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09/10/2008
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A university student has invented a means of keeping something inflated without the need to maintain internal pressure
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Brighton University student Benjamin Crawshaw made the discovery in the course of developing a balloon-filling machine.
The balloon is first placed inside the lid of transparent container, with its neck protruding though a tube which emerges through the lid, in such a way that the neck can be pulled back round the lip of the tube to hold the balloon in place. The lid with the attached balloon is clipped onto a transparent container, with the balloon inside the container. A hand pump is then used to inflate the balloon, in such a way as to displace the air between the outside of the balloon and the inside of the container, and force it out through a one way valve. Removing the pump allows ambient air pressure to keep the balloon inflated inside the container, the air in which is now at reduced pressure. Solid material may then be poured down a funnel into the balloon.
Releasing the air valve allows air to flow back into the container, causing the balloon to contract onto its contents. The lid and attached balloon may be removed, and the neck tied.
While designed as a toy, the technique could be used to maintain the inflation of any item, if access is required to the inside for any reason.
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Author
Tom Shelley
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