US3376665A - Doll with movable head and sound-producing means - Google Patents

Description

DOLL WITH MOVABLE HEAD AND SOUND-PRODUCING MEANS Filed May 6, 1965 l. HELLER A ril 9, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR I SAAC H E L LER BY M ATTORNEY l. HELLER A rii 9, 1968 3,376,665 DOLL WITH MOVABLE HEAD AND SOUND-PRGDUCING MEAN S Filed May 6, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet Z FIG.5

FIC16.

INVENTOR lSAAC H EL LER A'I'I ORNEY Unite States Patent 3,376,665 DOLL WITH MOVABLE HEAD AND SUUND-PRODUCING MEANS Isaac Heller, Scotch Plains, NJZ, assignor to Remco Industries, Inc, Harrison, N..l., a corporation of New Jersey Filed May 6, i965, Ser. No. 453,623 6 Claims. (Cl. 46-118) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A toy figure includes a housing having a flexible wall portion and in which is an oscillating appendage-supporting element and means including a cylinder containing a piston forming a voice chamber which has a valve and reed to produce non-monotonous polysyllable sound. Means movably mounted in the housing is motivated by application of pressure on said flexible wall portion to oscillate said appendage-supporting element and to actuate said piston and thereby cause said valve and reed to produce sound.

This invention relates generally, to a toy having manually operable means for causing movement of a portion thereof concurrently with the production of a novel sound therefrom. More particularly, the invention relates to a toy doll having a hollow resilient body portion which when manually squeezed inwardly produces a side-to-side or oscillating movement of the dolls head and when the pressure upon the dolls body is released, causes a sound to be emitted therefrom readily identifiable as Ma-Mee.

There are many known forms of mechanism for inclusion in doll bodies for producing movement of various portions of the doll upon manual manipulation thereof, and the combination of such structure with additional means for concurrently producing sound from the doll body is in itself well known. The present invention advances the state of the art by providing a single unitary assembly, including all of the required structure for producing both the movement of the doll head and the voice or Ma-Mee sound. In this arrangement, the mechanism for producing the body movement and voice may be constructed entirely remote from the assembly line utilized for construction of the doll body itself, and then when the various appendages of the doll body are to be fitted to the main body section, the actuating assembly of the present invention may be readily inserted within the hollow doll body. A particular advantage in this final assembly operation as offered by the construction of the present invention is that no prior modification of the doll body is required to be provided for the reception of operation -of the actuating assembly other than the provision of a suitably large enough body cavity for receiving the mechanism. This feature is unlike many of the prior known devices which require extensive modification of the doll body for cooperation with various components of the actuating mechanism in order to not only provide the desired body movement but also to produce the voice or sound.

Heretofore the various sound producing mechanisms as employed within the bodies of hollow dolls have been provided with a reed instrument or other device for emitting the sound upon the passage of air through the reed, and although some of these dolls are adapted to emit articulate sounds from the doll, ordinarily these dolls are able to produce, upon squeezing or other displacement of the body, either a single sound, or possibly two extremely simple polysyllables such as mama or papa. The present invention however produces, by means of a novel construction, a voice which is not monotonous, and comprises a distinct pair of syllables readily discernible as Ma-Mee.

Accordingly, one of the primary objects of the present invention is to provide a toy having means for producing movement of a portion thereof and also for causing the emission of a novel sound therefrom.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a doll having means for simultaneously causing movement of a portion thereof and the emission of a novel sound therefrom.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a doll having a hollow body cavity containing a unitary assembly provided with actuating means, which when depressed and released, causes simultaneous movement of the doll head and the emission of a non-monotonous polysyllable sound.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a sound-producing and body movement assembly particularly adapted for use in toys, and including a reed assembly having novel means for attenuating the sound produced thereby.

An additional object of the present invention is to provide a body movement and sound producing assembly, particularly adapted for use in a doll, and including means for simultaneously causing oscillation of a portion of the Idoll and actuating a novel sound producing reed assem- With these and other objects in view which will more readily appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the invention consists in the novel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts, thereinafter more fully described, illustrated and claimed.

