US2636317A - Toy animal figure - Google Patents

Description

April 28, 1953 c. F. CANDEE 2,636,317

TOY ANIMAL FIGURE Filed July 19, 1949 2 SHEETS -SHEET 1 79 INVENTOR.

April 1953 c. F. CANDEE 2,636,317

I TOY ANIMAL FIGURE Filed July 19, 1949 2 SHEETSSHEET 2 X1 2 0 FWQVS.

Patented Apr. 28, 1953 hairs!) STATES rarer 'oFFics TOY ANIMAL FKGUBE Cornelius F. Candee, Buffalo, N. Y.

Application July 19, 1949,- Serial No. 105,474 3 Claims. (Cl. l e-123) the legs can essentially be constructed of rub.-

ber or metal.

Another object istoprovide such a toy which can be decorated to provide either a life like or. a comic representation of the animal being copied.

Another object is to provide such a toy which is note likely to be broken or get out of order even when subjected. to the rough usage frequently accorded toys by children.

Another object is to provide such a toy the action of which is highly amusing and entertaining both-to grown-ups and tochildren and-which in some measure supplants a live pet.

Another object is to provide such a. toy which is operative on a wide variety of surfaces, such as on rugs and carpets as well as highly polished floors and table tops.

Another object is to provide such a toy which.

can be actuated from a leash extending upwardly andforwardly from the toy. By this feature the toy can be pulledalong the floor without bending orstooping as wouldbe the case if the leash were required to be held. horizontally to impose a horizontal force on the toy.

Another object is to provide such. a toy which, when constructed of rubber, is essentially in the form of a single hollow casting, although flock, hair or fur can be applied tothe castingif desired, for decorative effect;

Another object is toprovide such a toy which, when made of a rubber casting, can be collapsed or deflated into a sprawling figure, and: which upon thereafter being set down, will gradually reinflate itself and resume itsoriginal shape in amanner amusinglysimilar to a live dog stretchmg itself.

Another object is to provide such a toy four legged animal which, when made of rubber, can be made to sit down in a comic imitation of a live animal sitting down,

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description and drawings in which:

2; Fig. 1 isa side elevational view of a cast rubber dog embodying. the present invention.

Fig. 2' is a front elevational view-thereof. Fig. 5 is. a rear elevational view thereof. Fig; l is a fragmentary vertical longitudinal central section through the-body of the dog shown.

in Figs. 1-3 and the section being continued through the rear right hind leg.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 1 of amodification of the invention in whichthe legs are essentially made of spring wire instead of resilient. rubber.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary vertical. longitudinal central. section through the form of toyshown in Fig. 5, parts of the front and rear right hind legs of the dog being shown in section.

Fig. '7. is a vertical'sectional view takenonline l1, Fig. 6.

Referring particularly. to the form of the invention shown in Figs. 1-4, the toy is shown as embodied in therepresentation of a standing dog.

having a hollow rubber body. iii provided with an integral: hollow. rubber head: H, the head inv particular locating the center. of gravity well toward the forward endof the body, this being pre-.

ferred. The bodyis also provided with an integral rubber tail 2; The toy dog alsohas a right hollow rubber fore eg' l3, a left. hollow rubber fore log it, a right hollow rubber hind.

leg l5 and aleft hollow rubber hind: leg Hi, all of the hollow rubberv legs communicating with the-interior of. the hollow rubber body it. The

front legs 1 i 3; i i". are preferably relativelystraight. and incline downwardly and forwardly but the rear legs l5, it are shaped inthe manner. of ,a dogs hind leg and, arranged. to have a thigh portion 18: extending downwardly and slightly rearwardly and: a lower or shin bone portion is which extends downwardly-and forwardly relativeto the vertical.

Each of the; fore legs E3; H5: is formed at its lower end to provide apawl 20 having a bottom frictional face. 2!" of substantial area, each of these faces curving upwardly and forwardly from a. heel which initially engages the surface on which the toy dog is supported. Similarly each ofthe hind legs isformed at its lower end to provide a paw 22 having a bottom frictional face which initially engages the surface on, which the toy dog is supported;

The dog is shown as provided with a harness Edwhich can'be molded onthe body ill or adhesively applied thereto, the harness being shown as comprising a neck band 26 connected by a back strap 28 to a chest band 28. A leash 30 is shown as connected to the lower central part of the neck band 26, the point of attachment of the leash 36 being preferably near a horizontal plane intersecting the center of gravity of the toy, this center of gravity also preferably being toward the forward end of the body i so that the preponderating weight is on the fore legs l3, 14.

