Untitled record

March 24, 1964

R. K. OSTRANDER

3,125,826

ANIMATED DOLL WITH SOUNDING MEANS

Filed June 21, 1961

Sheets-Sheet 1

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3,125,826

March 24, 1964 r. k. Ostrander

ANIMATED DOLL WITH SOUNDING MEANS

Filed June 21, 1961

Sheets-Sheet 2

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ROBERT K. OUTRANOER

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United States Patent Office

3,125,826

Patented Mar. 24, 1964

3,125,826

ANIMATED DOLL WITH SOUNDING MEANS Robert K. Ostrander, 497 Prospect St., Maplewood, N.J.

Filed June 21,1961, Ser. No. 118,564

Claims. (Cl. 46—118)

This invention relates to dolls, and, in particular, to a doll having a flexible face of normally happy expression, a flexible hollow resilient torso, and means within the doll operated by squeezing the torso either to effect facial changes of expression of heightened happiness, or a giggling sound, or both, as desired.

A general object of my invention is to provide a doll of the character described the happy facial expression of which may readily be changed, simply by squeezing of the doll’s torso, to simulate a smile or grin, or a moderate degree of laughter or happiness with appropriate movements of the eyelids, cheeks, nose, and mouth, preferably to the accompaniment of a giggling or chuckling sound.

One specific object of my invention is to provide a doll having a flexible face of normally pleasant expression with movable eyelids, cheeks, nose, and mouth, such face being part of a hollow head attached in a usual manner to a flexible, resilient, hollow, and therefore bellowslike torso, and a simple mechanism partly within the head and partly within the torso, such mechanism being adapted to be actuated by squeezing the torso to produce natural-appearing movements of the eyelids and other lineaments of the face commonly associated with spontaneous giggling and chuckling, and also to produce a natural-sounding simulation of a brief giggle or chuckle.

It is preferred that the doll be adapted to change its naturally happy expression into one even happier to the accompaniment of a sound like that of a giggle or chuckle; but it will be seen herein that, within the scope of my invention, the doll may simply be adapted to register an increase of happiness by change of facial expression alone, or by emitting a happy sound only. In short, while the invention provides means whereby the doll may be adapted to indicate a simulated excess of happiness both visually and audibly, adaptation for visual manifestation only, or for audible manifestation only, merely involve modifications wherein only part of my invention is employed.

Another object of my invention is to provide such a doll in which the normally happy expression, the adaptability to change that expression to a happier one by movements of the eyelids, cheeks, nose, and mouth, and the adaptability to emit a sound in simulation of a giggle or chuckle are all independent of the doll’s position.

Another specific object of my invention is to provide a doll having a flexible face of normally happy expression, a flexible bellows-like torso, a reed instrument or the like sounding means inserted into the torso in a usual manner, and a mechanism as described above, such mechanism being adapted to be operated by squeezing the torso, and being spring-loaded or otherwise biased so as to recover a normal position when pressure is withdrawn from the torso, and such mechanism also being adapted to offer intermittently greater and lesser resistance to a squeezing of the doll’s torso whereby the torso cannot be smoothly, i.e. evenly, squeezed and whereby such squeezing causes a variegated rate of compression of air within the torso and a corresponding irregular flow of air through the reed instrument with the result that operation of the mechanism produces a sound of rapidly varying amplitude such as is characteristic of a giggle or chuckle.

A further specific object of my invention is to provide a doll as described next above wherein the reed instru2 ment is of the single air-conduit double-reed type, and is accordingly responsive to air passing through the conduit from the torso of the doll to the exterior, or vice versa.

It is particularly a feature of my present invention that ⁵ a mechanism such as described next above be made part of a doll having a single reed instrument, as described, so that an articulated sound like a giggle or chuckle may be produced without the use of any kind of valve and without respect to the position of the doll. In this con¹⁰ nection it may be said that heretofore in so-called talking dolls, where articulation in the emitted sound was desired, it was necessary to provide a complicated and expensive arrangement of valves and reeds. Some valve and reed arrangements depended upon the position in which the doll was placed for operation. In my present invention any such arrangements are unnecessary since the doll’s mechanism is adapted to render it impossible to work the bellows of the doll’s torso except in an alternating series of relatively fast and slow movements so ²⁰ that articulation is achieved in a single reed instrument without a valve simply by a variation of air flow therethrough corresponding to such movements.

