DK2484417T3

DK2484417T3 - Figure toys

Info

Publication number: DK2484417T3
Application number: DK12152204.9T
Authority: DK
Inventors: Goran Kvesic
Original assignee: Bruder Spielwaren Gmbh & Co Kg
Priority date: 2011-02-02
Filing date: 2012-01-24
Publication date: 2015-10-26
Also published as: EP2484417B1; PL2484417T3; EP2484417A2; EP2484417A3; HUE025254T2; ES2544927T3; DE202011002298U1

Description

1

Description

The invention relates to a toy figure. A toy figure according to the preamble of claim 1 is known from WO 02/11844 A1. Further toy figures are, for example, known from US 4 995 846 and from US 2002/0 127 949 A1.

An object of the present invention is to provide toy figures, which, on the one hand, allow movement possibilities true to nature of the limbs, and which, on the other hand, are also as safe as possible for comparatively small children to play with.

This object is achieved according to the invention by a toy figure having the features disclosed in claim 1.

It was recognised according to the invention that a joint element connection by means of leg holding portions leads, on the one hand, to the possibility of manufacturing the leg portions separately and then assembling them, but, on the other hand, also ensures a stability of the toy figure with good mobility. A positive connection of the leg holding portions according to claim 2 ensures a secure connection of the two leg holding portions to one another. The positive connection can be implemented by configuring one of the two leg holding portions as a dovetail holding portion and the other of the two leg holding portions as a counter-holding portion complementary thereto. A dovetail connection of this type ensures a stable connection of the two leg holding portions to one another. Another positive connection of the leg holding portions to one another is also possible, for example a connection in the manner of a push button. A latching device according to claim 3 ensures a secure fixing of the mutually connected leg portions to the hip portion with simple assembly. 2

Formed-on latching projections according to claim 4 can be economically produced.

Latching projections arranged opposing one another according to claim 5 allow a force-secured configuration of the latching device, which fixes the leg portions to the hip portion. A design is possible, in which as soon as, owing to a leg joint movement, one of the latching projections lifts from the counter-latching body, the counter-latching body is pressed against the other, opposing latching projection. The latching device, which fixes the leg portions on the hip portion, can have a plurality of mutually opposing pairs of latching projections. This plurality of latching projection pairs may be formed in one piece on the leg holding portions.

The toy figure may have a head part, which is connected by a neck joint to a trunk portion of a body. A neck-side neck joint body of the head part can be clamped here between at least two joint counter-walls of the trunk portion, on which the neck joint body rests by means of surface portions. A head part of this type with a neck-side joint body clamped between joint counter-walls of the trunk portion provides a simple possibility of fixing a respective predetermined relative position of the head part with respect to the trunk portion by means of a frictional engagement. The frictional engagement is produced by a prestressing of the joint counter-walls in relation to one another.

The neck joint body may have at least one convex surface portion. At least one convex surface portion of this type ensures a defined abutment of the neck joint body on the joint counter-walls.

The same applies to an abutment pin region, which the neck joint body may have.

The trunk portion may be multi-part and have a chest-side trunk lower portion and a back trunk lower portion, each of the trunk lower portions being able to have at least one of the joint counter-walls, on which the neck joint body rests. 3

With such a multi-part design of the trunk portion, an additional prestressing of the neck joint can be produced by a pretensioning between the two trunk portions. A nodding stop for the neck joint and pivoting stops for the neck joint, which can be provided, ensure realistic limitations of the head movements of the toy figure.

The two trunk lower portions may be latched to one another on the neck side. A latching connection of this type of the two trunk lower portions allows a secure connection of these two trunk portions. In addition, a defined predetermination of a prestressing of the joint counter-walls of the neck joint is possible.

The two trunk lower portions may be inserted in the hip portion on the hip side. A plug connection of this type of the trunk lower portions to the hip portion is simple. A configuration of figure parts as multi-component injection moulded parts according to claim 6 produces new degrees of freedom in the design of the toy figure. Figure parts can be provided with joints, which can be produced directly during the injection moulding process, in other words do not have to be assembled retrospectively. Examples of toy figure joints of this type are elbow joints and knee joints. Colour differentiations are also possible by means of the multi-component injection moulding. In addition it is possible to manufacture highly stressed components, for example joint components, from correspondingly wear-resistant plastics materials, whereas other components of the same figure part can be manufactured from less wear-resistant material.

