US2826000A

US2826000A - Knockdown toy

Info

Publication number: US2826000A
Application number: US635626A
Authority: US
Inventors: Harry H Fischman; Ercole J Manelia
Original assignee: FISCHMAN
Current assignee: FISCHMAN
Priority date: 1957-01-23
Filing date: 1957-01-23
Publication date: 1958-03-11
Anticipated expiration: 1975-03-11

Description

March 11; 1958 H. H. FlscHMAN ET AL 2,826,000

` KNOCKDOWN TOY Filed Jan. 23, 1957 BY. y? /prawa Unite 2,826,000 Patented Mar. l1, 1958 KNUCKDWN TOY Harry H. Fischnian and Ercole J. Manelia, Chicago, lll.; said Mariella assigner to said Fischman Application lanuary 23, 1h57, Serial No. 635,626

ll Claims. (Cl. to-22) This invention relates to a toy and more particularly to a put together construction toy utilizing inflatable articles such as toy balloons.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide means for ready attachment to toy balloons or the like whereby a plurality of balloons may be connected together in the nature of a construction toy to form a put together built up toy object.

Another object is to provide means whereby toy balloons may be readily connected together by a child to form any number of put together built up objects, simulating construction sets used by children.

lt is recognized that construction sets of various kinds and build up attaching blocks have a great fascination and educational value for children, in that by connecting the parts the child is required to use his imagination and his skill in forming various assembled put together toy objects. After the child has completed one object, the parts may be disassembled and re-arranged to form other toy objects. This invention aims to provide such a construction toy by the use of inflatable objects such as toy balloons which are relatively inexpensive as contrasted to other types of put together toys.

The child is afforded a great deal of play and educational value in constructing various objects made up of inilatable balloons in accordance with this invention. The assembled objects are relatively large due to the use of the inatable balloons. The parts are simple and inexpensive and utilize in the main conventional toy balloons which may be readily replaced if broken or busted. Thus as contrasted with other types of construction toys which become obsolete by the loss of some of the parts, the present invention retains its play value it some of the balloons are lost or busted because they may be augmented or replaced by any conventional toy balloon purchasable in any candy or childs supply store.

Another object of this invention is to provide attaching means for toy balloons which attaching means is self contained in that it becomes a part of the balloon as long as it is attached thereto and requires no attachment to another balloon to render it effective. ln other words each balloon then becomes a self contained building member and is attachable to other balloons by the use of a connector which does not aiiect the attaching means. Each balloon may therefore be handled separately and put together with otherballoons in a manner similar to the way building blocks are handled.

Other objects will become apparent as this description progresses.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a view showing a put-together toy formed in accordance with this invention.

Fig. 2 is a View showing another put-together object in the form of the letters of the alphabet.

Fig. 3 is a view of the attaching means secured to two balloons and a connector therebetween.

Figure 4 is an enlarged view partly in cross section .preferably of plastic material.

taken on lines 4-4 of Fig. 3 and showing the manner of securing the attaching means to the balloon.

Fig. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the parts constituting the attaching means.

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the plug member of the attaching means, and

Fig. 7 is a cross sectional view of a modified form of attaching means, and showing a modified form of ring.

The preferred form of the invention is shown in Figs. l to 6, inclusive. The inflatable toy balloon is of conventional construction purchasable on the market. Said conventional toy balloons are usually of two types, one the ball or globe type when inilated and the other the elongated type which assumes a somewhat sausage shape when inllated. These balloons which come in various sizes may be connected together in accordance with this invention to form an unlimited number and variety of assembled toy objects and then may be disassembled and detached to be used as conventional balloons if desired or to form other toy objects.

The globe or ball type of balloon is designated by the numeral l0 and the elongated sausage type of balloon is designated by the numeral l2.. Obviously any other type or shaped balloon may be used.

The attaching means generally indicated at i4 and best shown in Figs. 4 and 5 includes a rigid ring like member generally indicated at ld and a plug like member generally indicated at lli, both of which are formed The opposite faces 17 and i9 of the ring are substantially flat. The plug member 13 which is integrally formed comprises a body portion 2o and an enlarged head 22 which is rounded as at 23 at its outer end. The head 22 is provided with intersecting slots 24 which form a cross and which appear as four radially extending slots. Each of said slots continues downwardly and extends into the body portion 20 as at 26 for a portion of the length of the body. This provides the plug particularly at the head portion with a resiliency or give to permit compression of the head when it is inserted in the ring lr6 as will be described. The plug has a central longitudinal bore 2S which tapers outwardly to its largest circumference adjacent the outer end of the body.

