US 11353143

Patent Overview — US11353143B2

Title: Enlargeable flexible hose
Assignee/Original Assignee: Fitt SpA (FITT S.P.A.)
Inventors: Alessandro Mezzalira, Valentino Vigolo, Luca Battaglia, Andrea Petronilli, Marco Bucci, Alessandro Cegalin
Application: US17/151,145, filed 2021-01-16 (published as US20210140568A1 on 2021-05-13)
Publication/Grant: US11353143B2, 2022-06-07
Priority date: 2016-04-29; anticipated expiration listed as 2036-04-29
Classification: F16L11/04, F16L11/08, F16L11/12
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US11353143](/patent/US11353143)/en

Purpose and field. The hose relates to flexible irrigation or garden hoses for transporting water. It is "enlargeable," meaning it automatically enlarges under fluid pressure and automatically retracts when liquid pressure stops. The stated object is to overcome drawbacks of prior hoses (e.g., fire-hose constructions with an outer textile jacket and inner rubber tube) by providing a hose that is efficient, relatively cheap, quick to manufacture, manufacturable automatically in line, wieldy, easy to store, repairable, and customizable in length.

Plain-language scope. Per the description, the hose has a non-corrugated, non-coiled tubular structure and may include an inner layer of a first polymeric elastic material, an outer layer of a second polymeric elastic material, and at least one textile reinforcement layer between them. The inner and outer layers may be joined where the inner surface is not covered by reinforcement yarns (i.e., except where the yarns lie). Materials may be elastomers or thermoplastic elastomers (e.g., TPE-S such as PP/SEBS or PP/EPDM, TPE-O such as ethylene-octene copolymer, natural rubber, latex). The tubular member may have a Shore A hardness of 30–50 ShA (ASTM D2240). Yarns may be polyester, nylon 6,6, polyvinyl alcohol, para- or meta-aramid, or Rayon®, with elongation at break under 30% (preferably under 25%) and toughness of at least 50 cN/tex (BISFA, Chapter 7). The reinforcement layer moves between a rest configuration and a working configuration, and it and the tubular member are mutually configured so the reinforcement intercepts expansion to set maximum diameter and length.

What the excerpt does not establish. The supplied text is explicitly an excerpt. It does not include the claims, the full description, drawings, embodiments, or the detailed description of the reinforcement's maximum elongation. It therefore does not establish the precise claimed scope, claim limitations, or any legal status conclusions. No litigation, ownership-transfer, validity, or prior-art analysis is made here.