GB2253570A - Sound producing device for a toy - Google Patents

Abstract

A sound producing device (or whistle) for a toy, such as a stuffed doll, animal or automobile, includes a bag 22 made of an airtight film, an elastic foam 21 enclosed in the bag, and a whistling member 24 having an air inlet 24a positioned in a vacant space 23. The whistling member 24 has a sound outlet 24b to which a pipe 25 is detachably connected. The present invention permits a greater degree of freedom to change the quality of sound by changing the construction of the pipe 25, and the distal end of the pipe can be positioned at the location which is optimum for the utterance of sound in a toy. <IMAGE>

Description

DESCRIPTION SOUND PRODUCING DEVICE FOR A TOY This invention relates to a sound producing device for a toy, which device is embedded in a toy such as a stuffed doll.

There is known a sound producing device or whistle for a toy which comprises a bag, an elastic foam enclosed in the bag, and a whistling member having an air inlet positioned in a vacant space in the bag, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 55-106491.

The above whistle has had the drawback or problem of being unable to continue making a stable and continuous sound for a long period of time, since the whistling member has its air inlet simply placed in the vacant space defined between the elastic foam and the bag, and is, therefore, lacking in positional stability with respect to the bag.

There has, therefore, been proposed a whistle which includes a bag made of a synthetic resin film, a soft elastic foam enclosed in the bag and formed therethrough with a substantially cylindrical vacant space, and a tubular whistling member inserted in the bag and having an outside diameter substantially equal to the inside diameter of the vacant space. The whistling member is secured to the bag, or elastic foam, or both. In addition, a cap is provided having a plurality of holes and attached detachably to the end of the whistling member, as described in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Sho 63-19106.

The whistle described in Japanese Utility Model Publication No.Sho 63-19106 (hereinafter referred to as the prior art) has the advantage of being able to continue making a stable sound for a long period of time, since the whistling member is secured to the bag, or elastic foam, or both, and is, therefore, excellent in positional stability.

In general, it is desirable that a whistle make a sound having a quality which is adequate for the specific toy in which it is embedded. According to the prior art, there has been no alternative but to alter the construction (diameter, material, or length) of the whistling member, or cap to achieve a change in the quality of sound. The functions required of the whistling member and the cap have, however, imposed restrictions on any structural alterations resulting in little freedom in changing the quality of sound.

This has particularly been the case with the whistling member part of the whistle which is so complicated in construction that it requires a complicated job for its alteration of redesign.

The whistle, for e.g., a stuffed, or soft doll is usually embedded in its abdominal region having a large cavity. If the whistle has a whistling member and a cap, the holes formed in the cap are concealed in the abdominal region of the toy, and unless the toy has in its abdominal region an opening through which a sound is uttered, the sound is substantially confined in volume in the abdominal region of the toy.

Moreover, it is unnatural that a toy utters such a sound from its abdominal region.

In view of the problems as hereinabove pointed out, it is an object of the present invention to provide a sound producing device for a toy which can easily be adapted to by the manufacturer to effect a change in the quality of its sound, and which may in preferred embodiments assist in the toy in which it is embedded uttering a sound in a natural way.

According to the present invention there is provided a sound producing device for a toy, comprising an air bag; an elastic foam within said airbag; a sound producing element having a sound emitting outlet and an air inlet positioned in operative relationship with respect to said elastic foam; and a pipe connected to said sound emitting outlet.

The sound producing device (referred to in the majority of the specification as a whistle) for a toy may include a bag made of an airtight film, an elastic foam enclosed in the bag, and a whistling member having an air inlet positioned in a vacant space in the bag after the elastic foam is enclosed in the bag, where the whistling member has a sound outlet to which a pipe is detachably connected.

Alternatively, the whistle for a toy includes a bag made of an airtight film, an elastic foam enclosed in the bag, and a whistling member having an air inlet positioned in a vacant space in the bag after the elastic foam is enclosed in the bag, where the whistling member has a sound outlet to which a pipe is detachably connected at one end of the whistle, while a perforated cap is detachably connected to the other end of the pipe.

The present invention as hereinabove described enables a change in the quality of sound, if, for example, the construction (e.g., inside diameter, material, or length) of the pipe is altered. More specifically, the volume of the sound can be changed if the inside diameter of the pipe is altered, the tone of the sound can be changed if the pipe material is altered, or the pitch of the sound can be changed if the pipe length is altered. Therefore, it is possible to achieve changes in the quality of sound by the alteration in construction of the pipe in addition to sound changes which can be made by the alteration in construction of the whistling member and/or the cap. This adds to the freedom of changes in the quality of sound, and makes it easy to produce the sound which is adequate for the toy in which the whistle is embedded.

