GB2155344A - Toys - Google Patents

Abstract

A toy, especially a doll, is made by folding or rolling up glued strips of paper to form hollow tubes e.g. 1, 8, 60, 65, and securing the tubes together with loops 22 of material (e.g. stretch nylon) which pass down the centres of the tubes to be temporarily held at 23, for example. The free ends of the loops 22 may be formed into hands, feet. A head comprises a wooden bead, not shown. The toy may be a marionette, with the control threads incorporated in the tubes, or a stick puppet (Figures 13, 14 not shown) or a chair (Figure 15 not shown) or jewellery. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Toys The present invention relates to toys and more particularly to a kit for making toys and the method by which the toys are made.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a toy comprising a plurality of elongate tubular members connected together by thread members passing along their central passages, the tubular members being made from respective strips which are folded up.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a kit of parts for making one or more toys in the form of dolls, marionettes and/or puppets comprising: (i) one or more paper blanks for making tubular members to define at least some of the arms, legs, body portion and hip-joint of the toys, and one or more of the following: (ii) a paper blank containing shapes defining discs to cover the ends of the hip-joint tubes (where provided) and/or shoes; (iii) one or more head-defining wooden beads; (iv) one or more pieces of fabric; (v) one or more clothes patterns for use with the fabric; and (vi) full instructions for assembly of the toy.

According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of making a tubular member from a strip of material comprising a first fold line adjacent one end and a second fold line between the first fold line and said end, wherein the strip is folded about the first fold line to define a flap portion, glue is applied to the surface of the strip between the first fold line and the remote end of the strip, the flap portion is glued down, the strip is folded about the second fold line to define a rectangular portion, and is then folded about the inner edge of the rectangular portion, and repeated folding is effected until the end of the strip is reached.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which; Figures 1 and 2 shows blanks from which parts of the toy, in this case a doll, are produced; Figures 3 to 6 show steps in a method of producing a tube from one of the strips of the blanks shown in Figs. 1 and 2; Figure 7 illustrates how the tubes are joined together; Figure 8 shows a foot of the doll; Figure 9 shows the body of the doll; Figure 10 shows the arms of the doll; Figures 11 and 12 show the completed doll; Figures 13 and 14 show steps in a method of attaching a piece of fabric to a strip; Figure 15 shows an alternative manner in which tubes may be joined together; Figure 16 shows a step in a method of producing a tube for a doll in which the tubes are joined together in a further manner;; Figures 17 and 18 show a stick puppet according to the present invention; and Figure 19 illustrates a chair in accordance with the present invention.

Referring now to the drawings, Figure 1 shows a paper blank 40 divided into eight strips 1 to 8. The layout is used to make a doll with strip 1 corresponding to the doll's body, strips 2 and 3 forming the knee caps, strips 4 and 5 corresponding to the upper legs, strips 6 and 7 corresponding to the lower legs and strip 8 corresponding to the hipjoint. Figure 2 shows a second paper blank 41 arranged to be cut into four short strips 9 to 12, with strips 9 and 11 corresponding to the upper arms and strips 10 and 12 corresponding to the lower arms.

To make a doll, all the strips 1 to 12 are treated in the same way, so only the treatment of strip 1 will be described in detail. As shown in Figure 1 strip 1 has a surface printed with dotted lines 44, 45 at one end which define regions 42 and 43. At the other end a dotted line 47 defines a larger region 48. Region 48, which is the only part of the strip left visible when the doll is completed is provided with an attractive surface pattern. Strip 1 is cut off from the rest of the blank 40 and folded or rolled up to form a hollow tube as follows. The printed side is placed face down onto the working surface (Fig.4) and a fold is made along line 45 (Fig.5)so that a section 16 is produced comprising regions 42 and 43. A line of glue 17 is then applied to the upper surface of the strip 1 right up to the fold along line 45 and the folded section 16 is glued down.A fold 18 is then made along line 44 to form the centre of the tube, and the centre thus formed is then folded along the edge 48 thereof.

