US1489385A - Figure toy - Google Patents

Description

April 8, 1924;

FIGURE TOY F. E. CIAVATTI Filed April 3, 1920 ATTORNEY BY. 0. 72M,

Patented pr. 8, 1924.4

STATES PATENT oFFl'cE.

FIGURE TOY.

Application led April 3, 1920. Serial No. 371,114.

To all whom it mai/comem:

Be it known that l, FERNANDO E. CIA- vAr'rI, a citizen of Italy, and resident of West Hoboken, in the county of l-ludson and State of New Jersey, have invented a certain new and useful Figure Toy, of which the following is a specification, the same bein a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled inthe art to which it appertains to make and use the same. s

"lhis invention relates to articles contrived orused for the amusement of children, as toys, and particularly to puppets such as those representing a babe and commonly designated as figure toys or dolls havin one or more movable members, and the o ject of the invention is to construct a doll having a dexible face constructed and arranged upon manipulation to depict various emotions and to imitate the expressions of the human face in' a natural and pleasing manner.

With this and other objects in view, the

invention consists in the construction, ar-

rangement and operation of parts hereinb after set forth, the wholefforming an emcient and serviceable article of comratively simple construction and low cost.

ln the drawings, illustrative of one embodiment of the invention, which accompany and form a part of this speciication- Figure 1 represents a side elevation of an '-denotes the body of the doll which may be `of any suitable material or construction,

but is preferably made hollow d of some rigid material or substance, and the se may have an open neck at the upper part thereof whereby to attach the hollow `head used by me.

llhe head, which may be secured to the body portion in either a xed or movable relation may be constructed of such material as may be approved and comprises an interior skull member 2 which serves to suppiece (especially so far as'the face portion thereof is concerned) in order to avoid joints and lines of demarkation therein, is preferably shaped to represent a childs head and the front portion thereof may be coloredl to have the appearance of a human face having eyelids and mouth normally closed, but having slits formed at the same in order to allow the eyelids to be raised and the mouth opened by means of smtable mechanism such Vfor example as is hereinr described.

lin the skull member are formed a plurality of openings, as th'eoriices 3 serving as eye sockets and having rear slotted por tions 3'; openings t lying adjacent to the eyelids; orices 5 situated near the eyebrows; o enings 6 positioned near the temples; ori ces 7 located atthe cheeks, and a yaw opening 8. The jaw 8 is preferably pivoted at itsopposte ends to the respective sides or walls of the hollow skull as at l2. The eyeballs 26 may be set in the sockets 3 and are preferablyv connected by a rod20 pivoted to the extensions of the eyeballs passing through the slots 3 of the said sockets.

Any suitable or approved devices may be used for the manipulation of the exible or elasticfaee in order that it may denote various expressions of thecountcnance, but as a convenient way of accomplishing this resuit ll preferably employ in the present exple of the invention the following manually actuated mechanism:

The dollls face, as sta, normally representsa sleepin child, the eyes and mouth being closed. n order to-open the eyes ll preferably employ manual actuating devices as by attng` to each of the dexible eyelids a preferably dexible connection 22 passing from the interior faces of the mid eyelids through the orices d, which united strands are attached to one end of a lever' 9 which is fastened to the interior of the skull. From the other extremity of the lever a similar preferably exible connection 22 extends downwardly to the lever 22 which is pivoted at 222 and works in the slot i6 formed in the body 1. By pressing the lll@ lever 22 downwardly the eyelids will be raised, and in order to keep the eyes open the said lever may be pushed sidewise in the lateral extension of the slot 16 and thusl held in that position as long as may be desired.

It has been deemed desirable by me that the doll may appear to look to the right or left, and to that end I attach to the rod 20',

connecting the inwardly disposed extensions of the eyeballs 26 in a pivoted relation, one end of the lever 20 pivoted at 13, the other extremity of which lever extends downwardly and terminates in a button 21 working in a slot 15 formed in the body. It is manifest that by pushing the button 21 to the right or left, the rod 20 and consequently the eyes, which work in the sockets 3, will be moved in the opposite direction.

In order that the doll may appear to smile and have a pleasing appearance, as will bey almost always the case, I provide the following means for opening the vmouth and pressing the cheeks inwardly and upwardly, and stretching both corners of the mouth thereby enlarging the latter, to produce that effect. The lever 23 working in the slot 17 serves to pull in a downward direction a preferably flexible connection 23 which is divided and attached to one end of the lever 10 pivotally secured to the interior of the skull. The said divided strands extend from the other extremities `of the lever and passing downwardly through the orifices 7, are secured to the inner faces of the flexible cheeks and serve to move the latter. Both corners of the mouth are thus stretched apart thereby enlarging the same by the manipulation of the lever 23 and producing a smiling effect. l

By simultaneously pushing down the lever 24 working in the slot 18, the preferably flexible connection 24', which is secured to the jaw 8, serves to pull the same downwardly and to thus open the mouth, 'while by pressing down both the levers 23 and 24 simultaneously a laughing effect will be produced.

