Enlargeable Flexible Hose

What is this patent about?

’143 is related to the field of flexible hoses, specifically those used for transporting fluids like water in garden or irrigation applications. Traditional hoses often involve separate manufacturing and assembly of an inner tube and an outer jacket, leading to complexity and bulkiness. This patent addresses the need for a simpler, more compact, and easily manufactured hose that can expand under pressure and retract when pressure is removed.

The underlying idea behind ’143 is to create a hose with a unitary tubular structure composed of elastic polymeric materials and a textile reinforcement layer. This construction allows the hose to expand radially under fluid pressure due to the elasticity of the polymeric layers, and then automatically retract to its original size when the pressure is released. The textile reinforcement limits the expansion and prevents bursting, while being embedded within the unitary structure simplifies manufacturing.

The claims of ’143 focus on a hose assembly that includes an enlargeable flexible hose and a flow restriction. The hose itself comprises an inner elastic polymer layer, an outer elastic polymer layer, and a single-mesh textile reinforcement layer in between. The inner and outer layers are joined to form a single tube. The key is that the tube expands under pressure, increasing its diameter, but the textile reinforcement limits elongation to less than 15% . The textile layer moves between a relaxed and expanded state as pressure changes.

In practice, the hose operates by using the fluid pressure to stretch the elastic polymer layers, causing the hose to visibly expand in diameter. The embedded textile reinforcement, which can be a knitted, woven, or knotted structure, provides strength and limits the overall expansion, preventing the hose from bursting. The flow restriction, placed within or connected to the hose, ensures sufficient pressure builds up to cause the expansion. When the water is turned off, the elasticity of the polymer layers causes the hose to retract to its original dimensions.

This design differentiates itself from prior art by integrating the reinforcement layer directly into the unitary tubular member, simplifying manufacturing and improving the hose's overall compactness. Unlike some expandable hoses that rely on separate jackets or complex retraction mechanisms, this design uses the inherent elasticity of the polymer layers for automatic retraction. The use of non-elastic yarns in the textile reinforcement ensures that the expansion is primarily radial, and that the hose returns to its original length without significant stretching.