US2373963A - Toy figure - Google Patents

Description

April 17, 1945 'J. L. KALLUS 'IOY FIGURE Filed June 12, 1941 INVENTOR. J0 5EP// A. 1641.405

A TTOE/VEY Patented Apr. 17, 1945 UNETED STATES PATENT OFFICE TOY FIGURE Joseph L. Kallus, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application June 12, 1941, Serial No. 397,664 1 Claim. (01. 46-173) My invention relates to toy figures such as dolls, toy animals and the like, and more particularly to jointed toy figures. having bodies and other members made of highly flexible material such as soft rubber, fabric and the like. Because of the inherent yielding or non-rigid characteristics of the soft rubber, fabric orequivalent material, considerable difiiculty has heretofore been experienced in combining the parts of the figures in a manner to provide efiicient arrangements of joints which will withstand use and permit adjustment of the various parts of the figures in a natural and lifelike manner.

The invention has for its object to provide novelconstructions in which these dificulties are overcome and in which the body of each toy figure and associated membersare connected in jointed rela tion in a simple and efiicient manner.

Other objects will appear from the description hereinafter, and the features of novelty will be pointed out'in the claim.

In the accompanying drawing, which illustrates examples of the invention without defining its limits,

Fig. 1 is afragmentary sectionalview of a doll embodying the novel features;

Fig. 2 is a detail sectional view illustrating the neck portion of the doll at one stage of construction;

Fig. 3 is a similar view of the leg and arm socket arrangement; I

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary section showing a portion of the body at the arm and leg sockets;

Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view of another form of the novel limb construction, and

Fig. 6 is a similar view of another form of th novel neck arrangement.

In the illustrated, examples of the invention, the novel features are shown as embodied in dolls having jointed or relatively movable heads,legs and arms, for which they are particularly adapted. It is to be understood, however, that the examples shown in the drawing have been selected for illustrative and'descriptive purposes only and that the novel features may be utilized with equal efiiciency in connection with other types of jointed toy figures such as toy animals, etc., and the description and claim are to be construed accordingly. I

As shown in the drawing, thedoll comprises a hollow body I!) which is constructed of soft sheet rubber or other equivalent highly flexible material, such as a suitable fabric, or the like. In the finished condition the body 10 is filled in the conrial ll customarily used for this purpose to give the desired form and effect to said body l ll. At its upper end the body I0 is formed with a continuing neck section l2 which in'its initial con- ,dition includes an integral tubular sleeve section 13 as shown in Fig.2.

The doll further includes a neck member 14 of wood or other suitable rigid material and predetermined shape; for instance, as shown, the outer surface of said member Hi may converge upwardly from a sloping annular flange IE to a rounded upper end It as'illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. The neck member I4 is provided with an upwardly open axial recess l1 and a continuing axial opening [8 which terminates at a recess I9 preferably formed in the bottom or inner end surface of said neck member I 4 as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. In the finished condition of the doll, the neck member [4 is located within the neck section l2 of the body with the tubular sleeve section i3 7 turned inwardly into the axial recess I! in surface ventional manner with any suitable filling mateengagement with the surface thereof as shown in Fig. 1. Prior to its insertion into the recess I! the tubular section l3 may becut to the proper length, if necessary, to properly fitinto said recess H. The section l3 maybe secured in the recess I! in any convenient manner as by means of a plug 20 dimensioned to fit into the recess H in a, manner to clamp the sleeve section IS in said recess I1, and provided with an axial bore 2| as illustrated in Fig. 1; The plug 20 maybe made of wood or other suitable material, and in its operative position preferably rests upon the-bottom of the recess ll withits axial bore 2|. in registry with the opening l8. Friction alone may be relied upon t fix the plug 20 in place in the recess IT to properly clamp the section l3 therein, or if desired said plug 20' may be cemented or otherwise secured in its operative position. The dolls head 22 which may be of any conventional type and material, is providedwith an opening 23 whereby said head 22 is movably mounted on the neck section I2 of the body as shown in Fig. l. The head 22 may be movably combined with the body It or specifically the neck section I2 thereof in any well-known way as by means of an elastic ban 24. In such arrangement the band 24 may have its one end connected with a cross-pin 25 located in the recess I9 of the neck member l4 and spanning the opening l8 thereof, and its other end suitably secured in the interior of the head 22 in any customary manner. As illustrated in Fig. 1, the elastic band 24 passes through the opening l8 and bore 2| of the plug or sleeve 20 to the interior of the head 22 to enable the latter to be relatively shifted in simulation of the natural movements of the human head.

