Inflatable canopy

Claim 2

An inflatable canopy for use in at least partially enclosing the space between an opening having a top, a bottom and connecting sides located in a structure and a vehicle located adjacent to said opening, said canopy having an inflatable member located so as to extend from the periphery of said opening and means for inflating said member from a folded to an inflated position, in which the improvement comprises: said inflatable member having sides extending generally along the sides of said opening and having a top extending generally across the top of said opening, said member being divided up internally into a plurality of internal sections located in side by side relationship to one another, the section located adjacent to said opening having sides which are longer than the sides of the other of said sections and which extend the entire length of said member, means for supporting said adjacent section upon said opening so that said adjacent section extends along the sides of said opening and across the top of said opening, said sections being in communication with one another so that as said means for inflating said member is operated all of said sections are inflated, the sides of said sections varying in lengths so that when said member is in said inflated position said member will flare outwardly from adjacent to the bottoms of said sides of said member so that the top of said member will extend further from the top of said opening than the bottoms of the sides of the section located adjacent to said opening.

Claim 3

An inflatable canopy as claimed in claim 1 including: frame means for supporting at least the center regions of said sections of said inflatable member in all positions of said inflatable member.

Claim 4

An inflatable canopy as claimed in claim 1 wherein: said means for supporting comprises a frame body pivotally mounted on said structure so as to be capable of rotating about a vertically extending axis relative to said structure.

Claim 5

An inflatable canopy as claimed in claim 3 wherein: said frame body is spaced from said structure and including bellows means for enclosing the space between said frame body and said structure connecting said frame with said structure around said opening.

Claim 6

An inflatable canopy as claimed in claim 1 including: folding means for folding said inflatable member connected to the one of said sections furtherest from said first of said sections.

Claim 7

An inflatable canopy as claimed in claim 5 wherein: said folding means comprises: a counterweight connected to the one of said sections furtherest removed from said first of said sections so as to be capable of automatically moving said inflatable member to a folded position when said inflatable member is not in an inflated position.

Claim 8

An inflatable canopy as claimed in claim 1 including: frame means for supporting at least the center regions of said sections of said inflatable member in all positions of said inflatable member, and wherein said means for supporting comprises a frame body pivotally mounted on said structure so as to be capable of rotating about a vertically extending axis relative to said structure, folding means for folding said inflatable member connected to the one of said sections furtherest from said first of said sections.

Claim 9

An inflatable canopy as claimed in claim 7 wherein: said frame body is spaced from said structure and including, bellows means for enclosing the space between said frame body and said structure connecting said frame with said structure around said opening, said folding means comprises: a counterweight connected to the one of said sections furtherest removed from said first of said sections so as to be capable of automatically moving said inflatable member to a folded position when said inflatable member is not in an inflated position, and including overlapping means connecting the bottom of said frame means and the bottom of said opening, said overlapping means permitting said frame means to be pivoted with respect to said structure.

Claim 10

An inflatable canopy as claimed in claim 1 including: a plurality of rigid inverted, U-shaped supports, each of said supports having a center region and two legs, said center regions of said supports corresponding in length to the distance across the top of said inflatable member, said legs of said supports varying in length, a first one of said supports having legs corresponding to the lengths of said sides of said member and having the extremities of its legs remote from its center region pivotally mounted on said means for supporting adjacent to the bottoms of the sides of said member, the remainder of said supports being pivoted at the ends of their legs remote from their center regions on other of said supports so that during inflation of said member all of said supports will pivot to a configuration corresponding to the configuration of said sections, at least the center regions of all of said supports being positioned generally parallel to one another so as to support said top of said member in all positions of said member in order to control sagging of said top with said member.

Claim 11

An inflatable canopy as claimed in claim 9 including: counterweight means for automatically pivoting said supports and moving said sections from said inflated position to said folded position when said inflatable member is not inflated.

Claim 12

An inflatable canopy as claimed in claim 9 wherein: said sides of said sections are successively shorter in accordance with their placement relative to said first of said sections, said sides of said sections other than said first of said sections have ends which are open into the interiors of the sides of the next adjacent of said sections, said legs of said supports are successively shorter in accordance with their locations relative to said first of said supports, said sides of said sections and said legs of said supports being of such lengths that said sections and said supports lie together in a compact unit when said inflatable member is in said folded configuration and extend in the same general configuration when said inflatable member is in said inflated configuration.