To connect the attaching means i4 to the balloon, the ring 16 is inserted or dropped into the balloon (of either type) through the mouth 11 of the balloon (when in non-inflated condition) and moved to any portion of the balloon where the connection is desired to be made and positioned against the rubber on the underside of the balloon. The plug 18 on the outside of the balloon is then brought into alignment with the ring 16 with the head 22 of the plug positioned and resting against the outside of the rubber of the balloon and adjacent the ring. The plug is pushed inwardly into the ring head rst with the rubber material around it. The head 22 of the plug thus compresses due to the slots 24 to allow the head to pass inside and through the ring, after which the head expands to surround the ring as best shown in Fig. -4. The balloon material is gathered around the head 22, the ring 16 and around a portion of the body 2@ and the ring and plug are detachably locked to the balloon.

The plug and ring thus secured to the balloon renders each balloon and its attaching means a self-contained unit ready for immediate use. ln other words, each balloon thus becomes in effect a separate self contained member available for the building of a toy object and hence does not require the joining of two balloons at the time the attaching means are applied to the balloons as is necessary in the structure of the prior art.

With the attaching means applied to each balloon, the

aseaooo balloon is inated in the conventional manner and the mouth of the balloon is tied or otherwise secured to retain the air therein. Each iniiated balloon thus in eiect becomes a separate building block and may be retained in inated position with its respective attaching means ready for immediate use so that a plurality of balloons may be connected together in any arrangement desired merely by insertion of the connector rod to be described.

A major portion of the body of the plug 29 extends outwardly of the balloon as best seen in Figs. 3 and 4. The plug is then ready to receive one end of a connector rod or dowel generally indicated at 3S. The connector rod or dowel may be of any length and is formed preferably of plastic or like material. However, wooden rods will serve with equal facility. The rod is inserted in the tapered bore 28 and will, due to the radial slots 24- and 2d in the head and body of the plug cause the body and head to give sutiiciently to frictionally retain the rod against accidental removal. The inner tapered end of the bore 28 will limit the extent to which the rod may be inserted in the bore and the end of the connector rod 3l) will not engage the rubber of the balloon to permit any puncturing thereof.

Another attaching means le similar to that described is connected to another balloon in the same manner, and the opposite end of rod Si? is inserted in the bore thereof to rigidly connect the two balloons together. By providing rods 3d of various lengths the spacing between balloons may be varied to permit various arrangements. Also several attaching means ld may be connected to a balloon, for example as shown in Fig. 1 to permit a plurality of balloons to be connected in the nature of legs to form a simulated human ligure or an animal tigure. The balloons may be readily detached from the connector by slipping the connector rod Sil out of the plug 1S and attachments to other balloons may be made.

A few of the unlimited number of put-together toys that may be formed are shown merely by way of illustration in Figs. l and 2.

ln Fig. l the lowermost connector rods 30 have their l lower ends detachably and frictionally secured in suitable openings in a supporting disc or base 32 formed of cardboard or the like. lf the put-together object is a toy animal with more than two legs the supporting base may be eliminated.

Fig. 2 shows a pair of the elongated type balloons 12 arranged and connected together to form the letter D of the alphabet. All the letters of the alphabet may be formed by a similar arrangement utilizing the principle of this invention.

If desired the attaching means 14 may be readily removed from any balloon by merely pulling outwardly on the plug 18 to compress the head Z2 and permit its passage past the ring to unlock the ring and plug and the ring is then removed through the mouth of the balloon.

No damage is done to the balloon by the manner of securing the attaching means thereto and the attaching means may be repeatedly connected to or detached from the balloon without injury thereto. It may be readily attached to any portion of the balloon and this procedure is so simple that it may be easily done by any child and requires no training.

Fig. 7 shows a modified form of plug generally indicated at 3d. The plug has a body portion 36, a reduced neck 33 and a head 4d of substantially the circumference of the body portion 36. rl`he head is provided with tour slots t2 similar to slots 24 to render the head compressible. The plug body is provided with a tapered bore 44 similar to the bore 28. The ring 16 may be identical to the ring 16 previously described or may be provided with a split lob to render said ring slightly eX- pansi'ole when the head ttl is inserted therethough. Attaching the plug 34 to the balloon is accomplished in the same manner as described in connection with Figs. l to 6, however in Fig. 7 the plug is locked to the ring around the neck portion 38, with the ring positioned between the

opposite shoulder

46 and 47. This modied plug is connected to connector rods identical in the manner previously described. The split ring shown in Fig. 7 is formed of a rigid material preferably of plastic and is rigid throughout as is ring 16 except that it gives or expands slightly due to the split portion when the head of the plug is being inserted and then assumes its preformed shape after the head is passed through to lock the plug and ring together in the balloon.

The split ring shown in Fig. 7 may also be used in lieu of the ring 16 in connection with the plug shown in Figs. l to 6 inclusive, lt may be found desirable when in using the split ring shown in Fig. 7 to eliminate the slots 2d in the head 22 (Figs. l to 6) or the slots 42 in the head 40 and make said heads solid as the expansion or give of the split ring will permit the head to be inserted therein and through the ring to lock the ring and plug together.