Embodiments of the invention will be described in more detail below with the aid of the drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a toy figure; 4

Fig. 2 shows the toy figure according to Fig. 1 in an exploded view, in which a trunk portion of a body is separated from a hip portion of the body;

Fig. 3 shows a front view of the toy figure according to Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 shows a section along the line IV-IV in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 shows a detailed enlargement of the detail V in Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 shows a side view of the toy figure with the arms removed;

Fig. 7 shows a section along the line VII-VII in Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 shows the detail VIII in Fig. 7, enlarged;

Fig. 9 shows an exploded view of the trunk portion and the head and the arms of the toy figure according to Fig. 1;

Fig. 10 shows the detail X in Fig. 4, enlarged;

Fig. 11 shows a section along the line XI-XI in Fig. 3;

Fig. 12 shows the detail XII in Fig. 11, enlarged;

Fig. 13 shows a nodding position of the head relative to the trunk portion in a view similar to Fig, 10;

Fig. 14 shows a pivoting position of the head relative to the trunk portion “looking over the left-hand shoulder” in a view similar to Fig. 12;

Fig. 15 shows the two leg portions of the toy figure according to Fig. 1 in an assembled position; 5

Fig. 16 shows a plan view of the leg portions in the position according to Fig. 15;

Fig. 17 shows a section along the line XVII-XVII in Fig. 15;

Fig. 18 shows a front view of the leg portions, inserted in the hip portion of the body;

Fig. 19 shows a section along the line XIX-XIX in Fig. 18;

Fig. 20 shows a section along the line XX-XX in Fig. 18;

Fig. 21 shows a plan view of the toy figure structural component according to Fig. 18;

Fig. 22 shows a section along the line XXII-XXII in Fig. 21;

Fig. 23 shows a section along the line XXIII-XXIII in Fig. 21;

Fig. 24 to 27 show exploded views, which show an assembly sequence of the structural component according to Fig. 18 including a toy figure belt;

Fig. 28 perspectively shows a further configuration of a toy figure;

Fig. 29 shows a front view of a trunk portion of the toy figure according to Fig. 28;

Fig. 30 shows a section along the line XXX-XXX in Fig. 29;

Fig 31 shows the detail XXXI in Fig. 30, enlarged;

Fig. 32 shows a nodding position of the head relative to the trunk portion in a view similar to Fig. 28; 6

Fig. 33 shows a detailed enlargement of a section along the line XXXIII-XXXIII in the region of a head/trunk transition;

Fig. 34 perspectively shows the head part of the toy figure according to Fig. 28;

Fig. 35 shows the trunk of the toy figure according to Fig. 28 in a front view with the head in the position “looking over the left-hand shoulder”; and

Fig. 36 shows a detail along the line XXXVI-XXXVI in Fig. 35, enlarged.

Figs. 1 to 27 show a configuration of a toy figure 1 produced in total from plastics material. The toy figure 1 has a head part 2, which is connected by a neck joint 3 to a trunk portion 4 of a body 5 of the toy figure 1. The trunk portion 4 is connected by a latching/plug connection with latching elements 6 and plug elements 7 to a hip portion 8 of the body 5. The latching elements 6 are formed in one piece on the hip portion 8. The plug elements 7 are formed in one piece on the trunk portion 4.

In the shoulder region, arm joint balls 9, which, with correspondingly complementarily formed joint sockets, form shoulder joints of the toy figure 1, are formed on the trunk portion 4. The joint sockets are part of arms 10 of the toy figure. Each of the arms 10 has an upper arm portion and a lower arm portion, which are connected to one another in an articulated manner by an elbow joint 11. The arms 10 are multi-component injection moulded parts, the upper arm portions being injection moulded from a different plastics material than the lower arm portions. The elbow joints 11 are formed during the injection moulding. It is therefore not necessary to assemble the arms. A joint carrier 12 is formed on each of the arm joint balls 9 (cf. Fig 9).

Fig. 9 illustrates the component structure of the trunk portion 4. Apart from the head part 2 and the two joint carriers 12 with the arm joint balls 9, said trunk portion has a chest part 13 and a back part 14. The chest part 13 is a chest-side 7 trunk lower portion of the toy figure 1. The back part 14 is a back trunk lower portion of the toy figure 1. A neck-side neck joint body 15, which has the plurality of convex surface portions 16, 17 and 18, which are visible in the sectional view according to Fig. 10, belongs to the neck joint 3. The surface portions 16 to 18 of the neck joint body 15 are clamped between a total of three joint counter-walls 19, 20 and 21 of the trunk portion 4. The joint counter-wall 19 is an integral component of the chest part 13. The joint counter-walls 20, 21, are integral components of the back part 14. The prestressing of the neck joint body 15 between the joint counter-walls 19 to 21 is such that between the neck joint body 15 and the joint counter-walls 19 to 21 there is a frictional engagement, which, on the one hand, ensures a mobility of the head part 2 relative to the trunk portion 4 and, on the other hand, ensures that the head part 2 remains in a predetermined relative position with respect to the trunk portion 4.