In addition to the parts so far described, the body It! is provided with arm sockets 26 of circular concave form and continued in the form of preferably cylindrical sleeve sections 2! provided at their inner ends with inwardly directed annular flanges 28. Because of the inherent flexibility of the material of which the body and the integral sockets 26 are constructed, the latter are supported by interior supporting devices or reinforcing members 29 made of wood or other suitable rigid material. The supporting devices or reinforcing members 29 may be of any con: venient external form and include end faces of circular concave form corresponding to the circular concave form of the sockets26. The supporting devices or reinforcing members 29 are further provided with preferably circular recesses 3| open at the end faces 30 and communicating with axial openings 32 or relatively reduced diameters and open at the inner ends of the sup porting devices or members 28 as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3.

In the assembled condition of the parts the material of the body [6 which forms the arm sockets 26 islocatd in surface engagement with the circular concave end faces 30 of the supporting devices or reinforcing members 29 with the cylindrical sleeve sections 21 of said arm sockets 26 extending into the circular recesses 3! of said devices orrneinbers 29' in surface engagement with the walls thereof and the inwardly extending flanges 26 resting engagement with the bottoms of said recesses 3| as shown in Fig. 1. The body material comprising the arm sockets 2 6, sleeves f2! and flanges 28 is combined with the supporting devices of reinforcing members 29 by means of plugs 33 dimensioned to snugly fit into the recesses 31 in a manner to clamp the sleeve sections 2! therein and to clamp the flanges 28 against the bottoms of said recesses 3|. The plugs 33 are formed with cylindrical extensions 34 dimensioned to snugly fit into the axial openings 32 ofthe devices cr members 29 so as to be rigidly fi xed in place by frictionai engagement with the surfaces of said openings32 or by being cemerited or otherwise secured therein; preferably the extensions 34 are of less axial length than the axiallength ofth'e openings 32 as shown in Fig. 1. The p1ugs 33 in addition are formed with circular concave faces 35 corresponding to the circular 'concave form of the arm sockets 26 and forming therewitha continuous socket of circular concave form as illustrated in Fig. 1. In additionthe sleeves 33 and extensions 34 are provided with axial bores 36 opening at the concave surfaces 35 and the inner ends of said extensions 34 respectively, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. d V I The arm members 3! of the doll are constructed of soft sheet rubber or other equivalent highly flexible material such as a suitable fabric or thelike, and are hollow, said arm members in the finished condition being filled in the conventional manner with any suitable filling material 38 customarily used for this purpose to ive the desired form and effect to said-arm members 37. At their upper ,ends the arm members 37 ar routed with spherical sections 39 adapted to fit the arm sockets 26 inthe assembled condition of the doll to provide shoulder joints on which said arm members may be adjusted relatively to the body, To provide the necessary rigidity to the flexible material of which the arm members 31 are constructed, the spherical end sections 39 are internally reinforced by means of reinforcing members or supporting devices 40 illustrated in the form of spheres of wood or other suitable rigid material, The reinforcing members or supporting devices 40 are provided with inwardly directed recesses 4! open at the outer surfaces of said devices or members 40 and adapted to receive tubular or sleeve sections 42 comprising integral parts of the spherical end sections 39 of the arm members 31 and extending into the recesses 4| of the reinforcing members or supporting devices 40 in surface engagement with the walls thereof. The sleeve sections 42 are fastened in the recesses 41 by means of plugs 43 of wood or other suitable material and dimensioned to snugly fit into place in a manner to securely clamp said sleeve sections 42 in place in said recesses 4!. Friction alone may be relied upon to maintain the plugs 43 in their operative positions or said plugs 43 may be cemented or otherwise secured in place if this should be deemed necessary or desirable. The plugs 43 are provided with axial bores 44 extending through said plugs 43 and registering with axial openings 45 provided in the spherical reinforcing members or supporting devices 40, it being understood that in the assembled condition of the parts the plugs 43 preferably rest against the bottoms of the recesses 4| as shown in Fig. 1.