As previously indicated the geometry of the toy must be held within. certain critical limits in order to have it walk in the manner of a live dog when pulled along a supporting surface by the leash 38.

An important feature of this proportioning of the dog to accomplish this objective is the length of the legs Ill-I6. These legs must be relatively long and springs, so that upon the toy being drawn forward by the leash 3!] each leg will first be held back and flex rearwardly due to the friction imposed upon its paw and then spring forwardly to its original position relative to the body when the pulling force exceeds this resistance. Desirably the length of the legs Iii-I6 is approximately equal to the length of the body I0.

A further condition is that the fore legs I3 and I l slant forwardly at approximately the same angle so as to lie generally in a common plane at right angles to the axis of the body and that the hind legs I 5 and I6 likewise are approximately in register with each other transversely of the body. It is also important that the fore legs incline downwardly and forwardly this inclination being not more than 40 forwardly from the vertical and preferably from 17 to 30 forwardly from the vertical. It is also desirable that at least the lower part I9 of each rear leg I5, I6 incline downwardly and forwardly but preferably the inclination of the lower parts I9 of the rear legs Hi, It is less than the downward and forward inclination of the front legs I3, I I. The downward and forward inclinations of the lower parts I 9 of the rear legs I 5, I 6 should not be more than 20 forwardly from the vertical and preferably from 6 to forwardly from the vertical.

A further important feature in securing a lifelike walking movement of the toy dog upon being drawn forwardly by the leash 30 is that the opposite front and rear legs are slightly shorter than the other pair of legs. Thus in the drawings the right front leg I3 and the rear left leg I6 are from 2 to 3 millimeters longer than the other two legs Hi and I5.

More generally considered, it is important that the body I0, together with the head and tail be heavy enough to cause a firm frictional engagement between the under surfaces 2|, 23 of the paws and the supporting surface. On the other hand it is equally important that this weight be not so great as to collapse the legs. It is also important that the legs be spread laterally sufficiently far to provide transverse stability. For this purpose, with a dog having a body of normal width it is important that all of the legs incline downwardly and outwardly as shown. Without such lateral stability the dog would tend to topple over sideways as it is dragged along.

Another most important feature of the invention as shown in Figs. 1-4 is that the rubber composing at least the legs be resilient enough to permit the legs to bend in response to the friction imposed on the bottoms of the paws. It is also highly desirable that the entire body be made of a rubber which can be readily distorted by hand.

By using such thin walled rubber it is possible to 76 4 make the dog sit down by simply bending the rear legs I5, I6 of the toy at the hip, this bend permitting the toy to be placed in a sitting position with its rear legs verynaturallyandcomically projecting forwardly and outwardly along the supporting surface and the legs retaining this bent position until the dog is picked up, upon which the legs resume the normal position shown.

A further very highly desirable feature of the invention is the provision of an air vent 3i through one of the rubber walls. Desirably this air vent can be placed through the abdominal wall as shown. The provision of this air vent 35 provides another comic action. Thus with the air vent 3i the dog can be gripped between the hands and the air forced out of the interior of the toy so as to collapse the toy. With the rubber Walls of the toy of the desirable elasticity, when the collapsing pressure is removed the walls slowly distend to their original condition at a rate determined by the size of the vent 3!. In so returning from a collapsed condition to the fully operative condition shown, the toy gives a very lifelike imitation of a stretching dog, the stretching being particularly full and complete.

Further, by the use of a thin walled body it is possible to manipulate the dog in the manner of a jointed doll. Thus the body can be held in the arms and the head manipulated by ones more or less concealed hand to look up or from side to side. The legs can be similarly manipulated.

