Mat for Cooling a Person During Hot Weather Without Wetting Having a Low Manufacturing Cost

The present invention relates to the field of cooling devices and methods.

Enormous numbers of people suffer substantially during hot summer weather, and spend many unhappy hours indoors beside their air conditioners, if they can afford one or two of them. The cost of electricity to run the air conditioners must be added to the cost of a limited number of such air conditioners. The noise produced by them, day after day, and the feeling of being cooped up inside is unpleasant and people would often prefer relaxing out doors in their backyards. However, the heat from the sun and the hot air deters them from doing so.

Even if a family can afford a swimming pool, there is a need to lounge outdoors, away from air conditioners, and out of contact with the water for long periods of time, particularly for people who are no longer children or teenagers. For the vast majority who cannot afford a swimming pool, some common stopgap measures involve running under the lawn sprinkler, or splashing about in a wading pool. Since most people would like to be able to read or converse while relaxing out of doors, without being continually wetted, which becomes uncomfortable after awhile, what is really needed is a simple and inexpensive way to cool the body in a dry comfortable manner without direct contact with water.

Furthermore, as the atmosphere becomes more polluted, pressures will increase to reduce such pollution by reducing discharges of smoke and gas into the air. Such measures will in turn increase the cost, and the need to conserve electricity. For this reason also, it is desirable to provide for dry cooling of the body during hot summer weather over substantial time periods, while at the same time completely eliminating the use of electrical devices such as air conditioners which consume substantial electrical power.

The above stated goals of increasing the comfort of people outdoors during hot summer weather, without continuously wetting the body, through the use of apparatus which has a low manufacturing cost and consumes no electrical power, are met by providing a thin flexible mat having a parallel array of enclosed cooling water conduits positioned just under major surface portions of the mat which is in direct contact with the body, to maximize the cooling effect. The water circulating through the mat is propelled into the cooling mat from a conventional pre-pressurized in ground water supply main which is far cooler than the surrounding air, and thus, in contrast with the use of an air conditioner, costs the user virtually nothing. Also, since the water ejected from the water main is always supplied under substantial pressure, the need for an electrical pump is also eliminated, so that no costly electrical power is consumed by the method of the invention. The degree of cooling for a plurality of mats, for cooling an entire family, may be precisely controlled via the conventional in place garden hose supply faucet coupled to the in ground water main, and as an added bonus, the water may be also used to sprinkle a lawn or garden at the same time. The flexible mat may be laid over a lounge chair, placed flat on the ground, or even be fastened to the body in the manner of a vest.

A simple and reliable pressure relief valve rubber band arrangement prevents the blockage of cooling water through the mat should the garden hose be kinked or have a shut off nozzle. The parallel mat cooling channel array prevents pinching of major portions of the conduit array, otherwise potentially causing cool water blockage, should the weight of a particularly heavy person be concentrated upon minor portions of the mat. Inflatable cushion embodiments of the invention containing cooling water conduits, may also be provided to eliminate the optional use of a comfort cushion positioned under the mat.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon study of the following description taken in conjunction with the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 discloses a plan view of the preferred mat;

FIG. 2 discloses a sectional view taken through a portion of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates a preferred flow diverter;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken through the valve portion of the flow diverter;

FIG. 5 illustrates a coupling device for supplying cooling water to two mats simultaneously;

FIG. 6 illustrates a cooling mat having inflatable portions therein;

FIG. 7 illustrates a cooling mat positioned upon a lounge chair; and

FIG. 8 illustrates a small mat which can be fastened to the body and worn in the manner of a vest.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, water inlet feed nipple 3 supplies water to an array of fully enclosed heat exchange channels 11 via inlet feed channel 7. Channels 11 are coupled in parallel between inlet feed channel 7 and output water drainage channel 9 coupled in turn to drainage nozzle 5. Figure two taken along sectional line A--A indicates that the inlet feed channel 7, (as shown by 17), and drainage channel 9 with its exit portion 13, are deeper than channels 11 to help prevent concentration of a persons body weight thereon from pinching off the flow of water through the cooling mat. Thus, nipple 3 and inlet channel 7 comprise an inlet water feed means and drainage channels 9 and 13, together with outlet nipple 5 comprise an outlet water drainage means.

The mat configuration illustrated, if made of moldable 0.25 inch thick plastic, would deter flow blocking channel pinch off, due to the lands 12 formed between channels 11, which support the weight of the person upon mat 1. With certain pliable mat materials and shallower channel configurations however, pinch off could become a problem, particularly if a very heavy person should sit on the mat. Thus channels 11 are coupled in parallel between channels 7 and 9; should a few of channels 11 become pinched off due to weight concentration upon minor portions of the mat 1, cooling water will continue to flow through the remaining major portions of the mat.

The mat substrate 2 could be made of moldable vinyl plastic for example, to enable easy forming of the flow conduits in a surface portion of the substrate. A plastic cover sheet 15, substantially thinner than the substrate, is thereafter laminated to the substrate by the application of heat and pressure using techniques well known to those versed in the art of plastic lamination. The preferred mat thickness is about 0.50 or less and could have a thickness of as little as about 0.10 inches, and would be flexible to enable it to conform to any desired surface such as lounge chair 4 of FIG. 7.

As shown in FIG. 2, the fully enclosed channels 11 are just under the first face of the mat defined by thin cover sheet 15, and are substantially away from the second opposite face of the mat 14. As shown in FIG. 2, cooling channels 11 to be filled with water intersect and extend from a first major surface portion of substrate 2 and extend less than halfway through the thickness of the substrate. This arrangement maximizes conduction of heat from the person's body in direct contact with sheet 15. If the mat 1 were made sufficiently small and thin, and have "Velcro" touch-adhere type fasteners 6 thereon, as illustrated in FIG. 8, it could be worn about a person's body in the manner of a vest. Larger versions would of course be used for lounge chairs and horizontal placement on the ground.

