U.S. patent number 3,699,713 [Application Number 05/199,602] was granted by the patent office on 1972-10-24 for appendage animating means for figure toys.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Mattel, Inc.. Invention is credited to J. Stephen Lewis, Jurgis Sapkus, Robert N. Sporrong.
United States Patent |
3,699,713 |
Sapkus , et al. |
October 24, 1972 |
APPENDAGE ANIMATING MEANS FOR FIGURE TOYS
Abstract
A figure toy appendage, such as an arm, is rotatably connected
to a pinion gear having a hollow hub frictionally engaged by an
appendage portion so that a rack, which is swingably mounted in the
figure toy body in driving engagement with the pinion, may be used
to swing the appendage by rotating the pinion while leaving the
appendage free to be manually swung to different posed positions by
overcoming the frictional drag between the hollow hub and the
hub-engaging appendage portion.
Inventors: |
Sapkus; Jurgis (Manhattan
Beach, CA), Lewis; J. Stephen (Pacific Palisades, CA),
Sporrong; Robert N. (Hermosa Beach, CA) |
Assignee: |
Mattel, Inc. (Hawthorne,
CA)
|
Family
ID: |
22738237 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/199,602 |
Filed: |
November 17, 1971 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
446/330 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63H
3/48 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A63H
3/00 (20060101); A63H 3/48 (20060101); A63h
011/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;46/119,142,148 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Mancene; Louis G.
Assistant Examiner: Lever; J. Q.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. In a figure toy having appendages, a body and an appendage
opening in said body, appendage animating means, comprising:
manually swingable rack means pivotally mounted in said body;
gear means engaged by said rack means for rotation thereby;
socket means rotatably mounting said gear means in said appendage
opening;
pin means rotatably connecting one of said appendages to said gear
means;
shoulder means on said one appendage, said pin means drawing said
shoulder means into frictional engagement with said socket means,
whereby said appendage will be rotated by said gear and socket
means about a first axis; and
an arcuate slot provided in said shoulder through which said pin
extends, whereby said appendage may be swung about a second axis
relative to said socket means, said second axis being generally
perpendicular to said first axis.
2. An appendage animating means as stated in claim 1 wherein said
rack means includes a push plate forming a continuation of an outer
surface of said body.
3. An appendage animating means as stated in claim 2 including
elastic means biasing said push plate to a position where said push
plate lies in the same plane as said outer surface.
4. In a figure toy having appendages, a hollow body and an
appendage opening in said body, appendage animating means,
comprising:
rack means swingably mounted in said body;
gear means engaged by said rack means for rotation thereby;
socket means rotatably mounting said gear means in said appendage
opening;
pin means rotatably connecting one of said appendages to said gear
means; and
shoulder means on said one appendage, said pin means drawing said
shoulder means into frictional engagement with said socket means,
whereby said appendage will be rotated by said gear means;
a push plate swingably mounted in said body and forming a
continuation of an outer surface of said body and means connecting
said rack means to said push plate; and
elastic means biasing said push plate to a position where said push
plate lies in the same plane as said outer surface, said body
comprising an upper torso portion and a lower torso portion, said
elastic means comprising a connector connecting said torso portions
together.
5. An appendage animating means as stated in claim 4 wherein said
appendage comprises an arm of a doll.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The background of the invention will be set forth in two parts.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention pertains generally to appendage animating means for
figure toys and more particularly to a simple, inexpensive device
for swinging a doll' s arm upon actuation of an arm-swinging
button.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
U.S. Pat. No. 2,974,440 discloses an exemplary animating means for
figure toys wherein a clown's arms may be caused to swing by
pressing buttons to pull bell cranks connected to the arms.
The present invention exemplifies improvements over appendage
animating means of this type.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the foregoing, it is a primary object of the present
invention to provide a new and useful appendage animating means for
figure toys.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an
animating means of the type described for swinging a doll's arm
upon actuation of an arm-swinging button including means for
overriding the arm-swinging means so that the doll's arm may be
manually swung to different posed positions.
According to the present invention, a doll's arm is rotatably
connected to a pinion gear having a hollow hub rotatably mounted in
an arm opening. The shoulder portion of the arm frictionally
engages the hollow hub so that the arm may be swung by rotating the
pinion gear with a rack which is swingably mounted in the doll's
torso in driving engagement with the pinion gear.
The rack is carried by a plate which comprises a portion of the
rear wall of the doll torso and which is swingably mounted in the
torso. Resilient means engage the rack-carrying rear wall portion
for biasing it into a position where it lies flush with the
remaining portion of the rear torso wall. The rack-carrying rear
wall portion may be depressed to swing the rack and rotate the
pinion gear for swinging the doll's arm. The doll's may be manually
posed by overcoming the frictional drag between the shoulder
portion and the hollow hub.
The features of the present invention which are believed to be
novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The
present invention, both as to its organization and manner of
operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof,
may best be understood by reference to the following description,
taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which like
reference characters refer to like elements in the several
views.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a front elevational view, with parts broken away to show
internal construction, of a figure toy having an appendage
animating means of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a partial, side elevational view, with parts broken away
to show internal construction, of the figure toy of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along line 3--3 of
FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is an enlarged, partial perspective view of the appendage
animating means of FIG. 1; and
FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the appendage
animating means of FIG. 1.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT:
Referring again to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1
and 2, an appendage animating means constituting a presently
preferred embodiment of the invention, generally designated 10, is
shown in combination with a figure toy 12 having a lower torso
portion 14 and an upper torso portion 16.
