EP0362061B1 - Soft-bodied dolls - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to dolls or similar toys such as stuffed animals, representing living beings and comprising a body and rigid or semi-rigid members generally made of a molded plastic.

These toys will be designated in the following by the term "dolls" for the sake of simplification and, of course, without limitation.

Known dolls of the genre in question can be classified into two categories, the first - to which the present invention relates - having a flexible body and the second, a rigid or semi-rigid body.

The flexible bodies of dolls of the first category are generally constituted by an envelope of fabric stuffed with fibers and their members are generally connected to the flexible body by a simple line of sewing or gluing which fulfills a role of attachment, but no role of relative support: these members then hang along the body, except in the case of a tight assembly for which they occupy with respect to the body a practically invariable position.

The object of the invention is, above all, to propose a particularly economical formula making it possible to give the members of dolls with flexible bodies positions that are both stable and easily modifiable with respect to the body.

It uses for this purpose a provision of the kind which has been proposed for certain dolls of the second category, consisting in accommodating in the rigid or semi-rigid body of such a doll an armature having protruding portions in the form of at least partial balls intended to be capped with gentle friction by shells secured to the limbs (see document CH-A-480 078).

In these dolls, the shells are positioned in well-defined openings of the body, so that the frame, not having to ensure by itself the relative positioning of these shells, can be constituted by a one-piece element molded from material plastic, including balls.

The molding of such an element is very expensive and, in any case, it would not be robust enough for a doll with flexible body.

To avoid these drawbacks, the frames in question according to the invention, intended to be embedded in the flexible body of a doll and to support in an articulated manner with gentle friction of the members of such a doll, are essentially characterized in that that they are in the form of at least one metal wire having a section of between 3 and 13 mm², said wire extending along a sinuous path which comprises a U and being capped at each of its ends by one balls.

• le parcours du fil présente la forme générale d'un oméga majuscule,
• l'armature comprend deux fils du genre ci-dessus servant chacun de support d'articulation à deux membres, l'un des deux fils étant affecté à l'articulation des deux bras et l'autre à l'articulation des deux jambes, et les deux fils sont assemblés rigidement l'un sur l'autre.

In preferred embodiments, use is also made of one and / or the other of the following arrangements:

• the route of the wire has the general shape of a capital omega,
• the armature comprises two wires of the above kind each serving as an articulation support for two members, one of the two wires being assigned to the articulation of the two arms and the other to the articulation of the two legs, and the two wires are rigidly assembled one on the other.

In what follows, a preferred embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the attached drawing, of course in a non-limiting manner.

Figure 1 of this drawing schematically shows a doll with flexible body and articulated members established according to the invention.

Figure 2 shows on a larger scale, cut portions, a component of this doll.

• un corps souple 1 composé d'une enveloppe 2, notamment en tissu, remplie par une masse ou paillasse de bourrage 3 constituée notamment en fibres synthétiques ou en ouate,
• une tête 4 liée à ce corps 1, notamment par couture ou collage,
• et quatre membres rigides ou semi-rigides, notamment en matière plastique moulée, savoir deux bras 5 et deux jambes 6.

In a manner known per se, the doll comprises:

• a flexible body 1 composed of an envelope 2, in particular made of fabric, filled with a stuffing mass or bench 3 made in particular of synthetic fibers or of cotton wool,
• a head 4 linked to this body 1, in particular by sewing or gluing,
• and four rigid or semi-rigid members, in particular of molded plastic, namely two arms 5 and two legs 6.

• à une armature ou ossature présentant la forme d'un petit haltère, c'est-à-dire composée d'une tige 7 rigide mais légèrement déformable, dont les deux extrémités portent deux boules rigides 8,
• et à deux coquilles rigides 2 propres à coiffer les boules 8 avec un léger serrage de façon à pouvoir glisser contre celles-ci avec frottement, lesdites coquilles étant rapportées respectivement sur les extrémités à articuler des deux membres 5 ou 6 concernés.

To articulate the two arms 5 and / or the two legs 6 with gentle friction relative to the body 1, recourse is had to according to the invention:

• to an armature or framework having the shape of a small dumbbell, that is to say composed of a rigid but slightly deformable rod 7, the two ends of which carry two rigid balls 8,
• and with two rigid shells 2 suitable for covering the balls 8 with a slight tightening so as to be able to slide against them with friction, said shells being attached respectively to the ends to be articulated of the two members 5 or 6 concerned.

The rod 7 is advantageously constituted by a metal wire having a cross section between 3 and 13 mm²: if it is a circular section, as is the preferred case, its diameter is therefore between 2 and 4 mm, limits included, preferably being of the order of 3 mm.

Said wire is in particular steel, but it could also be an insulated electric wire, that is to say comprising a metallic core 7 âme (FIG. 2) and a plastic sheath 7₂: by way of example , the core is made of copper, with a polyvinyl chloride sheath.

The rod 7 is long enough so that the two balls 8 which terminate it can be placed at the locations of the articulations of the arms or legs of the doll, even after deformation of the said rod along a sinuous path allowing it to be properly held in place inside bench top 3.

This length is generally between 10 and 20 cm.

The balls 8 are advantageously obtained by injection of a hard plastic material such as a polyamide and their diameter is generally between 10 and 15 mm.

They are mounted on the ends of the rod 7 in any desirable manner, in particular by overmolding or by partial introduction of said ends into complementary recesses of the balls, with in particular the interposition of a layer of adhesive.

The shells 9 are made of a plastic material which is more flexible than the balls, in particular of polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene or polypropylene.