Other objects of my invention in part will be obvious and in part will be pointed out hereinafter.

⁵ My invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements, and arrangements of parts which will be exemplified in the dolls hereinafter described, and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which are shown various possible embodiments of my invention,

FIG. 1 is a full face view, that is to say, a front elevational view of the head and upper torso, of a doll con₃₅ structed in accordance with my invention and showing the face in its idle position wherein the features are composed in a normally happy expression;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 but showing the features of the face rearranged pursuant to my invention ₄₀ to heighten the idle happy expression by lifting the corners of the mouth, lifting the lobes of the nose, the outer ends of the lobes of the nose raising the cheekbones, raising the lower eyelids so as to partially close the eyes and raising the skin of the face at the outer corners of the eyes, all a simulation of a grin, smile or general expression of increased happiness;

FIG. 3 is a side vertical sectional view through a doll embodying my invention, the mechanism for manipulating the flexible face and for producing an articulation, i.e. ₅₀ interruption in the sounding means, being illustrated in unactuated condition;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 but showing the aforesaid mechanism in actuated condition;

FIGS. 5 and 6 are sectional views taken substantially gg along the lines 5—5 and 6—6 respectively of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 3 of a doll embodying a modified form of my invention in which the manipulating mechanism does not effect rearrangement of the ₆₀ features of the face.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the reference numeral 10 denotes a doll embodying my invention. Said doll includes a torso 11, a head 12 and suitable limbs such as arms and legs, the latter having no bearing upon gg the operation of my invention. Both the head and the torso are hollow and both are flexible and resilient, having the ability to assume and maintain, when unstressed, a predetermined configuration that has been imparted thereto during manufacture. Any suitable method of fabri3,125,826 ³cation and any materials well known in the art can be used for this purpose. For example, the head and torso can be made by molding, e.g. slush, centrifugal, blow, injection or dip molding with materials such, for instance, as vinyl plastisol, polyvinyl ester or rubber.

In the preferred form of my invention the material of the head is flexible and thin so that it can be stretched and moved to different positions under stress with comparative ease. For this purpose, for instance, I preferably employ slush, centrifugal or dip -molding and a vinyl or elastomeric type synthetic plastic. The material and thickness and manner of molding of the head are such that the head has sufficient flexibility to be easily distorted to the extent that the general objects of my invention require and has sufficient resilience to regain and maintain an original configuration and expression in the absence of applied distorting forces. The torso need merely be so constructed as to be readily squeezable to restore itself to its original configuration when released.

The head includes a face having all of the usual lineaments, to wit, a forehead, eye openings, eye sockets, nose, mouth, cheeks and chin, these all being shaped, i.e. molded, to present when unstressed, that is to say, normally, an expression of general happiness and contentment. To this end the corners 13 of the partly open mouth 14 are upturned and the chin 16 and cheek 18 are slightly dimpled. The outer edges 20' of the lobes of the nose 22 are slightly lifted. The skin over the cheekbones 24 is high with relation to the lobes of the nose, that is to say, above the horizontal level of said lobes of the nose. Moreover, the outer corners 26 of the eye openings 28 are higher than the inner corners 30 thereof. The flanks 32 of the nose below the bridge thereof are slightly lower than the inner corners of the eyes and the folds, i.e. creases or wrinkles 34, in the skin which extend in a general upward direction from the outer corners of the eye openings are not strongly delineated and are substantially vertical with a slight outward inclination. Each upper eyelid 36 is provided with an outwardly extending ridge 38 that marks the lower edge of the lid and which is more protuberant toward the outer corner of the eye opening, that is to say, this ridge varies in height, being of comparatively small height from the inner corner of the eye to about the middle of the upper eyelid and increasing gradually in height toward the outer corner of the eye opening. The upper surface of the ridge has an upward sweep, i.e., is concave, and said upper surface is grooved in a front-to-back direction so as to simulate eyelashes.. The lower edge of each eye opening is defined by the lower eyelid 40. The brow is smooth, that it to say relaxed, i.e. unridged. As noted above this composition of features imparts a normally happy and contented expression to the face which is pleasant to observe.