A preferred and practical embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a doll containing the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a vertical sectional view of a doll body including, partly in section, a side elevation of the head movement and sound producing assembly of the present invention;

FIGURE 3 is a vertical sectional view similar to FIG- URE 2 but with a greater portion of the head movement and sound producing assembly in section and illustrates the body in its depressed position;

FIGURE 4 is a vertical sectional view, along line 4-4 of FIGURE 2, with parts in elevation, and showing the front half of the body movement and sound producing assembly, with portions omitted for clarity;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of the body movement and sound producing assembly of the present invention;

FIGURE 6 is a top plan view of the neck collar of the present invention.

Similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawing.

Referring now to the drawings, particularly FIGURES 1 and 5, it will be understood that the body movement and sound producing assembly generally designated 1, and as viewed in FIGURE 5 may be readily adapted to be installed in any type of toy body such as the doll illustrated in FIGURE 1. At least so much of the toy as relates to its body section B will be molded or otherwise formed as a hollow member to provide the inner cavity C. Any suitable flexible material such as rubber, polyvinyl resin and vinyl plastisols, etc., may be utilized in the formation of the doll body B, the only physical property necessary in the material utilized being that at least the chest portion 2 possess suflicient resiliency to permit one to manually squeeze the body as will be described hereinafter.

As will be most readily seen in FIGURE 2, the body movement and sound producing assembly 1 is adapted to be disposed within the body cavity C through a neck opening 4 formed in the upper portion of the body B.. At this point it will be stressed that no specific modifica tion of the doll body is required in connection with the present invention. Any suitable means such as the screws 5 may be used to anchor the assembly 1 in its operative position within the doll body B.

At this point a brief description of the general operation of the present invention will enable one to more readily appreciate the specific construction of the various components of the invention as described hereinafter.

Referring again to FIGURE 2 and with additional reference to FIGURE 5, it will be seen that the body movement and sound producing assembly 1 which is fixedly disposed within the cavity C by means of the attaching screws 5 passing through the back 6 of the doll, includes a slide member 7 which is normally disposed in an outwardly projecting manner in spaced apart relationship to the front or chest 2 of the doll. It will be understood that any suitable form of doll head is adapted to be secured to the upwardly extending neck bushing 3 forming a portion of the assembly 1. Upon manually squeezing the doll the chest 2 will be drawn inwardly toward the body back 6 until contact of the chest is made with the outer front edge of the slide 7 at which point. continued squeezing of the body will force the slide 7 rearwardly towards the body back 6. Drive means actuated by the aforedescribed rearward movement of the slide 7 are connected to the neck bushing 3 so that as the slide is moved rearwardly, a rotary or oscillating movement is imparted to the neck bushing to produce a corresponding movement of the doll head H which is connected thereto by any suitable means. The lower portion of the assembly 1 includes an air cylinder 8 within which is slidably disposed a piston cup 9 having a sound producing reed mounted therein. The piston cup 9 is normally spring-urged downwardly to the bottom of the air cylinder 8; however during the inward movement of the slide 7 means are provided for raising the piston cup 9 within the cylinder 8 against the force of said spring. Upon the release of the squeezing pressure upon the doll body, the slide 7 is spring returned to its outermost position to cause the doll head H to oscillate in a direction reverse to its initial oscillation while at the same time the piston cup 9 is spring-urged downwardly toward the bottom of the air cylinder 8. During this downward movement of the piston cup 9 air is forced through the reed assembly contained therein to produce a sound which is attenuated by means of additional structure to produce the novel Ma-Mee sound of the present invention.

It will be seen that actuation of the doll body by squeezing produces a rectilinear movement of the slide 7 to cause the simultaneous oscillation of the doll head H and emission of the sound readily distinguishable as Ma-Mee.

The casing within which all of the various components of the body movement and sound producing assembly 1 are contained comprises in addition to the air cylinder 8 an upper housing generally designated 10 and comprising a front shell 11 and rear shell 12. Generally speaking, the mechanism for producing the oscillating movement of the doll head is contained within the upper housing 10 while the sound producing mechanism is disposed within, and immediately above, the air cylinder 8. The slide 7, which causes actuation of both the body movement and sound producing mechanisms, is disposed for rectilinear movement within a slide guide channel 13 transversely formed through the two shell sections 11 and 12. The slide 7, without any other attendant structure, is free to move in a rectilinear manner within the guide channel 13, with only enough clearance provided along the sides, top and bottom thereof to preclude binding of the slide during its travel within the guide channel.

