US3548537A - Doll having a body motion enabling it to crawl - Google Patents

Description

s. ROBBINS 3,548,537

DOLL HAVING A BODY MOTION ENABLNG IT TO CRAWL Dec. 22, QYO

3 Sheets-Sheet l Original Filed Oct. 1.1, 1967 s. ROBBINS 3,548,537

DOLL HAVING A BODY MOTION ENABLING IT TO CRAWL Original Filed Oct. 4, 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 22, 1970 s. RoBBlNs 3,548,53?

DOLL HAVING A BODY MOTION ENABLING IT TO CRAWL Dec. 22, 1970 3 Sheets-Sheet i5 Original Filed Oct. 4, 1967 United States Patent O DOLL HAVING A BODY MOTION ENABLING IT TO CRAWL Saul Robbins, 35 Mountain Way, West Orange, NJ. 07052 Continuation of application Ser. No. 672,782, Oct. 4, 1967. This application Oct. 13, 1969, Ser. No. 866,158 Int. Cl. A63h 13/00 U.S. Cl. 46--150 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A doll is provided having interconnected upper and lower body sections and with its limbs disposed in a crawling position. The interconnection between the portions is articulated and has a motor and associated linkage, so that the body sections move relative to one another in lissajous motion. This motion causes the doll to crawl in a realistic manner.

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 672,782, filed Oct. 4, 1967, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to a type of motor-actuated doll which will crawl along the iioor in a realistic manner. In particular, it relates to a doll in which the upper and lower sections of the doll move relative to one another with a particular kind of motion that results in a crawling action.

So far as I am aware, dolls of this type are new. Although numerous dolls have been made that crawl, none do so as simply and realistically as mine. Prior ones have used such things as wheels beneath the doll, or complicated mechanical devices to move the legs. Usually such methods also mean that the doll cannot well be used other than for crawling.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION My doll operates by having three sections: an upper body section, a lower body section, and a middle or power section interconnecting the two and causing the necessary articulated, relative motion 4between the upper and lower sections.

The upper body section is the portion of the doll from the chest up. It includes the shoulders, head, and arms. The arms are held in the usual crawling position of a baby and when the doll crawls, do not move relative to the upper body sections.

The lower body section is the portion of the doll from the waist down. It includes the hips and legs. The legs are held in the usual crawling position of a baby and when the doll crawls, do not move relative to the lower body section.

The middle power section is located about where the abdomen would be and connects the articulated motion of the upper and lower sections, giving them articulated motion. The connection to each is a pivotal one with positive control of the pivoted motion through motoractuated linkages. The connection between the middle and upper sections pivots about a vertical axis; that between the middle and lower sections about a longitudinal axis passing through the upper end of a pivot shaft.

The motor and associated linkages cause oscillatory motion about each axis. This can be best visualized by considering that the doll is held' off from the floor by the middle section while the motor is operating. The upper body section would be seen to move from side to side, and the lower body section would be seen to twist back and forth about a longitudinal axis as indicated in FIG. 5.

If, on the other hand, the doll was held by the upper body portion while operated, both of these motions, which are transverse to one another, would be seen in the resultant motion of the lower body section. Being a combination of the two motions, the motions of the hips appears more complex and thus appears like a ligure 8 motion.

A combination such as this of two mutually perpendicular, simple oscillatory motions, is sometimes referred to as lissajous motion. In the preferred form of my invention the rate of oscillation of the upper section is the same as that of the lower section.

The center of gravity of my doll is such that more of the weight is on the hands than is on the knees. Also preferably there is greater frictional contact between the knees and the oor than there is between the hands and the floor (knees have greater contact surface area). Consequently, the movement by these motions causes the lower section to move, as above described, and the upper section to move but little, when the doll is on the floor. The result is that the motion of the lower section causes lirst one and then the other of the knees of the doll to be slightly lifted and to move forward. The doll then crawls forward in a realistic manner.

As mentioned above, the arms and legs have means by which they are fixed relative to their respective body sections so they can be positively held against movement while the doll is crawling. This is accomplished by having normally movable arms and legs with a detent or other stop mechanism to hold them in their crawling positions. Thus, when not used for crawling, the doll may assume other postures.

THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 is a side or elevational view of the doll (with the lower portions of the legs omitted). It is partially cut away, in the middle section, to show the motor and the linkages that drive the upper and lower sections. The head is shown in two different positions;

FIGURE 2 is a view from underneath the doll, and is a section taken on line 2 2 of FIGURE 1. Again the middle section is partially exposed to show the linkage;

FIGURE 3 is a section taken on line 3-3 of FIG- URE l, looking forward. It shows a portion of the interconnection between the middle and lower sections;

FIG. 4 is a section taken on line 4-4 of FIG. l, looking backward. It shows a portion of the interconnection between the middle and upper sections;

FIG. 5 is another view, similar to FIG. 3, and illustrating motions of the lower section of the doll about one axis, which is a longitudinal axis located near the upper end of the lower pivot member; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective View of the lower body section of the doll. It illustrates, with arrows, the hip motion that results from the action of the motor and associated linkages.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION FIG. l shows three interconnected sections which form the doll. Further details are shown in FIGS. 2, 3, 4 and 5. There is the upper body section 1, the middle power section 2, and the lower body section 3.

Upper body section 3 include shoulders 6, head 7, arms `8, and hands 9. Ille dolls head may be moved by a child into various positions about a universal ball and socket neck joint 10. The lower body section 3 includes hips 14, legs 15, and knees 16. When the doll is operating in its crawling position, the arms 8 and hands 9 are temporarily xed in position relative to upper section 1, and the legs 15 and knees 16 are fixed relative to lower section3.

Since sections 1 and 3 must be spaced from one another to allow for relative movement, the gap between them may be covered with an elastic material 4, such as polyurethane foam.

When in the crawling position, as shown in FIG. 1, hands 9 and knees 16 rest on floor 12. Preferably, the knees have greater frictional contact with the floor than do the hands. This can, if desired, be achieved by having the knees have greater floor Contact area than the hands.

The middle section 2 is the driving or power section. It includes a motor mounted in a motor bracket 21 and gear trains and linkages to provide the desired oscillatory motions above-described. Batteries for the motor and a switch are not shown. They may be located either inside the doll or outside and connected to the doll by control wires. The batteries and switch are not part of my invention as such.

Motor 20 is connected to and operates a speed-reducing gear train 23. This gear train 23 includes a pair of rotatable shafts 17 and 18 extending across between opposite flanges of the motor bracket 21. A small pinion 22 on the shaft of the motor 20 drives a large gear freely rotatable on the shaft 17 with a small intermediate gear which in turn drives a large gear on the shaft 18 having another small gear driving a crank gear 19 at the output of the train. This crank gear 19 is mounted on the shaft 17, with this gear carrying an eccentrically located crank pin driving a connecting rod crank 24. The opposite ends 28 and 29 of the connecting rod 24 are pivotally connected to extending arms 30 and 31, respectively, of pivot members 32 and 33, respectively.

Pivot member 32 is pivotally mounted at point 41 near its upper end 38 in the upper, rearward portion of a frame 27 to which the motor bracket 21 is secured. This frame 27 forms the main frame of the middle or power section of the dolls body. The upper end 38 of the pivot member 32 is attached in positive driving relationship to a generally U-shaped bracket 40 firmly secured to the inside of lower body section 3 for moving this lower body section relative to the middle section. The lower end 42 of pivot member 32 is also positively attached to the lower portion of bracket 40. This lower end 42 is not attached to the frame 27, but is free to move back and forth within a slot 43 (FIGS. 3 and 5) of the frame 27. This motion is oscillatory in a plane transverse to the body of the doll.

Pivot member 33 is pivotally mounted at both its upper and lower ends 34 and 35, respectively, in the main frame 27. The ends 34 and 35 are positively attached to another generally U-shaped bracket 39 which is firmly secured to the inside of the upper body section 1 to move the upper body section.

If desired, the doll may be made so that the arms and legs are movable, allowing the doll to be used for other than crawling. This is accomplished by having the arms and legs pivotally mounted, as seen most clearly in FIGS. 3 and 4. A detent 46 on the body and a corresponding notch 45 (shown, by way of example, in FIG. 2) on the respective limb may be used to hold the limb in the crawling position. If these are made of a soft, plastic material, similar to the material of which the doll is made, the notch and detent may be easily engaged and disengaged with finger pressure.

When the doll is placed on the floor in crawling position and motor 20 is operated, the doll will crawl.

