US3019551A - Flexible eye duct for tearing eyes - Google Patents

Description

Fein. 6, 1962 H. BRUDNEY 3,019,551

FLEXIBLE EYE DUCT FOR TEARING EYES Filed Jan. 6, 1959 l l l5., Il l PZ, I) l' l.

INVENTOR. F'G. 5. l Hneev Bevo/veg United States Patent C 3,019,551 FLEXIBLE EYE DUCT FR TEARING EYES Harry Brudney, New York, N.Y., assignor to Dollac Corporation, Brooklyn, N.Y. Filed Jan. 6, 1959, Ser. No. 785,269 4 Claims. (Cl. 46-135) This invention relates to tearing or weeping doll eyes and more specifically to means for connecting such eyes to water reservoirs.

In a companion application, filed by me on March 18, 1957, Serial No. 646,678, entitled Tearing Eye, I show a doll eye casing of generally hollow construction having a relatively rigid nipple secured thereto, over which nipple a exible tubing is to be placed for connecting the casing 'to a water reservoir within the doll body. While -this arrangement has lbeen found to be eminently satisfactory and practical in commercial use, there is a drawback involved in factory assembly. Specifically, when the wig of a doll is fastened to the head, after the eyes have been emplaced, a sewing machine is used to stitch the wig to the soft, flexible material of the head, which is usually vinyl plastic. In the use of such a machine there is a post which comes up through the open neck of the doll to abut the inner surface of the head, and a needle which reciprocates down through the Wig and the head material lfor stitching the wig in place. It has been found, in many instances, that the nipples extending from the rear of the doll eye casings have been caught between the needle and the post, or the post has bent or mashed the nipples. Obviously, the relatively rigid nipples form an obstruction which at times results in damage thereto, with a consequent need for replacement of the eyes.

The present invention pertains to an improvement over the rigid form of nipple by providing a flexible and substantially non-destructible form, and has for an object the furnishing of a simple and exceedingly cheap means of attaching tubing to the rear of the casing of a doll eye by the use of such a nipple.

It is another object of the invention to provide a nipple having a construction which may be readily manufactured by automatic machines and which may be readily applied to the doll eye casing, in a simple, effective, and substantially leakproof manner.

In carrying out my invention, I provide a nipple comprised of a tightly coiled, closed coil spring of -fairly 'fine spring wire. The spring is wound so that an end coil is of larger diameter than the remainder of the nipple and such end coil acts as a catch or flange, disposed on the inside of the eye casing to retain the ilexible, spring-wound nipple. Further retention of the nipple is effected by means of tongues struck from the rear wall of the casing and extending outwardly therefrom, or solid eyelet extruded from the casing extending outwardly. Such srtiking of the tongues itself affords a port through which the spring is initially placed so as to extend outwardly of the casing, while at the same time acts as a peripheral gripping means and reinforcing means, for a small fraction of an inch, to the spring-wound nipple itself. Thus, by pressing the tongue in radially against the nipple, the tongues tend to form a very short, cylindrical, rigid, reinforcing tube about the nipple. This tube securely grips a certain number of coils of the nipple and permanently holds it in place.

In the manufacture of the spring-wound nipples, I prefer to dip them in molten paraffin or other sealing material after winding. Thus, a coating is formed which further prevents leakage which might otherwise occur through the coils. However, I have found that, as a matter of actual practice, the coating may be dispensed with without any harmful leaking effect.

3,019,551 Patented Feb.. 6, 1962 ICC In any event, by pushing exible tubing, such as rubber or plastic tubing, over the spring-wound nipple and also over the tongues clinched thereon, up to the casing wall itself, which tubing extends to the water reservoir, all vestige of leaking is removed, and any such leakage as might possibly occur `would be of no consequence whatsoever.

A detailed description of my invention will now be given in conjunction with the appended drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view partially in section, showing a tearing doll eye casing with a spring-wound nipple secured thereto.

FIG. 2 is a rear elevation of the casing shown in full, showing the spring-wound nipple with tubing attached.

FIG. 3 is an elevation partially in section, showing details ofthe mode of attachment of the tubing; and

FIG. 4 is a section through 4-4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 illustrates a modiiied form of the spring duct.