Eye sockets 41 are provided within the head which are forwardly opening flexible resilient receptacles the front edges of which are in one piece with the face of the doll and are joined to the eye openings around the edges thereof. The front openings of said eye sockets, that is to say, the eye openings 28, are almond shaped as molded, i.e. ellipsoidal, or tapering towards both corners of said openings, and the sockets rearwardly of the eye openings are larger than said eye openings so that, in effect, the walls of the sockets converge towards one another as they approach the openings. This type of socket can be used for the reception of insertable eyes either of the fixed types or of the individually movable type.

The head also may include molded hair or inserted hair strands 42 to lend a life-like appearance. Said head has the usual downwardly facing neck opening 44.

A suitable representation of an eye 46 is disposed in each eye socket 41 behind the eye opening 28. As just mentioned, such representation can be a fixed or a movable eye, the former being shown herein by way of example. Said eye 46 comprises a generally hemispherical shell bearing on its front face a representation of a human eye. The socket forward of the eye is slightly larger than the eye to permit the eye opening to be closed by squeezing the mouth of the socket preferably without stretching the socket so as to provide ease of 5 closure. The eye includes a rearwardly extending stem 48 which protrudes through an opening in the back wall of the eye socket and is held in place thereto as by a friction nut 50. The upper and lower ends of said nut are elongated to enable them to function as guide shoes IO in a manner which will be described hereinafter.

The torso 11 is, as mentioned hereinabove, hollow, flexible and resilient so that it can be easily squeezed and collapsed and so that it will regain its normal shape when released. The neck and throat at the upper end ₁₅ of the torso terminate at a torso neck opening 52 which is surrounded by an outwardly extending flange 54. The neck of the doll is adapted to be inserted in the neck opening 44 of the head in order to mount the head on the torso, the flange 54 engaging the inner surface of 2o the head to hold the head in any adjusted position on the doll’s neck.

The torso when squeezed will compress the air therein and I utilize this compressed air to actuate a sounding means 56 carried by either the torso or the head. As 25 shown herein, the sounding means 56 constitutes a hollow sleeve having one tubular double-flanged end which is located in an opening in the torso, e.g. at the thorax, the twin flanges being located on opposite sides of the skin of the torso so as to hold the sounding means fixedly in 3θ place.

Within the sleeve is disposed a double-acting reed (not shown) of standard construction which comprises a metal shank from which there extend in opposite directions coplanar cantilever supported tapering tongues. 35 The tongues are free to vibrate within the sleeve and are tuned, i.e. dimensioned, so that they will have resonant frequencies at pleasant sounding tones. As is well known the tongues can be cut and shaped to produce pleasing harmonics when in free vibration under the influence of 40 a stream of air passing over the same. Optionally, the oppositedly directed tongues may have the same or different tones. Associated with each tongue is an elongated cup from which air issues against the body of the tongue so as to cause it to vibrate. The cups are op₄₅ positedly directed as are the tongues, in a customary ° fashion, so that when air passes in one direction through the sounding means, one single tongue will be actuated and the other tongue stopped and so that the reverse operation will take place when air passes in the opposite 50 direction through the sounding reed.

It will be understood that when the torso is squeezed air will be expelled from the torso via the sounding means to produce a desired sound and similarly when the torso is released air will enter the torso to produce a desired 55 sound. The tongue associated with intake as distinguished from egress of air may be omitted.

It is desirable to articulate the tone issuing from the sounding means, i.e. to interrupt momentarily the sound produced thereby, whereby to create the semblance of θθ a chuckle or giggle. The requisite articulation or interruption proper to produce this effect should not be too sharp, as for example the abrupt cut-off conventionally used to produce a “momma” or “papa” sound. Rather the break caused by the articulation should be somewhat 65 gradual although obviously not too slow. Moreover it is preferable for this articulation to be produced in an inexpensive fashion so as to minimize the cost of the doll. For instance, it would not be desirable to create the articulation by using plural sounding means and or 70 valves inasmuch as these increase the complexity of the doll, raise its cost and render it more prone to damage.