Claim 13

An inflatable canopy as claimed in claim 11 wherein: said first of said sections corresponds to said first of said supports and wherein, each of the other of said sections corresponds to each of said other supports, each of said supports serves to support one of said sections at the top of said member in all positions of said member in order to control the sagging of said top of said member.

Claim 14

An inflatable canopy as claimed in claim 12 wherein: each of said supports is located within one of said sections, said first of said supports beIng located within said first of said sections, the other of said supports having legs which extend through the ends of the sides of the sections within which they are located.

Claim 15

An inflatable canopy as claimed in claim 13 including: counterweight means for automatically pivoting said supports and moving said sections from said inflated position to said folded position when said inflatable member is not inflated.

Claim 16

An inflatable canopy as claimed in claim 14 wherein: said counterweight means comprises flexible cable means, pulley means and weight means, said pulley means being mounted on said means for supporting, said cable means being connected to the one of said supports furtherest removed from said means for supporting and passing around said pulley means and said weight means being attached to said cable means so as to tend to pull said cable means in such a manner as to cause said supports to tend to pivot in order to move said supports and said inflatable member to said folded position.

Claim 17

An inflatable canopy as claimed in claim 15 wherein: said cable means extend through all of said sections of said inflatable member so as to be normally hidden from view by said inflatable member.

Claim 18

An inflatable canopy as claimed in claim 1 wherein: said means for supporting comprises a frame body pivotally mounted on said structure so as to be capable of rotating about a vertically extending axis relative to said structure, said frame body is spaced from said structure and including bellow means for enclosing the space between said frame body and said structure connecting said frame with said structure around said opening, a plurality of rigid inverted, U-shaped supports, each of said supports having a center region and two legs, said center regions of said supports corresponding in length to the distance across the top of said inflatable member, said legs of said supports varying in length, a first one of said supports having legs corresponding to the lengths of said sides of said member and having the extremities of its legs remote from its center region pivotally mounted on said means for supporting adjacent to the bottoms of the sides of said member, the remainder of said supports being pivoted at the ends of their legs remote from their center regions on other of said supports so that during inflation of said member all of said supports will pivot to a configuration corresponding to the configuration of said sections, at least the center regions of all of said supports being positioned generally parallel to one another so as to support said top of said member in all positions of said member in order to control sagging of said top with said member, said sides of said sections are successively shorter in accordance with their placement relative to said first of said sections, said sides of said sections other than said first of said sections have ends which are open into the interiors of the sides of the next adjacent of said sections, said legs of said supports are successively shorter in accordance with their locations relative to said first of said supports, said sides of said sections and said legs of said supports being of such lengths that said sections and said supports lie together in a compact unit when said inflatable member is in said folded configuration and extend in the same general configuration when said inflatable member is in said inflated configuration, said first of said sections corresponds to said first of said supports and wherein, each of the other of said sections corresponds to each of said other supports, each of said supports serves to support one of said sections at the top of said member in all positions of said member in order to control the sagging of said top of said member, each of said supports is located within one of said sections, said first of said supports being located within said first of said sections, the other of sAid supports having legs which extend through the ends of the sides of the sections within which they are located, counterweight means for automatically pivoting said supports and moving said sections from said inflated position to said folded position when said inflatable member is not inflated, said counterweight means comprises flexible, cable means, pulley means and weight means, said pulley means being mounted on said means for supporting, said cable means being connected to the one of said supports furtherest removed from said means for supporting and passing around said pulley means and said weight means being attached to said cable means so as to tend to pull said cable means in such a manner as to cause said supports to tend to pivot in order to move said supports and said inflatable member to said folded position, said cable means extend through all of said sections of said inflatable member so as to be normally hidden from view by said inflatable member, and including, overlapping means connecting the bottom of said frame body with the bottom of said opening for providing a continuous floor across the space between said structure and said frame body during pivoting of said frame body.