U.S. patent number 3,645,038 [Application Number 05/006,795] was granted by the patent office on 1972-02-29 for figure toys.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Marvin Glass & Associates. Invention is credited to Marvin I. Glass, Howard J. Morrison.
United States Patent |
3,645,038 |
Morrison , et al. |
February 29, 1972 |
FIGURE TOYS
Abstract
A toy including a portion formed of corrugated plastic tubing
which is capable of being contracted and expanded in length and of
being curved in an arc, and which will retain any length and/or
curvature given to the tubing. The tubing is formed by providing a
series of hinge sections along its length forming a continuous
series of grooves having sides of unequal length, and by heat
treating the plastic to provide a setting of the plastic at the
hinges to eliminate elasticity between the hinge connected
sections.
Inventors: |
Morrison; Howard J. (Highland
Park, IL), Glass; Marvin I. (Chicago, IL) |
Assignee: |
Marvin Glass & Associates
(Chicago, IL)
|
Family
ID: |
21722626 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/006,795 |
Filed: |
January 29, 1970 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
446/320; 446/390;
446/385 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63H
3/04 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A63H
3/00 (20060101); A63H 3/04 (20060101); A63h
003/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;46/115,119,120,135,146,147,151,159,162,163,173,156 ;3/12.3 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Peshock; Robert
Claims
What we claim is:
1. A figure toy including relatively movable body portions formed
at least in part by a corrugated plastic tubing, said corrugated
plastic tubing being formed with a series of well defined
circumferential hinge sections joined by an essentially linear
hinge and forming a plurality of circumferential grooves, with each
groove having sides of unequal length joined at one of said linear
hinge so that the shorter side section is nestable within the
longer side section.
2. A figure toy as set forth in claim 1, wherein said plastic
tubing is of a length sufficient to permit selective positioning of
the body portion at various lengths and positions by expansion and
contraction of the tubing and by bending the tubing.
3. A figure toy as set forth in claim 2, wherein said grooves are
formed so as to eliminate elasticity of the connected grooves, so
that the tubing will maintain a length or curvature provided
through manipulation of the corrugated tubing.
4. A toy including two members joined together by a length of
corrugated plastic tubing, said tubing being formed with a series
of circumferential hinge sections along its length defining grooves
having sides of unequal length and joined along an essentially
linear hinge so that the shorter side section is nestable within
the longer side section, and each of said two members is provided
with means affording removable connection with an end of said
tubing.
5. A toy as set forth in claim 4, wherein said hinge sections and
linear hinge are formed so as to eliminate resiliency of the
connected sides of said grooves, whereby the tubing maintains any
length or curvature provided through manipulation of the tubing.
Description
The present invention relates generally to toys, and is more
particularly directed to figure toys having movable body
portions.
Figure toys such as dolls, toy animals and the like have been very
popular with children heretofore, and many such toys have included
movable body portions which have permitted the child to pose the
toy figure in any of several positions. Furthermore, the prior art
has included dolls having telescoping body sections which permit
extension and contraction of such portion to simulate growing of
the toy figure. The present invention is particularly directed to
novel means whereby the child may selectively extend or contract
portions of the body, such as the arms and legs, and also move such
extendable portions in almost any desired direction to pose the
figure.
It is a primary object of the invention to provide a novel form of
corrugated plastic tubing which is used to simulate a body portion
in a figure toy, which can be contracted or extended as desired,
and which will retain any shape into which it is bent. A further
object of the invention is to provide a figure toy having body
portions thereof formed of corrugated plastic tubing, wherein the
length of such body portion can be selectively changed and the
curvature of such portion varied, and the body portion will retain
its length and/or curvature until manipulated to a different length
or curvature.
Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the
following description of the preferred embodiment illustrated in
the drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 is a view of a doll incorporating arms, legs and a neck
portion made in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 2 is an enlarged front plan view of the doll, with portions
broken away and in section in order to illustrate details of the
structure;
FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional view of one of
the doll arms, showing the corrugated plastic tubing in its
collapsed or shortened condition;
FIG. 4 is similar to FIG. 3 but illustrates the corrugated tubing
in its intermediate position;
FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIGS. 3 and 4, but showing the
corrugated tubing in its fully extended position;
FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the mandrel tubing and
corrugation-forming block used in making of the corrugated
tubing;
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the mandrel and forming block
showing the formation of corrugations in a length of tubing
disposed on the mandrel;
FIG. 8 is a fragmentary, longitudinal sectional view of the tubing
in place on the mandrel after the corrugations have been formed
therein;
FIG. 9 is an exploded perspective view of structure used in the
formation of the tubing, and;
FIG. 10 is a longitudinal sectional view of a portion of the
structure seen in FIG. 9, together with a section of compressed,
corrugated tubing.
With reference particularly to FIGS. 1-5 of the drawings, it will
be seen that the figure toy 10 embodying the present invention
comprises a doll having a generally hollow body portion 12 and a
head 14 supported on the upper part of the body portion by a
corrugated plastic tubular neck 16. A pair of arms 18 and a pair of
legs 20 are also formed of the corrugated plastic tubing and
secured to the body portion. The corrugated tubing portions of the
doll are formed of a suitable thermoplastic material, such as
polypropylene, and are made in a novel manner which substantially
eliminates any springback of the plastic tubing and permits posing
of the doll's arms, legs and head in any of a variety of positions.
Further, the corrugations in the plastic tubing are formed so that
the tubing may be extended and compressed through a substantial
distance and will maintain the length selected. The extension or
contraction of the tubing may be along its longitudinal axis or at
angle thereto.
More particularly, and as noted in FIGS. 3-5, the corrugated
plastic tubing portions of the doll are formed or provided with
well defined annular hinge sections, designated as "x" and "y",
which afford axial movement of the individual corrugations as well
as relative angular movement therebetween. The hinge sections "x"
and "y" are formed with the characteristics of the familiar plastic
"living hinge", which permits free flexing of the two sections
joined together at each of the hinge lines, and wherein the flexing
of the plastic along the "living hinge" line increases the strength
of the plastic at the hinge line. The corrugations are formed with
sides "a" and "b" of unequal length, and compression of the
corrugated tubing causes the shorter side "b" to nest within the
longer side "a". Further, the hinge arrangement permits bending of
the corrugated tubing relative to its longitudinal axis. When the
tubing is compressed, the individual corrugations snap into a
nested relation (FIG. 3) and maintain such arrangement until a
force is applied to draw the corrugations out of their nested
positions. Consequently, the corrugated body portions will retain
any length desired between the totally compressed condition and the
totally extended condition. Similarly, when the corrugated tubing
is curved or bent to any position, within the limits defined by the
angular relationship between the long sides "a" and the short sides
"b" of the corrugated sections, the tubing will retain such bent
configuration until forces are exerted thereon to change the
configuration of the tubing.
It will be seen, therefore, that the corrugated tubing used to
provide arms, legs and a neck for the doll can be bent to pose the
doll in any of numerous positions. Further, the corrugated body
portions can be extended or contracted as desired to alter the
length of the limbs and position of the head, and such portions
will retain any selected length until altered through further
manipulations of the tubing. As noted particularly in FIGS. 2-5,
the corrugated tubing provides end sections which are readily
inserted in the openings of the doll body and head and which
provide a frictional engagement therewith to either removably
retain the connected tube and body portions together or the two can
be secured together with a suitable adhesive. In the case of the
hands 22 and feet 24, each of the latter are provided with a
conical part 26 having a reduced shoulder 28 so that the hands and
feet can be readily inserted on the end of the corrugated
tubing.
