Amusement devices: toys – Figure toy or accessory therefor – Limb – hand or foot
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-20
2001-01-30
Ackun, Jacob K. (Department: 3712)
Amusement devices: toys
Figure toy or accessory therefor
Limb, hand or foot
C446S128000, C446S268000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06179685
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention concerns a toy comprising a shoe having at least one heel with a tread and a foresole with a substantially plane tread, said treads of the heel and the foresole being separated from each other, said toy additionally comprising a platform on which the shoe may be placed, said platform being provided with coupling means, wherein just the heel of the shoe forms a complementary coupling means to allow the shoe to be detachably coupled to the platform.
Such a toy is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3 234 689, which discloses a doll with associated shoes. The doll is shaped as a a human being, and the legs are formed with substantially rigid ankle joints. For the doll to stand independently, the toy comprises a platform provided with holes in which the shoes of the doll may be mounted in that these shoes are provided with an extended heel which can be inserted into the holes in the platform.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
As the doll is attached stably to the platform by means of the shoes, and as the extended heel is rotatable in the holes in the platform, the doll can hereby assume various positions with respect to the platform, although the ankles of the doll are rigid. If, on the other hand, it is desired to place the doll on a plane face, this can just be done if the shoes of the doll are exchanged.
From CH-A-632 934 is known a figure being shaped as a human being, and wherein the ankles are rigid. A platform having coupling studs is provided for mounting the figure on the platform, as the figure has recesses below the feet, the recesses being shaped so as to be pressed frictionally down over the coupling studs on the platform.
Known are also toys comprising dolls with articulated ankles on which shoes are mounted, said shoes having recesses below the heel and the foresole which may be pressed frictionally down over coupling studs on an associated platform, said coupling studs being arranged in a square pattern defining two mutually perpendicular module directions and with the same mutual module distance between adjacent coupling studs.
A doll of the last-mentioned type can hereby be placed on plane platform as well as on a platform provided with coupling studs, which makes the doll superior to the first-mentioned doll with associated shoes. For the last-mentioned doll to assume many different positions, the ankles must be articulated, and when the doll is mounted on a platform having coupling studs, the shoes must be oriented in one of the two perpendicular module directions, so that the positions which the doll can assume are not quite natural.
The object of the present invention is to disclose a toy of the type mentioned in the opening paragraph, which allows a doll to assume many different natural positions on a platform having coupling means for the mounting of a shoe, while allowing the doll with shoes to be placed on a plane platform without coupling studs.
This object is achieved by a toy as defined in claim
1
in that the toy mentioned in the opening paragraph is unique in that the coupling means on the platform are formed by a plurality of coupling parts protruding with respect to the platform, and in that the tread on the heel of the shoe extends in a plane which coincides with the tread on the foresole of the shoe.
The treads on the heel and foresole of the shoe hereby form a stable engagement face to support the shoe and thereby the doll provided with shoes on a plane surface.
Although the shoe, when mounted on the platform provided with protruding coupling parts, is positioned a little askew, this skewness is very small because of the shape of the heel, and the shoe with the mounted doll is nevertheless secured stably owing to the frictional connection between the relatively wide heel and the protruding coupling parts on the platform.
Additionally stability is obtained in that the heel of the shoe is formed with a width which is greater than its height. In preferred embodiments of the toy, the tread of the heel on the shoe is formed substantially rotationally symmetrical, and the heel substantially has an outer cylindrical shape, and the protruding coupling parts of the platform have a mutual distance which allows the heel of the shoe to be pressed frictionally down between the protruding coupling parts on the platform, it being particularly expedient that the tread of the heel is formed substantially as a circle, and that the heel substantially forms a cylindrical tube, and that at least some of the protruding coupling parts of the platform are formed as studs having an outer dimension which allows these studs to be pressed frictionally into the heel. It is hereby ensured, owing to the symmetry, that the shoe and thus the doll can rotate about the heel, and that doll can hereby assume many more natural positions.
The shoe may either be an integral part of the legs of a doll, or may be a separate part. In the last-mentioned case, the shoe must be provided with coupling means to receive a leg or a foot of the doll. Particularly in connection with shoes adapted to receive a naturally shaped foot on a doll, the present invention provides advantages, it being possible to construct the shoe with a front part to receive the forefoot of the doll, which part of the shoe may have a low profile. This would not be possible if also the foresole was provided with coupling means.
In this connection the shoe may expediently be made of a flexible plastics material, which makes it easy to achieve a suitable coupling friction between the foot of the doll and the shoe as well as between the shoe and the protruding coupling parts on the platform.
In a preferred embodiment, the protruding coupling parts on the platform and the shoe are mutually dimensioned such that, no matter how the heel is frictionally connected with the coupling parts on the platform, at least a portion of the foresole of the shoe will engage a protruding coupling part on the platform on the upper side of the coupling part. This provides increased stability.
Additional stability may be achieved by an embodiment wherein at least some of the coupling parts on the platform together form a circular groove between them, and wherein the heel of the shoe and the circular groove are mutually dimensioned such that the heel of the shoe may be pressed frictionally into the circular groove.
In a particularly preferred embodiment, the invention is characterized in that the protruding coupling parts on the platform comprise a first type of coupling parts which are formed as cylindrical studs, and a second type of coupling parts which each enclose the first type of coupling parts and thereby form the circular groove, said first and second types of coupling parts forming a coupling unit, said coupling parts on the platform being formed by such coupling units, which are mutually arranged on the platform in such a manner that they form a pattern with the same mutual module distance between adjacent coupling units. Precisely this structure involves a very high stability in the coupling between the shoe and the platform, no matter which orientation the shoe has with respect to the platform, as, generally speaking, the foresole on the shoe will always be supported by a coupling part of the second type, which is very wide because of the structure.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2336467 (1943-12-01), Cohen
patent: 3009284 (1961-11-01), Ryan
patent: 3234689 (1966-02-01), Ryan
patent: 3668805 (1972-06-01), Coleman
patent: 4063381 (1977-12-01), Deulofeu
patent: 4170840 (1979-10-01), Ogawa
patent: 5024611 (1991-06-01), Eckerle et al.
patent: 5378187 (1995-01-01), Forbes et al.
patent: 5725411 (1998-03-01), Glynn
patent: 632 934 A5 (1982-11-01), None
patent: 197807 (1978-07-01), None
patent: 940685 (1948-12-01), None
Ackun Jacob K.
Carlson Jeffrey D.
INTERLEGO AG
Pitney Hardin Kipp & Szuch LLP
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