Fig. 10 shows the neck joint 3 in a position “head placed upright” of the head part 2 relative to the trunk portion 4. Fig. 13 shows the neck joint 3 in a nodding position of the head part 2 with respect to the trunk portion 4. In this nodding position, a nodding stop 22, which is provided adjacent to the convex surface portion 16 on the neck joint body 15, cooperates with a counter-stop 23 on the end face of the joint counter-wall 21. A further, rear nodding stop 24 is provided in the nodding position to cooperate with a counter-recess 25 in the joint counter-wall 20. The rear nodding stop 24 simultaneously has the function of a pivoting counter-stop to limit a maximum head pivoting angle of the toy figure 1 relative to the trunk portion 4.

The two trunk lower portions 13, 14 are latched together on the neck side, as also emerges by way of example from Fig. 10. A latching lug 26 of the chest part 13 engages behind a latching rib 17 of the back part 14 here. The latching rib 27 is resiliently formed such that in order to introduce the latching lug 26 during the latching of the chest part 13 to the back part 14, it can initially resiliently move away downwardly. 8

On the hip side, the two trunk lower portions 13, 14 are inserted in the hip portion 8, as shown in Fig. 5. One of the plug elements 7 on the chest side, which is formed in one piece on the chest part 13, is inserted in the hip portion. A belt part 28 of the toy figure 1 is arranged at the level of the chest part plug element 7 on the visible side between the chest part 13 and the hip portion 8. The further plug element 7 on the back is formed on the back part 14 and inserted in the belt part 28.

The latching elements 6, which are latched to counter-latching elements 29, which are formed in one piece on the back part 14, are used to fix the trunk portion 4 inserted in the hip portion 8.

Fig. 12, in a section, shows the neck joint body 15 in a head pivoting position “looking forward”. Fig. 14 shows the neck joint body 15 in a head pivoting position “looking over the left-hand shoulder”. In this head pivoting position, the pivoting counter-stop 24 rests on a pivoting stop 30, which is an integral component of the chest part 13. A further pivoting stop 31 for limiting the head pivoting angle when looking over the right-hand shoulder is arranged mirror-symmetrically to the pivoting stop 30 for looking over the left-hand shoulder. The pivoting stop 31 is also an integral component of the chest part 13.

The toy figure 1 has two leg portions 32, 33, which are connected by leg ball joints 34, 35 to the hip portion 8 of the body 5. The leg portions 32, 33 in each case have a knee joint. The leg portions 32, 33 are multi-component injection moulded parts, which do not have to be assembled after production by injection moulding, but are the direct result of the injection moulding process in the multipart configuration shown.

Each of the leg ball joints 34, 35 has a leg joint ball 36, 37. The leg joint ball 36 is mounted in a joint socket 38 of the leg portion 32. The leg joint ball 37 is mounted in a joint socket 39 of the leg portion 33. The leg joint balls 36, 37 are joint elements of the leg ball joints 34, 35. The joint sockets 38, 39 are counter- 9 joint elements of the leg portions 32, 33. A leg holding portion 40 for the right-hand leg portion 32 of the toy figure 1 is formed in one piece on the joint ball 36. A leg holding portion 41 for the leg portion for the left-hand leg of the toy figure 1 is formed in one piece on the leg joint ball 37. The two joint balls 36, 37 are releaseably connected to one another by the two leg holding portions 40, 41. In the toy figure 1, a “thigh joint” is formed the other way round to in real people with regard to the arrangement of the joint ball and joint socket. Instead of a thigh neck, the toy figure 1 has the joint sockets 38, 39. Instead of a pelvic girdle, the toy figure 1 has the two leg joint balls 36, 37 connected to one another by the leg holding portions 40, 41.

It becomes clear from Figs. 16 and 17 that the leg holding portion 41 is configured as a dovetail holding portion and that the leg holding portion 40 is configured as a counter-holding portion that is complementary thereto. A dovetail profile 42 of the leg holding portion 41 runs vertically when the toy figure 1 is standing.

The leg holding portions 40, 41, and therefore the leg portions 32, 33, are fixed by a latching device 43 on the hip portion 8 and secured against sliding out.