The forward portion of the slide 7 includes a front wall 14 which is arcuate when viewed in top plan. The

curvature of the front wall 14, which is juxtaposed to the chest 2 of the doll body, further insures the smooth actuation of the slide 7 since a child when manipulating the device will not always squeeze the doll chest at a point immediately opposite the center axis of the longitudinal slide 7. FIGURES 4 and 5 most clearly illustrate details of the slide. The base 15 of the slide is provided with a longitudinal slot 16 extending substantially the greater length of the slide and aligned with the center longitudinal axis thereof. Attachedto the inner surface of one of the vertical side walls 17, 17 of the slide is a gear rack 18 which extends substantially the entire length of the one side wall 17, as will most clearly be seen in FIGURE 5. By disposing the base 15 of the slide in a plane slightly elevated from the bottom of the side walls 17, 17 as will be most clearly seen in FIGURE 4, mini- 1 mum contact between the slide 7 and the base of its guide 1 channel 13 will be encountered thereby insuring the least amount of friction between the two relatively moving components.

Centrally disposed and vertically aligned openings are provided in the mating sections of the front and rear shells 11 and 12 through the upper channel wall 13:: and lower channel wall 13b for the reception of a rotary drive shaft 19, which shaft. extends upwardly through the various components of the assembly 1 to project from i the top of the neck bushing 3. Suitable retention means such as the snap rings 20 are fitted on either end of the drive shaft 19 below the lower channel wall 13]} and above the central portion 22 of the neck bushing 3.

Axially mounted upon the lower portion of the drive shaft 19 and between the upper and lower channel walls 13a and 1312, respectively, is a segmented pinion gear 21 which is confined within the walls of the slide 7 and in constant engagement with the teeth of the gear rack 18. Any suitable means may be used for insuring integral movement of the pinion gear 21 and shaft 19 and prefer ably the drive shaft is of a square cross section as shown in FIGURE 5 so that with a corresponding square opening in the gear 21 a positive transfer of movement from the rotating gear 21. to the drive shaft 19' will be insured.

Likewise, the central axial opening in the central. portion 22 of neck bushing 3 should be square in cross section to conform to the squaresectioned drive shaft 19.

To insure suitable stability in the head moving mechanism, the neck bushing 3 is attached, by any suitable means such as an adhesive, to a neck collar 23 which is axially disposed through an opening 24 formed in the two mating shells forming the upper housing 10. The neck collar 23 includes an outwardly projecting horizontal flange 24 adapted to be supported upon a seat 25 formed by the upper portion of the housing 10. The diameter of the hole 24 in relation to the adjacent diameter of the neck collar 23 is such as to insure uninhibited relative rotary movement between the two adjacent surfaces without excessive lateral displacement.

To return the head actuating mechanism to its normally at rest position, the drive shaft 19 is provided .with a concentrically disposed torsion return spring 26, the lower end of which is offset and anchored, as at 27 to a spring anchor post 28 fixedly disposed with respect to the housing 10. The bottom 29 of the neck collar 23 through which the drive shaft 19 passes is provided with an opening substantially larger than the cross sectional dimension of the drive shaft 19 and includes an enlarged out-out portion 30 to permit the uninhibited passage of the upper end 31 of the spring 26 therethrough. As will be most clearly seen in FIGURE4, the upper end 31 0f the spring passes through the opening 30 in the bottom 29 of the neck collar 23 in a direction parallel to the drive shaft and extends upwardly to a point adjacent the flange 24 of the neck collar. At this point the free end 32 of the spring is bent at right angles to the upper portion 31 and projects radially and outwardly from the drive shaft to overlie the upper surface of the flange 24 of the neck collar. The end 32 of the spring is held captive against any angular movement by means of a pair of raised abutments 33, 33 disposed on either side of the end 32 of the spring on the upper surface of the flange 24.

'From the foregoing, it will be seen that the rearward displacement of the slide 7 from its normal at rest position, as illustrated in FIGURE 2, will cause angular movement of the drive shaft 19 by reason of displacement of the rotary pinion gear 21 through movement of the gear rack 18, which operation, causes a corresponding angular displacement of the integral neck bushing 3 and neck collar 23. This inward movement will take place against the force of the torsion return spring 26. With the body movement mechanism in the at rest position, the convolutions of the spring 26 are under suflicient tension to retain the free upper end 32 of the spring in firm engagement upon the top of the flange 24 of the neck collar between the two raised abutments 33, 33 and it will be understood that this engagement will be maintained even during rotation of the drive shaft 19, since during this rotation the tension within the torsion spring 26 will be increased to a greater degree, thus raising the tendency of the end 32 of the spring to remain in even firmer engagement with the upper surface of the flange 24.