It will be understood that various changes and modications may be made from the foregoing without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

l. In a toy formed of a plurality of inflatable bodies cach provided with means for permitting inflation thereof, each inliated body having separate attaching means comprising a ring formed of rigid material inserted inside each said inflatable body and a separate member for each of said iniatable bodies and each separate member provided with a head engaging the outside of said inflatable body, said head being normally larger than the opening in said ring, said head being compressible and insertable in each said ring with a portion of the material of said inflatable body for locking engagement therewith to retain each said member against removal from said inflatable body, and to form with each inflatable body an inllatable unit separate and independent of the other inflatable unit, each said member having means outwardly of said inflatable body for ready connection with a connecting member to connect said inatable bodies to form a put-together toy, each said inflatable unit being connectable to and disconnectable from said connecting member while inflated or deflated and without effecting the attachment of the attaching means to any of the inatable units.

2. In a toy formed of a plurality of inflatable bodies each provided with means for permitting ination thereof, each inflatable body having separate attaching means comprising a split ring formed of rigid material insertable inside each said inflatable body and a member provided with a head engaging the outside of each said inatable body, said head being normally larger than the opening in said ring and insertable in each said split ring with a portion of the material of said inflatable body by expanding said ring for locking engagement therewith to retain said member against removal from said inflatable body, and to form with each inatable body an intlatable unit separate and independent of the other inflatable unit, each said member having means outwardly of each said inatable body for ready connection with a connecting member to form a put-together toy, each said inflatable unit being connectable to and disconnectable from said connecting member while inflated or deflated and without effecting the attachment of the attaching means to any of the inflatable units.

3. ln a toy formed of a plurality of iuatable balloons each provided with means for permitting inliation thereof, each of said balloons having separate attaching means comprising a ring inserted inside each said balloon and a plug for each of said rings having a head normally larger than the opening in said ring and provided with slots to render said head compressible when inserted in said ring, said head engaging the outside of its respective balloon and insertable in its respective ring with a portion of said balloon for locking engagement therewith to retain said plug against removal, and to form with each balloon a balloon unit separate and independent of the other balloon unit, each said plug having a bore extending outwardly of its said balloon, a connecting rod connectable in said bores to connect the balloons together to form a put-together toy, each said balloon unit being connectable to and disconnectable from said connecting member while inflated or deiiated and without eiecting the attaching means to any of the balloons.

4. A toy formed of a plurality of toy balloons each provided with means for permitting ination thereof, each said balloon having separate attaching means comprising a ring member insertable inside said balloon and a plug having a head member tor insertion in said ring member, said head member being normally larger than the opening in said ring member, at least one of said members being sufliciently resilient with respect to the other to permit insertion of said head member in said ring member, said head member engaging the outside of said balloon and insertable in said ring member with a portion of said balloon for locking said balloon between said ring member and said plug, to form with each balloon a balloon unit separate and independent of the other balloon unit, each said plug having a longitudinal bore extending outwardly of its balloon, a connecting rod frictionally and detachably retained in said bores to connect the balloons together to form a put-together toy, each said balloon unit being connectable to and disconnectable trom said connecting rod while inated or deflated and without eliecting the attachment of the attaching means to any of the balloons.

5. A toy formed of a plurality of toy balloons each provided with means for permitting inilation thereof, each said balloon having separate attaching means comprising a ring member insertable inside said balloon and a plug having a head and a body portion, said head being normally larger than the opening in said ring and having radially extending slots to render said head compressible for insertion into said ring, said hea-d engaging the outside of said balloon and insertable in said ring with a portion of said balloon for locking said balloon between said ring and said plug to form with each balloon a balloon unit separate and independent of the other balloon unit, said body portion each having a longitudinally tapered bore opening outwardly of its balloon and provided with slots communicating with said bore, and a connecting rod frictionally and detachably retained in said bores to connect the balloons together to form a put-together toy, each said balloon unit being connectable to and disconnectable from said connecting rod while iniiated or deflated and without effecting the connection of the other balloon unit.

6. In a toy formed of a plurality of intlatable balloons each provided with means for permitting iniiation thereof, connector means connected to each said intlatable balloon whereby each said balloon forms a separate and independent self-contained unit ready for attachment to another similar self-contained balloon unit without disturbing the connector means of each balloon unit, each connector means comprising a ring insertable in the balloon and a member having a head portion normally larger than the opening in said ring, said head portion being sufficiently resilient to permit insertion ot said head portion in said ring, said head portion engaging the outside of the balloon and insertable in said ring for locking engagement therewith to retain said member against removal from said balloon, and connecting means connected to said members for joining said inflatable balloon units to form a put-together toy, said balloon units each being connectable to and disconnectable from said connecting means while inflated or deliated and without eecting the connection of the other balloon unit.