I have overcome all these drawbacks of previous articulation means by using a simple sounding means, such for instance, as the one above described and by instead, 75 creating a variegation, that is to say fluctuation, of the

3,125.826 air pressure generated within the torso. It will be clear that if at first a certain pressure exists it will actuate the sounding means. If the build-up of such pressure is halted the pressure will start to dissipate both through the sounding means and through the joints of the doll so that there will be a gradual fall-off of the sound created. This fall-off wifi neither be abrupt nor protracted but will, in effect, constitute a modulation (articulation) in the sound. If, thereafter, the pressure is again raised, a tone emanating from the sounding means will again be generated. The total effect of this variegation in sound by introducing one or more slightly drawn out articulations will be a chuckle or giggle. I have provided a mechanism which in assoication with a simple squeezing action on the doll, will create the desired variegation (pulsation) in pressure.

Specifically, referring to FIGS. 3-6, the reference numeral 57 denotes a mechanism for achieving the foregoing effect. Essentially said mechanism consists of a pair of manually manipulatable elements one near the front and one near the back of and both within the doll’s torso, means for urging said elements apart and means for intermittently interposing transitory opposition to the movement of the elements towards one another.

Said mechanism in particular includes a front lever arm 58 and a rear lever arm 60. The two levers are desirably fashioned from sheet metal, the planes thereof being parallel to one another and running in a front-toback direction. The levers are located medially of the doll’s torso in a side-to-side direction (see FIG. 5). As the lower end of each lever a portion thereof is turned to lie at 90° to the plane of the lever so as to form a flat manipulating element. The front element is indicated by the reference numeral 62 and the rear element by the reference numeral 64. Said flat elements are approximately parallel to the inner surfaces of the doll’s torso in the region where they are located and desirably are immediately adjacent said surfaces so that as soon as the doll’s torso is squeezed in a front-to-back direction, the levers will be urged towards one another against the force biasing the levers apart. In order to interconnect the levers for relative movement toward and away from one another, I provide a fulcrum pin, i.e. rivet, 66 which pivotally joins the two arms 58, 60. In the embodiment of my invention now being described said pin is located in the doll’s head slightly above the level of the nose (see FIG. 3).

Any suitable means can be used to bias the two arms away from one another. For example, said means can comprise a portion of the doll’s head which is squeezed when the levers are moved together so as to build up a restorative force that will urge the levers apart when they are released. Alternatively, I provide a simple spring biasing means, to wit a hairpin spring 68 having its opposite ends anchored to the two different arms, as at lugs 70. The spring should be sufficiently strong to hold the two arms apart and overcome any friction that may be present where the arms overlap or at the fulcrum pin 66. The spring should, however be light enough so that it can be easily compressed by a child.

To produce the variegation in air pressure which, as I have indicated above, is an important feature of my invention, I include means to intermittently interpose an overridable force against closing movement of the arms 58, 60 towards one another. For example, I may provide a series of detents each of which is adapted to be engaged and ridden over by a follower. Specifically, and as shown, I provide the front arm 58 with a detent bar 72. Said detent bar is formed from flat sheet metal and is pivotally secured, as by a rivet 74, at its front end to a portion of the front arm 58 between the front flat manipulating element 62 and the fulcrum pin 66. The front end of the detent bar lies flatly against the sheet metal front arm 58. The upper edge of the bar 72 is formed with a series of spaced detents 76. The detents are in the shape of teeth, the effective portion of each of which comprises an edge 78 that slopes upwardly and forwardly with respect to the rear of the bar and has a substantial component normal to the length of the bar. ₅ However the edges 78 are inclined forwardly, i.e. they are not perpendicular to the length of the bar. The detent bar is urged upwardly, i.e. counter-clockwise as viewed in FIG. 3, by biasing means such, for instance, as a helical coil spring 80 having its upper end anchored jq to a lug 82 on the front arm 58 and its lower end anchored to an arm 84 on the detent bar.

A follower is provided for cooperation with the detent bar 72. Said follower may be of quite simple and inexpensive construction and the same comprises merely a tongue 86 integral with and struck out from the back edge of the rear arm 6®. The tongue includes a forwardly bent portion 87 which lies against the adjacent broad face of the detent bar. The base of the tongue bears against the upper edge of the detent bar. Said 2o tongue preferably is substantially parallel to the edges 78 so that they can slide freely thereon.