Repeated folding along the strip 1 follows until the strip is consumed. Before it is dry, the application of pressure with the fingers to the flat structure 13, Fig.3, opens it out as shown at 14 and further manipulation produces the tubular shape shown at 15. The inside of the tube is free of glue.

The resulting tube 15, having repeated layers of glue and paper, is hard when dry, thus giving strength to the tube. To ensure that it is smooth, a knitting needle or the prong of a fork may be inserted into the centre of the tube.

When dry the tubes formed by strips 1 to 8 are threaded together so as to provide the doll with movement control. The joints illustrated in Fig.7 at 19, 20 and 21 have a double action so that there is an up and down movement in addition to a rotating movement. This enables the doll to sit and stand without support, turn from the waist, sit with crossed legs or turn the feet. The completed doll 50 is illustrated in Figs. 11 and 12.

The threading is done with a suitable material such as string or, preferably, an elastic material such as stretch nylon. It has been found convenient to use strips of nylon cut from old pairs of tights. A loop is formed in the nylon material and the free ends may temporarily be attached to each other, e.g. by sewing. The looped end, such as 22 is then placed around the hip joint 8, the double thickness of nylon is then pulled through the tubes and has the ends temporarily held in place by a cut slit 23. Knots are made to hold the joints while in movement. The ends are tied, neatened and stitched. In the doll's body tube this gives the tube added bulk. The knots 24 form the shoes at the end of the tube legs. A shoe sole 25 of card is glued in place. This enables the doll to stand without support.

The portions constituting the knees are formed in one of two ways: a first, preferred, way is shown on the left leg in Fig. 7 and an alternative way is shown on the right leg. Of course in practice the knees of a single doll would be formed in the same way. The left knee comprises a tube 60 made from strip 2 which since regions 42a, 43a are wider than the corresponding regions of strip 1, is of larger diameter than the tube made from strip 4 defining the upper leg. Tube 60 is placed around the upper leg portion and adhered thereto. A substantially square cut-out 61 is provided at the back of the tube 60 behind the joint between the upper and lower leg portions, with the top of the cut-out being just below the joint.

The right knee is constructed by cutting a slit 66 along the entire length of the tube 65. The edges of slit 66 are connected to each other by flexible adhesive tape. The tube 65 is secured around the upper leg portion by glue and/or further adhesive tape. In view of the presence of slit 66, the regions 42a, 43a of the strip defining tube 65 may be of the same width as regions 42, 43 of strip 1.

An advantage of the above described knee portions is that they serve to control movement of the leg portions. Thus they prevent the legs from collapsing when the doll is standing without support, and guide movement of the lower leg when this flexes relative to the upper leg.

The hip tube 8 is filled with nylon and glue and then has cardboard discs 28 secured to the ends thereof. Discs 28 have a larger diameter than the tube 8 so as to prevent the nylon loops stripping off.

Additional pieces of material 71 and 72 are then stitched to the doll to build up a body portion 70.

The upper arm portion 29 has a V-shaped cut-out 81 which, when the arm has been threaded with nylon material, produces a natural bend in the arm. The cut-out 81 also permits movement of the joint. Nylon material 82 projecting at the lower end of the arm is knotted, folded and stitched up to resemble a hand. A fabric sleeve 30 is then sewn to the arm and the combined arm and sleeve is then attached to body portion 70. The body portion 70 may be provided with a garment 83 of fabric before or after attachment of the arms and sleeves.

The doll's head is made from a wooden bead 90.

It is attached to the body by means of a used match which is covered with nylon and glue and inserted into the hole in the bead 90 and into the end of tube 1. The remaining cavity at the top of the bead is filled with a mixture of soft paper and glue and the features are drawn with a ball-point and/or a marker pen. Wool and/or enamel paint may be additionally or alternatively used.

An advantage of the above described doll is that it is easily made from cheap and readily-available materials. It can perform many natural movements such as sitting, standing and turning from the waist and can stand up freely without additional support.

An advantage of the above described method of folding the strip is that it produces hard and compact tubes with great accuracy. The disadvantages of rolled tubes, i.e. air pockets and slippage of adjacent turns, are avoided.