7. In a toy formed of a plurality of toy balloons each balloon having a body portion and a mouth opening for permitting ination and detlation thereof, each balloon having separate attaching means comprising a first member and a second member, said rst and second members being so constructed to provide resiliency between said members to permit passage of said second member into said first member, said first member insert able inside said body portion through said mouth opening and adapted to engage the inside of the imperforate wall of said body portion, said second member engaging the olutside imperforate wall of said body portion and adapted to interlock with said first member and gather a portion of said imperforate wall therebetween to retain said rst and second members against removal and to form with each balloon a balloon unit separate and independent of the other balloon unit, said second members each extending outwardly of its balloon and each having a connecting end, means for connecting said connecting ends to connect said balloons together to form a put-together toy, each said balloon unit being connectable to and disconnectable from the other balloon units while iniiated or deiiated and without etecting the attachment of the attaching means to any of the balloons.

8. In a toy formed of a plurality of toy balloons each balloon having a body portion and a mouth opening for permitting inliation and deiiation thereof, each balloon having separate attaching means comprising a rst member and a second member, said first member insertable inside said body portion through said mouth opening and adapted to engage the inside of the imperforate wall of said body portion, said second member engaging the outside imperforate wall of said body portion and adapted to interlock with said rst member and gather a portion of said imperforate wall therebetween to retain said tirst and second members against removal and to form with each balloon a balloon unit separate and independent of the other balloon unit, said second members each extending outwardly of its balloon and each having a connecting end, a connecting member secured to said connecting ends to connect said balloons together to form a puttogether toy, each said balloon unit being connectable to and disconnectable from said connecting member while inflated or deated and without effecting the attachment of the attaching means to any of the balloons.

9. In a toy formed of toy balloons each balloon having a body portion and a mouth opening for permitting intlation and deation thereof, each balloon having separate attaching means comprising a rst member and a second member, said rst and second members being so constructed to provide resiliency between said members to permit passage of said second member into said first member, said lirst member insertable inside said body portion through said mouth opening and adapted to engage the inside of the imperforate wall of said body portion, said second member engaging the outside imperforate wall of said body portion and adapted to interlock with said tirst member and gather a portion of said imperforate wall therebetween to lock said iirst and second members against removal and to form with each balloon a balloon unit separate and independent of the other balloon unit, said second member having a bore opening outwardly of its balloon, a separate connecting rod having its opposite ends attachable in the bores of two balloon units when inflated for assembling a puttogether toy, each said balloon unit being detachable from said connecting rod while inated or deflated without effecting the attachment of the attaching means to any of the balloons.

l0. In a toy formed of toy balloons each balloon having a body portion and a mouth opening for permitting iniiation and deation thereof, each balloon having separate attaching means comprising a ring and a plug having a head, said ring and said head being so constructed to provide resiliency therebetween to permit passage of said head into said ring, said ring insertable inside said body portion through said mouth opening and adapted to engage the inside of the imperforate Wall of said body portion, said head engaging the outside imperforate Wall of said body portion and adapted to pass into said ring to interlock with said ring and gather a portion of said imperforate wall therebetween to retain said ring and plug against removal and to form with each balloon a balloon unit separate and independent of the other balloon unit, means between said plugs for detachably connecting said plugs together when said balloons are inated for assembling a put-together toy, each said balloon unit being detachable from the other balloon unit While inflated or deiiated and Without effecting the `attachment of the attaching means to any of the balloons.

11. in a toy formed of a plurality of toy balloons each balloon having a body portion and a mouth opening for permitting inflation and deflation thereof, each balloon having separate attaching means comprising a rst member and a second member, said first member having an opening therein and insel-table inside said body portion through said mouth opening and adapted to engage the inside of the imperforate wall of said body portion, said second member having a head insertable in said opening and engaging the outside imperforate wall of said body portion and adapted to interlock with said rst member 8 and gather a portion of said imperforate wall therebetween to retain said first and second members against removal and to form with each balloon a balloon unit separate and independent of the other balloon unit, said second members each extending outwardly of its balloon and each having a connecting end, means for connecting said connecting ends to connect said balloons together to form a put-together toy, each said balloon unit being connectable to and disconnectable from the other balloon units While inflated or deflated and without effecting the attachment of the attaching means to any of the balloons.

References Cited in the ile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,223,508 Meyner Apr. 24, 1917 1,399,730 Abe Dec. 13, 1921 2,008,552 Jacobs July 16, 1935 2,075,033 Garner Mar. 30, 1937 2,377,616 Davis June 5, 1945 2,472,235 Sullivan June 7, 1949 2,529,420 Ramquist Nov. 7, 1950 2,542,361 Roxburgh Feb. 20, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 13,931 Great Britain A. D. 1908 71,233 Holland Nov. 15, 1952