In idle (open) position of the arms 58, 60, this being defined by abutment of a stop 88 on the rear arm 60 with the front edge of the front arm 58, the edge 78 25 of the rearmost detent 76 is engaged by the follower 86. Now if the manipulating elements 62, 64 are urged towards one another by a manual squeezing action the follower 86 will cam across the sloped rearmost edge 78 against the action of the spring 80 until this edge is 30 clear.

The movement of the arms 58, 60 towards one another during this initial period is impeded by the friction between the follower tongue 86 and the rearmost cam edge 78. However as soon as the follower clears this edge 35 the ensuing movement of the elements 62, 64 toward one another will be rather rapid because the same manual pressure still is being exerted but the opposition thereto has been suddenly removed when the follower rides off the rearmost cam edge. Accordingly, a pulse of air pres40 sure will be created within the doll’s torso and this in turn will force a pulse of air through the sounding means 56.

The aforesaid pulse is terminated when the follower tongue 86 reaches the next cam edge 78. Thereupon 45 friction again will be created between the follower and the second cam edge. This eventually will be overcome by the application of manual squeezing pressure on the arms 58, 60 but for the moment movement of the arms toward one another is checked, i.e. slowed down, so that 50 there is a fall-off of the air pressure within the torso which manifests itself as a break or articulation in the sound produced by the sounding means 56.

As the manual closing pressure continues to be applied to the arms 58, 60 the tongue will ride up the second cam 55 edge and eventually clear it to start a second pulse of air and the generation of a second sound.

Thus by the cooperation between the follower and successive cam edges I have, through the use of a single simple sounding means, provided articulations, i.e. breaks, 60 in the sound. These breaks in association with the smiling features of the doll convey the impression of a giggle or chuckle.

Closing motion of the two arms towards one another is limited in any suitable maimer as by abutment of the 65 arms against the opposed manipulating elements or by abutment of the follower 86 against the rear edge of the front arm 58. A lug 90 at the rear edge of the front arm 58 limits upward return movement of the detent bar.

It will be appreciated that the number and shape of the 70 cam edges 78 can be varied at will to provide any desired spacing and quality to the articulation breaks in the sound. It also will be apparent that any other means can be provided to secure the same variegation in air pressure. For instance, either or both of the arms can 75 be provided with protuberances properly located to strike

3,125,826 the facing edges of the two arms 58, 60 as they are swung together and thereby intermittently on one or more occasions increase the force required to close the arms and thereby creat pulses in the air pressure generated by squeezing the doll’s torso.

In accordance with a feature of my invention there is associated with the mechanism for creating the air pressure in pulsed waves, a means for heightening the expression of happiness which has been molded into the doll’s face. Said means in part comprises the configuration of the features which has been described above and which configuration is such that manipulation of the head accompanying the squeezing of the torso rearranges the features into an even happier expression. The active part of said means, i.e. the actuator means for rearranging the facial features, is mechanical, being the same, for example, as the means shown in my copending application Serial No. 776,512 for Squinting and Weeping Doll filed November 26, 1958, now Patent No. 3,053,009. However, in said copending application said actuator means heightened an originally morose arrangement of the facial features whereas in the present instance it is an expression of happiness that is increased.

In particular said means for rearranging the facial features includes a clamping arrangement for closing the eye sockets 41 internally of the head at their upper and lower areas of junction to the eye openings 28. Specifically, I provide a different pair of clamps for each different eye socket. The two upper clamps and the two lower clamps preferably are united for convenience of manufacture and operation.

A first lower horizontal bar 92 carried by a bell crank extension 94 secured to the upper end of the rear arm 60 above the fulcrum pin 66 furnishes a lower clamping element for each eye socket. A second upper horizontal bar 96 carried by a bell crank extension 98 secured to the upper end of the front arm 58 above the fulcrum pin 66 furnishes an upper clamping element for each eye socket. The two clamping bars are respectively disposed below and above the eye sockets at their junctures with the face of the doll at the eye openings, said bars being located immediately in back of and indeed optionally engaging the back surface of the doll’s face behind the lower and upper eyelids.

