Music – Instruments – Electrical musical tone generation
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-15
2001-08-14
Donels, Jeffrey (Department: 2837)
Music
Instruments
Electrical musical tone generation
C084S743000, C446S408000, C446S487000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06274800
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates generally to musical instruments. More particularly, this invention relates to toy musical instruments where the toy can be converted from one type of musical instrument to another type of musical instrument.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Musical instruments are well known in the children's toy industry. There are a variety of children's products currently available that resemble musical instruments such as guitars, pianos, keyboards, or drums. These toys are shaped to resemble actual musical instruments in appearance and often include electrical and/or mechanical components that will produce a variety of sounds when a child or infant “plays” the instrument by pushing the buttons or keys on the instrument. Some of these toy instruments can also be configured such that the sounds produced by the toy closely corresponds to the scales of notes that are played by the actual instrument that the toy resembles.
Although musical toys are known in the toy industry, these instruments have a number of shortcomings. For example, toy instruments currently available are designed to resemble one particular instrument; e.g., there are currently available toy guitars or toy keyboards, but not combination toy guitar/keyboards. Additionally, young children enjoy using toys that are capable of “transforming” into other toys. In the case of musical instruments, however, there are no such toys currently available that transform from one musical instrument to another. This problem is compounded by the fact that, for a young child to obtain an increased level of enjoyment from the transforming toy, each of the musical instruments in the toy should be capable of functioning properly, playing different instrument sounds when actuated by the child. Such toys can become more difficult and expensive to manufacture if multiple instruments are combined. For these reasons, it is desirable to have a convertible toy instrument that can resemble multiple musical instruments in sound and shape or appearance while still being relatively inexpensive and simple to produce.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One combination musical instrument can comprise a guitar portion coupled to a keyboard portion. On the front side of both the guitar portion and the keyboard portions are a plurality of input devices that are actuable by a user. Upon the actuation of one of the input devices, one of a plurality of sounds is transmitted by a processor unit to a speaker or other audio output unit. The sounds resulting from an actuation of one of the input devices on the guitar portion resemble the sounds that would emanate from an electric, string or other type of guitar. In the case of the keyboard portion, the sounds resulting from an actuation of one of the input devices can resemble the sounds that would emanate from either a keyboard, organ, xylophone or drum set. Both the keyboard portion and the guitar portion can also include input devices that allow the user to change the types of sounds that will emanate from the instrument portions, and other input devices can cause a sequence of preprogrammed sounds to be output by the audio output unit. In one embodiment of the invention, the keyboard portion is foldable along an axis such that the entire keyboard portion is concealed from view when looking at the front face of the guitar portion of the instrument. When in the collapsed position, all of the input devices on the keyboard portion can be concealed from use and view.
Further advantages and features of the present invention will be apparent from the following specification and claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts.
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One Man Jam: two (2) photographs.
Donels Jeffrey
Elliot Rudell
Foley & Lardner
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