Axially disposed below the front and rear shells of the upper housing is the air cylinder 8 which may be attached by any suitable adhesive to the depending skirt 34 formed along the bottom edge of the housing shells. Disposed above the cylinder 8 and spanning the lower portion of the upper housing 10 is a knob platform 35 from which is axially suspended a voice knob 36. Attached to the knob body 36 is an upper head 37 and a lower button 38. The knob 36 is suspended from the platform 35 by means of the enlarged nature of the head 37 which rests upon the top of the platform 35. The respective openings in the shells 11 and 12 through which the knob is disposed is sufiiciently large to vmaintain the knob 36 loosely suspended therethrough. Joining the body of the knob 36 to the lower button 38 is a reduced-diameter neck portion 39. At least so much of the knob as comprises the body 36 and button 38 are of cylindrical cross section and the button 38 is preferably of a slightly less diameter than the body 36 for reasons which will be described hereinafter.-

Slidalbly disposed within the cylinder 8 for vertical reciprocating movement is a piston cup 9, the outermost stepped portions of which are of cylindrical configuration. The outer periphery of the piston cup 9 includes a lower wall 40 and an upper wall 41 the latter of which will be seen to be of a lesser diameter and is joined to the former by means of a horizontally disposed ledge 42. A centrally disposed voice cavity 43 within the piston cup 9 is bounded by a voice chamber 44 which is likewise of cylindrical construction but whose walls are inclined outwardly from the bottom 45 thereof upwardly. A close sliding fi-t is maintained between the piston cup 9 and the inner Walls of the air cylinder 8 through a peripheral flange 46 extending outwardly from the bottom of the lower wall 40, the clearance therebetween being selected to produce a close fit without the production of any substantial friction. A substantially air tight seal is maintained between the piston cup 9 and inner Wall of the cylinder 8 by means of a peripheral piston cup seal 47 formed of any suitable resilient composition which seal 47 is disposed within a peripheral groove formed between the seal retainer 48 mounted above, and the ledge 42 of the piston cup 9. The seal retainer 48 comprises a cylindrical body adapted to mate with the outer surface of the upper wall 41 of the piston cup and includes at the base thereof an outwardly extending seat 49 upon which rests the lower convolution of a compression spring 50 as will be seen in FIGURES 2 and 3.

When the body movement and sound producing assembly l]. is in its at-rest position, the upper convolution of the compression spring 50 bears against the undersurface of the knob platform 35 as will be seen in FIGURE 2 while the lower portion of the spring 50 forces the piston cup 9 to the bottom of the air cylinder 8.

Means in the form of a flexible cord 51 is provided for producing vertical displacement of the piston cup 9 as the slide 7 is moved rectilinearly. The piston cup actuating cord 51 may be formed of any suitable material such as nylon and extends from a point within the upper housing 10 above the slide 7 downwardly through the housing 10 where it is attached to a bracket 52 on the seal retainer 48. As shown in FIGURE 4 the upper end 53 of the cord passes about a fixed pin 54 extending within the upper housing 10. From the pin 54 the cord passes downwardly through vertically aligned openings in the upper channel Wall 13a and lower channel wall 13b which openings may be formed through the abutting surfaces of the two shells 1-1 and .12. Suitable clearance is provided, as at 55, in the knob platform 35 to permit the transverse displacement of the cord 51 during the actuation of the slide 7 and piston cup 9 as described hereinafter. This actuation of the piston cup 9 will be readily apparent upon a review .of FIGURES 2 and 3 of the drawings which illustrate the sound producing mechanism in its alternate positions. As the slide 7 is depressed rearwardly into the guide channel 13, the rear wall thereof bears against the vertically disposed segment of the actuating cord 51 spanning the channel 13 and forces the cord 51 rearwardly. Inasmuch as the upper end 53 of the cord 51 is relatively fixed with respect to the upper housing 10, it will be apparent that the lower portion .of the cord disposed about the bracket 52 forming a part of the seal retainer 48, will be elevated as the slide 7 is pushed rearwardly against the force of the compression spring 50 to the position as shown in FIGURE 3. Upon the release of pressure from the front wall 14 of the slide '7, the rear wall of the slide will move forwardly away from its displaced position, thereby permitting the compression spring 50, which bears against the spring seat 49 on the seal retainer 48, to force the piston cup 9 downwardly to the position shown in FIGURE 2.