When combined with the body in the spherical and sections 39 of the arm members 37 are located in the arm sockets 26 in surface engagement therewith as illustrated in Fig. 1. Any suitable means may be provided for movably combining the arm members 3! with the body 16 or in other words, to movably fix the sphericm end sections 33 the arm sockets 26. As shown in Fig. 1 this means may comprise elastic bands 46 extending through the axial bores 36 or the plugs 33 and extensions'34 and into the axial bOies 44 Of the sleeves 4 3 and having their one ends connected to pins 41 lying in engagement with the end faces of the extensions 34. The other ehds or said elastic bands 46 as shown ma be connected with the hooked ends of fastening pins '48 extending through the axia1 Openings 45 of the reinforcing members or su porting devices 40 and having heads 49 preferably located in recesses 50 formed therein as illustrated in Fig. 1. At the proper points the body [0 may further be provided with leg sockets '51 of circular concave form and continued the form of preferably cylindrical sleeve sections '52 provided at their inner ends with inwardly directed annular flanges 53. Reinforcing members or supporting devices 54 corresponding to the members or devi'ces 2'9 and likewise made of wood or other suitable rigid material serve -'to rigidly support the leg sockets 5'] in a manner-similar to that previously described with respect to the arm sockets 26. The supporting devices or reinforcing members 54 may be 'of any convenient external form and include end surfaces 55 of circular concave form corresponding to the circular concave form of the leg sockets '5l. 'The supporting devices or reinforcing members 54 are further provided with preferably circular recesses 56 for the accom modation of the sleeve sections 52 and Tfianges 53, it being understood that the sleeve sections 52 are located 'in surface engagement with the walls of the recesses :56 while the fiangesYSB are in engagement -with the bottoms thereof as illustrated in Fig. i. I i

"The booymateriai cinpris'ing the leg sockets the supporting devices or reinforcing members 54 .by means of a plug 51 dimensioned to snugly fit into the recesses 56 in a manner to clampthe sleeve sections 52 therein and to clamp the flanges 53 against the bottoms of said recesses 56. The lugs 51 are formed with cylindrical extensions 58 dimensioned t snuglyfit into the axial openings 59 with which the reinforcing members 54 are provided as shown in Fig. 1 so as to be rigidly fixed in place by frictional engagement with the surfaces of the openings 59 or by being cemented or otherwise secured therein; the extensions 58 are preferably also of less axial length than the axial length of the openings 59 as illustrated'in Fig. 1'. The plugs 51 in additionare formed with circular concave faces 60 corresponding to the circular concave form of the leg sockets 5| and forming therewith a continuous socket of circular concave form as shown in Fig. 1. The plugs 51 and extensions 58 in addition include axial bores 6| opening at the concave surfaces 6|] and the inner ends of said extensions 58 in a manner 51and extensions 58 and into the axial bores 69 of the sleeve 68. The bandss'H may have their through the axial openings 18 of thereinforcing members 55, said pins 13 preferably having heads 14 located in recesses 15 with which said reinforcing members-65 are provided.

The sockets for the arm and leg members may be provided in the body ||l in any convenient manner; for instance, the body material may be similar to that previously described with respect to the arm sockets.

The leg members 62 are constructed of soft sheet rubber or'other equivalent highly flexible material such as a suitable fabric or the like, and are hollow and filled in the conventional manner with any suitable filling material 83 customarily used for this purpose, to give the desired form and effect to said leg membersBZ. At their upper ends the leg members 62 are formed with spherical sections 84 adapted to fit the leg sockets 5| i the assembled condition of the doll to provide joints on whichsaid leg members may be adjusted relatively to the body. As in the arm members 31 the necessary rigidity is provided for the spherical end sections (54 by means of reinforcing members or supporting devices 55 illustrated in the form of spheres of wood or other suitable rigid material.

The members 65 are provided with inwardly directed open ended recesses 65 adapted to receive tubular or sleeve sections 61 comprising integral parts of the spherical end sections 64 of the leg members 62 and extending into the recesses 56 in surface engagement with the walls thereof. The sleeve sections 61 are fastened in the recesses 66 by means of plugs 58 of wood or other suitable material dimensioned to snugly fit into place in a manner to securely clamp said sleeve sections 61 in place in the recesses 66. Friction alone may be relied upon to maintain the plugs 58 in their operative positions, or said plugs 68 may be cemented or otherwise secured in place if this should be deemed necessary or desinable. The

plugs 58 are provided with axial bores 59 extending through said plugs 68 and registering with axial openings 18 provided in the spherical reinforcing members 65, it being understood that in the assembled condition of the parts the plugs 68 preferably rest against the bottoms of the remolded to form the sockets 255 the sleeve sections 2|--52, and the flanges 2853 as indicated by solid lines in Fig. 4, or the body material may be molded in the manner indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 4, and then inverted into the body Ill to properly provide the limb sockets and their associated elements; as shown in Fig. 3 the limb sockets may be produced by molding and in their initial condition may include outwardly projecting tubular sections a, which subsequently may be cut to proper length to provide the sleeve seccable with equal efficiency to the leg members;

the description accordingly is to be construed as covering both the arm members and the leg members. The arm members Sl in the form under discussion are made of soft sheet rubber orother equivalent highly flexible material, such as a suitable fabric or the like, and are hollow and filled in the conventional manner with any suite able filling material 38%. At their upper ends the arm members 37 are formed with curved sections 39 and continuing tubular or sleeve sections 42*. Means whereby the necessary rigidity is given to the sections 38 comprises approximately hemispherical supporting; devices W made of wood or other suitable rigid material. The members l!) are provided with inwardly directed recesses 4P into which the sections 42*- extend so as to lie in surface engagement with the walls less universal movements relatively to the body l0. 1

