Automated doll with a set of light emitted Christmas decorations

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6371827
  • Patent Number
    6,371,827
  • Date Filed
    Thursday, August 3, 2000
    25 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, April 16, 2002
    23 years ago
  • Inventors
  • Examiners
    • Ricci; John A.
    Agents
    • Troxell Law Office PLLC
Abstract
An automated doll with Christmas light bulbs, particularly an automated doll using an axle and a gear mechanism to enlarge the effective space of an upper section inside the doll body. A base and the body are coupled together to accommodate the loading block and the optical fiber. Light-emitting components and a color disk disposed inside the base of the body to attain the effect of bright light emission at the top portion of the automated doll, and to achieve a large angle of rotation for the automated doll.
Description




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




1. Field of the Invention




The present invention relates to an automated doll with light emitting Christmas decorations using an axle and a set of gears to enlarge the effective space at the upper section inside the doll body, and coupling the light-emitting components and a rotational motor with the base of the body together to attain the desired effect.




2. Description of the Prior Art




The structure of conventional automated dolls, as shown in

FIG. 1

, has at least one light emitting member disposed in end section


1


′ of the doll, and a motor


4


mounted on the lower portion of a middle disk member


2


′. Such motor is coupled with a main transmission axle


50


′ extending from the middle disk


2


′ to the interior of a transparent housing


3


′. The main transmission axle intersects with three axles


51


′,


52


′ and


53


′. The other end of each of the three axles intersects with three transmission sub-axles


54


′,


55


′ and


56


′, which undergo back and forth rotation. An external element, such as the hand of the doll, is coupled to the transmission sub-axles


54


′,


55


′ and


56


′, such element moves back and forth with a large angle. However the conventional rotation mechanism for the dolls of this sort occupies too large a space, and has to wait until the assembly is complete before performing tests for defects.




Therefore, in summation of the above description of the prior art, the inventor of the present invention based on years of experience in the related industry conducted extensive research to enhance the structure of the automated doll herein.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




Therefore, the primary objective of the present invention is to provide a rotation mechanism for an automated doll having a set of light emitting Christmas decorations, which allows the doll to move with a larger rotation angle.




To make it easier to understand the performance, the structure, and the innovative features of the present invention, a preferred embodiment is described together with the attached drawings for the detailed description of the invention.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS




Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred but non-limiting embodiment. The description is made with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:





FIG. 1

is a perspective view of the conventional automated doll mechanism.





FIG. 2

is a perspective view of the mechanism of the present invention.





FIG. 3

is a partial, exploded view of the mechanism of the present invention.





FIG. 4

is a partial, exploded view of the mechanism of the present invention.





FIG. 5

is a partial, exploded view of the mechanism of the present invention.





FIG. 6

is a partial, exploded view of the mechanism of the present invention.





FIG. 7

is a partial top view of the mechanism of the present invention.





FIG. 8

is a perspective view showing external elements mounted on the mechanism of the present invention.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT




Referring to

FIGS. 2 and 3

, the mechanism of the present invention uses an upper section member


1


to fix the rotation mechanism


5


to the accommodating space inside the upper section member


1


. The transparent accommodating body side casing


111


and a base body


2


also define an accommodating space, and such accommodating space has a light emitting element


3


for providing light, and a rotation motor


4


for providing mechanical energy to the rotation mechanism


5


. This invention can be manufactured with an upper half section and a lower half section as shown in

FIG. 3

to facilitate testing functions and lower the cost.




Referring to

FIGS. 2

,


4


,


5


,


6


, and


7


, the structure of the present invention comprises an upper section member


1


, a base member


2


, a light emitting element


3


, a rotation motor


4


, and a rotation mechanism


5


.




The upper section of the upper section member


1


is a lid


10


of the upper casing, the lower portion of the upper casing is an upper disk


100


having a periphery with a plurality of holes known as upper disk holes


1000


. The upper portion of the upper disk


100


has a post


101


, the top end of the post


101


having a hole rim


1010


and a platform disk


102


extending from both directions of the lateral side of the post


101


, each of the opposite sides of the disk having a hole


1020


. The middle section of the upper section member


1


is an accommodating member


11


, between the upper disk


1000


and a lower disk


110


, having lower disk holes


1100


and a lower disk central hole


1101


. The lower portion of the lower disk


110


has a transparent casing


111


, and the upper portion of the lower disk


110


support a plurality of supporting columns


112


.




The space below the upper lid


10


of the upper disk


100


and above the accommodating member


11


of the lower disk


110


forms an internal accommodating space with a plurality of supporting columns


112


(for simplicity, two supporting columns are used for the description of this embodiment). The rotational mechanism


5


is mounted in the accommodating space of the upper section member


1


and is fixed by the upper disk hole


1000


and the lower disk hole


1100


.




A base body


2


is attached to the lower edge of the upper section member


1


, and the side casing


20


is also made of transparent material having a hollow middle and an upper section with a disk body as the base disk


21


. The base disk can accommodate the light emitting elements


3


and the rotation motor


4


into the space formed by the edge of the transparent casing


111


of the upper section body, and has hole


210


for the power cord


6


to pass through.




