US2959890A

US2959890A - Doll with simplified tear unit

Info

Publication number: US2959890A
Application number: US693569A
Authority: US
Inventors: Robert K Ostrander
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1957-10-31
Filing date: 1957-10-31
Publication date: 1960-11-15
Anticipated expiration: 1977-11-15

Description

Nov. 15, 1960 R. K. OSTRANDER 2,959,890

DOLL WITH SIMPLIFIED TEAR UNIT,

Filed Oct. 51. 1957 INVENTOR ROBERT K. OSTRANDER tinited tates Patent Q DOLL WITH SIMPLIFIED TEAR UNIT Robert K. Ostrander, 497 Prospect St., Maplewood, NJ.

Filed Oct. 31, 1957, Ser. No. 693,569

Claims. (Cl. 46-135) This invention relates to tear dolls and more especially to such dolls having heads molded of soft plastic material with eye openings in the face and integral sockets behind the eye openings for holding eye units, and to dolls having stationary button type eyes.

It is an object of the invention to provide a simpler and less expensive tear doll. The invention provides a construction which eliminates the necessity for valves. The preferred construction also eliminates the necessity for tubing and for bellows. The invention thus reduces the cost of the tear unit, and the construction permits more rapid and less expensive assembly operations in the manufacture of the doll.

Another object of the invention is to provide a tear doll having a reservoir riveteddirectly to the eye sockets of the doll, thus eliminating all supports for the tear reservoir except the supports provided by water passages.

The clearance through which tears are discharged from the eyes are preferably made small enough to prevent the flow of water from the reservoir by gravity alone; but vent openings above the water level permit air pressure to reach the water when the ,body of the doll is squeezed.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention Will appear or be pointed out as the description proceeds.

In the drawing, forming a part hereof, in which like reference characters indicate corresponding parts in all the views;

Figure l is a vertical sectional view through the head and upper portion of the body of a doll made in accordance with this invention, the section being taken through the center plane of the doll except at the eye and upper part of the reservoir where portions of the section are taken on the line 1-1 of Figure 2;

Figure 2 is a front view of the tear reservoir shown in Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is an isometric view, partly broken away, showing the construction of the tear reservoir illustrated in the other views;

Figure 1 shows a doll having a head 10 and a body 11. The upper end of the body 11 has a circumferential groove 14 located below a flange 16. The body fits through a hole in the bottom of the head .10, and the head is held on the body by engagement of a peripheral edge portion 18 of the head into the groove 14. of the body. This provides a substantially air-tight connection between the body and the head so that depression of the body displaces air into the head, as indicated by the small arrows.

The head 10 and body 11 are both preferably made of soft and imperforate plastic material. The head 1'9 is molded with an open mouth 20 and with eye openings 22 leading into eye sockets 24 which are integral with the head of the doll and preferably of one-piece construction with the head. V

Within the head there is a tear reservoir 26- which consists of a box, preferably rigid, having a water dhamber 28 therein closed by a front wall 30. This front wall 39 has

openings

34 and 35 near the bottom of the chamber 28, the

openings

34 and 35 being located in position to register with other openings 37 in the back of the eye sockets '24. There are vent openings 41 through the front wall 30 near the top of the water chamber 23.

Each of the eye sockets 24 has a depression 46, preferably at the back of the socket. An eye unit 48 is snapped into each of the sockets 24 and this eye unit is gripped by the resilient material of which the eye socket 24 is made. With the eye unit in place, the lower edge of the eye opening 22 simulates the bottom lid of the eye.

The depression 46 provides a substantial clearance between the surface of the eye socket and the back of the eye unit 48. Clearance is provided for the flow of water from the depression 46 to the eye opening 22. In the construction illustrated, this clearance is obtained by having a channel 59 molded in the surface of the bottom of the eye socket 22. The clearance may also be provided by having a corresponding channel in the bottom surface of the eye unit 48, or in various other ways.

In the preferred construction, this clearance or channel 59 leads to the bottom edge of the eye opening so that water discharged from the channel across the bottom lid of the eye simulates tears Welling up within the eyes and produces a very realistic effect. The clearance etween the eye unit 48 and the eye socket at the forward end of the channel 59 is made small so as to he unnoticeable. It is desirable that the dolls have tightfitting eyes at the front because any obvious spacing of the edges of the eye openings from the eye units makes the dolls less realistic in appearance.