In operation, with the dog proportioned as above described and as shown in Figs. 1-4, when the leash 30 is pulled a frictional contact is maintained between the slightly longer front right and rear left legs l3 and I6 so that these legs flex rearwardly. At the same time, the other two legs, namely the front left and rear right legs I4 and I5, being slightly shorter, move forward. As the pressure against the longer legs I3 and I5 overcomes the friction of the paws of these legs against the supporting surface the reactive force of these legs causes these legs to spring forwardly and at the same time the entire weight of r the toy is transferred to the two shorter legs i l and I5. This effects a frictional engagement between the paws of the two shorter legs and the supporting surface and which continues until the longer legs I 3, I6 again take hold of the supporting surface. When this occurs the shorter legs spring forwardly because of the relief of the friction against their paws. The alternate or out of phase action of the longer legs I3, I 6 and the shorter legs I4, I 5 is, of course, very rapid, and as the toy animal is drawn along a supporting surface all of the legs are in continuous short forward stepping movement which is highly amusing and lifelike.

Further, as previously indicated, the toy as shown in Figs. 1-4 can be made to sit down by bending the rear legs I5, IE5 at the hips of the animal and the toy can be made to give a realistic appearance of a dog profoundly stretching himself, this being due to the vent 3| being sufIiciently restricted so that the hollow interior of the toy can be refilled with air through the action of the rubber walls in distending themselves only at a definite rate.

It is not essential, although of course desirable. that the toy be made of rubber. In Figs. 5-7 is illustrated a toy having a body supported essentially by wire legs which are anchored in the body and provided at their lower ends with friction pads to obtain the lifelike walking movement f the m 9 be ng drawn forwardly. In this modified form of the invention a shown inFigs. I 54, the body 40 of the toy is shown as-belng hollow and as made of rigid form such as oflambnated fabric and adhesive. The head .of the toy can be made of the same laminated fabric integrally with the body 40, the adhesive hardening so as to provide a rigid shell for boththe. body and the head.

This rigid hollowlaminatedshell, is also preferably reinforced by an: internal longitudinal. metal strip 43 whichiSadhesively secured to the interior of the shell by the adhesive holding the fabric together and which extends along the abdomen, up the rear: end: of the body and forwardly part way along the back. This strip 43 of metalcan have an outwardly offset eye 44 atits rear end which projects. outwardly from the rear end of the body 40 at the region of the tail of the dog. This eye 44 is shown asserving as theanchorage for atail 45 made-f a piece of wire-46 having a book which engages the projecting 'eye 44 and it can be provided with arsuitable co'ver ing 48.

ihe toy is provided with a front pair: of: legs 58 and and a rear pair of legs 52 and 53, these legs corresponding to the legs l3-l 6 of the form of the invention shown in Figs; 1-4. These legs are essentially made-of sprin steelorpiano wire; At each side of the body 48 a U-shaped piece 54 of such wire is provided, this U-shaped piece of wire having its cross part 55 arranged inside the body 40 and secured adhesively to the corresponding side of the body by the same adhesive which unites the laminations of the body Ml. Each piece of wire 54 also has a front leg 56 which extends through the wall of the body and forms the corresponding front leg 50 or 5| and a rear leg 58 which extends through the wall of the body 40 and forms the corresponding rear leg 52 or 53. The forward extremity of each piece of wire 54 is provided with a forward extension 59 to which a pad or paw 60 is secured, this pad serving as a friction member engaging the surface on which the toy dog is supported. The rear leg 58 of the piece of wire 54 is also preferably bent as indicated at M to provide a shin bone section 62 which inclines downwardly and forwardly. The lower extremity of each rear leg 58 is also shown as bent forwardly, as indicated at 63, and as having secured thereto a pad 64 forming a paw for each rear leg. For lifelike appearance, the wire r leg 56 comprising each foreleg 50 and 5! of the dog can be covered with a sheath 65 of rubber or like material and similarly the Wire 58 comprising each rear leg 52 and 53 can be covered with a sheath 66 of rubber or like material.

As with the form of the invention shown in Figs. 1-4 the toy is provided with a leash 58 which can be secured to the neckband 69 of a harness m. This harness can be completed by a back strap ll connecting the neckband 69 with a chestband '12.

The form of the invention as shown in Figs. 54 similates a walking action the same as with the form of the invention shown in Figs. 1-4 and for this purpose the same geometry should be maintained. Thus the right front and left hind legs l5 and 49, respectively, are from 2 to 3 millimeters longer than the other two legs 46 and 48. Also the attachment for the leash 63 is preferably approximately near the horizontal plane in tersecting the center of gravity of the dog and the center of gravity is preferably disposed toward the forward end of the body in so that the weight of the toy is principally on the front legs 45' and-46 Also these front'legs-incline forwardly', relative; to the. vertical, not more than lll and preferably from 17 to 30". I Likewise the lower part55- of each rear leg also 'inclines forwardly from the vertical but preferably ata-lesser angle than the fore legs 45 and 45, this angularity havinga maximum of 20 fromthe vertical and preferably from 6 to-l5.

