Expandable container for floral grouping

Abstract

This invention generally relates to expandable containers, more importantly, to expandable containers having a housing with at least one chamber devoid of a fill material in an unexpanded condition and in an expanded condition the chamber having a fill material disposed therein.

1 . A method of expanding a container from a collapsed condition to an expanded condition for containing a floral grouping the method comprising the steps of: 
 providing a fill material;    providing a housing, the housing having a chamber for receiving and retaining the fill material, in the collapsed condition the chamber being substantially devoid of the fill material such that the flexible material folds forming a plurality of overlapping folds, and in the expanded condition the chamber being substantially full of the fill material such that the fill material causes the overlapping folds to disperse and the chamber to expand and cause the housing to expand and thereby provide the container with a retaining space configured for containing at least part of the floral grouping; and    disposing a sufficient amount of the fill material into the chamber to expand the chamber and the housing and provide the container with the retaining space for disposing the floral grouping therein.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the fill material is a gas.  
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the fill material is a liquid.  
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the fill material is a granular solid.  
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the fill material is a combination of gas, liquid and granular solids.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the housing further includes an inlet for permitting selective introduction and removal of the fill material into and from the chamber.  
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1  further including providing a pump for pumping fill material into the chamber of the housing.  
   
   
       8 . The container of  claim 1  further wherein the pump for adding fill material into the chamber of the housing is an electric pump.  
   
   
       9 . The container of claim  20  further wherein the pump for adding fill material into the chamber of the housing is a hand pump.  
   
   
       10 . The container of  claim 1  further wherein the pump for adding fill material into the chamber of the housing is a pressurized reservoir of fill material.  
   
   
       11 . The container of  claim 10  wherein the pressurized reservoir of fill material is a CO 2  gas cartridge.  
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 1  wherein in the expanded condition the expandable container has a frusto-conical configuration.  
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 1  wherein in the expanded condition the expandable container has a conical configuration.  
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 1  wherein in the expanded condition the expandable container has a cubic configuration.  
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 1  wherein in the expanded condition the expandable container has a cylindrical configuration.  
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the housing has a plurality of chambers.