US3423874A - Magnetically controllable doll's eye mechanism - Google Patents

Description

3,423,874 MAGNETICALLY CONTROLIQABLE! nouns EYE MECHANISM Jan. 28, 196,9 J. BONANNO ET AL Q Sheet Filed Sept. 9, 1966 INVENTORS= J'OJEPH 4. sauna/Ma 002:40 .5 694x40 BY 1; ATTORNEYS n 28, 1969 J. BONANNO ET AL 3,423,874

MAGNETICALLY CONTROLLABLEJDOLLS EYE MECHANISM Filed Sept. 9, 1966 Sheet 2 of 2 JJ/ 54 34 24 f5 50 m6 8 36 16 Z 35 24 35 2a /3 i l 4. 14 4 ,2 T 6 z 4 .92 44 3 TTORNEYS United States Patent 3,423,874 MAGNETICALLY CQNTROLLABLE DOLLS EYE MECHANISM Joseph L. Bonanno and Dorland L. Crosman, Glen Ridge,

N.J., assignors, by mesne assignments, to De Luxe Topper Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Filed Sept. 9, 1966, Ser. No. 578,310

US. Cl. 46-438 11 Claims Int. Cl. A63h 33/26, 3/40 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Pivotable doll eye assembly provided with a slave magnet fixed to and pivotable with assembly. Pivotable master magnet spaced from eye assembly may be pivoted by separate control magnet. Magnetic field strengths of master and slave magnets suflicient to cause slave magnet and hence eye assembly to pivot when master magnet pivots. Additional means, such as a magnet, maintains master magnet in either of two extreme positions of movement.

This invention relates to toys having movable simulated eyes, and has particular reference to an arrangement for controlling the opening and closing of the eyes.

While the invention will be described in connection with a doll having a human-like head, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to a doll, but is applicable to any toy animal.

Heretofore, the eye movement in most toy dolls has been controlled by gravitational forces acting upon an unbalanced eye assembly. When the orientation of such a doll is modified, the unbalanced weight of the eye assembly causes the eye to move into a diiferent position with respect to the doll body. Thus, in many conventional dolls, when the doll is in an upright position, the dolls eyes are open, and when the doll is placed in a reclining position, the dolls eyes close. In other conventional dolls, the eyes close when the head is tilted or rotated to one side or the other, and open when the head faces front. As a result, the state of the dolls eyes in the conventional arrangements is determined solely by the position of the doll. Thus, the child has no independent control over the opening and closing of the eyes, other than by moving the doll as a whole, or at least the dolls head, to a different position.

It will be appreciated that to simulate a more true-tolife operation of -a toy doll, the opening and closing of the dolls eyes should be independent of the position of the body of the doll.

Furthermore, it is important, to achieve as close a feeling of verisimilitude as possible, for both of the dolls eyes to move in unison, as opposed to one eye moving independently of the other.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide an eye movement control mechanism, wherein life-like movements of the dolls eyes may be simulate-d without moving or otherwise touching the doll.

It is a further object of this invention to provide in a doll, an eye movement control mechanism in which the eyes of the doll alw-ays move together.

It is another object of this invention to provide an eye movement control mechanism, wherein the condition of the dolls eyes is independent of the relative position of the body of the doll.

It is an additional object of this invention to provide an eye movement control mechanism, wherein the movement of the eyes may be controlled by means not readily apparent to the playmates of the dolls owner.

It is still another object of this invention to provide an eye movement control mechanism, in which all of the above-mentioned objects may be accomplished in a simple yet reliable manner.

In furtherance of these objects, the present invention contemplates pivotally mounting a master magnet within the interior of the dolls head. Associated with the master magnet are two slave magnets, each of which is carried by a pivotably mounted eye assembly. When the master magnet is caused to pivot, due to a magnetic force which may be exerted on it by a control magnet, each of the slave magnets will rotate along with the master magnet to cause the eyes to close or open as desired.