Likewise the front and rear legs at opposite sides of the toy are preferablyin-transverse alignment with each other and the" legs also preferabl-yspread or incline downwardly. and. outwardly so 'asto provide the desiredlateralstability.

With thedog shown i-n-Figst 5-7= soconstructed,

it will be seen that its action insimulating the walking movement on being drawn along asurfaceby its leash 53 will-be identical as that de-- scribed-withreference to Figs. l-i theonly es-- sential difference: beingthat the form of the in ven-tion shown in Figs. 54 is essentially a toy having spring wire legs-Whereasthe form of the inventionshown in- Figs. l t-sis essentially a toy having: hollow rubber legs. The; form ofthein vention' shown in Figs. S-Vlacks, of courseythe 1. A toy in simulation of a standing four legged animal, comprising a body, a pair of transversely spaced flexible and resilient fore legs fixed to and supporting the front end of said body, a pair of transversely spaced flexible and resilient hind legs fixed to and supporting the rear end of said body, and paws at the extremities of said legs and adapted to frictionally engage the supporting surface whereby on application of a force in moving said body longitudinally each of said paws is frictionally restrained by said surface to flex its leg until said force overcomes the frictional restraint and its leg springs to its original position, said legs being of a length approximately equal to the length of said body with one fore leg and the opposite hind leg being slightly shorter than the other legs and said fore legs inclining downwardly and forwardly from 17 to 30 relative to the vertical so that the action of certain of said legs is out of phase with the action of other of said legs to impart a realistic walking movement to the toy so moved.

2. A toy in simulation of a standing four legged animal, comprising a body, a pair of transversely spacedfiexible and resilient fore legs fixed to and supporting the front end of said body, a pair of transversely spaced flexible and resilient hind legs fixed to and supporting the rear end of said body, and paws at the extremities of said legs and adapted to frictionally engage the supporting surface whereby on application of a force in moving said body longitudinally each of said paws is frictionally restrained by said surface to fiex its leg until said force overcomes the frictional restraint and its leg springs to its original position, said legs being of a length approximately equal to the length of said body with one fore leg and the opposite hind leg being slightly shorter than the other legs and said fore'legs incliningv downwardly and forwardly from 17 to 30 roles tive to the vertical and at least the lower part of 7 said hind legs inclining downwardly and forwardly from 6 to 15 relative to the vertical so that the action of certain of said legs is out of phase with the action of other of said legs to impart a realistic walking movement to the toy so moved.

3. A toy in simulation of a standing four legged animal, comprising a relatively thin walled hollow rubber body, a pair of integral transversely spaced relatively thin walled hollow flexible and resilient rubber fore legs fixed to and supporting the front end of said body, a pair of integral transversely spaced relatively thin walled hollow flexible and resilient rubber hind legs fixed to and supporting the rear end of said body, and integral rubber paws adapted to frictionally engage the supporting surface whereby on application of a force in moving said body longitudinally each of said paws is frictionally restrained by said surface to flex its legs until said force overcomes the frictional restraint and its leg springs to its original position, said rubber walls being yieldingly resistive to distortion and tending to resume a normal condition, said legs being of a length approximately equal to the length of said body with one fore leg and the opposite hind leg being slightly shorter than the other legs and 8 said fore legs inclining downwardly and forwardly from 17 to relative to the vertical so that the action of certain of said legs is out of phase with the action of other of said legs to impart a realistic walking movement to the toy so moved and one of said walls being provided with a vent opening to permit of manually collapsing the toy which, on release, resumes its original condition with a life-like stretching action and said hind legs also being divergent laterally of the body so as to be distortable to a position alongside said body to place the toy in a sitting position.

CORNELIUS F. CANDEE.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date D. 30,032 Weigelt Jan. 17, 1899 1,329,201 Neydhart Jan. 27, 1920 1,438,108 Gund Dec. 5, 1922 1,599,290 Sato Sept. 7, 1926 1,708,170 Dickins Apr. 9, 1929 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 792,065 France Dec. 21, 1935

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