US2936546A

US2936546A - Toy with collapsible feature

Info

Publication number: US2936546A
Application number: US655847A
Authority: US
Inventors: Willis M Lakin
Original assignee: Marlin Toy Products Inc
Current assignee: Marlin Toy Products Inc
Priority date: 1957-04-29
Filing date: 1957-04-29
Publication date: 1960-05-17
Anticipated expiration: 1977-05-17

Description

May 17, 1960 w. M. LAKIN TOY WITH COLLAPSIBLE FEATURE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Ap ril 29, 1957 y 1960 w. M.;LAK|N 2,936,546

TOY WITH COLLAPSIBLE FEATURE Filed April 29, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

United States TOY WITH COLLAPSIBLE FEATURE Willis M. Lakin, Chicago, Ill., assign'or, by mesne assignments, to Marlin Toy Products, Inc., Horicon, Wis., a corporation of Illinois Application April 29, 1957, Serial No. 655,847

11 Claims. (Cl. 46-118) This invention has as its principal object the provision of a toy figure with a collapsible head piece such as a dunces cap or the like, and novelty means for extending same to produce sound effects.

In another embodiment a figure toy is provided with a structure in a form to be manually extended and collapsed as by a slapping blow, the figure being mounted on a novel yieldable base means for added motion effects. In another of its aspects, it is a broad object to provide an amusement device or toy consisting of telescoping rings extensible to define a figure which may be collapsed to change the form of such figure.

Other aspects of novelty and utility characterizing the invention relate to details of the construction and operation ofthe embodiment described hereinafter in view of the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. l is a side elevation illustrating the operation of the toy shown in perspective in Fig. 3;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional detail showing the actuating mechanism of the devices of Figs. 1 and 3; t t t Fig. 3 is a perspective of one embodiment of the toy with the cap piece in collapsed condition;

Fig. 4 is a perspective of a modified form of the toy;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 4 but showing the toy in an operated condition;

Reference is made to a copending application Serial No. D. 42,168, now Patent No. D. 181,009, filed July 9, 1956, showing and claiming certain design features of related subject matter.

As depicted in Figs. 1 and 3, the toy in one of its forms includes a figure resting in a fanciful attitude on a pedestal or base 11 with body portions 12. The figure may have a head portion 13 provided with a visage of a character attractive or humorous especially for children and infants, such as that of the clown portrayed in Figs. 1 and 3, or the modified Santa Claus character of Figs. 4 and 5.

A principal feature of novelty is the provision of a collapsible structure consisting of a plurality of nesting rings 15 (Figs. 3 and 5) which may be made of plastic and which are of diminishing conical section to interfit and be extensible from a wholly collapsed condition, such as shown in Figs. 2 and 4, to an erected or expanded condition, as indicated in dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 2, in which condition the rings interfit with sufiicient friction to hold their extended shape.

' In the illustrative embodiment, the collapsible structure delineates a clowns or a dunces cap (Figs. 1 and 5), while in collapsed condition the wholly different type of cap of Figs. 3 and 4 changes the appearance of the figure considerably. The head portion 13 of the figure is preferably molded from a suitable plastic and constructed as an assembly according to Fig. 2, wherein the head proper indicated at 13 is a cup-shaped form open at top and bottom with the latterportion seated on an annular ledge 11A on which is fitted the collar portion 16 serving also to retain the neck 13A, the latter and collar 16 being cemented in place. V I

The upper open rim of the head 13 is relieved at 133 ree for cemented interfit with a large cap ring 15A, and a plastic plate 17 is cemented near the base of this large ring as a floor upon which the remaining rings 15 of the set may rest in their loose, collapsed condition.

The smallest ring 15B of the set (Fig. 2) has an upper collar 15C upon which is fixed an ornamental ball member 15D, and in the constructure of Fig. 2, the upper end of an actuating rod 18 fits in beneath the ball for purposes to appear, the rod 18 being guided for vertical reciprocation by a central opening 17X in the bottom plate 17, and by a bearing passage 11X in the ledge 11A.