It is another feature of this invention to balance the eye assemblies about their axes of rotation, whereby these assemblies will be in rotational equilibrium when pivotably mounted within the head of the doll. As a result, once the dolls eyes have been placed in a desired condition, i.e., either open or closed, they will remain fixed in that condition, regardless of subsequent movement of the dolls body, until the master magnet is once again rotated by the forces created by a control magnet.

Another aspect of this invention is the provision of a repulsion magnet arranged in proximity to the master magnet. The relative positions, orientations, and magnetic forces of the master magnet and the repulsion magnet are such that the repulsion between their like poles serves to maintain the master magnet, and hence, the slave magnets, in one of their two extreme positions, i.e., either in the eyes open or eyes closed condition. The control magnet employed engenders a force capable of overcoming the force created by the repulsion magnet, so that when the retaining force of the repulsion magnet is overcome by the control magnet, the master magnet snaps over into the other of its extreme conditions in a manner similar to the operation of a spring biased over-center toggle mechanism.

This invention will be more completely described in the specification below in which reference is made to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of a dolls head incorporating an eye movement control mechanism according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical section taken along lines 2-2 of FIG. 1, and also showing an example of an external control magnet as it is employed to actuate the mechanism of this invention;

FIG. 3 is a vertical section taken along line 33 of FIG. 1 showing one eye assembly in its open position;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 showing the eye assembly in its closed position;

FIG. 5 is a vertical section taken along lines 5-5 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 6 is a vertical section taken along lines 6-6 of FIG. 5.

A head 10 of a doll is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The head 10 has a hollow interior and is made from any pliable, rubber-like material, such as a suitable plastic, whi h in the present example is formed to simulate the appearance of a childs head. Simulated hair 11 is placed on the top of head 10. At the location of each eye socket, a relatively thin walled pouch 12 (FIGS. 3-6) extends rearwardly into the interior of head 10. Each pouch is integral with the head 10, and has an opening 9 in the plane of the dolls face.

Each pouch 12 accommodates a housing within which an eye assembly is pivotably supported. Each housing comprises a body 13 and a cover 19, the cover being provided with an elliptical opening 21 at its center. Since the head 10 is formed of yieldable material, the opening 9 of each pouch can be stretched to permit a housing 13, 19 to be inserted into the pouch, and upon release the edges of the opening 9 snap over the cover 19 of the housing and prevent removal of the housing and the eye assembly contained in it. In this way, the housing 13, 19 is held snugly within the pouch 12.

It is, to be understood, that two identical eye assemblies are disposed within two identical housings, which in turn are placed within two adjoining pouches in the head of the doll. For ease in description, however, only one such eye assembly, housing, and pouch are shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, although both are shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.

The housing body 13 is formed at its forward edge with a pair of diametrically opposed grooves 14 (FIGS. 5 and 6) which serve as pivot seats for the pintles projecting from the eye assembly to be described below. At the rear of the body 13, two interior ledges 15 and 17 (FIGS. 3, 4, and 6) are formed, the ledges cooperating with a leg projecting rearwardly from the eye assembly to limit the pivotal movement of the latter.

The eye assembly 16 of the illustrative embodiment of this invention, comprises two major component parts. The first of these parts is a substantially hemispherical shell 18, bearing a representation of the cornea of an eye on its front face 20.

An eye lash 22, made of hair-like fibers, is placed within a slit 23 formed in shell 18, and is secured therein, in well-known manner, by means such as gluing.

Two pintles 28 (FIGS. 5 and 6) project laterally outwardly from the shell 18 in opposite directions. The pintles are adapted to seat in the grooves 14 formed in the housing body to pivotally support the eye assembly in the housing. For the purpose of supporting the second part of the eye assembly to the shell 18, the latter is formed with a rearwardly extending post 24 adjacent to each pintle 28 (FIGS. 5 and 6) and a third rearwardly extending post 25 (FIGS. 3 and 4) at the bottom of the shell. In addition, the upper edge of the shell 18 is formed with an inwardly projecting tab 26.