Inlet feed nipple 3 is coupled to flow diverter 30 of FIG. 3 via inlet hose 19, coupler 23 and channel 25 which receives coupler 23 fitted therein. Wall mounted faucet 39 is fed by the conventional pre-pressurized in ground water supply main 40. Faucet 39 is virtually always present to enable watering of the yard. Flow diverter water inlet chamber 21 is coupled to faucet 39 via screw coupler 37. Upon the rotation of the conventional faucet handle 43, water flows through inlet chamber 21 and into mat 1.

Mat outlet or drainage nipple 5 is preferably coupled to flow diverter outlet chamber 29, via flexible tube 27, coupler 31, and coupler reception section 33. Barrier 35 separates the inlet and outlet flow diverter chambers from each other. Advantageously, garden hose 45 may be screwed to the flow diverter outlet chamber via coupler component 49, to enable the cooling water to also irrigate an area of the backyard or to transport the water to an appropriate drainage area.

The aforesaid apparatus thus causes cool water from the conventional in ground water main feeding faucet 39 to draw heat directly from a persons body by conduction through the thin wall or cover sheet 15, covering major surface portions of the mat, to provide for efficient heat transfer. Thus the cool water conduits 11 are preferably formed just under surface portions of the mat, although this is not an absolute requirement since the flow rate of water may be increased by the further opening of faucet 39, to in turn increase the rate of heat transfer. During humid and hot days when the temperature was over ninety degrees, an ordinary plastic "Zip Lock" sandwich bag of thin wall plastic was filled with tap water and placed upon the chest. Due to the thin wall of the bag and the relatively cool temperature of the water drawn through the in ground supply main 40, the cooling effect was readily apparent.

Should garden hose 45 become kinked, or its outlet nozzle closed, a pressure relief valve deters the stoppage of water flow through the mat. This relief valve 55 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, consists of passageways 53, which pass completely through diverter outlet chamber 29, and a flat annular rubber band 56. As the water pressure within the diverter and hence within the mat conduits exceeds a given high level due to hose blockage, the band becomes displaced from passageways 53 and water is thus expelled from the apparatus. This valve thus relieves pressure in a simple and reliable manner, and may optionally be employed additionally in the inlet diverter chamber at 55' to prevent buildup in pressure in the mat conduits not caused by hose blockage. While water pressure buildup should not burst the thin overlay mat conduit cover sheet 15, of the embodiment of the invention of FIG. 2, it could possibly rupture other thin conduit walls of alternate designs such as a mat made of inflatable sections as shown in FIG. 6.

As shown in FIG. 6, cooling water is circulated through a centrally located cooling channel 62 which is surrounded by inflatable compartment 64, coupled to channel 62 via webbing sections 68. Inlet feed tube 19' and outlet drainage tube 27' coupled to flow diverter 30 provide the cooling water to the mat as described above. This embodiment of the invention provides considerable comfort, in contrast to the embodiment described above, which often would call for the use of an additional pliable mat for comfort, unless the mat was placed upon a thick lawn or the like. The inflatable mat also may be floated in a swimming pool, and like the first described embodiment, could be manufactured cheaply.

Two mats may be simultaneously utilized by family members by providing distributor feed and drainage nipples such as the multiple pronged nipple member illustrated in FIG. 5, having nipple portion 61 for immediate use by one person. Should the family desire to buy an additional mat, hollow plug 65 is cut off with a knife or scissor to expose the hollow portion therein, and nipple 63 is connected to the input nipple 3 of the second mat by a flexible tube supplied therewith. A similar two pronged drainage nipple could be substituted for the straight drainage nipple 31, to enable drainage of both the first and second mat. Similar multiple nipple prong members for supplying water to three or four mats simultaneously would have additional hollow plug nipples, so that only one flow diverter design is required for expanded use of more mats. The two pronged nipple of FIG. 5 is very inexpensive and is available in the marketplace. In order to enable the most effective simultaneous use of such a plurality of mats, the flow rate of the water drawn from the in ground supply main is increased by turning faucet handle 43, to handle the added thermal load of additional mats put in use.

Thus the present invention teaches an economical method of cooling people during hot humid days, enabling them to enjoy the outdoors without being continuously subjected to direct contact with water, which is uncomfortable for many, and thus an entire family is able to read and converse in a comfortable relaxed manner. Since indoor air conditioner use will be substantially reduced, money will be saved, and conservation of energy will be effected, to in turn reduce pollution of the atmosphere. The apparatus is simple, has a low manufacturing cost and consumes no electrical power.

As embodiments of the invention other than those described above will readily occur to those skilled in the art, the scope of the invention is to be defined only by the terms of the following claims and art recognized equivalents thereof. For example the word "mat" is not to be interpreted in its narrowest sense, but is intended to include a water containing body such as the water cooling conduit cushion configuration of FIG. 6, provided such body would have a configuration so as to carry out the aforesaid objectives in a practical and economical manner. The water is passed through the mat on a "substantially continuous basis" which is intended to cover strictly continuous flow and intermittent flow which occurs often enough to effectively cool the person. Flow diverter 30 need not be directly connected to supply faucet 39. Should a family wish to locate the mats a substantial distance away from the house, a conventional garden hose would couple the supply faucet to the distant flow diverter located a few feet away from the mats. This permits supplying short standard lengths of the flexible tubes 19 and 27.