Motor 20, through gear train 23, will rotate the eccentric crank pin 25 to move it about in a circular path. This pin 25 in turn, drives the connecting rod 24 with the motion indicated in FIG. 2. This connecting rod motion is transmitted by the ends 28 and 29 of rod 24 to pivots 32 and 33, respectively. This drive will cause the upper section 1 to move in a swinging motion from side to side about the axis of pivot 33 relative to middle section 2. Note the two positions of upper section 1 and of crank pin 25 shown in FIG. 2. This motion of the connecting rod 24 also causes the lower section 3 to twist and turn back and forth about a longitudinal axis whose center is indicated at 47. Note the two positions of the lower body section shown in FIG. 5 and compare them with FIG. 3.

The resultant body motion is a combination of simple oscillatory motions about two perpendicular axes and, since the motions are combined, produces what has been referred to above as a lissajous motion. The nature of this resulting motion is generally shown in FIG. 6. The dolls hips 14 raise and move outwardly and forwardly, rst on one side and then on the other in a crawling action.

The dolls legs 15 are xed relative to its hips 15 during crawling, so the lissajous motion causes tirst one leg (and knee 16) and then the other to be lifted slightly and moved forward. A realistic crawling effect is created, and the doll actually moves forward along the floor. If the center of gravity of the doll is nearer the hands 9 than the knee 16, the crawling is improved.

A description of the preferred embodiment of my invention has lbeen given. As can be seen by those skilled in the art, various changes may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

1. A crawling toy comprising a toy body formed of upper and lower body sections separated at the torso of the toy body, said body sections jointly defining the toy body, each of said sections being provided with fixedly secured limbs oriented in a crawling position of the toy, means for positively preventing movement of said limbs relative to their respective body sections, means interconnecting said upper and lower separated body sections to form a substantially contiguous toy body with predetermined articulated lissajous-like relative movements between said b'ody sections, said interconnecting means comprising a power section including a motor and means for operatively coupling the motor to said body sections to impart torso-located articulation to the toy body, said torso-located articulation providing said lissajous-like motion to obtain crawling motion of the entire toy body when released upon a surface.

2. A crawling doll including an upper body section and a lower body section, limbs fixedly secured to respective ones of said sections, means for positively holding said limbs oriented in a crawling position of the toy, means interconnecting said sections for articulate motions of said sections relative to one another, said interconnecting means including a motor and linkages coupling the motor to said sections for relative motion therebetween in a figure eight lissajous pattern, said upper body section moving slightly from side to side and said lower body section having its sides moving alternately aupward and forward whereby said doll will crawl when placed on a surface.

3. A crawling doll including an upper body section with arms fixedly secured thereon, a lower body section with legs fixedly secured thereon, means for positively holding said arms and legs oriented in a crawling position of the toy, and interconnecting means comprising a power section, said power section located between said upper and lower body sections and pivotally interconnected with each of said sections to provide movement of said upper and lower sections relative to said power section, said power section'including driving means and a linkage driven thereby, said linkage being connected to said upper and lower sections to move said upper and lower sections in osci'latory motions relative to said power section, the planes of motion of the respective upper and lower sections being substantially perpendicular to one another, whereby the motion of said lower section relative to said upper section is a combination of the respective separate oscillatory motions of said sections and said combined motion causes said doll to crawl when placed on a surface.

4. The crawling doll as claimed in claim 3 in which said arms are pivotally secured to said upper section and said legs are pivotally secured to said lower section for child manipulation of the limbs of said doll, and said holding means including detent means associated with said arms 6 and legs to secure the same against pivotal movement 2,978,834 4/ 1958 Gardel et al. 46-149 relative to their respectively connected upper and lower 2,978,835 4/ 1958 Gardel etal. 46-149 body sections during operation of said drive means. r 3,229,421 1/ 1966 Ostrander 46-247 5. The crawling doll as claimed in claim 3 wherein said FOREIGN PATENTS power section is connected to said upper body section with 5 a pivot held in stationary relationship relative to said 6361260 4/1950 Great Bumm- Pper body Secton F. BARRY SHAY, Primary Examiner References Cited Us. CL XR. UNITED STATES PATENTS 10 46 161 1,764,330 6/1930 Marx 46-150 2,761,243 9/1956 Baggott E 46-149

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