An additional advantage of using the pipe to change the whistle sound is that the pipe has a greater degree of freedom of alteration in construction than the whistling member or cap of which such alteration is restricted by its functional requirements. Therefore, the alteration in construction of the pipe alone permits a considerably wide range of changes in the quality of sound. It is further possible to standardize the whistling member and the cap if only the alteration in construction of the pipe is relied upon for effecting a change in the quality of sound, while no such alteration is made in the whistling member or the cap.

Moreover, as the pipe is connected to the whistling member, the distal end of the pipe can be positioned far from the whistling member, and at the location which is optimum for the utterance of a sound, so that the sound can be uttered in a natural way without being confined. If the pipe is too long for the toy when extended straight, it may be appropriately turned within the toy. If the pipe becomes too short for a specific toy to achieve any satisfactory change in the quality of sound merely by its alteration in construction, the whistling member or the cap may be altered in construction, while the pipe is kept at the desired length in order to obtain the satisfactory change in the quality of sound.

The invention will now be further described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a partly cutaway side elevational view of the baby doll including the whistle for a toy embodying this invention; Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view of the whistle embodying this invention; Figure 3 is a perspective view of the whistle embodying this invention as viewed fror ;ts bottom; and Figure 4 is a partly cutaway side elevational view of another baby doll including the whistle embodying this invention.

DESCRZPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A whistle for a toy which embodies the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. The baby doll l has in its abdominal region 11 a cavity 13 which leads to its mouth 12, and in which the whistle 2 embodying this invention is installed.

In Figure 2, the whistle 2 includes a bag 22 enclosing an elastic foam 21 and having a vacant space 23, a whistling member 24 having an air inlet 24a inserted in the vacant space 23, a pipe 25 which is detachably connected at one end thereof to the sound outlet 24b of the whistling member 24, and a cap 26 having holes 26a at the top connected detachably to the other end of the pipe 25.

The bag 22 is made of an airtight film not of any particular material, for example, a synthetic resin such as a vinyl chloride, or polyethylene resin, and has an opening which can be closed with a string 22a, as shown in Figure 2.

The elastic foam 21, for example, a roll formed from a sheet of elastic foam and has the vacant space 23 at its center, as shown in Figure 2.

When the elastic foam 21 is enclosed in the bag 22, therefore, the vacant space 23 remains in the bag 22. Alternatively, it is, of course, possible to make a cylindrical hole through a solid body of elastic foam 21 to be inserted in bag 22, though not shown.

The whistling member 24 is constructed as a double-acting whistle, and is so mounted that at least its air inlet 24a may be positioned in the'' vacant space 22, as shown in Figures 2 and 3. The volume of the vacant space 23 which remains af.: the insertion of the whistling member 24 has a significant bearing on the volume of the sound which it produces. The whistling member 24 can also be constructed as a single-acting whistle.

The pipe 25 connected to the sound outlet 24b of the whistling member 24 is, for example, a flexible pipe, such as a vinyl pipe. The pipe 25 is appropriately selected in inside diameter, material and length to produce a sound which is characteristic of the specific toy in which it is to be inserted. For example, in the baby doll 1 of Figure 1, the pipe 25 is so long that the cap 26 connected to its distal end may be located in'the vicinity of the mouth 12. The quality of the sound does not only depend on the construction of the pipe 25, but also depends on the construction of the whistling member 24 and the cap 26 which are connected to the pipe 25. Therefore, these factors also need be taken into account in the selection of the inside diameter, material and length of pipe 25 (though the pipe 25 in the baby doll 1 of Figure 1 has a predetermined length).The pipe 25 may alternatively be a rigid pipe having no flexibility, or may be formed by two or more pipes differing from one another for example in material, or other aspects of construction, and jointed to one another.

Moreover, pipe 25 may in some cases have a branch.

The cap 26 is detachably fitted about the end of the pipe 25, and has a plurality of holes 26a. The cap 26 has the function of preventing any of the stuffing material in the baby doll 1 from being drawn into the whistling member 24. The number and diameter of the holes 26a of the cap 26 have a significant bearing on the quality of the sound.

