Inflatable hassock-shaped toy - Patent Review 4232477

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

An inflatable plastic toy which when inflated resembles a hassock.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Inflatable plastic toys have been used and enjoyed by children for many years. When inflated they are light in weight and flexible and are readily moved about, manipulated, distorted or bent, or squeezed and partially deformed by the child. Thus inflatable plastic toys provide fun and enjoyment for even the smallest child, whether in the nursery or playroom or elsewhere in the home, at the beach, on the lawn of a private dwelling or in a park or play ground, or elsewhere. These toys may be made and assembled so that when inflated they resemble fanciful characters, animals or objects in the home or elsewhere with which the child is familiar. Among the many patents relating to inflatable toys and actual hassocks of the inflatable type may be mentioned U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,029,109; 3,110,532; 3,125,377; 3,181,913 and 4,034,495 and U.S. Design Pat. No. 162,022.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

1. Purposes of the Invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved inflatable toy.

Another object is to provide an inflatable toy which when inflated resembles a hassock.

A further object is to provide an inflatable plastic toy for the enjoyment of children.

An additional object is to provide an inflatable toy which when inflated is light in weight and readily manipulated by a child.

Still another object is to provide an inflatable plastic toy which may readily be assembled and mass-produced at low cost using inexpensive materials of construction and unskilled labor.

Still a further object is to provide an inflatable contoured plastic toy which is rugged and serviceable and not readily broken by the child.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become evident from the description which follows.

2. Brief Description of the Invention

The toy of the present invention may briefly be described as an inflatable hassock-shaped toy which has a transparent cylindrical plastic wall and a pair of opaque plastic upper and lower walls. Each end wall has a plurality, typically six, outwardly-bulging segment-shaped portions and a central outwardly-bulging circular-shaped portion. The overall outward appearance of the toy resembles a hassock. Six radially-extending plastic partitions are equi-angularly spaced within the interior of the toy. A plurality of balls are also located within the interior of the toy. Each partition is taut to thereby form the crease lines which separate the segment-shaped portions on the end walls. The balls can bounce around and travel freely from one zone bounded by a pair of adjacent partitions to another zone bounded by any other pair of adjacent partitions. The balls enter any particular zone through the space defined by the inner edges of the respective pair of partitions. Each partition has cartoon-type artwork printed thereon which is visible through the transparent side wall.

Thus the present toy basically has the following features. It has an opaque top wall, an opaque bottom wall, and a transparent side wall, all of heavy gauge synthetic plastic material, and all being conveniently heat sealed to form an air-receivable interior chamber which is adapted to be inflated through a valve. Six radially-extending synthetic plastic material partitions are equi-angularly spaced in the chamber about a vertical axis. Each partition has an upper edge heat sealed to the top wall along a radially-extending seam, and a lower edge heat sealed to the bottom wall along a radially-extending seam. Each partition not only subdivides the chamber, but also controls the contour of the bottom and top walls upon inflation by restricting relative separation of the bottom and top walls along the seam lines. Each partition has a fully-extended length which effectively prevents the toy from bulging outwardly in all directions into a perfect spherical shape and, in fact, the partitions serve to somewhat flatten the bottom and top walls. The top and bottom walls both have a centrally circular portion, and each partition has an inner edge which is located at the circumference of this central circular portion. Upon inflatin, the toy resembles a hassock, because the central circular portion bulges outwardly to thereby resemble a hassock button, and because the seams define outwardly-bulging segment-or sector-shaped portions to thereby resemble a quilted hassock having triangular raised portions. A plurality of balls are located within the chamber. The inner edges of each two successive partitions are spaced sufficiently far enough apart to permit at least one ball to enter the compartment bounded by the two respective partitions. Each partition has outer edges which are located away from the side wall at a spacing which is either smaller than the diameter of a ball, to thereby prevent the latter from entering into another compartment through this spacing, or greater than the diameter of a ball, to thereby permit the balls to pass freely from one compartment to an adjacent compartment between the outer edge of a partition and the side wall. Cartoon-type art work which is visible through the transparent side wall is provided on the partitions.

In summary, the present invention entails the provision of an inflatable toy which when inflated resembles and has the contour of a hassock. The toy includes an envelope which when inflated is generally cylindrical with generally circular and flat top and bottom walls and a generally cylindrical side wall. The envelope is composed of soft limp flexible non-resilient sheet material, and has an opening in one of the walls to enable the envelope to have air under mild pressure introduced into its interior so that the envelope can be inflated. Means is provided to selectively close the opening in the wall of the envelope, in order to selectively retain air in the envelope and thereby keep the envelope inflated.

A plurality of soft limp flexible planar vertical baffles are mutually angularly spaced within the envelope. Each of the baffles extends radially from near the central axis of the envelope and terminates short of the periphery of the envelope. The top and bottom edges of each of the baffles are attached to the circular top and bottom walls of the envelope by rectilinear means such as fusion, gluing, stabling, sewing or the like. Thus, the top and bottom walls of the envelope have a contour with a central outward bulge and discrete radial outward bulges between adjacent rectilinear attachment means, when the envelope is inflated. Concomitantly with inflation of the envelope, the baffles are tautened by outward force exerted on the top and bottom walls between the baffles by the pressure of the inflating air. The baffles are spaced from and free of attachment to the generally cylindrical side wall of the envelope, so that the side wall of the envelope, when the envelope is inflated, has a horizontally outwardly-bulging barrel-shaped contour.