The inner surface of the cavity of each shell 9 has the shape of a partial sphere whose diameter is equal to or very slightly less than that of the balls 8.

This cavity opens outwards at the level of a circular lip 9₁ forming a slightly constricted opening: in this way, each shell 9 can be force-fitted onto a ball 8 by means of a momentary expansion of the lip 9₁ followed immediately by its return elastic to normal shape.

After such an assembly, the position of the shell 9 relative to the overlapped ball 8 is stable, but it can be easily modified, the relative movements shell-ball being braked by friction soft of the two spherical surfaces mutually juxtaposed of these two elements.

Each shell 9 is connected to a rigid base 10 which may have come from molding with it and against which a member (5 or 6) of the headstock is attached, in particular by tight interlocking and / or gluing.

To make a doll fitted with the components described above, the procedure is as follows.

We start by folding each ball frame along a winding path such as a U or a capital omega so that the centers of the two balls of each frame are spaced apart from the desired distance and the end of the rod finished by each ball emerges, on the face, of this ball, the furthest from the member to be articulated.

Each ball is then capped by the shell 9 associated with said member 5, 6, which involves the above-mentioned snap effect with momentary elastic expansion of the corresponding lip.

Then the doll's very body is placed around each ball frame, that is to say the mass of fibers or the like constituting its bench 3 as well as the envelope 2 containing and delimiting this bench, preferably at the tight state.

Of course, the envelope 2 is hollowed out of the openings necessary to let the members 5,6 pass: the days remaining between these members and these openings are then filled in any desirable way, for example by seam or gluing lines.

The doll is then finished.

Each ball 8 of a given frame is then exactly positioned in relation to the other ball of the same frame, and the member articulated on this ball can occupy a plurality of distinct stable positions angularly offset relative to each other around the center of said ball.

The doll obtained then has both the advantages of softness, flexibility and lightness of dolls with flexible bodies and that of rigid dolls, residing in the possibility of conferring on their different members stable relative positions and easy to modify.

It should also be noted that, due to its deformability and its shaping during assembly, a given ball frame of the kind described above can be used both for the articulation of the arms and for that of the legs of the same doll and can be adapted to dolls of very different dimensions.

As a result of which, and whatever the embodiment adopted, there is finally a doll whose constitution and advantages result sufficiently from the above.

• celles ou l'une seulement des deux ossatures à boules ci-dessus décrites serait utilisée, étant affectée à l'articulation des deux bras seulement ou à celle des deux jambes seulement,
• celles où les deux boules d'une même ossature seraient affectées respectivement à l'articulation d'un bras et à celle d'une jambe,
• celles où l'une au moins des deux ossatures à boules serait déformée selon un parcours sinueux différent de ceux décrits ci-dessus, s'étendant par exemple selon un V ou selon une ligne à trois dimensions,
• celles où, la poupée considérée comprenant deux ossatures à boules du genre ci-dessus décrit, celles-ci seraient assemblées rigidement l'une sur l'autre, par exemple par torsion commune de leurs portions centrales alors juxtaposées côte à côte, ou à l'aide d'un brin de fil ou autre corps solide intermédiaire,
• et celles où le corps de la poupée contiendrait, en plus d'au moins une ossature à boules du genre décrit ci-dessus, une tige rigide supplémentaire telle que montrée en tirets en 11 sur la figure 1, une extrémité de ladite tige portant une boule rigide 12 associée comme les boules 8 ci-dessus à des moyens formant avec elle une articulation à frottement doux, cette articulation étant affectée à la tête de la poupée, et ladite tige 11 étant assemblée rigidement sur la susdite (ou les susdites) ossature(s) à boules, par exemple par des points de soudure 13.

As is obvious, and as already follows from the above, the invention is in no way limited to those of its modes of application and embodiments which have been more especially envisaged; on the contrary, it embraces all variants, in particular:

• those where only one of the two ball frameworks described above would be used, being assigned to the articulation of the two arms only or to that of the two legs only,
• those where the two balls of the same frame would be assigned respectively to the articulation of an arm and that of a leg,
• those where at least one of the two ball frameworks would be deformed according to a sinuous course different from those described above, extending for example along a V or along a three-dimensional line,
• those where, the doll considered comprising two ball frameworks of the kind described above, these would be rigidly assembled one on the other, by example by common twisting of their central portions then juxtaposed side by side, or using a strand of wire or other intermediate solid body,
• and those where the body of the doll would contain, in addition to at least a ball frame of the kind described above, an additional rigid rod as shown in dashes at 11 in Figure 1, one end of said rod carrying a rigid ball 12 associated like the balls 8 above with means forming with it a joint with soft friction, this articulation being assigned to the head of the doll, and said rod 11 being rigidly assembled on the aforesaid (or the above) framework (s) with balls, for example by solder points 13.

Claims (3)

1. Doll or similar toy comprising a body (1), rigid or semi-rigid members (5,6) and a frame embedded in the body, which frame has projecting portions in the form of at least partial balls (8) intended to be capped with an easy fit by shells (9) fast with the members, characterized in that the body (1) is flexible and in that the framework is in the form of at least one metal wire (7 ) having a section between 3 and 13 mm², said wire extending along a sinuous path comprising a U and being capped at each of its ends by one of said balls (8).
2. Doll according to claim 1, characterized in that the path of the wire (7 ) has the general shape of a capital omega.
3. Doll according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the frame comprises two wires (7 ) of the above kind, each serving as articulation support for two members, one of the two wires being assigned to the articulation of the two arms (5) and the other to the articulation of the two legs (6) and in that the two wires are assembled rigidly together.

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