US20030115666A1

US20030115666A1 - Pool structure

Info

Publication number: US20030115666A1
Application number: US10/027,320
Authority: US
Inventors: Chung-kuei Lin
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2001-12-21
Filing date: 2001-12-21
Publication date: 2003-06-26

Abstract

A pool structure includes multiple composing members detachably connected one by one to form an enclosure. A water-proof liner is disposed among and retained by the composing members. Therefore, water can be added into and stored in the pool structure to form a water pool for different kinds of purposes. The pool structure can be quickly and easily assembled, and, moreover, the pool structure can also be disassembled in a similar manner as in the assembly.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a pool structure, and more particularly to a pool structure that can be quickly assembled or disassembled.

2. Description of Related Art

Pools are very popular articles used for various purposes, for example, a garden pool or a fish pool placed in a garden for ornamental purposes, a bathing pool or a splashing pool for kids to play with water, or even a water pool simply for storing water. However, the pools currently available are usually inconvenient to construct, and therefore have a limited commercial appeal. Moreover, once a pool is built, it is rather a permanent article, and cannot be easily disassembled, and even when it can be disassembled it turns out to be a lengthy and inconvenient process. Therefore, to overcome the shortcomings, the present invention tends to provide a pool structure which can be easily and quickly assembled in a low cost way, and also conveniently disassembled when not in use to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The main objective of the present invention is to provide a pool structure that can be quickly and easily assembled and disassembled.

Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

To achieve the mentioned objectives, the pool structure in accordance with the present invention includes multiple composing members detachably connected one by one to form an enclosure. A water-proof liner is disposed among and retained by the multiple composing members, whereby water is able to be added in the pool structure and stored on the water-proof liner to create a water pool.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a pool structure in accordance with the present invention; [0008]
FIG. 2 is an exploded, perspective view of a composing member of the pool structure; [0009]
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the composing member; [0010]
FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing a peg inserted into a corresponding key-hole; [0011]
FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing the peg locked in the key-hole; and [0012]
FIG. 6 is a top view of another preferred embodiment of the present invention.[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, a pool structure in accordance with the present invention includes multiple composing members ([0014] 10), and a water-proof liner (20) disposed among and retained by the composing members (10).
With reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, each one of the composing members ([0015] 10) has a top surface (102), a bottom surface (104), and a side wall (106) integrally connecting the top surface (102) and the bottom surface (104). A front surface (108) and a rear surface (109) are integrally and respectively connected to two opposite ends of the side wall (106). A chamber (12) having a side opening is defined in each composing member (10) and surrounded by the top surface (102), the bottom surface (104), the side wall (106), the front surface (108) and the rear surface (109). Multiple hooks (14) are formed on an upper portion of the side wall (106) and spaced in a proper distance. Multiple retainers (16) located above the hooks (14) are integrally formed with the top surface (102) and the side wall (106), and each retainer (16) has a mortise (162) defined therein. Each composing member (10) has a bracket (18) composed of a base plate (182) and a side plate (184) orthogonal to the base plate (182). Multiple tenons (186) are formed on the side plate (184) and configured to be respectively received in the mortises (162). With reference to FIGS. 2, 4 and 5, multiple buttons (1082) are integrally formed on each of the front surface (108), and each button (1082) has a large head (1084) and a slender neck (1086). Multiple key-holes (1092) are defined through the rear surface (109), and each key-hole (1092) is further divided into an upper hole (1094) and a lower hole (1096), wherein the upper hole (1094) is substantially larger than the lower hole (1096). More specifically, the head (1084) of the button (1082) has a size that is able to extend through the upper hole (1094) but not the lower hole (1096).
The water-proof liner ([0016] 20) is made of a non-permeable material and has multiple looped edges (22) each corresponding to one of the composing members (10). Multiple rods (30) are configured to respectively extend through the looped edges (22).
When assembling the pool structure, the composing members ([0017] 10) are arranged to line up one by one and form an enclosure. The composing members (10) are connected by mating the buttons (1082) with the key-holes (1092). More specifically, the heads (1084) of the buttons (108) first respectively extend through the upper holes (1094) and then are moved downwardly so that the necks (1086) securely locate in the corresponding lower holes (1096). At this moment, due to the heads (1086) being too large to pass through the lower holes (1096), the composing members (10) can not be separated horizontally with respect to the ground. The water-proof liner (20) is then disposed among the composing members (10), and the rods (30) are respectively inserted into the looped edges (22) of the water-proof liner (20). Furthermore, the looped edges (22) together with the rods (30) inside are respectively retained onto the hooks (14). Finally, the brackets (18) are respectively mounted onto the composing members (10) by extending the tenons (186) into the corresponding mortises (162).
After assembly, water can be added into the pool structure and stored by the water-proof liner ([0018] 20) so that a water pool is created. It is noted from the above description that the pool structure can be quickly and conveniently assembled in a low cost way. Moreover, when the pool structure is not in use, it can also so be disassembled quickly and conveniently by following reverse procedures with respect to the assembling.
It is also noted that although the foregoing description and the accompanying drawings show a pool structure having a hexagonal configuration, other configurations can be adapted as well. With reference to FIG. 6, another preferred embodiment of the present invention having a square configuration is shown and includes four composing members ([0019] 10′) and a liner (20′). Based on the forgoing description, modifications have to be made on the composing members (10′) and the liner (20′) in order to form the square configuration and also other configurations as well. However, these modifications should be obvious from the description incorporated herewith and can be easily adapted by those skilled in the art. Hence, further description and drawings are omitted.
It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed. [0020]

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A pool structure comprising:

multiple composing members detachably connected one by one to form an enclosure; and

a water-proof liner disposed among and retained by the multiple composing members,

whereby water is able to be added in the pool structure and stored on the water-proof liner to create a water pool.

2. The pool structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein each one of the composing members has multiple buttons formed on a front surface of the composing member and multiple key-holes defined in a rear surface of the composing member so that the multiple button on one composing member are able to be detachably inserted into the key-holes in adjacent composing member.

3. The pool structure as claimed in claim 2, wherein the water-proof liner has multiple looped edges, and multiple rods extend through the multiple looped edges to be retained onto multiple hooks formed on the multiple composing members.

4. The pool structure as claimed in claim 3 further comprising multiple brackets respectively mounted on the multiple composing members to cover the multiple looped edges, the multiple rods and the multiple hooks.

5. The pool structure as claimed in claim 4 further comprising multiple tenons formed on the multiple brackets and multiple mortises formed on the multiple composing members, wherein the multiple tenons mate with the multiple mortise to mount the multiple brackets onto the multiple composing members.