It is a feature of the invention that the clearance provided for the escape of water from the eyes is small enough to prevent flowby gravity alone. Some little air pressure in the head is applied when it is desired to make the doll weep. This is done by pressing the body 11 so as to discharge air into the head 10; and the increased air pressure within the head is transmitted through the vent openings 41 in the front of the reservoir.

The reservoir 26 is attached directly to the eye sockets 24. This is done, in the illustrated construction, by a hollow rivet 54 which extends through the opening 37 of the eye socket and into the opening 34 of the tear reservoir. 7 At its forward end, the rivet 54 has a flange which his into the depression 46 of the eye socket. The shank of the rivet 54 fits into the opening 34 with a press fit so that when the parts are assembled, thelback of the eye socket around the opening 37 is securely clamped between the front of the reservoir and the flange which forms the head of the rivet.

In order to provide more friction to hold the rivet 54 secured to the tear reservoir, bosses 56 are formed on the front wall 39 of the reservoir. In the illustrated construction the bosses 56 extend forwardly from thefront wall 39, but they can be made to extend rearwardly, if desired.

An extension 69 projects downwardly from the water.

chamber of the reservoir and the lower part of this extension is behind the mouth 20. The front wall 30 has a narrow portion which comes down over the front of the projection 69, and there is an opening 62 through this lower part of the front wall 30. A boss 64 is formed forward of the rearward end of the opening 62 so that adhesive which may smear around the inner end of the opening 62 does not reach the orifice 65. This adhesive is used to attach the front wall 30 to the rest of the tear unit and the assembly can be performed more quickly and with less care when there is no small opening in the region which must be guarded from being clogged.

The extension 6%) is preferably solid except for a channel 72 in its front surface. This channel 72 extends upwardly along the front surface of a partition 74 which divides the water chamber 28 into two

subchambers

76 and 77. These subehambers communicate with one another through a passage 80 provided by a cutaway corner at the top of the partition 74.

The front wall 30 is preferably attached to the rest of the tear reservoir by adhesive to form an integral assembly; and both the front wall 30 and the other parts of the tear reservoir are preferably molded of stiff plastic material. The front wall 30 covers the channel 72 so that the channel serves as a passage for water from the opening 62 upwardly to the passage 80 at the top of the water chamber.

When the doll is lying on its back, water placed in the mouth 20 runs downwardly through the hollow rivet 68, boss 64, opening 62 and channel 72 to the passage 80 from which the water runs into both of the subchambers on the opposite sides of the partition 74. Since the passage 80 is at the top of the subchambers when the doll is on its back, as well as when the doll is upright, no water can flow back through the mouth except the small amount which may remain in the passage from the mouth to the water chamber.

When the body of the doll is squeezed to compress the air in the doll, the increase in air pressure is transmitted through the vent openings 41 and this increase in pressure forces water out of the tear reservoir and through the channels 50 in the bottoms of the eye sockets.

Some air escapes downwardly through the channel 72, opening 62, and rivet 68 to the open mouth of the doll. The small cross section of the opening 62 is important because it limits the escape of air and thus maintains the super atmospheric pressure on the water in the tear reservoir. This restricted opening 62 makes it unnecessary to provide a check valve in the water passage from the mouth to the chambers 28.

The preferred construction of the invention has been illustrated and described, but changes and modifications can be made and some features can be used in different combinations without departing from the invention as defined in the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A tear doll having a soft plastic head with a mouth, eye openings and sockets behind the eye openings of integral construction with the head, eye units in the sockets, a tear reservoir located in the head and immediately behind the eye sockets and having a front wall with three openings therein, one behind each eye and the other behind the mouth, a hollow rivet having a flanged head in one of the eye sockets and extending through an opening in the back of the socket and into one of the openings in the front wall of the reservoir with a press fit and fastening the tear reservoir to the eye socket for support thereby, a similar hollow rivet extending from the other eye socket into another opening in the front wall and also with a press fit, and serving as a connection of the tear reservoir to the other eye socket, and a hollow rivet having a flanged head in the mouth of the doll with the flange against the inside of the back of the mouth and with the rivet extending through an opening in the back of the mouth and into an opening in said front wall of the tear reservoir with a press fit and fastening the tear reservoir to the mouth and providing an auxiliary support for the reservoir, the reservoir having areas of its front face clamped against the back surfaces of the material forming the eye sockets and the mouth socket by said hollow rivets. a

2. The tear doll described in claim 1 and in which there are bosses on the front of the reservoir, and it is the end faces of the bosses which constitute the areas of the reservoir which are clamped against the back surfaces of the material forming the eye sockets and the mouth socket.

