which is of 'U' shaped cross section and is in the form of a relatively thin disc-like material having arms 18 and 19 on each of which is a peg 1 and 2. The pegs 1 and 2 are seen to be of much greater diameter than those shown in Figure 1 - 6 and are of conical section with the pegs upstanding from the arms and the apices of the conical sections being spaced from the body 17. The 'U' shaped body 17 maybe of say 8 cm in width and 5 cm in depth with the bases of the pegs 1 and 2 being 12 cm in diameter tapering upwardly to 2 cm in diameter with a height of the pegs of about 2 - 22 cm. These are only examples of the dimensions which may be used.

As shown in Figure 7, the neck of the balloon is brought up through the aperture 14a and around peg 1. It is then pulled around peg 2 as shown in Figure 2 and back around peg 1 as shown in Figure 3.

The balloon neck is then pulled through the middle of the two arms 18 and 19 up through the aperture 14a and between adjacent portions 20 and 21 of the balloon neck. The knot is formed by pulling the neck off the pegs and pulling the knot tight and then removing the balloon.

Again the gap 15a between the ends of the arms is not absolutely essential but does provide space to work in forming the knot.

In all of the drawings the shaded portions of the neck are shown as those which are above other portions of the balloon neck where they cross.

Although this is a simple device, it is of great assistance in knotting balloons and bladders and it is so simple to use that a child can learn to use it in a few minutes.

It is also relatively inexpensive to manufacture since it can be made of plastic material and other inexpensive materials.

Claims (11)

1. A knotter comprising a body portion and at least two spaced apart posts or projections upstanding from the body portion, there being an aperture extending through the body portion, the posts or projections being spaced around or on opposite sides of said aperture, the knotter being so arranged that the strand to be knotted, such as the neck or nozzle of a balloon or bladder, may be passed up through the aperture and taken around the posts to enable a knot to be tied in the strand which is then slipped off the posts when the knot is tied.

2. A knotter according to claim 1 and in which there is a gap in the periphery of the body portion leading to said aperture with the two posts arranged one on either side of said gap.

3. A knotter according to claim 1 or claim 2 which has only two posts, the body being in the shape of a 'U' with the two posts upstanding from positions adjacent the ends of the arms of the 'U'.

4. A knotter according to claim 1 in the form of a disc, being generally of horseshoe shape in plan, and in which three or more of said posts are employed.

5. A balloon knotter according to any of claims 1 to 3 in which only two posts are used, the posts being of sufficient cross sectional diameter to cause the neck of the balloon, when wrapped around the posts, to have sufficient spacing between adjacent portions of the wrapped around neck to allow a knot to be formed manually.

6. A knotter according to any preceding claim moulded from plastics material as a single injection moulding with the body and posts integrally formed.

7. A knotter according to any of claims 1 to 5 of wooden or metal construction, the posts being of wood or metal attached to the body portion by use of bolts, screws or welding.

8. A combination of a bag of uninflated balloons containing a balloon knotter according to any preceding claim.

9. A knotter according to any of claims 1 to 6 and in which the posts are in the form of upstanding pegs of uniform diameter in cross section, or are tapered in the form of conical pegs with the apices of the cones furthest from the body portion.

10. A method of tying a knot in a balloon in which the neck of the balloon is taken up through an aperture in the body portion of a balloon knotter, the neck is then taken around three upstanding pegs on the knotter and brought back from the third peg to cross over the portion between the other two pegs, the end of the neck being then taken downwardly around said portion and upwardly through the gap between the remaining portions of the neck and pulled tight to form a knot, the knot then being pulled off the pegs to release the balloon from the balloon knotter.

11. A balloon knotter substantially as hereinbefore particularly described and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.