A toy in the shape of a collapsible and expandable box is made of cardboard and has a stiff, square top and bottom and four side walls which can be folded to the outside along central folding lines by pressure onto the top. Each side wall is provided with an inwardly extending tongue, and each two tongues on opposite side walls are connected by elastic bands or springs which pull the walls back from their folded position into planar state, as soon as the pressure on the top is released. In this position the toy forms a cube, which may be decorated with pictures, maps, symbols or the like.
A disc-shaped throwing toy includes a collapsible shell cooperatively formed by a plurality of segments coupled between a first and second center element and at least one elastic element coupled between at least two of the plurality of segments, each of the plurality of segments includes a first and second segment member operatively coupled together by a hinge wherein corresponding first and second segment members are selectively movable between a first or collapsed position and second or expanded position relative to each other such that as disc-shaped throwing toy with the corresponding first and second segment members in the first or collapsed position relative to each other is thrown the centrifugal force initially maintains the disc-shaped throwing toy in a substantially flat configuration and as the rotational speed of the disc-shaped throwing toy decreases the elastic element causes the corresponding first and second segment elements to move to the second or expanded position relative to each other whereby the disc-shaped throwing toy forms a substantially spherical configuration.
A toy assembly and its method of manufacture. The toy assembly is a spherical object that can be temporarily compressed into a disc. A short time after compression, the toy pops back into its original ball-like shape. The toy assembly has arcuate sections that join form a generally spherical body. The arcuate sections are symmetrically disposed around a central axis. The spherical body is bisected by an imaginary equatorial plane that is perpendicular to the central axis. A leaf spring is provided behind each of the arcuate sections that bias the arcuate sections into a spherical shape. A connector mechanism is provided that temporarily connect opposite sides of the spherical body when the spherical body is compressed. The leaf springs provide a spring bias that resists any compression and causes the arcuate sections to return to a spherical shape when the connector mechanism release.
A collapsible three-dimensional construction in the form of a cube is described. The construction is formed of paperboard, pasteboard, cardboard plastic or similar material. The cube may be formed from a single sheet of die-cut material. Four of the faces of the cube include perforation lines to allow the cube to be collapsed into a flattened cube when twisted about a central axis in a first direction. Two elastic members are attached to tensioning members inside of the cube and serve to hold the cube in an erected position when twisted in a second, opposite direction. The assembly of the cube from the blank requires only a single fastening of one portion of the construction to another. The surfaces of the cube may be easily printed with advertising or promotional material.
By providing a pre-printed housing member which automatically expands from a flat, generally two-dimensional configuration into a three-dimensional promotional display and also incorporating a sound generator which is activated simultaneously with the movement of the display member from its substantially flat, planar configuration into its three-dimensional configuration, a unique, hands-on, printed, visually exciting and interest-generating, advertising/promotional product is obtained. In the preferred embodiment, an audio producing circuit is automatically activated simultaneously with the automatic movement of the display member from its two-dimensional configuration into its three-dimensional configuration. In this way, a visually exciting, interest generating, multi-sense impacting, advertising/promotional display member is realized.
A collapsible pinata having a pair of planar main panels joined by connecting side panels. The side panels are configured to fold inward between the main panels to allow the pinata to be collapsed substantially flat. In an expanded state, the side panels extend generally perpendicularly between the spaced main panels. Reinforcing flaps are provided to brace the pinata in the expanded state. The reinforcing flaps are hingedly attached to one of the main panels and are pulled outward with strings to lie against the inner surface of the side panels. The collapsible pinata is constructed of a single piece of cardboard.