Mounted within the bottom 45 of the voice chamber 44 is a reed valve body '56. As illustrated in FIGURE 3, the voice chamber bottom 45 is provided with a cut-out portion 57 extending into the side wall of the voice chamber 44. The valve body 56 is disposed with one end thereof projecting through this cut-out 57 and includes a valve cavity 58 extending longitudinally through the valve body 56 to provide an air passage opening on the one hand within the voice cavity 43 and on the other hand outside of the voice cavity 43 facing the bottom of the air chamber 59 formed in the air cylinder 8. Mounted upon the undersurface of the valve body 56 and extending over the opening to the valve cavity 58 facing the air chamber 59 is a flexible reed 60 of any suitable construction adapted to produce a monosyllable voice or sound whenever air is forced upwardly through the space between the outermost end of said reed and into the voice cavity 43 by way of the valve cavity 58. Experience has shown that the most desirable sound is produced when the side wall of the voice chamber 44 intersects the bottom wall 45 thereof at a sharp angle as indicated in FIGURE 4. Quite obviously suitable sealing means as indicated at 61 in FIGURE 3 is utilized to form an air-tight closure between the valve body 56 and the cut-out 57 in the voice chamber 44 to insure that all air will be directed through the valve and its cavity 58 when the piston cup 9 is moved downwardly in the air cylinder 8.

Spanning the top of the piston cup 9 is a sound attenuating gasket 62 which is preferably formed of natural gum rubber and is suitably permanently afiixed to the top of the piston cup over the voice cavity 43. As will be seen in FIGURE 5 a notch 63 is formed at one point along the periphery of an opening 64 axially disposed within the gasket. Equi-spaced about the periphery of the opening 64 are three slits cut into the material of the gasket 62. The provision of the notch and slits together with the construction of the knob 36 cooperate to produce the dual-syllable sound readily identifiable as Ma-Mee during actuation of the assembly 1.

When the slide 7 has been depressed to fully elevate the piston cup 9 to the position as shown in FIGURES 3 and 4, it will be seen that the sound attenuating gasket 62 has been drawn upwardly past the button 38 and neck 39 of the voice knob until the periphery of the gasket opening 64 engages the knob body 36. Experiments have shown that the clearest reproduction of the sound Ma- Mee is produced when the diameter of the hole 64 (excluding the slits 65 and notch 63) is slightly less than the diameter of the button 38 and When the diameter of the body 36 of the knob is slightly greater than the diameter of the button 38. The creation of the sound Ma-Mee is produced when pressure is released from the slide 7, thereby permitting the compression spring 50 to force the piston cup 9 containing the reed assembly downwardly toward the bottom of the air cylinder 8. As the piston cup 9 leaves the position shown in FIGURE 4, initially only a small amount of the sound that is produced by the reed valve is permitted to exit from around the neck 39 of the knob through the small space formed between the neck and the opening 64 of the moving gasket which produces the Ma portion of the voice. As the piston cup and its sound accentuating gasket 62 continue the downward movement this initial syllable is terminated when the button 38 is engaged by the periphery of the gasket opening 64 whereafter, as the gasket continues its further movement downwardly it will be completely removed from the button 38 so that the Moe portion of the voice is produced.

The body B of the doll is preferably formed with a plurality of small openings 62 as illustrated in FIGURE 1. These openings may be arbitrarily formed in any portion of the doll body B and the purpose thereof is twofold. First, they permit the free passage of air into and out of the cavity C of the hollow doll body to facilitate the squeezing of the chest 2 without any hindrance, and secondly these same openings 62 permit the emittance of the sound as produced by the assembly 1 contained within the body B. Uninhibited entrance of air into the chamber 59 beneath the piston cup 9 during the upward movement of the piston cup is facilitated by means of the cut-out portion 63 formed in the front shell 11 as V most clearly illustrated in FIGURES 3 and 5. As the piston cup 9 is drawn upwardly, it will be seen that the air entering through the cut-out portion 63 may pass through the opening 64 in the sound attenuating gasket 62 and then through the voice cavity 43 and the valve cavity 58 whereupon it will be free to exit from between the normally spaced apart end of the reed 60 and the valve body 56. Attached to the undersurface of the voice chamber bottom wall 45 is a reed cover 64 which is as wide as the bottom wall 45 when viewed as in FIGURE 4 but extends beyond the cut-out portion 57 of the bottom wall as seen in FIGURE 3 to project outwardly over the free end of the normally spaced apart reed 60 and valve body 56. The purpose .of the reed cover 64 is to underlie this critical portion of the reed assembly so that during the downward movement of the piston cup 9 there will be no direct forceable impingement of the air in the chamber 59 against the reed 60, which force, if too great, might possibly tend to completely close the vibrant reed 60.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific features shown, but that the means of construction herein disclosed comprise the preferred form of several modes of putting the invention into effect and the invention will therefore be understood in any of its forms or modifications within the legitimate and valid;