Any suitable means may be provided for maintaining the leg members 62 in movable connection with the body ID, or, in other words, to movably fix the spherical end sections 64 in the leg sockets 5|. As in the case of the arm members this means may comprise elastic bands 1| extendingthrough the axial bores 6| of the plugs vided with cylindrical extensions 'l'l dimensioned to fit into the recesses 4| in a manner to securely clamp the. sleevesections 42 in place therein. The plugs, orbearing members 16 include axial bores 18 and are provided exteriorly with bearing surfaces 18 curved in a manner to properly lit the limb sockets previously described herein;

When combined with the bodies of the toy figures, the bearing members 16 are seated in the co-operating sockets with the surfaces 19 in engagement with the surfaces of said sockets. Any suitable means may be provided for maintaining the limb members in place in said socket-s. For instance, as shown in Fig. 5, the members ill may be provided with openings and con-,

necting surface recesses 8| for the accommodation of metallic or other loops 82, as shown in ends 01 elastic. bands, a; respectively. That is to say, one end of a given elastic band 84 may be connected with the hook 83 of one. limb. its

other end may be connected with the hook. 3. of

the opposite corresponding limb member. Obvi- -ously this is only an example. of the means for maintaining the parts an assembled condition and is not in any sense intended to define the only way in which this may bedone. e

In Fig. 6 I have shown another form of novel neck construction which maybe substituted for the arrangement illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, and which comprises a neck member or sleeve M. of wood or other suitable material provided atone end with a sloping annular flange fli at its other end the member or sleeve HI is formed with a preferably fiat end face Ili An axial bore or recess ll extends through the member or sleeve M from the end face 15 thereof to a recess 19 formed in the bottom or inner end face of the neck member or sleeve hi as illustrated in Fig. 6.

The neck member or sleeve- M in the assembled condition of the parts, is located within the neck section l2 of the body in interior surface engagement with said neck section w as shown. The latter, in other words, extendsover said neck sleeve I l and is turned inwardly to form an inwardly directed annular flange l3 which extends over the end face 16 of said neck sleeve N in surface contact therewith.

The material of the neck section I2 is clamped on the sleeve or member M by means of abearing member 2i) which projects over the end face it and includes a tubular extension 26 dimensioned to snugly fit into the bore or recess Il of the sleeve or member H. In its operative position the bearing member 20 engages-the flange l 3*- of the neck section 12 and clamps it in place against the end face l6 of the sleeve or member M and is fixed in clamping position by the extension 29 in the bore U In some instances the flange la of the neck section i2 may be continued into the bore ll in surface engagement with the wall thereof so as to be engaged and clamped in said bore H by the tubular extension 26) as will be obvious.

In any case the bearing member 26 is provided with 2. preferably curved bearing surface 20 on which the head 22* is movably' mounted. Any suitable means, for instance as shown in Fig 1 and described hereinbefore, may be provided for movably maintaining the head 22 in place on said bearing member 20,.

While I have. described the various novel features specifically in connection with a toy doll, it. will be. obvious that they may be incorporated with equal efiiciency in othertoy figures such as. toy animals in such manner that said toy figures, will very closely approximat the originals of which said figures are. copies. In all forms the toy figures accordingly present. not only a most natural appearance, but embody characteristics closely simulating those of the human or animal bodies constituting the originals of the toy bodies in question.

Although the present. invention has been described in conjunction with preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that modifications and variations may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, as thoseskilled in the art will readily understand. Such variations. and: modifications. are considered to be within the purview and scope of the claim.

I claim:

In a toy figure, a rigid reinforcing member provided with an end surface of circular concave form and having anannular recess open at said end surface, and an axial opening extending from said annular recess, a body of highly flexible' material having an integral circular concave portion lying in surface engagement with the concave end surface of said reinforcingmember to constitute a limb socket on said body, a sleeve section forming an integral extension of said concave portion of said body material projecting' into saidannular recess in surface contact with the wall thereof, an annular inwardly directed flange forming an integral part of said sleeve section and resting in engagement with the bottom of said recess, a plug fitted into said recess for clamping said sleeve section and annular flange therein and provided'with a circular concave face forming together with the circular concave, portion of said body material said limb socket, and an extension projecting from said plug into said axial opening in frietional engagement, with the wall thereof to fix said plug in its operative position.

JQSEPH L. KAILUS.

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