Referring now to the drawing, a doll eye 10 is disclosed having the rear casing 14 having an end wall 16, to which is secured a flexible duct 18 which is comprised of a tightly wound, closed coil spring having an enlarged end coil 22. The spring may be wound of wire gauge of the order of .035-.015. However, the guage of wire is not critical.

A port 25 is provided in the end wall of the casing by stamping out a series of four tongues such as 27. Each tongue substantially encompasses the port for an arcuate distance of ninety degrees. rllhe spring-wound, flexible duct may be pushed through the port, before assembly of the eye, until the enlarged coil 22 abuts the inner surface of the end casing wall 16. Thereafter, the tongues 27 may Ibe clinched by forcing them toward the spring axis in a suitable die so that, lfor all intents and purposes, a complete cylinder is made, as best seen on FIG. 2, which securely grips the first lfew coils of the spring-wound duct and permanently locks it in place.

With the mode of assembly described hereinabove, a complete unit is then formed after the remaining eye components, of a conventional nature, are assembled to the casing 14. Finally, the eye units may be mounted within suitable resilient cavities of a vinyl doll head with the ducts 1S extending rearwardly therein and plastic or rub ber tubing 30 pushed over the duct 18 and also over the clinched tongues 27 up to the wall 16. A secure and leakproof, though iiexible, connection is thus made. It will, of course, be understood that the extent of the tongues 27 is exceedingly short, of the order of a sixteenth to an eighth of an inch, so that this rigid portion of the composite ducting will not defeat the elfect of flexibility provided vby the spring-wound duct 18. It would, of course, be possible to strike the tongues 27 so that they project rearwardly into the casing, thereby leaving only flexible, spring-wound coils emerging from the casing, but as a matter of practice, this is not deemed necessary, since the interfering elements of the sewing machine in stitching a wig to a vinyl head, are not considered to approach the casing so closely as to strike the tongues 27.

From the foregoing description, the invention and mode of assembly will be seen to ybe exceedingly simple and economical to manufacture. As hereinabove stated, the spring-wound ducts may or may not be coated with any suitable compound to absolutely prevent leakage, it being found that leakage of an uncoated spring is either nonexistent or so negligible as to hardly warrant the extra costing step in manufacture. However, the coating step could be included where one hundred percent dryness is necessitated by the nature of the doll.

As shown in FIG. 5, a modified form of spring tapered toward its outer end may be used. The advantage of the taper is to expedite Aforcing the tube 30 onto the spring. It Iwill be noted that the taper commences at approximately the mid portion of the spring so that a large part of the tube is forced onto the full diameter coils in order to provide an effective and secure grip.

Having thus described my invention, I am aware that changes may ybe made without departing from the spirit thereof, and, accordingly, I do not seek to be limited to the precise illustration vherein `given except as set forth in the :appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a tearing eye for a doll head, a rear casing, a port through said casing, a exible nipple xedly secured at one end thereof to said casing and leading to said port, said nipple being comprised of a helical closed coil spring and adapted at its other end to receive a ilexible tube attached thereto.

2. In a device as set forth in claim 1, said helical spring passing through said port and 4having an enlarged end coil of greater diameter than the diameter of said port disposed on the inside of the casing and in abutment there with.

3. In a device as set forth in claim 1, said helical spring passing through said port, tongues struck from the material of said casing and vperipherally bounding said port and surrounding a portion of said spring, said tongues being clinched radially inwardly to grip said spring.

4. In a tearing eye for a doll head, a rear casing, a port through said casing, a exible nipple secured to said casing and leading to said port, saidy nipple being comprised of a helical closed coil spring, and being provided with a taper from its free end diverging toward the opposite end, said taper being for a predetermined distance, whereby a flexible tube may be readily guided by said taper onto said spring and be securely gripped for a substantial portion of the spring length by full diameter sized coils thereof.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,450,961 Otterbein Apr. 10, 1923 2,760,262 Homan Aug. 28, 1956 2,811,810 Ostrander Nov. 5, 1957 2,819,560 Cohn Jan. 14, 1958 2,857,665 Cohen Oct. 28, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 223,397 Germany lune 21, 1910

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