Preferably the necessary doll-making items are sold as a model-making kit comprising: (i) paper blanks for making the tubes for three dolls viz. a mother, a father and a child doll; (ii) a paper blank for glueing to a piece of thin card to form the hip-discs 28 and shoes 25; (iii) three wooden beads (for the heads) (iv) pieces of fabric to make the clothes; (v) paper patterns to assist in making the clothes; (vi) full instructions for assembly.

The remaining items for making the dolls are found around the home and do not need to be included in the kit. These are : scissors, nylon material, e.g. old tights, glue and adhesive tape.

Various modifications may be made to the above-described arrangements. For example other methods of folding the paper strip may be employed. In one such method glue is applied as before up to line 45 but the first fold is made about line 44 and the second fold about line 45 and so on. With either method there is no need to glue right up to line 45.

Instead of a surface pattern, regions 48 of the strips may be covered with pieces of fabric.

Figs 13 and 14 show a preferred method of attaching a piece of cloth 130 to region 48 of the strip. The cloth 130 is mitred, as shown. Glue is evenly spread on the region 48 so that the weave of the cloth is not saturated with the glue. Glue is also applied to the edges of the of the rear surface of the strip. The cloth 130 is then folded around the edges of the strip so that the raw edges are hidden.

By suitably cutting one end of an upper leg portion 4, Fig 15 covered with cloth 150, preferably felt, the need for discs 28 is avoided. The remaining end portion 151 is connected by a thread passing through hip portion 8 to a corresponding portion (not shown) of the other leg. The cloth prevents the paper of the tube from tearing where the thread is sewn to portion 151.

Instead of hip-discs 28 a piece of fabric material may be provided around the hips and sewn to both ends of the hip-joint, so as to prevent the nylon loops from slipping off. Alternatively the ends of the nylon members from the body portion and the legs may be passed through the hip joint portion and then attached to each other, thus precluding the need for measures to prevent them from slipping off.

Instead of a normal doll, the method may be used to produce a marionette. In this case the ends of threads are incorporated in the ends of the rolled up tubes.

The threads are attached to spaced points on a control member comprising crossed bars. These bars may be made in accordance with the present invention and comprise a plurality of tubes threaded together by nylon members. Since the marionettes are not required to be free-standing, hip joints 8 may be omitted and the upper leg portions connected directly to the body portion.

Also with marionettes there is no need for the nylon thread members at the centre of the tubes.

These can be replaced by lengths of cloth incorporated in the paper tubes. Fig.16 shows an arrangement in which a strip of cloth 160 is provided at the left hand end of the strip 1. The cloth can be glued within the first fold (as shown) or on top of this. Alternatively it may cover the outside of the tubes, i.e. by providing a piece of cloth 130 as in Fig. 13 but which extends beyond both sides of the strip. If desired, all parts of the marionette may be secured together by a single piece of cloth which is cut into sections for rolling as required.

Figs. 17 and 18 show a stick puppet according to the present invention. The puppet 100 comprises hollow tubes 101-106 threaded together (preferably by nylon) as with the previously described doll and marionette. The puppet has a removable hand holding a flower 31. A range of different objects may be provided for the puppet to hold. A mask 110 is made from a tube 108 of slightly larger diameter than tube 102 and having slits 109.

Fig. 19 shows a chair 120 according to the present invention. The chair comprises hollow tubes such as 33 threaded together as described above.

The back 32 of the chair is made from a single layer of paper. It is also envisaged that tubes made in accordance with the present invention can be used as stiffening members for all types of toys instead of wire which is used at present.

It is envisaged that other articles may also be made in accordance with the present invention such as jewellery, toy animals etc.

Claims (31)

1. A toy comprising a plurality of elongate tubular members connected together by thread members passing along their central passages, the tubular members being made from respective strips which are folded up.

2. A toy according to claim 1, wherein said strips are of paper.

3. A toy according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the thread members are of elastic material.

4. A toy according to any preceding claim, wherein each strip before being folded or rolled up has a first fold line adjacent one end, and a second fold line between the first fold line and said end.

5. A toy according to claim 4, wherein each strip has a third line adjacent the other end of the strip.

6. A toy according to claim 5, wherein at least part of the region between the third line and the adjacent end of the strip is provided with a pattern.