3. In a weeping doll having a mouth for receiving water and eyes from which tears flow, the improvement which comprises a tear reservoir located within the head of the doll and at a level at least as high as the eyes of the doll, a first conduit leading from the mouth to an inlet opening into the reservoir, the inlet opening being at the front of the reservoir so as to be above the water in the reservoir when the doll is lying on its back, and said inlet opening being at the top of the reservoir so as to be above the water in the reservoir when the doll is in an upright position, and tear conduits leading from locations adjacent to the eyes to at least one opening through a wall of the reservoir near the bottom of the reservoir when the doll is in an upright position, and in which the eyes are in sockets and the tear reservoir comprises a stiff box located in the head behind the eye sockets and wider than the interpupillary spacing of the eyes, the front of the box having a wall with outlet openings therethrough in register with openings in the backs of the eye sockets, means clamping the front of the box directly against the backs of the eye sockets with the sockets and box openings in register for flow of water from the box into the eye sockets, at least a part of the water space in the box extending above the level of the outlet openings, and the box having an integral extension connected with the mouth and through which the first passage extends.

4. In a weeping doll having a mouth for receiving water and eyes from which tears flow, the improvement which comprises a tear reservoir located within the head of the doll and at a level at least as high as the eyes of the doll, a first conduit leading from the mouth to an inlet opening into the reservoir, the inlet opening being at the front of the reservoir so as to be above the water in the reservoir when the doll is lying on its back, and said inlet opening being at the top of the reservoir so as to be above the water in the reservoir when the doll is in an upright position, and tear conduits leading from locations adjacent to the eyes to at least one opening through a wall of the reservoir near the bottom of the reservoir when the doll is in an upright position, and in which the eyes are located in sockets and the tear reservoir is located immediately behind the eye sockets and has a front wall with openings therein constituting parts of the tear conduits, and there are hollow rivets connecting the tear reservoir to the sockets and constituting parts of the tear conduits and each eye has a depression at the back of the socket and into which the head of one of the hollow rivets fits to provide a clearance between the rivet and the eye unit, and there is a channel in the surface of the eye socket leading from the depression to a bottom edge of the eye opening of the socket to provide for flow of water from the depression under the eye unit to the bottom edge of the opening, the hollow rivet of each socket fitting into the opening in the front of the reservoir with a press fit to hold the rivet permanently assembled with the reservoir, the front of the reservoir being firmly clamped against the back of the eye socket by said rivets and the front of the reservoir having bosses thereon to increase the length of the openings into which the rivets extend for providing greater friction.

5. In a weeping doll having a mouth for receiving water and eyes from which'tears flow, the improvement which comprises a tear reservoir located within the doll, a first conduit leading from the mouth to an inlet opening into the reservoir, the inlet opening being at the front of the reservoir so as to be above the water in the reservoir when thedoll is lying on its back, and said inlet opening being at the top of the reservoir so as to be above the water in 5 the reservoir when the doll is in an upright position, tear conduits leading from locations adjacent to the eyes to at least one outlet which is near the bottom of the reservoir when the doll is in an upright position, the doll having a soft and substantially air tight body which can be squeezed to increase the air pressure within the body, and the front and upper part of the reservoir being open for communication With the interior of the doll for admitting air at increased pressure into the reservoir above the Water therein when the doll is squeezed, and a restriction in the first conduit of smaller cross section than the open communication of the tear reservoir with the interior of the doll for limiting escape of air from the reservoir through said first conduit and the mouth, and in which the tear reservoir has a front wall secured to the remainder of the reservoir by adhesive, and there is a boss on the front Wall having a passage extending lengthwise thereof, and constituting a portion of the first conduit, and the restriction in the 6 first conduit is in said boss and in a partition located some distance forward from the rearward end of the passage through the boss so that any adhesive which covers the back of the front wall around the rearward end of the passage is at a distance from the restricted orifice.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,157,763 Konikofl et a1 May 9, 1939' 2,196,912 Gilbraith Apr. 9, 1940 2,689,432 Beebe Sept. 21, 1954 2,748,530 Stecker June 5, 1956 2,812,615 Zanca et al Nov. 12, 1957 2,819,560 Cohn Jan. 14, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 223,397 Germany June 21, 1910 408,327 Germany Jan. 13, 1925