Novelty

Aug. 28, 1962

Μ. 1. GLASS ETAL

NOVELTY

Filed Dec. 17. 1959

3,050,902

<img file="US3050902A_D0001.tif" />

3,050,902

Patented Aug. 28, 1962

3,050,902 NOVELTY

Marvin I. Glass and Bayard C. Reed, Chicago, Hl.; said Reed assignor to said Glass

Filed Dec. 17,1959, Ser. No. 860,204

Claims. (Cl. 46—123)

This invention relates generally to a novelty in the form of an articulated animal-figure and more particularly to such a figure which produces lifelike movement in response to manipulation by the user.

Articulated animal-figures which produce motion when held in the hand or otherwise manipulated have long been known to the art. Most of these devices, however, fail to produce realistic lifelike motion or while they are capable of creating certain motions they are incapable of producing other motions which are associated with the animal being depicted. This is particularly true in the case of snakes and other reptile figures. Also, many require an excessive amount of effort on the part of the user. In general they are unsatisfactory and leave much to be desired.

Accordingly, an objective of this invention is to provide an animal-figure which more realistically simulates the movement of the animal being represented.

A further objective of this invention is to provide such a figure which is highly responsive to even slight manipulation by the user.

A further object is to provide such a figure which is capable of reproducing various of the movements of the animal being represented.

A further object is to provide such a figure which is simple and economical to produce yet durable.

A specific object of this invention is to provide an articulated snake or reptile figure which is realistic and highly reactive to manipulation.

Further objects and advantages of this device will be apparent from the following description and accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of an articulated snakefigure which embodies various of the features of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a partial side view (partially broken away) of the snake shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a top view of the head section of the snake shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a side view (partially broken away) of one body section of the snake shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 5 is a side view of the tail section of the snake shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 6 is a partial top view of a section of the snake showing the lower socket at the front end of the section.

Briefly, the invention comprises an articulate animalfigure capable of lifelike movement.

Generally, in the embodiment of the invention shown in the drawings, the figure comprises a snake 10, shown in FIG. 1, Which is fabricated from a number of articulated sections or links 11 connected together by hinged pivots. The axes of the pivots between adjacent sections 11 are at an angle relative to one another causing the sections themselves to be angularly disposed with respect to one another. The sections 11 are arranged so that the snake inclines upward and forward with respect to the axis of the tail section and is always tending to curve upward toward its head.

As will be explained in detail later, this relationship makes the sections generally unstable with respect to one another and also produces a variation in the forces tending to move each section. The upward incline of the snake also allows it to create a number of very realistic motions including the three dimensional effect of coiling or spiraling back upon itself. To operate the snake it is simply grasped in one hand, preferably at the tail end, and manipulated by moving it slightly in different directions. Extensive and very life-like movement may be imparted to the animal with a very small amount of manipulation by the user.

More specifically, the embodiment shown in the drawings, comprises a head section 12, and a tail section 14, which are pivotally connected to either end of a chain of pivotally connected body sections 15. Each of the body sections 15, shown in detail in FIG. 4, is an elongated tubular segment having connecting means consisting of sockets 16 and pins 18. More particularly, each body section 15 has a lower socket 16 and an upper pin 18 at its front end and an upper socket 16 and a lower pin 18 at its rear end. Each lower pin has a small head 17. The pins 18 are oriented at approximately right angles to the axis of the supporting section. The head section 12, shown in detail in FIG. 3, and the tail section 14, shown in detail in FIG. 5, are also elongated generally tubular segments but they have connecting means only at their respective inward ends. The head 12, is of a figurative design while the tail 14 is tapered to a point toward its rearward or outer end and may be of suitable length so that it can be held by the user. Either or both may be weighted to provide a counter-balance effect. The sections 11 are pivotally connected by inserting the upper pin 18 on the front end of one section up into the upper socket 16 in the rear end of a second section. Then the lower pin 18 on the rear end of the second section is pushed into the lower socket 16 in the front end of the first section through a slot 19, shown in FIG. 6, which leads to that lower socket. The pin, socket, and slot are of such relative sizes that the pin remains in the socket during the normal operation of the snake. The head 17 on each lower pin supports the adjacent section upwardly to prevent the sections from locking. The section ends have segments 20 of the side walls removed to allow adjacent sections to be fit together and also to restrict the rotation of each section relative to adjacent sections. In this embodiment, the maximum angle of rotation is approximately 90 degrees.