The second of the parts forming the eye assembly 16 is an armature 30. Armature 30 comprises a central section 32, an upwardly projecting leg 34 (FIGS. 3-5), a rearwardly projecting leg 36, and two lateral shoulders 38 (FIG. 5).

To form eye assembly 16, the armature 30 is snapped into the hollow interior of shell 18 by first engaging a notch 40, formed in the upper edge of leg 34, with tab 26. The armature 30 is then swung in a clockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 3, until the shoulders 38 come to rest on the posts 24 (FIG. 5) and the lower surface f armature 30 comes to rest on the lower post 25 (FIG. 3)- The distance between the notch 40 and the lower front edge 41 of the armature 30 is slightly greater than the distance between the tab 26 and the upper face of the post 25. Consequently, the shell 18 must yield slightly as the armature is swung to the position shown in FIG. 3. Therefore, once the armature 30 and shell 18 are completely assembled, they cannot separate accidentally.

The completed eye assembly 16 is perfectly balanced about the pivoting axis defined by the axis of the pintles 28. That is, the combined structure of the shell 18 and armature 30 forms an assembly which is perfectly balanced about the axis of rotation, so that once the assembly 16 is placed in any desired position, it will maintain that position regardless of changes in the position of the doll. This balancing is achieved by properly selecting dimensions of the various sections of armature 30, to counterbalance the weight of shell 18. The position of the eye assembly 16 is therefore completely independent of gravitational forces.

An opening 42 is formed within the central section 32 of the armature into which a disc-shaped permanent magnet 44 is tightly fitted. The magnet 44 will sometimes hereinafter be referred to as a slave magnet. It is important that the fit of the magnet 44 within opening 42 be tight enough to prevent rotation of the magnet with respect to the armature 30. As seen best in FIGS. 3-6, the longitudinal axis of slave magnet 44 coincides with the axis of the pintles 28 (shown in the dotted lines in FIGS. 3 and 4). Thus, the magnet 44, as well as the remainder of the eye assembly 16, is perfectly balanced with respect to the pivot axis of the eye assembly. The magnetic axis of slave magnet 44 extends normally to its longitudinal axis, and generally along a line extending from the front of the head 10 of the doll toward the back. For purposes of illustration the south pole S of magnet 44 is shown oriented towards the front of the dolls head, while the north pole N is directed towards the rear of head 10.

Once the armature 30 is assembled with the shell 18, the eye assembly 16 thus formed is inserted into housing body 13. Pintles 28 are placed within grooves 14 to permit the eye assembly 16 to pivot within housing body 13, about the axis of the pintles. The cover 19 is then permanently secured to the housing body 13 to retain the eye assembly 16 within the housing 13. The opening 21 in cover 19 allows the representation of the eye on the front face 20 of the shell 18 to appear at the opening 9 of the pouch 12.

A bracket 46 is secured, by means of screw 47, to the nape of the neck in the hollow interior of head 10, and extends forwardly to a point between the pouches 12. At its forward end, the bracket 46 is provided with a pair of vertically spaced apart members 43 and 45 (FIGS. 3-5) projecting laterally from each side of the bracket. These members are adapted to snugly grasp the pouches 12 and thereby, together with screw 47, retain the bracket in place within the head 10. Bracket 46 is formed from two substantially identical, but mirror image, interfitting plastic sections 48, each of which is formed with a discshaped receptacle portion 49, and a semicircular receptacle portion 50. When the sections 48 are secured together, as shown in FIG. 6, a disc-like compartment 51 is formed in the forward section of bracket 46, and a cylindrical chamber 52 is formed to the rear of compartment 51. The longitudinal axis of chamber 52 lies along an extension of the diameter of compartment 51 as best seen in FIG. 2. An arcuate channel 53 shown in dotted lines in FIG. 2 and also visible in FIGS. 5 and 6, is formed in the inner wall of each portion 49, and a boss 54 having a centrally located recess 55, extends inwardly from the center of each portion 49, the boss being at the center of curvature of the channel 53.

