GB2290240A - Sound emitting toy animal - Google Patents

Abstract

A toy animal figure in separate parts comprises a torso and the other anatomical parts of the animal (the components) eg legs, head and tail. The torso contains a number of sockets into which protrusions on the components can be inserted to complete the toy. When the toy is assembled anatomically correctly the toy will emit a sound corresponding to the noise made by the type of animal assembled. The sockets and components will be designed to allow each component to be inserted into any socket, but no sound is emitted unless all the components are correctly assembled to produce an anatomically complete animal.

Description

The invention is a children's toy comprising a three dimensional model animal figure (in either a faithful scale model representation or caricature) supplied in various parts to be assembled by the child.

The basis of the toy is the model made up of a torso and separate other elements which are fitted to the torso to produce the completed model. Additionally, when correctly assembled the model will produce and emit the sound of the animal's voice.

The torso is made with a number of openings or sockets into which the other components are inserted. These components will include the head and neck, the legs and the tail, or other component body parts to fully complete the model. Each component will end in a protrusion which will allow the component to be inserted into the torso and held there firmly. To avoid the wrong component being inserted into any socket, each component and its corresponding socket will have a unique and matching design to ensure that only the correct anatomical component and socket can be properly joined together.

The sound of the animal will be produced by an electronic voice box located in the torso, the sound produced by which will emulate the type of animal represented by the troso. This will be powered by a small battery also located in the torso connected to the voice box by a circuit which circuit will only be completed, thus activating the sound, only when all the components have been correctly fitted to the torso. Each socket will therefore be a break in the circuit which will be closed by the insertion of the correct component. This is achieved by providing a metal connector on part of the protrusion entering the socket located so as to connect both parts of the circuit broken by the socket itself.

Thus when all parts are correctly put together a complete scale model of the animal will be produced which will emit the sound of that animal.

Each different model will comprise a torso and the appropriate component parts. Corresponding component parts will be designed in such a way that they will be capable of being fitted to any animal torso but will only complete the circuit within any torso when all the correct parts are fitted to the torso. This will be achieved by providing identical socket and protrusion designs for each equivalent part, but locating the circuit break point differently in the differing torsos and consequently also in the corresponding components.

Example The/ Example The example is of a giraffe and a lion. The giraffe will consist of the torso and the separate component parts, i.e. the head and neck, four legs and the tail. The torso will contain six sockets appropriately located to receive the component parts.

Each socket will be of a different shape, the internal circuit being connected to, but broken by, the socket at a specific point in the socket. Each component will be slotted into the torso by means of a protrusion shaped to fit exactly the shape of the corresponding socket. The shape of each socket will be different.

Part of the protrusion on the component will be of conductive metal located to correspond with the specific point within the socket at which the circuit is broken so that the insertion of the component will complete the break in the circuit at that point.

Thus the components can only be inserted in the correct socket and the sound of the animal will only be emitted when all the components are fitted, thus completing the circuit and activating the voice box.

The lion will similarly consist of a torso and the separate component parts, i.e. the head and neck, four legs and the tail.

The shape of the socket in the torso will correspond exactly to those in the giraffe and the shape of the corresponding component parts will therefore also be the same. The tail of the lion could therefore be fitted to the tail socket in the giraffe torso. Indeed, all the component parts of the lion could be fitted to the corresponding sockets in the giraffe torso, but in such circumstances no sound would be produced.

The circuit break point in the lion's torso would be at a different point in the socket to that in the giraffe as would the metal connecting points on the protrusions on the component parts so that only when the correct component parts were fitted to the correct torso would the circuit break be completed.

The availability and limited compatability of a mix of different animals in a broad mix of parts will render the assembly process more interesting, amusing and educational.

Claims (1)

1. CLAIMS.

   1. A children's toy taking the form of a model animal supplied in separate parts comprising torso and various components to complete the animal figure by inserting protrusions on the components into sockets in the torso. Whereas the components can physically be inserted in any socket in the torso, only when all the components are correctly inserted in the torso to produce an anatomically accurate figure of the animal the completed toy will emit a sound corresponding to that made by the real animal represented by the toy.

   2 A model requiring assembly as described in 1 which although capable of being incorrectly assembled will, only when correctly assembled, create the sound of the animal represented thereby.