having a lower air cylinder attached thereto, a transverse 6 guide channel through said housing, a slide mounted in said channel for rectilinear motion, the top of said housing provided with a central opening, a collar disposed.

for rotary movement within said opening, spring urged drive means connecting said slide and collar, a piston cup vertically reciprocable in said air cylinder, sound producing valve means carried by said piston cup, means connected to said piston comprising a flexible member attached to said housing above said slide and extending downwardly through said channel across the path of said slide to said piston cup, whereby, actuation of said slide rotates said drives means to angularly displace said collar and to reciprocate said piston cup and sound producing valve means.

2. A body moving and sound producing assembly according to claim 1, wherein, said valve means is disposed in a voice chamber formed in said piston cup and one end of said valve means extends through said chamber into said air cylinder below said piston cup, whereby, downward movement of said piston cup forces air in said cylinder below said cup to pass through said valve means and exit through said voice chamber as a sound.

3. A body moving and sound producing assembly according to claim 2, wherein, said valve means comprises a reed valve and said voice chamber includes a cylindrical side wall intersecting with a flat bottom wall.

4. A body moving and sound producing assembly according to claim 2, wherein, said housing includes a voice knob depending into said air cylinder above said voice chamber, a flexible gasket spanning the top of said chamber and provided with a centralopening axially aligned with said knob, whereby, as said cup is moved upwardly said knob is pushed through said gasket opening as air is drawn into said cylinder below said cup and thereafter as said gasket is moved downwardly with said cup the sound created by said valve means is altered by said knob and gasket to produce a non-monotonous dualsyllable sound.

5. In a body moving and sound producing assembly for use in a hollow toy figure,.the arrangement comprising, a housing within said figure, an oscillating element projecting from said housing for supporting an appendage of said figure, actuating means extending from said hous-.

ing and including drive means connecting with said oscillating element, a cylinder attached to said housing, piston means having a voice chamber slidably disposed within said cylinder and means engaging said actuating means and connecting with said piston means, whereby displacement of said actuating means simultaneously oscillates said appendage through said drive means and reciprocates said piston means to produce a sound, said actuating I means comprising a slide fitted within a channel in said housing, said drive means including a shaft connected to said oscillating element at one end and connected to said slide on the other end, and means normally biasing said slide outwardly from said housing, and said slide including a gear rack, said shaft carrying a pinion gear engaging said rack, and said biasing means comprising a torsion spring. having one end anchored to said housing and the other end fixedly disposed with respect to said oscillating element.

6. A body moving and sound producing assembly according to claim 5 wherein, said piston means includes sealing means engaging the wall of said cylinder to provide an air chamber therein, and valve means in said piston means joins said voice chamber and said air chain:

her, whereby said reciprocation of said piston means forces air from said air chamber through said valve means to produce said sound, and wherein said housing includes a voice knob mounted thereon extending towards said voice chamber in said piston means, and said piston means includes sound attenuating means spanning said voice chamber and provided with a central opening, whereby, when said actuating means moves said piston means in one direction said knob engages said opening and when said piston means is moved in the opposite direction the air forced through said valve means into said voice chamher as a monotonous single syllable sound is altered to produce a non-monotonous dual-syllable sound.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 820,843 4/1906 Arnold 46--118 1,691,443 11/1928 Lloyd 46-118 2,635,384 4/1953 Rosenthal 46-116 2,661,572 12/1953 Baggott 461 18 FOREIGN PATENTS 551,3 65 1/1958 Canada.

527,946 7/ 1955 Italy.

RICHARD C. PINKHAM, Primary Examiner.

T. ZACK, Assistant Examiner.

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