A disc shaped permanent magnet 58, hereinafter sometimes referred to as the master magnet, is pivotably accommodated within compartment 51. As seen best in FIG. 6, the master magnet 58 is located directly behind the nose portion of the doll head 10. Magnet 58 is provided with a central cutout into which a plastic bearing insert 59 (FIG. 5) is snugly fitted. Insert 59 is provided with oppositely disposed pivot points 60 which are accommodated within the oppositely disposed recesses 55. A pin 61 extends normally from one face of insert 59, and is accommodated within channel 53.

A second permanent magnet 62 hereinafter referred to as the repulsion magnet, is fixedly accommodated within chamber 52. In the embodiment shown (see FIGS. 2 and 6) the magnetic axis of the repulsion magnet extends generally along a line extending from the front to the back of the doll head 10, with the south pole closer to the front and the north pole closer to the back. The north pole of the master magnet 58 is disposed generally toward the front of the doll head, and the south pole of master magnet faces the south pole of repulsion magnet 62. This pole arrangement could obviously be reversed, it being important only that the like poles of the master and repulsion magnets are in opposed relation.

The pole of each slave magnet 44 which is directed toward the front of the doll head, is opposite to the correspondingly oriented pole of the master magnet 58. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the forwardly facing pole of each slave magnet 44 is a south pole in contrast to the fact that the pole of master magnet 44 which faces forwardly is a north pole. Consequently, the mutual attraction between the poles of the slave magnets, on the one hand, and the opposite poles of the master magnet, on the other hand, cause the slave magnets to rotate with the master magnet when the latter is pivoted. As will be apparent from FIG. 2, in which the line 63 indicates the position of the master magnet magnetic axis when the dolls eyes are open and the line 64 indicates the position of that same magnetic axis when the eyes are closed, the repelling force between the like poles of the master and repulsion magnet serves to maintain the master magnet in either its eyes open extreme position or its eyes closed extreme position. These extreme positions are defined by the abutment of the pin 61 against one or the other end of the channel 53.

The relative positions of the master and slave magnets is shown best in FIGS. and 6. The master magnet 58 is located between the two slave magnets 44 fixed to and rotatable with the two eye assemblies. The axes of rotation of the two eye assemblies, defined by pintles 14 are colinear with each other and with the pivot axis of the master magnet 58 defined by pivot points 60. Furthermore, the magnetic axes of the master and slave magnets are preferably arranged in substantially parallel vertical planes, but these same axes are all preferably arranged in a single plane which also includes their axes of rotation. It may also be pointed out that the magnetic axis of each magnet is perpendicular to its axis of rotation.

The operation of the eye closing mechanism described above, may be controlled by an external control magnet such as a pertanent magnet 65 (FIG. 2). Magnet 65 is shown encased within a non-magnetic casing 66 provided with a hollow opening 67 into which the child may snugly insert her finger to conveniently hold the control magnet while playing. The pole of the control magnet 65 intended to be held facing the head of the doll is in the present example, opposite to the pole of the master magnet 58 nearer the front of the head 10. Thus, when the control magnet is moved along a vertical line at the middle of the dolls face, it will attract the front pole of the master magnet 58, causing the master magnet to rotate in a direction which permits the front, or north, pole of the master magnet to follow the movement of the control magnet 65. Such rotation of the master magnet occurs against the repelling force exerted on its opposite, or south, pole by repulsion magnet 62. At about the mid-point of its permitted arc of rotation, the magnetic axis of the master magnet 58 will be aligned with the magnetic axis of the repulsion magnet 62, and once past this point, the master magnet 58 will be made to snap into its other extreme position. This snap action effect is a result of the repelling force between the master and repulsion magnets. It will be appreciated that this operation is analogous to the operation of an over-center snap-action toggle mechanism.

When the master magnet 58 is caused to rotate by the operation of the control magnet 65, each of the slave magnets 44 rotates as a result of the magnetic attraction to the master magnet. Consequently, the eye assemblies rotate with the master magnet.