7. A toy according to claim 5, wherein the region between the third line and the adjacent end of the strips has a piece of fabric attached thereto.

8. A toy according to any preceding claim which is a doll, the tubular members comprising at least the arms, legs and body portion thereof.

9. A doll according to claim 8, wherein a hipjoint portion is also constituted by a said tubular member.

10. A doll according to claim 9, wherein the thread members in the legs and body portion comprise loops which are positioned round the hipjoint portion.

11. A doll according to claim 10, wherein the hip-joint portion has means for preventing the loops slipping off.

12. A doll according to any of claims 8 to 11, wherein the threaded members are knotted at the ends of the arms and legs to constitute the hands and feet respectively of the doll.

13. A doll according to any of claims 8 to 12, wherein tubular members from upper leg portions, lower leg portions and knee portions, the knee portions surrounding the upper leg portions and being secured thereto.

14. A doll according to claim 13, wherein the bottom of the knee portion is provided with a cutout at the back.

15. A doll according to claim 14, wherein the top of the cut-out is positioned just below the joint between the upper and lower leg portions.

16. A doll according to any of claims 8 to 14, wherein tubular members form upper arm portions and lower arm portion, the upper arm portions each being provided with a cut-out at the elbow.

17. A toy according to any of claims 1 to 7 which is a marionette, the tubular members comprising the arms, legs and body portion thereof.

18. A marionette according to claim 17 having threads which have first ends incorporated in respective ones of the folded or rolled up strips.

19. A marionette according to claim 18, wherein the second ends of the threads are attached to a control member comprising crossed bars, the crossed bars also being constituted by tubular members threaded together.

20. A toy according to any of claims 1 to 7 which is a stick puppet, the tubular members comprising the arms and body portion thereof.

21. A toy according to any of claims 1 to 7 which is a chair.

22. A toy substantially as herein described with reference to Figs. 1 to 12, Figs. 13 and 14, or Fig.

15 of the accompanying drawings.

23. A method of making a toy according to any preceding claim wherein, after the thread members have been passed through the central passages of the tubular members, they are retained by means of relatively short slits in the ends of the tubular members.

24. A method of making a toy according to claim 4, or to any of claims 5 to 21 when dependent on claim 4, wherein to make a tubular member the respective strip is folded about the first fold line to define a flap portion, glue is applied to the surface of the strip between the first fold line and the remote end of the strip, the flap portion is glued down, the strip is folded about the second fold line to define a rectangular portion, and is then folded about the inner edge of the rectangular portion, and repeated folding is effected until the end of the strip is reached.

25. A method of making a toy substantially as herein described with reference to Figs. 1 to 12, Figs. 13 and 14, or Fig. 15 of the accompanying drawings.

26. A kit of parts for making one or more toys in the form of dolls, marionettes and/or puppets comprising (i) one or more paper blanks for making tubular members to define at least some of the arms, legs, body portion and hip-joint of the toys, and one of more of the following (ii) A paper blank containing shapes defining discs to cover the ends of the hip-joint tubes (where provided) and/or shoes; (iii) one or more head-defining wooden beads; (iv) one of more pieces of fabric; (v) one or more clothes patterns for use with the fabric; and (vi) full instructions for assembly of the toy.

27. A kit of parts substantially as herein described with reference to Figs. 1 to 12, Figs. 13 and 14, or Fig. 15 of the accompanying drawings.

28. As an independent invention the additional feature of any of claims 2 to 21.

29. A method of making a tubular member from a strip of material comprising a first fold line adjacent one end and a second fold line between the first fold and said end, wherein the strip is folded about the first fold line to define a flap portion, glue is applied to the surface of the strip between the first fold line and the remote end of the strip, the flap portion is glued down, the strip is folded about the second fold line to define a rectangular portion, and is then folded about the inner edge of the rectangular portion, and repeated folding is effected until the end of the strip is reached.

30. A method of making a tubular member substantially as herein described with reference to Figs. 1 to 6.

31. A tubular member made in accordance with the method of claim 29 or claim 30.