Latching projections 44, which are part of the latching device 43, are formed in one piece on the leg holding portions 40, 41. The latching projections 44 of the two leg holding portions 40, 41 are arranged opposing one another. A counterlatching body 45 of the latching device 43, which is formed in one piece on the hip portion 8, is arranged between the two latching projections 44. The two latching projections 44 engage behind counter-latching steps 46 of the counterlatching body 45.

As emerges from Fig. 17, the leg holding portions 40, 41 in each case have two pairs of mutually opposing latching projections 44, which cooperate in a latching manner on the chest side and back with respective portions 45a, 45b therebetween of the counter-latching body 45. 10

The counter-latching body 45, respectively facing the leg holding portion 40, on the one hand, and the leg holding portion 41, on the other hand, has two dovetail profiles 47 of its own, which, for the secure connection of the hip portion 8 to the holding potions 40, 41, cooperate with complementary counter-5 guides of the leg holding portions 40, 41 to form two further dovetail connections. The dovetail connections, which are produced with the dovetail profiles 47 between the hip portion 8 and the leg holding portions 40, 41, in the standing toy figure 1, are arranged above the dovetail connection by the dovetail profile 42 directly between the two leg holding portions 40, 41. This ) becomes clear from the plan view according to Fig. 16, which shows the two leg portions 32, 33 assembled by the dovetail connection with the dovetail profile 42, the dovetail counter-recesses for the as yet uninserted dovetail profiles 47 of the hip portion 8 also being visible. Fig. 21, in a corresponding view, shows a structural component with the two leg portions 32, 33 and the positioned hip 5 portion 8 together with the belt part 28. A forced securing is produced by the pairs of latching projections 44 and the counter-latching body 45 located in between during the movement of the thigh parts of the leg portions 32, 33 relative to the body 5 by means of the leg ball ) joints 34, 35. As soon as one of the latching projections 44 lifts from the counter-latching body 45 owing to a joint movement of the leg ball joints 34, 35, the counter-latching body 45 is forcibly pressed as a result against the opposing, other latching projection 44. This ensures that the two leg portions 32, 33 remain fixed on the hip portion 8.

Figs. 24 to 27 illustrate an assembly sequence during the assembly of the structural component, which consists of the leg portions 32, 33, the hip portion 8 and the belt part 28. Firstly, the two leg portions 32, 33 are connected to one another by the dovetail connection with the dovetail profile 42. The hip portion 8 ) is then inserted from above into the dovetail connections with the dovetail profiles 47 and latched to the leg portions 32, 33 by the latching device 43. The belt part 28 is then plugged from above onto the hip portion 8. 11 A further configuration of a toy figure 48 will be described below with the aid of Figs. 28 to 36. Components, which correspond to those, which have already been described above with reference to the toy figure 1 according to Figs. 1 to 27, have the same reference numerals and will not be discussed again in detail. A joint body 49 on the neck side in the toy figure 48 has a two-part, convex abutment pin region 50, which, as Fig. 34 illustrates, has two opposing pin portions 50a, 50b on the right and left of the neck joint body 49. The neck joint body 49 rests by means of a convex surface portion 51 of the abutment pin region 50 on the joint counter-wall 21 of the back part 14. The abutment pin regions 50a, 50b simultaneously have the function of a pivoting counter-stop to limit a head pivoting angle. This function is shown in Fig. 36 in the head position “looking over the left-hand shoulder” of the toy figure 48. The two abutment pin regions 50a, 50b cooperate as pivoting counter-stops with a stop rib 52 of the trunk portion 4 of the toy figure 48.

Claims

1

A toy figure (1; 48) with a corpus (5), with two leg sections (32, 33), which is connected via a bone-ball joint (34, 35) to a hip section (8) of the corpus (5) , characterized in that some articulated joints (36, 37) in the leg-ball joints (34, 35) in the two leg sections (32, 33) - and which are housed in counter-articulated joints (38, 39) in legs - the sections (32, 33) - are connected to each other by means of leg-holding sections (40, 41) formed integrally with the joint members (36, 37).

Toy figure according to claim 1, characterized in that the two leg-holding portions (40, 41) are connected in shape to each other.

Toy figure according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the leg sections (32, 33) are fixed to a hip section (8) by means of an adjusting device (43) and secured against being able to slide out from here.

Toy figure according to claim 3, characterized in that some of the projections (44), which are part of the device (43), are formed integrally with the leg holding portions (40, 41).

A toy figure according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that some frame projections (44) are arranged so that they are opposite one another and that a counter-frame body (45) in the frame device (43) - and which is formed in one with the hip section (8) - is arranged between the two opposite projecting projections (44).

Toy figure according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that a number of figure parts (10, 32, 33) are made as multi-component injection molding parts.