The rod 18 includes a long dog-leg lever 20 having at one of its ends a pin-and-slot connection 21 with the lower end of the rod, and having at its opposite end a pin-and-slot driving connection 22 with a centrally pendant extension 23 of a plastic anvil 24 of frusto-conical shape and mounted to reciprocate in a complementary opening in a pedestal formation 25 which is part of the molded base structure.

The lever 20 is supported on a pivot 26, and when the anvil 24 is pushed down, lever 20 will assume some position comparable to the dotted-line showing and drive the rod 18 upwardly with a consequent erection of the ring assembly to the dotted-line condition, as in Figs. 1 and 2.

A further feature of the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 3 resides in the provision of a signal or form of a bell resiliently supported by means such as a spring 31 on peg 32 affixed to an upright back-drop or panel 33 of triangular configuration seated in a slot 34 in the body structure.

The bell 30 is resiliently located at such a position above the collapsible cap so that a modestly sharp blow, as with a small mallet 35, supplied with the device, will throw the rings upwardly to cause the ball portion 15D to strike and sound the bell; and if the blow is strong enough the frictional interfit of the rings will generally cause the cap to remain in extended shape in the construction where the rod 18 is not fixedly attached to the ring and ball parts 15C, 15D. In this case, a slight push will collapse the cap.

The collapsible cap structure 15A 15D may be embodied in other forms, as for example that shown in Fig. 4 wherein the head 13A has a different visage, but the ring construction 15A 15D is substantially identical to that of Fig. 2, with the exception that there is no actuating mechanism for erecting the cap, the latter being manually extended-it being noted that such manual operation permits tilting the cap somewhat, as in Fig. 4.

The embodiment of Fig. 4 has an amusement feature which is somewhat the reverse of that aiforded by the construction of Fig. 3, namely, that while the major operative feaature of the latter is that of erecting the cap, the feature of Fig. 4 is that of collapsing the cap,

as by a slight blow on the peak 15D, which collapses the ring assembly to provide the new configuration of Fig. 5.

As a further action feature, the supporting means for the device of Fig. 4 is made yieldable and springy, and consists of a suction-cup base 40 provided with an upstanding stem 41 containing a coil spring 42 covered by a spiral jacket 43.

Preferably, the suction cup 40 and the jacket 43. are molded as one piece from rubber, and the spring is screwed into the jacket and 'is thereby attached to the base and at the same time given a protective covering of significance to an infants toy. t

If desired, the toy according to Fig. 4 is further adapted to infants service by including two or three-dried peas or pebbles in the head so that the figure also becomes a rattle.

When attached to a suitable supporting surface, the suction base 40 (Fig. 4) secures the figure in position to be struck reasonably sharp blows sidewise or on top, so that the child may simply knock the figure about or mayrepeatedly erect the cap structure and collapse it by somewhat downward slanting blows or slaps from a variety of directions other than straight down, with added action effects imparted by the springy stem means.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the configuration of the collapsible ring structure need not be limited to the dunces cap or conical form depicted in the embodimentshown for illustrative purposes, and that other configurations and arrangements are contemplated within the scopeo-f the appended claims, as follows:

I claim:

- 1. A slap toy comprising: a body member having an open cavity, and a collapsible extension structure consisting of a set of telescopingly interfitting ring elements of diminishing diameter with the largest diameter element captured loosely and telescopingly in said cavity and the remaining elements cooperably captured and related to said largest diameter element and the cavity so as to be extensible in intertelescoped condition to project and stand outwardly of the cavity, and to be collapsible into the cavity with said elements in relatively internested condition therein, said telescoping elements being conformed to define a three-dimensional configuration at least in the standing extended condition thereof; said toy being further characterized by the provision of a flexible stem extended from said body member and a pedestal formation at the remote end of the stem for supporting the stem in normal upright position, the telescoping interfit of said. ring elements in extended condition being sufficient to maintain said elements in said standing condition during movements of the body with the stem, but being releasable to permit collapsing the same when the uppermost portions of the three-dimensioned figure are struck a moderate blow in a downward sense toward said body member, said stem being sufficiently flexible to yield under impact of a blow of predetermined minimum magnitude struck upon said body member.

