US2709870A

US2709870A - Hand puppet doll

Info

Publication number: US2709870A
Application number: US260355A
Authority: US
Inventors: Gradwohl Violet Lee
Original assignee: TERRI LEE Inc
Current assignee: TERRI LEE Inc
Priority date: 1951-12-07
Filing date: 1951-12-07
Publication date: 1955-06-07
Anticipated expiration: 1972-06-07

Description

June 7, 1955 v. L. GRADWOHL 2,709,870

HAND PUPPET DOLL Filed Dec. '7, 1951 L r v I NVENTOR VIOLET LEE GRADWOHL [9 BY-Mwww ATTORNEY United States Patent O 2,702,870 HAND P-UPPET noLL Violet LeeGi-adwohl, Lincoln, Nebn, assignor to Terri Lee, inc, Lincoln, Nebn, a corporation of Nebraska Application December 7, 1951, Serial No. 260,355

3 Claims. .(Cl. 469 154) This invention relates to new and .useful improvements in puppet dolls. More particularly, :the present invention relates to the combination of a puppehdoll having a head portion composed of a deformable material such, for example, as a vinyl plastic material or rubber, a body portion composed of miniature wearing apparel, and a control member, which is disposed partly within the body portion and partly within the head portion to provide a means by which the puppet doll may be manipulated so that it appears to perform certain movements such as walking, skating and dancing, for example.

One of the objects of the present invention resides in the provision of a hollow puppet doll having a rigid control member extending through the hollow body portion into the head portion and into each hollow arm of the doll for providing means for manipulating the doll.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a control member for a hollow puppet doll which has an enlarged upper portion adapted to be received by the hollow head portion of the doll, laterally extending arm portions adapted to be respectively received by the hollow arm portions of the doll and means for gripping the control member at the lower end thereof.

An additional object of the invention is the provision of a hollow puppet doll having a control member associated therewith and disposed inside the doll, the control member including finger gripping means disposed adjacent an opening in the backside of the hollow body portion whereby the fingers of the operator may be inserted through the opening into the finger gripping means of the control member.

Still another object of the present invention is the provision of a hollow puppet doll having a control member disposed within the doll and including means through which two fingers of the operator may be inserted from the backside of the doll to thereby simulate the legs of the puppet and also control the actions of the puppet.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when considered in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a front elevation view with the control member shown in broken lines;

Figure 2 is a side elevation view of the puppet doll of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a front elevation view of the control memher for the puppet doll of my invention; and

Figure 4 is a detail view of the connecting joint between the longitudinal portion of the control member and the laterally extending arm portions thereof as viewed from line 44 in Figure 3.

Referring now to the drawing and more particularly to Figures 1, 2 and 3 thereof, it will be observed that the head portion 11 of the doll is provided with a laterally extending shoulder 12 near the base thereof. An aperture, not shown, is provided in the bottom side of shoulder 12 whereby the interior portions of the hollow head 11 of the ice doll will bein communication with the interior portions of the hollow body portion .13 of vthe doll. The body portion 13 of the doll which is made of cloth resembling wearing apparel is secured to the head portion 11 by wrapping the upper endof the body portion around the 7 lower extremity of the head portion and above the laterally extending shoulder 12 andthensecuring the clothto the headpo rtion 11 inthis position by means of .glue, staples, thread or any other conventional means found suitable for the purpose. The backside ofthe body portion ofthe doll is provided with a longitudinally extending opening as is indicated by numeral 14 for-the purpose of providing an aperture through which two

fingers

15 and 16 of the operators hand may be inserted for actuating the control member, generally designated by numeral 17.

The novel control member .17 of the presentinvention includes a pair of looped

wire portions

18 and 19 adapted to receive two fingers of theoperators-hand when inserted through the opening 14in the backside of the body portion 13 of the doll. The control member further includes a longitudinally extending twisted wire member 21, the upper end portion of which is looped as at 22 and is disposed within the hollow head portion 11 of the doll. Intermediate the ends of the control member 17 is a connecting joint 23, best viewed in Figure 4, which serves to connect the longitudinally extending member 21 of the control member to the laterally extending

arm portions

24 and 25, respectively, thereof. This joint 23 is formed by loosely threading the intermediate portion of the laterally extending

arm members

24 and 25 between adjacent strands of the longitudinally extending twisted wire member 21 in such a manner that the laterally extending

arm members

24 and 25 may be partially rotated in three mutually perpendicular directions without binding.

The outer end extremities of the laterally extending

arm members

24 and 25 are respectively provided with looped portions 26 and 27 for the purpose of filling out the hollow end portions 28 of the main body 13.

it is pointed out that the control member is made of only two pieces, namely the looped

portions

18 and 19, the longitudinally extending twisted wire members 21, and the loop 22 being of a single piece of wire formed in such a manner as to produce the configurations hereinbefore mentioned, and, in addition, the laterally extending

arm portions

24 and 25 being formed from another single piece of wire twisted to produce the configurations illustrated in the drawing.

It will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that the control member instead of being made of wire may be cardboard or any other rigid material found suitable for the purpose.

Briefly stated in summary the puppet doll of the instant invention includes a wire control member, one end of which holds the head of the doll erect, and the other end of which has looped portions through which fingers of the operator may be inserted to simulate the legs of the puppet. The puppet fits on the back of the hand as is illustrated in the drawing, and, through manipulation of the fingers, it appears to execute certain movements, such as walking, skating, and dancing, for example.

While the invention has been described with reference to a certain preferred example thereof which gives satisfactory results, it will be understood by those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and it is my intention, therefore, to cover in the appended claims all such changes and modifications.

I claim:

1. A hand operated puppet doll comprising a hollow head portion, an enlarged annular shoulder disposed at the lower end or" said head portion, a hollow body portion secured to said head portion above said shoulder, said shoulder being provided with an aperture to provide communieation between said body and said head portions, a pair of hollow arm portions, a substantially rigid longitudinal member disposed within and extending a substantial length of said body portion and into said head portion, said hollow body portion having an aperture provided therein, a pair of laterally spaced finger receiving loop elements at one end of said longitudinal member and disposed adjacent said last mentioned aperture whereby two fingers of the operator may be inserted through said last mentioned aperture and into said loop elements to thereby actuate the longitudinal member and to simulate the legs of the puppet doll, said longitudinal member further including a loop element at the other end thereof for insertion into said hollow head portion, a joint intermediate said ends of said longitudinal member, and laterally extending arm portions carried by said joint and having looped ends insertable into said hollow arm portions.

2. A hand puppet comprising a head portion and a hollow body portion, a single control member disposed longitudinally within said body portion with one end of said control member extending into said head portion, laterally spaced finger engagement loops at the other end of said control member, and a laterally extending ann member pivotally engaged to said control member between its ends for partial rotation in three mutually perpendicular directions.

3. A hand puppet as defined in claim 2, wherein said control member includes a central section of twisted wire, and said arm member includes a loop portion intermediate the ends thereof, said loop portion being loosely disposed between locally spaced strands of said twisted wire section.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,299,377 Myers Apr. 1, 1919 1,422,840 De Grasse July 18, 1922 2,206,950 Gregg July 9, 1940 2,551,195 Wirth May 1, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 345,333 Germany Dec. 9, 1921