It sometimes happens that it is desired to have the child appear to frown, and to produce that effect I press down the lever 25 working in the slot 19, and the flexible connection 25 attached to the same, which, passing through the orifices 5, serves by being fastened to the inner face of the covering 14 near the eyebrows, to pull the same downwardly and also closer together.

By simultaneously pressingl the jaw lever yand lever 25 downwardly a crying expression may be had which can be accentuated by actuating the jaw lever 24 and opening the mouth intermittently.

The plurality of manually actuated devices, the button terminals or operating parts of which are located. exterior of the ody, may thus be made so as to be actuated separately or, so far at least as some of them are concerned, in unison.

It will thus be seen that I provide a doll having a face lof smooth and life like form and appearance from which a child w1l l derive considerable pleasure in causing 1t to produce, by the simple manipulation of five buttons which are concealed beneath the dress of the doll, a great variety of facial expressions resembling very closely those of a real human face.

In addition to the mechanical manually actuated devices an essential feature of the invention resides in the particular and specific formation of the hollow head, the latter comprising a dual construction and having an interior relatively rigid member. made with alternate closed and open portions and an outer or exterior flexible or elastic member, the head being thus made thinner opposite the various features of the face at the said open spaces than at other parts -of t-he head. By means of this construction the various manually actuated devices which move the said features may be operated either separately, seriatim or in unison.

I-wish it tobe understood that I do not desire to be limited to the particular use or the exact details of construction shown and described, for obvious modifications will'occur to persons skilled in the art.

What I claim as my 'invention is 1. In a device of the class described a flexible covering comprising a face with flexible features, a rigid hollow support within said covering comprising a head, a partly hollow body member on which said head is mounted, a plurality of orifices in the head and body members, a plurality of manually actuated devices pivoted in the orifices in the body member and extending upward into the head member and through respective orifices in said head member to attachment with certain features of said flexible face whereby said feature may be operated separately, seriatim'or in unision.

2.v In a device ofthe class described, a flexible covering, comprising a face, a rigid hollow support comprising a head, a hollow body member to which said head is attached, orifices in the head and orifices in the body, a plurality of structurally C,independent manually actuated devices pivoted in the body orifices, and means operated thereby extending up into the head member and there divided and attached through opposite orifices in said head to coordinated features of the flexible covering whereby oppositely positioned features may move in unison and various sets of features may be moved separately, seriatim or in unison for the purpose described.

3. In a device of the class described,.a body and a head comprising a` relatively rigid interior support-and a flexible coverlll ing comprising a face to enclose the head and made with eye lids, eye openings and eye sockets made in the supporting head, eye balls in the sockets, and devices mounted within the head and connected with the eye balls and with the eye lids and extendin downwardly from the head, and manua ly actuated devices having a portion thereof located at the outer face of the body and attachedto the lower ends of said connecting devices to control the operation of the latter and to move the eye balls and eye lids at will.

4. In a device of the class described a body, a hollow head and a flexible covering to represent a face, eye openings and eye lids in said face, eye socket orifices in the head and eye balls in the sockets, a plurality of manually actuated devices pivoted in orifices in the body, and means extending therefrom upward into the head and coordinately connected to opposite eye lids and eye balls for opening and closing the eye lids and turning the eye balls for the purpose described.

5. In a device'of the class described, a body and a head comprising a relatively rigid interior support and a flexible covering comprising a face to enclose the head and made with a mouth portion, a mouth opening and jaw socket made in the supporting head, a jaw in the socket, and a device mounted within the head and connected with the jaw and mouth portion and extending downwardly from the head, and

a manually actuated device having a portion thereof located at the outer face of the body and attached to the lower end of the connecting device to control the operation of the latter and to move the jaw and mouth portion at will.

6. In a device of the class described, a body, a hollow head, and a flexible head covering having a face with iexible cheeks and mouth corners, and orifices in the head positioned coordinately with said mouth corners, an orifice in the body with a manually actuated device pivoted therein and extending upward into the head and divided and coordinately connected to said mouth corners for the purpose of stretching the mouth and pressing the cheeks as described.

7. In a device of the class described, a body and a head comprising a rigid interior portion and a flexible outer covering comprising a face and made with eye brows, orifices made in the head adjacent to the eyebrows, and a device mounted within the head and connected with the eye brows and passing through the said orifices, and a manually actuated device having a portion thereof located at the outer face of the body and attached to thev lower end of the connecting device to move the eyebrows.

Signed at West Hoboken in the county of U Hudson and State of New Jersey this second day of March A. D. 1920.

FERNANDO E. CIAVATTI.

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