2. A construction according to claim 1 in which said pedestal is a releasable pneumatic anchoring means operable to secure said stem releasably in a position on a surface so that the stem can be flexed by moderate force or a slapping blow aimed at the upper portions of the toy as set forth; and the toy may be secured in a position as aforesaid and the telescoping elements in erected condition may be struck a slapping blow to cause the same to collapse with added yielding movement of the body member by fiexure of the stem as aforesaid.

3. A toy comprising a base, a figure head carried by said base, a head gear surmounting said head and comprising a base ring which is an integral part of the head, and a set of telescoping rings of diminishing diameter nesting in collapsed condition in the base ring and being extendable into frictional interfit to define a standing head piece which may be collapsed by application of pressure to the upper portion thereof.

4. A toy according to claim 3 in which said base includes a vertically extending yieldable member upon which said figure head is mounted, the yieldability of said member being of a character to maintain said figure head in a predetermined upright condition, and to yield in swaying fashion responsive to a slapping blow of predetermined minimum force struck upon said head when said base is held fast.

5. A construction according to claim 4 in which said yieldable member comprises a helical coil spring threaded into a tubular jacket of yieldable material of the class of rubber and having a helical groove interfitting spirally with said spring.

6. A toy comprising a base, a figure head carried by said base, a head gear surmounting said head and cornprising a first ring secured thereto and a plurality of telescoping rings of diminishing diameter nesting in said first ring in collapsed condition and being extensible upwardly therefrom with interfit to define a three-dimensional configuration which can be collapsed downwardly into the nested condition aforesaid, and means for extending said rings and including a movable anvil member carried by said base and adapted to be struck, a blow, a vertically reciprocable member included within said figure head and base and in upward movement adapted to engage one of said rings and extend the same upwardly into interfit, along with the companion rings, into the aforesaid configuration, and lever means operativcly interconnecting said reciprocable member and said anvil member for moving the former upwardly to extend the rings in response to movement of the anvil as by a blow struck thereon.

7. The construction of claim 6 further characterized by the provision of a signal device and means mountingthe same above said figure head in position to. be struck and activated by a part of said head gear in movement thereof into extended condition as aforesaid.

8. A toy comprising a body surmounted by an extensible and collapsible appendage defined by a set of telescopingly interfitting and internesting ring members of approximately frusto-conical form and diminishing diameter, a first one of which is carried by said body such that said appendage may be telescopingly erected into an outstanding condition by pulling out a last one of said ring members, and such that said appendage may be collapsed by applying a force in substantially reverse. direction upon said last. ring member, at least.

9. A construction accordingto claim 8 further characterized in that there is provided erecting means, for said surmounting appendage comprising an erecting member movable in said body into engagement with a part of said set of telescoping ring members to extend the same into said standing condition, and there is further provided an actuating means located outside of said body and having operative connection with said erecting member, such that application of a predetermined minimum force to said outside member will effect erection of the surmounting appendage to said standing condition by responsive action of said errecting member.

10. A construction according to claim 9 in which said outside member has an anvil surface to receive a hammer blow for actuating the erecting means as aforesaid.

11. A change-appearance toy and novelty article comprising a first body member shaped to delineatea figure of predetermined configurative appearance and carrying in attachment therewith a secondary collapsible structure comprised mainly of a set of extensible and collapsible telescoping ring members a first one of which constitutes a receptacle for others in the set in collapsed, condition thereof and which is carried in attachment to the first body member as aforesaid, the secondary structure being self-sustaining in a plurality of angular attitudes in extended condition by reason of frictional interfit of said ring members and being collapsible by moderate pressure applied to the outermost region thereof in the direction of nesting interfit, the configurative appearance of the first figure being modified in appearance but not. obliterated by the configurative character of the. secondary structure in either the collapsed or extended condition of the latter.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,264,040 Fackler Apr. 23, 1918 1,446,835 COOK Feb. 27, 1923 1,572,321 Slater Feb. 9', 1926 2,484,343 Hawes Oct. 11, 1949 2,636,112 Dvorslry 2. Apr. 21, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 726,518 France May 3.0, 1932