Hand operated, dual chambered, pneumatic pump

Claim 1

An inflating apparatus comprising: a plurality of cylinders; a plurality of pistons, each piston being reciprocably driven by a piston rod in a respective cylinder; each of said pistons being in sliding contact with its respective cylinder wall to form a first chamber on one side of said each piston and a second chamber on the other side of said each piston opposite to said one side; each of said first and second chambers being volumetrically variable and proportional to the axial position of its respective piston in its cylinder; first means comprising a check valve for admitting fluid to each of said first chambers upon movement of the respective pistons in one direction that volumetrically enlarges said first chambers; second means comprising a check valve for exhaust of fluid from said first chambers upon movement of the respective pistons in a second direction opposite to said one direction that volumetrically reduces said first chambers; a plurality of elongated handles, a handle being attached to each said piston rod and each handle having a portion extending transversely from said rod to provide for manual force application to reciprocate each piston in its respective cylinder; third means for longitudinally aligning and releasably holding said handles in longitudinal alignment whereby said handles may be conjointly operated and move their respective piston rods and pistons in unison, and for releasing said handles from one another whereby said handles are manually movable independently of one another, to provide a variable flow inflating apparatus, wherein said third means comprises means for rotating each of said handles about its respective piston rod axis into mechanically held transverse longitudinal alignment, and to rotate said handles out of said mechanically held alignment by releasing said handles from one another, whereby said handles may be moved independently of one another, wherein said handles are rotatable about their respective piston rod axis into and out of said mechanically locked alignment; one of said handles being rotatable into a predetermined axial position from said longitudinal alignment; and a fourth means for releasably holding said one handle in said predetermined axial position, to provide interference-free operation of the other handle.