A method of forming the corrugated plastic tubing is illustrated in
FIGS.6-10 of the drawings. In the formation of the corrugated
plastic tubing, a hollow piece of thermoplastic tubing 30 of the
desired length is placed over a metal mandrel 32 having
circumferential or annular corrugations formed thereon along its
length, with the maximum outside diameter "d" (FIG. 6) of such
corrugations being preferably slightly less than the inside
diameter of the cylindrical tubing 30, so as to permit slipping of
the tubing over the mandrel. The plastic tubing 30 has a relatively
thin wall section and is of a sufficiently resilient material to
permit stretching or distortion of the tubing during formation of
the corrugations therein. In this respect, satisfactory results
have been achieved through the use of a polypropylene tubing having
a wall thickness of 0.008 inches and an inside diameter of 0.250
inches. In such example, the mandrel was provided with a series of
double bevelled, similar annular portions, each having an axial
length "1" of 0.100 inches and provided with a bevel of 20.degree.
with respect to the longitudinal axis along the length of the
annular portion and a face angle of 5.degree. relative to the
transverse axis, as illustrated in FIG. 6 of the drawings. The
maximum outside diameter was 0.240 inches at both the corrugated
and plain cylindrical portions of the mandrel. The forming block 34
was provided with transverse serrations complimentary in length,
depth and angles to the annular beveled portion on the mandrel, and
each of the transverse serrations on the forming block therefore
also have a length of 0.100 inches, with the major face 36 of the
serrations disposed at 20.degree. relative to the plane of the
block and the minor face 38 disposed at 5.degree. with respect to a
plane normal to the block.
In the formation of the corrugated tubing, the plain cylindrical
polypropylene tubing 30 was placed on the forming mandrel 32 and
heated in a preheated oven at 240.degree. F. for 15-20 minutes. The
heated mandrel with tubing was then placed on the forming block 34
with the annular beveled portions of the mandrel 32 indexed to mate
with the serrated portions of the block, and the mandrel supported
tubing was rolled back and forth across the block under manual
pressure until the tubing 30 was distorted to conform with the
beveled portions of the mandrel, as generally illustrated in FIG.
8. The mandrel 32 was then placed in axial alignment with a plane
cylindrical mandrel 40 (FIG. 9) having an outside diameter
identical with the maximum diameter of the corrugated mandrel 32,
as seen in FIG. 9, and a collar portion 42 at the upper end of the
corrugated mandrel 32 was forced downwardly to force the formed
corrugated tubing onto the plane mandrel 40 and into a collapsed
condition (FIG. 10). The collar 42 includes a set screw 44, so that
the tubing could be held in its collapsed position by tightening of
the set screw. A cylindrical cup 46 was fixed to the lower end of
the smooth mandrel 40 in order to hold the collapsed corrugated
tubing on the smooth mandrel for further processing and a metal
block 48 provided with a cylindrical recess 50 served to hold cup
46 and mandrel 40 in position during the transfer of the corrugated
tubing to mandrel 40. The collapsed corrugated tubing and mandrel
40 was then placed in a preheated oven at about 240.degree. F. for
about 15-20 minutes. After such further heating, the mandrel 40 and
corrugated tubing 30 was removed from the oven and cooled to room
temperature. The collapsed tubing was then removed from the mandrel
40 and was ready for use in the formation of the figure toy 10 or
the like.
The preheating of the plain plastic tubing 30 at the beginning of
the process conditions the polypropylene for distortion along its
length to conform with the corrugations on the mandrel 32. The
heating of the collapsed or compressed tubing, after the formation
of the corrugations, provides for a setting of the polypropylene
along the two hinged lines "x" and "y" (FIG. 8) formed during the
corrugations process. The resulting corrugated tubing was thereby
provided with two annular hinge sections "x" and "y" which perform
in the well-known manner of a "living hinge" wherein the molecular
structure of the plastic along the hinge lines increases in
strength with each longitudinal movement of the tubing portions at
opposite sides of the hinge line. Further, the described treatment
eliminates any resiliency or springback characteristic of the
polypropylene, so that the tubing will retain substantially any
axial or angular position it is placed in.
While the described structure and the formation of the corrugated
tubing served to produce the desired results, it will be apparent
that other uses might be found for the corrugated plastic tubing
and that other means might be employed to carry out the process for
forming the corrugated tubing without departing from the principles
of this invention.
* * * * *