The inner edges of adjacent baffles are spaced apart when the envelope is inflated. At least one discrete solid object is provided within the envelope, and the object is sized to pass between the inner edges of adjacent baffles to the central axis of the envelope. The object is also preferably sized to pass alternately, but not necessarily, between the outer edge of a baffle and the side wall of the inflated envelope. Usually a plurality of discrete solid objects such as spheres or hollow plastic balls are provided within the envelope.

In a preferred embodiment, at least a portion of the side wall of the envelope is transparent, and an illustration is provided on at least one face of at least one baffle. Typically the illustration is that of a cartoon character, an animal or a clown, to provide amusement and interest for the child. In addition, in most cases at least one illustration is provided on at least one wall of the envelope. Typically, this illustration appears on the preferably opaque top wall of the envelope.

The envelope and the baffles are typically composed of a thermoplastic plastic such as polyethylene, polypropylene especially isotactic polypropylene, polystyrene, an acrylic resin such as polymethyl methacrylate, polyvinyl chloride, polyacrylonitrile, polyvinyl acetate, polytetrafluoroethylene, polyoxymethylene, a cellulosic, or nylon.

The inflatable toy of the present invention provides several salient advantages. The toy is light in weight and pleasing in appearance, and thus the toy may readily be manipulated by a child who thus derives a great deal of the pleasure and enjoyment in playing with the toy. The present toy is readily fabricated and assembled from simple shapes of low cost plastic sheet material, and thus the present toy may readily be mass-produced at low cost using unskilled labor. The toy when manipulated is an action toy, with the internal discrete solid objects providing internal motion when the toy is moved or manipulated, i.e., the objects such as balls move about and spill from compartment to compartment within the envelope, alternately centrally and then laterally outwards and inwards. The toy thus provides a great deal of pleasure for a child, is of low cost, and is not readily broken by the child, being resilient, rugged and serviceable.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the article of manufacture hereinafter described and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the accompanying drawings in which is shown one of the various possible embodiments of the invention:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the present toy in the inflated condition;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the toy of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an elevation view of the toy in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional elevation view taken substantially along the line 4--4 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional plan view taken substantially along the line 5--5 of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the FIGURES, the inflated and hassock-shaped toy 10 has an outer substantially cylindrical envelope consisting of the substantially circular and flat top wall 12, the substantially circular and flat bottom wall 14, and the substantially cylindrical side wall 16. As best seen in FIGS. 2, 3 and 5, the envelope has an opening 18 in the side wall 16 which is closed by the detachable plastic plug 20. This plug 20 constitutes a means to selectively close the opening 18 in order to selectively retain air in the envelope and thereby keep the envelope inflated. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the envelope as shown has typically been manually inflated by removing the plug 20 from the limp and collapsed toy and blowing breath from a human mouth through the opening 18. Air may of course be admitted into the envelope by a variety of other means such as the use of piston-type air pump as commonly employed to inflate pneumatic automobile tires.

Six vertical baffles 22, 24, 26, 28, 30 and 32 are shown within the envelope. These soft limp flexible baffles are shown in a planar vertical configuration due to inflation of the envelope, and as shown, the baffles are mutually angularly spaced within the envelope. Each of the baffles extends radially from near the central axis 34 of the envelope and terminates short of the periphery of the envelope. Referring specifically to the baffle 22, inner vertical edge 36 is spaced from the central axis 34, and outer vertical edge 38 terminates short of the periphery of the side wall 16.

Referring to the baffle 24 (FIG. 4), the rectilinear attachment means at 40 and 42 attach the respective top and bottom edges of the baffle 24 to the respective top and bottom walls 12 and 14 of the envelope. Thus, as shown, the top and bottom walls of the inflated envelope have a contour with a respective central outward bulge 44 and 46, and discrete radial outward bulges such as 48 (wall 12) and 50 (wall 14) between adjacent rectilinear attachment means, i.e. between the baffles 24 and 26. Due to the pressure of the inflating air, the baffles are tautened into a planar configuration by outward force exerted on the top wall 12 and the bottom wall 14. As mentioned supra, and as best seen in FIG. 4, the baffles are spaced from and free of attachment to the substantially cylindrical side wall 16, so that the side wall 16 of the inflated envelope has a horizontally outwardly bulging barrel-shaped contour.

A plurality of discrete spherical hollow plastic balls 52 are disposed within the envelope, and the inner edges of the baffles, such as edge 36, are sufficiently spaced apart in the inflated envelope, so that the balls 52 can pass between these inner baffle edges to the central axis 34 of the envelope.

As shown in FIG. 2, illustrations consisting of the letter A, B, C, D, E and F are provided on the top wall 12 of the envelope. A representation consisting of an illustration 54 of a lovable teddy bear is provided on the face of the baffle 24 (FIG. 4), while FIGS. 1 and 3 show an illustration 56 of a bird on the face of the baffle 22. Finally, an illustration 58 of a happy clown holding a balloon 60 on a string 62 appears on the face of the baffle 30.

It thus will be seen that there is provided an article of manufacture consisting of an inflatable hassock-shaped toy which achieves the various objects of the invention and which is 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 embodiment above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein described or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. Thus, it will be understtod by those skilled in the art that although preferred and alternative embodiments have been shown and described in accordance with the Patent Statutes, the invention is not limited thereto or thereby.

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