The spring 68 urges the clamping bars away from the eye sockets. However, the stop 88 prevents the clamping bars from moving too far away from said sockets.

To aid in holding the clamping bars adjacent the eye sockets and in general to help in holding the actuator means in place, I provide a pair of retaining means one for each eye socket. Said retaining means conveniently comprises the guide shoes on the friction nuts 50 which serve as gibs to prevent rearward movement of the clamping bars.

When the arms 58, 60 are forced toward one another the bell crank extensions 94, 98 will swing together about the axis of the fulcrum pin 66, causing the upper and lower clamp bars 92, 96 to squeeze the front edges of the eye sockets toward one another. This action raises the lower lids 40 and depresses the upper lids 36. It also raises the features of the doll tied to the lower lids by the skin of the face and lowers the features of the doll tied to the upper lid by the skin of the face.

The ensuing change of expression can best be seen by comparing FIG. 2 which shows the partly contracted eye 65 openings to FIG. 1 which shows the unstressed eye openings. Thus it will be seen that raising of the lower lids 40 elevates the already high outer corners of the mouth. This increases the expression of happiness. Moreover, raising of the upper lids raises the already high the cheekbones 24 which further enhances the happy expression. It also will be appreciated that reducing the height of the eye openings makes the features appear to be even more pleasant due to the fact that the eyes are slanted upwardly and outwardly since the outer corners of the eye openings are higher than the inner corners thereof. I also wish to call attention to the flanks 32 of the nose which are raised by raising of the lower lids. This too makes the doll appear happier particularly since 5 it is not accompanied by a horizontal creasing of the bridge of the nose. I prevent such horizontal creasing by locating the bridge of the nose at least even with and optionally slightly forward of the pinch line of the clamping bars.

Lowering of the upper lids does not result in a frowning expression due to the outward and upward inclination of the eye openings, and to the forwardly located position of the bridge of the nose. Indeed, lowering of the upper lids heightens the expression of happiness since it tends 15 to swing inwardly the lower ends of the wrinkles 34 in the skin adjacent the outer corners of the eye openings.

It furthermore will be appreciated that the happier expression of the doll is accentuated by the configuration of the eyelashes which I have described in some detail here20 tofore.

Preferably, the squeezing action on the torso which produces the pressure for energizing the sounding means 56 also brings into play the actuator means that moves the upper and lower lids of the eye sockets towards one an25 other and which because of the predisposed special configuration of the facial features creates a heightened expression of happiness that is accompanied by a chuckle or laughing sound brought about by the interruption of the squeezing pressure. Although in such preferred form of 30 my invention the increased happiness of the face is accompanied by a giggling, chuckling or laughing sound, either of these two features may be employed independently of one another. For example, by retaining the clamping bars and eliminating either or both of the sounding means 35 56 or the detent bar 72 the face can be made to increase its expression of happiness without a giggle, chuckle or laugh. Similarly, the clamping bars and their associated structure can be eliminated while retaining the means for creating a pulsing air pressure.

⁴⁰ The latter arrangement is illustrated in the doll 100 shown in FIG. 7. Said doll differs from the doll 10 in that the two lever arms 102, 104 thereof which are pivotally connected to one another at their upper ends do not include any clamping means. Instead said arms ter45 minate in the doll’s torso 106 at the neck opening 108.

To pivotally connect said arms to one another and to support them within the torso I provide a neck plug 110 that is snugly received in the neck opening and includes a transverse horizontal shaft 112 to which the upper ends 50 of the two arms 102,104 are rotatably secured. Said arms are provided with a hairpin spring 114 to bias the arms apart, as well as a detent bar 116 and a follower 118 to intermittently increase the pressure opposing closing movement of the arms as has been described in detail with re55 spect to the doll 10.

The doll 100 also includes a sounding means 120 in which sound is created when the doll’s torso has the air pressure therein raised upon squeezing, this pressure being pulsating because of the cooperation of the detent bar 116 60 and the follower 118. Thus there is produced an articulation of sound in the manner heretofore set forth.

It will thus be seen that I have provided dolls in which the several objects of this invention are achieved and which are well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiments above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and