The baby doll 1 constructed as hereinabove described utters a sound if its abdominal region 11 is depressed. If the whistling member 24 is a double-acting whistle, the doll utters a sound not only when its abdominal region 11 is depressed to cause the elastic foam 21 in the bag 22 to contract, but also when the elastic foam 21 expands to restore The baby doll 1 has been found to utter a sound which is close to the crying voice of a baby, and which has been difficult to produce by any known device if the pipe 25 is appropriately selected in inside diameter, material, length, etc.The present invention has been found to be able to utter a sound which is close to the crying voice of a baby, if the whistling member 24 has an inside diameter of 7 mm and a length of 32 mm and is made of vinyl chloride, while the pipe 25 has an inside diameter of 7.5 mm and a length of 10 to 11.5 cm and is made of vinyl chloride or rubber. In addition, each of the two vibrating leaves in the whistling member 24 has a width of 5 mm, a length of 15 mm and a thickness of 0.04 to 0.05 mm and is made of brass.The sound which-is uttered is not unnatural, nor is it confined in the doll, since the whistling member 24 is connected to the pipe 25 having its distal end located near the mouth 12 of the baby doll l. Thus, the sound is able to escape the cavity of the baby doll through the mouth 12 of the baby doll simulating more accurately a sound originating from a real baby. Although the embodiment has been described as the whistle 2 for the baby doll 1, this invention is also applicable to the whistle for any other kind of toy that is expected to utter a sound when depressed, such as a stuffed toy of an animal, or automobile.

The present invention provides a whistle for a toy which can produce a sound of different quality if its pipe is altered in construction (inside diameter, material, or length of the pipe).

The sound can be changed in volume if the inside diameter of the pipe is altered, the sound can be changed in tone if its material is altered, and the sound can be changed in pitch if its length is altered. The change in quality of sound which is possible by altering the construction of the pipe, the whistling member and/or the cap, makes it possible to obtain a greater degree of freedom of change in the quality of sound and thereby facilitates the realization of a whistle which can produce a sound which is adequate for a specific toy in which it is embedded.

Since the pipe has a greater degree of freedom for altering the construction than the whistling member, or cap of which suc'n alteration is restricted by its functional requirements, even altering the construction of the pipe alone enables a considerably wide range of changes in the quality of sound. Thus, it is possible to standardize the construction of the whistling member and the cap if only the construction of the pipe is altered to change the quality of sound, without altering the whistling member, or cap.

In addition, as the pipe is connected to the whistling member, it is possible to position the distal end of the pipe far from the whistling member and at a location which is optimum for the utterance of a sound. Thus, the sound can, therefore, be uttered in a natural way without being confined inside the toy. In addition, if the pipe is too long, it may be appropriately turned in the toy. If the pipe becomes too short to effect any satisfactory change in the quality of sound, the desired change in the quality of sound can still be realized by altering the construction of the whistling member, or cap, while the pipe is kept at the desired length.

While the invention has been described with reference to a specific embodiment thereo'. it is to be understood that this invention is not limited to the embodiment as hereinabove described, but that variations or modifications may be made without departing from the scope of this invention.

For example, the distal end of the pipe 25 connected to the whistling member 24 in the baby doll 1, which has been described as being located in its mouth 12, can instead be located in the cavity 13a of the doll's head 13, as shown in Figure 4. This arrangement enables the doll to utter an earsplitting or piercing sound from its head and is particularly effective in producing the crying voice of a baby.

Claims (9)

1. A sound producing device for a toy, comprising: an air bag; an elastic foam within said airbag; a sound producing element having a sound emitting outlet and an air inlet positioned in operative relationship with respect to said elastic foam; and a pipe connected to said sound emitting outlet.

2. A sound producing device for a toy as claimed in claim 1, wherein: said pipe has first and second ends, the first end being connected to said sound emitting outlet; and a perforated cap connected to the second end of said pipe.

3. A sound producing device for a toy as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein: said pipe has a predetermined inside diameter and predetermined length, and is constructed from a predetermined material; and wherein the desired sound characteristic of the specific toy is achieved by altering at least one said inside diameter, length and material of said pipe to produce a sound.

4. A sound producing device for a toy as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein: the sound producing element has an inside diameter and is of predetermined length and constructed from a predetermined material.

5. A sound producing device for a toy as claimed in claim 4, wherein the sound producing element is vinyl chloride and the inside diameter is 7mm, the length is 32mm; and wherein said pipe is vinyl chloride and has an inside diameter of 7.5mm and a length of 10 to 11.5cm.

6. A sound producing device for a toyas claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein: the toy is a doll having an abdomen and a mouth; and wherein: said sound producing member is inserted within the abdomen while said pipe extends from the abdomen to the mouth of the doll, such that sound is emitted when the abdomen of the baby doll is depressed causing the elastic foam to contract.

7. A sound producing device for a toy as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein: said elastic foam is provided with a vacant space in the proximity of its centre; and wherein said air inlet of said sound producing element is positioned in said cavity.

8. A sound producing device for a toy as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein: there is a vacant space between said air bag and said elastic foam; and wherein said air inlet is positioned in said vacant space.

9. A sound producing device substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in any of the accompanying drawings.