The lower torso portion 14 includes a front half 18 and a rear half
20 which are connected together by a plurality of pins 22, 24 and
26 on rear half 20 which engage suitable sockets (not shown) on
front half 18. Rear half 20 also carries a larger pin 28 which is
engaged in a socket 30 on front half 18.
The upper torso portion includes a front half 32 and a rear half 34
which are connected together by a plurality of pins, like the ones
shown at 36 on the front half 32, which engage sockets 38 provided
on the rear half 34.
The upper torso portion 16 includes a reduced-diameter, midrift
portion 40 engaged in the open top 42 of lower torso portion 14 and
these portions are connected together by a resilient, rubber-like
connector 44 having a headed upper end 46 engaged in an aperture 48
provided in a partition 50 disposed in the upper torso portion 16
at the base of a cylindrical neck 52. Connector 44 includes a lower
end 54 which is provided with an aperture 56 which, in turn, may be
engaged over pin 28 before it is inserted into cavity 30.
Figure toy 12 also includes a head 58 which is connected to neck 52
by a mushroom pin 60 having a head 62 seated in a cavity 64
provided at the base of head 58 and a button-connector 66 seated in
annular channel 68 provided in neck 52. Additionally, figure toy 12
includes a pair of legs 70, 72 having upper ends 74 articulately
mounted in leg openings 76 provided in the lower torso portion
14.
Upper torso portion 16 includes a pair of arm openings 78, 80 in
which arms 82, 84, respectively, are rotatably mounted by shoulder
pins 86 each having a first end 88 which carries a cross-bar, like
the one shown at 90 for arm 82, embedded in a bulbous shoulder
portion 92 thereof. Each pin 86 includes a second end 94 which is
bifurcated and which carries a head 96. Each shoulder 92 is
provided with an arcuate slot 98 through which an associated one of
the pins 86 extends so that the arms 82, 84 may be swung laterally
outwardly away from the upper torso portion 16. Shoulder portion 92
for arm 84 frictionally engages arm opening 80 and is maintained in
engagement therewith due to the tensioning of pin 86 by trapping
head 96 against a vertical web 100 affixed to the upper torso half
34.
Appendage animating means 10 includes a pinion gear 102 carried by
a boss 104 journalled in shoulder opening 78 by a flange 106
trapped in an annular channel 108 provided in upper torso portion
16. Boss 104 includes an open cylindrical portion 110 which is
frictionally engaged by shoulder 92 on arm 82 due to the force
exerted by pin 86 which passes through an aperture 112 in boss 104
and is maintained therein by head 96. Pin 86 carries a disc 114
serving as a thrust bearing for pinion gear 102.
Appendage animating means 10 also includes a rack 116 carried by an
arm 118 formed integrally with an actuating plate 120, best seen in
FIG. 4. Plate 120 is shaped to form a continuation of the rear wall
122 of upper torso portion 16 and is swingably mounted in an
opening 124 provided therein. Plate 120 carries a trunion 126
journalled in vertical plates 128, 130 on rear wall 120 and
maintained in position therein by suitable fingers, like the one
shown at 132 in FIG. 2 extending from front, upper torso half
32.
Plate 120 carries a pair of stops 134, 136 (FIG. 1) which bottom
out against rear wall 122 preventing plate 120 from passing beyond
rear wall 122 under the influence of the bias imparted by connector
44 due to its engagement with a shelf 138 extending inwardly from
plate 120.
Referring now more in particular to FIG. 3, arm 82 may be manually
swung rearwardly in the direction of arrow 140 or counterclockwise
in the direction of arrows 142 for 360.degree.of rotation by
exerting enough force to overcome the friction between shoulder 92
and boss 104, which remains stationary due to the engagement of
pinion 102 with rack 116. Thus, it will be apparent to those
skilled in the art that the appendage animating means 10 does not
interfere with the normal play value of a figure toy wherein the
child-user desires to manipulate the arms and legs to different
posed positions where the arms and legs will remain until they are
again acted upon by an outside force.
Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 5, the appendage animating means 10
may be used to cause figure toy 12 to simulate karate chops by
first manually positioning arm 82 in the raised position shown in
FIG. 4. Plate 120 may then be moved in the direction of arrow 144
overcoming the bias exerted by connector 44 and moving rack 116 to
rotate pinion gear 102 sufficiently to swing arm 82 to the broken
line position shown in FIG. 4. The individual parts of appendage
animating means 10 will then be in the position shown in solid
lines in FIG. 5 whereupon plate 120 may be released and will be
returned to the position shown in solid lines in FIG. 4 by
connector 44.
While the particular appendage animating means herein shown and
described in detail is fully capable of attaining the objects and
providing the advantages hereinbefore stated, it is to be
understood that it is merely illustrative of a presently preferred
embodiment of the invention and that no limitations are intended to
the details of construction or design herein shown and described
other than as defined in the appended claims, which form a part of
this disclosure.
* * * * *