The sections are constructed in such a way that when the sections are connected, the axes of the pivots between adjacent sections are disposed at an angle relative to one another and each section is disposed at a vertical angle relative to adjacent sections. If the section which inclines upward at an angle from the adjacent lower section is at all displaced in the transverse direction with respect to that lower section, a component of the force of gravity on the inclined section will tend to rotate it about its axis of pivot with the lower section. Thus, a generally unstable situation is created and the snake will move a great deal in resonse to very slight manipulation by the user.

The angular relationship is produced in this specific preferred embodiment by having the center lines of the pin 18 and the socket 16 on the rear end of each section longitudinally offset from one another by a small increment, designated in FIG. 4 by numeral 22, while having the socket 16 and pin 18 on the front end of the connecting section longitudinally in line. This particular construction facilitates fabrication of the sections by eliminating the need to dispose the pin 18 an an angle other than 90° to the center axis, of the section. Thus, when adjacent sections are joined together, the axes of the pivots between adjacent sections are. disposed at an angle to one another and the center axes of the two sections are disposed at the same angle to one another. Obviously, many other methods of producing this angular

3,050,902 relationship are available within the broad scope of this invention.

In this embodiment, each section is angularly disposed with respect to all adjacent sections and the sections are sequentially and unidirectionally arranged. Thus, in moving farther along the snake from a selected base section, each successive section is angularly disposed at a greater angle with respect to that base section. In particular, as shown in FIG. 2, using the tail 14 as the base section, the sections incline upward and at progressively greater angles from the center axis of that section as you go farther from the tail toward the head. This produces a variation in the effective rotative component of the gravitational force exerted upon the various sections as does the variation in moment arm due to the fact that different sections support different numbers of other sections. These variations in force tend to rotate the various sections at different speeds and contribute to the lifelike action of the snake.

In addition, in this embodiment, the snake is made sufficiently long and the axes of the pivots between adjacent sections are disposed at sufficient angles relative to one another so that part of the snake will normally be inclined upward and therefore be unstable. Even when the snake is inclined downward with its tail uppermost, the combined section-to-section angular displacement is usually sufficient to bring the front bf the snake back up above other sections. This arrangement is preferred as it results in the front end being generally unstable even if the majority of the other sections are inclined downward in a generally stable position. The resulting movement of only the front end or head of the snake gives the snake a very life-like appearance.

The sections are also arranged vertically offset from one another so that at the point of connection the rear end of each section is slightly closed to the top of the snake than the engaging forward end of the rearward adjacent section. The offset is accomplished, in this embodiment, by having each section overlap the section adjacent and rearward of it, as shown in FIG. 2.

The angular displacement and the vertical offset of the sections both tend to place each section slightly higher than the section immediately rearward of it and to raise the forward end of the snake with relation to the rearward end, thus facilitating the coiling or spiraling of the snake upward and back upon itself. They should be sufficient to raise the front of the snake at such a rate that a 5 to 6 section portion of the snake can coil back upon itself.

The increments of angular displacement may be made equal to make the movement of the snake smoother and steadier. The same result flows from having various other factors uniform, as for example, the size and the weight of the various sections.

Accordingly, the specific embodiment shown in the drawings is preferred, but various features could be changed without departing from the broad scope of the invention, for example, various of the uniform, sequential, or unidirectional features of the specific embodiment might be omitted or changed. It is also obvious that this invention is fully applicable to figures depicting other animals.

Various of the features of the device believed to be new and useful are set forth in the following claims.