The light emitting element


3


and the rotation motor


4


both are disposed and mounted onto the upper section of the base disk


21


and coupled to the power cord


6


for obtaining electrical power. The rotation motor is coupled to a latching axle head


400


at the lower part of the motor linkage axle


40


. The motor transmission axle


40


at the top has a device


401


to press the lower section of the color disk


30


. A threaded portion


402


and the upper latching axle head


403


extend upwardly passing through and being mounted to a color disk hole


300


and fixing the motor linkage axle


40


to the color disk


30


by the screw nut


404


and the threaded portion


402


. There is a central hole


1101


on the lower disk


110


having a latching member


500


, the latching member


500


having an upper surface, a lower surface and a hollow latching hole


5000


for receiving the axle head


501


at the lower section of the main transmission axle


50


and the upper latching axle head


403


of the transmission axle. The upper section


5001


of the latching member protrudes above the upper surface of the lower disk


110


, and the lower section


5002


of the latching member


500


just fits into the central hole


1101


at the lower disk and fixes the latching member


500


to the lower disk


110


by the bracket


5003


. Such an arrangement combines the upper section member and the base body together, with the latch axle head


403


of motor linkage axle


40


inserted not the latching member


500


, and the main transmission axle latching head


501


also just fits into the latching member


500


.




The rotational linkage mechanism


5


comprises a main linkage axle


50


, a left transmission link


51


, a right transmission link


52


, a loading block link


53


, and a plurality of curved gears


54


. The main transmission link


50


is disposed at a central position inside the upper section member


1


, the latching axle head


501


at the lower section of the main transmission axle


50


is coupled to the latching member


500


to facilitate the rotation motor


4


to rotate the main linkage axle


50


. The main linkage axle


50


is a dual curved member which is different form the old-fashioned main linkage axle


50


′ having only one curved member. The main transmission axle


50


extends upward to have a main rotational axle


502


which passes through the hole in the post


101


and can move freely in the interior space. The left transmission link


51


has axle


510


connected to the main transmission link


50


and to the left transmission axle


511


. The left transmission link


51


also has a left axle


512


, engaged with the left transmission axle


511


by gears


54


so that, when the main transmission axle


50


rotates, it moves the left axle


510


in a shifting rotation movement and further rotates the left transmission axle


511


and the left axle


512


in back and forth rotational movement. The left axle


512


extends upward to form a left axle


513


passing through and being mounted to the two-hole edge


1020


of the disk within the space where it can freely move. With a similar principle and structure, and approximately in the position of the three points of the triangle at the space between the upper disk and the lower disk


110


in the upper section of the upper section member


1


, there are a right transmission link


52


and a loading block link. The right transmission link has a right transmission axle


522


engaging a right rotational axle


521


by matching curved gears


54


. The loading block


53


also has a loading block transmission axle


530


and a loading block rotation axle


531


engaged with loading block axle


532


by curved gears


54


. In addition, the loading block transmission axle


530


and the loading block rotational axle


531


respectively has a cup member formed by extending the central space of a volume having a larger area at the bottom as the loading block


533


.




As shown in

FIG. 8

, when decorations


7


are added, the optical fibers


70


in the decorations


7


and the wings


71


can be inserted into the loading block


533


. By the back and forth rotational movement via the loading block linkage axle


531


and the loading block rotational axle


532


, the wings with optical fibers


70


perform the back and forth movement. Furthermore, the main rotation axle


502


is coupled to the external decoration (head)


72


. The left rotation axle


513


, the right rotation axle


523


and the external decoration (hand)


73


are connected, the left rotation axle


513


and the right rotation axle


523


rotate and will in turn rotate the external decoration (hand)


73


with the same angle of back and forth rotation movement, and make the decorations


7


more attractive. The light emitting element


3


on the base disk


21


of the base body


2


will provide a colorful light via the color disk


30


to illuminate the optical fibers


70


and the wings


71


.




While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of a preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements and procedures, and the scope of the appended claims therefore should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements and procedures.



Claims
  • 1. An automated doll, light emitting Christmas decoration, composed of a body structure and an external decoration, the body structure comprising: an upper section member, a base member, a light emitting element, a rotation motor, and a rotational linkage mechanism; wherein the upper section member has an upper casing and an upper disk, the upper disk having a plurality of upper disk holes, a post with a top end of the post having a hole rim, and a platform disk extending laterally in opposite directions from the post; the upper section member is an accommodating member having a lower disk, with lower disk holes and a lower disk central hole, a lower portion of the lower disk having a casing, and a plurality of supporting columns extending between the lower disk and the upper disk;the base member having a base disk, to which is mounted the light emitting element and the rotation motor; the rotational linkage mechanism comprising: a main linkage axle rotated by the rotation motor, a left transmission link, a right transmission link, a loading block, and a plurality of curved gears; wherein the main linkage axle is disposed in a central position and has an upwardly extending main rotational axle portion; the left transmission link having a left axle connected with the main linkage axle, a lower section of the left transmission link having a first curved gear thereon engaged with a second curved gear on a left transmission axle; a right transmission link having a right axle connected with the main linkage axle, the right transmission link having a third curved gear thereon engaging a fourth curved gear on a right rotational axle; the loading block having a loading block transmission axle connected to the main linkage axle and having a fifth curved gear engaging a sixth curved gear on a loading block rotational axle, the loading block transmission axle and the loading block rotational axle respectively each having a central cup member formed thereon.
  • 2. The automated doll as set forth in claim 1, wherein the main transmission axle comprises a transmission axle having two curved members.
  • 3. The automated doll as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a latching connection disposed at a lower section of the main linkage axle for coupling with the rotation motor.
US Referenced Citations (6)
Number Name Date Kind
4801285 Yeu Jan 1989 A
4875886 Sung Oct 1989 A
5121646 Cho Jun 1992 A
5176560 Wetherell et al. Jan 1993 A
5247753 Yang Sep 1993 A
5277644 Osborne et al. Jan 1994 A
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number Date Country
2188851 Oct 1987 GB