Thus, by merely moving the control magnet 65 near the front of the dolls head, both of the dolls eyes are caused to open or shut. Since each eye assembly contains a similarly disposed slave magnet 44, both eyes will open and close together. Due to the presence of the repulsion magnet 62, the dolls eyes will remain in position even when the doll body is removed. The only way in which the position of the dolls eyes may be altered is by the use of the control magnet 65.

It will be apparent that modifications to the embodiment described above may be made by those having ordinary skill in the art. One such modification would be to substitute for the control magnet 65 a remotely controlled electromagnet Within the dolls head which would control the operation of the master magnet. Therefore,

the scope of this invention is to be defined solely by the claims which are appended hereto.

What is claimed is:

1. In a toy doll, a mechanism for controlling the operation of the eyes of the doll, said mechanism comprising:

a pair of housings disposed within the interior of the head of the doll,

an eye assembly pivotally mounted within each of said housings,

a slave magnet carried by each of said eye assemblies, each slave magnet being fixed to but pivotable with its respective eye assembly, and

a master magnet rotatably mounted within the head of the doll and located between said housing, said master and slave magnets having suflicient magnetic field strengths to cause said slave magnets and their respective eye assemblies to pivot when said master magnet is pivoted,

whereby when said master magnet is pivotedby means of cooperation with a control magnet, said slave magnets and both eye assemblies will pivot in unison along with said master magnet.

2. In a toy doll, an eye control mechanism as defined in claim 1 wherein the magnetic axis of each of said magnets is perpendicular to its pivot axis.

3. In a toy doll, an eye control mechanism as defined in claim 2 wherein the pivot axes of said master and slave magnets are all colinear.

4. In a toy doll, an eye control mechanism as defined in claim 2 wherein the magnetic axes of said master and slave magnets all lie in parallel planes.

5. In a toy doll, an eye control mechanism as defined in claim 1 including means for limiting the pivotal movement of said master magnet to an arc of travel between eyes open" and an eyes closed extreme positions.

6. In a toy doll, an eye control mechanism as defined in claim 5 including a bracket fixed to the interior of the dolls head, and wherein said limiting means comprises a pin projecting from said master magnet, and an arcuate channel in said bracket adapted to accommodate said pin, the length of said channel defining the permissible extent of pivotal movement of said master magnet.

7. In a toy doll, an eye control mechanism as defined in claim 5 including means for urging said master magnet into either of its extreme positions in order to maintain the dolls eyes open or closed absent any auxiliary magnetic force from a control magnet.

8. In a toy doll, an eye control mechanism as defined in claim 7 wherein said urging means is a permanent magnet, one pole of said permanent magnet being closer to said master magnet than the other pole, the pole of said master magnet like said one pole of said permanent magnet being arranged to move past a line extending from said one pole to the pivot axis of said master magnet during the movement of said master magnet between its extreme positions, so that when said master magnet is in either of its extreme positions said one pole of said permanent magnet will repel said like pole of said master magnet.

9. In a toy doll, an eye control mechanism as defined in claim 8 wherein the magnetic axis of said permanent magnet is coplanar with the magnetic axis of said master magnet.

10. An eye movement control mechanism for a doll, comprising a pivotable eye assembly including a magnet, and a pivotable master magnet spaced from said eye assembly, the pivot axes of said eye assembly and master magnet being substantially colinear, the magnetic axes of said magnets being substantially parallel and arranged in substantially the same plane, whereby upon pivotal movement of said master magnet by means of cooperation with a separate control magnet the interaction of the magnetic fields of said eye and master magnets causes the eye magnet to pivot with said master magnet.

11. An eye movement control mechanism as defined 7 8 in claim 10 wherein the unlike poles of the magnetic axes 2,618,890 11/1952 MacDonald 46237 of said magnets are arranged closer to each other than th i lik poles, LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner. References Cited ROBERT F. CUTTING, Assistant Examiner.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 US. Cl X'R 2,427,442 9/1947 Campbell 46-167 X 46 167,-169

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