Doll kit

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6280283
  • Patent Number
    6,280,283
  • Date Filed
    Wednesday, February 10, 1999
    25 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, August 28, 2001
    23 years ago
  • Inventors
  • Examiners
    • Ricci; John A.
    Agents
    • Frommer Lawrence & Haug LLP
    • Frommer; William S.
Abstract
A doll kit comprises a body having a torso and a head, body covered with material that releasably holds hook fastening material. Facial features, body features, clothes and accessories having mounting surfaces covered, at least in part, with hook fastening material, that releasable holds the fastening material and are operable to be attached to the body. A display member formed of material that releasably holds hook fastening material receives the facial features, body features clothes and accessories for storing and displaying the facial features, complete faces, body features, clothes and accessories when they are not attached to the body. The body includes either two arms and two legs or four legs (or fantasy-like appendages), is three-dimensional and is stuffed with a soft stuffing material. The doll kit may resemble a humanoid or an animal figure, insect figure, fantasy creature, prehistoric creature or the like.
Description




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




This invention relates to a doll kit and, more particularly, to a doll kit for creating or modifying a doll having a humanoid or animal appearance.




Toy kits for constructing dolls and other figures have long been available in two-dimensional versions, wherein children cut figures from cardboard and apply paper clothes over them. Another toy kit in the prior art has a body molded out of hard plastic with a fanciful shape. The body has holes and facial and body features having pegs attached to them are placed in the holes to attach the facial and body features to the plastic body. The facial and body features are also molded out of hard plastic, so that when the body is decorated with such facial and body features, the result is a hard plastic toy. It has been a historical problem to keep, store and display the facial and body features where they are readily available, can be seen and selected and not lost.




Stuffed humanoid and animal dolls have long proven to be popular. These known stuffed dolls have a shortcoming that their appearance cannot be changed. As a consequence, considerable effort must be expended to change the facial and body features, clothes and accessories. Thus, a male doll with blond hair remains a male doll with blond hair and cannot be changed to resemble its owner or someone that the owner of the doll is trying to emulate.




OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION




Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide an improved doll kit, which overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art.




Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a versatile, soft, three-dimensional doll wherein accessories including facial and body features, clothing, body parts and accessories may be readily placed upon and removed from the doll.




A further object of the invention is to provide a doll kit to handle, store and display parts of the kit including facial and body features, clothing and accessories as desired.




Still other objects and advantages of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part be apparent from the specification and drawings.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




In order to attain the above objects, according to an aspect of the present invention, a doll kit is provided. The doll kit comprises a body having a torso and head. The body is covered with a material for releasably holding hook fastening material. Facial features, body features, clothes and accessories have mounting surfaces covered, at least in part, with hook fastening material and operable to be releasably attached to the body are also provided. A display member covered with or formed of material for releasably holding hook fastening material is operable to receive the facial features, body features, clothes and accessories for storing and displaying the facial features, body features, clothes and accessories when they are not attached to the body. The body includes either two arms and two legs or four legs. The doll kit is three-dimensional and is stuffed with a soft stuffing material. The doll kit may resemble a humanoid or an animal figure.




The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like parts or elements are denoted by like reference characters.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS




For a more complete understanding of the invention, reference is made to the following description and accompanying drawings, in which:





FIG. 1

is a diagram of examples of a humanoid body in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention;





FIG. 2

is a diagram illustrating one of the humanoid bodies of

FIG. 1

, together with facial features, clothing and display member;





FIG. 3

is a diagram illustrating the humanoid body of

FIG. 1

, together with other facial features, clothing, accessories and display member;





FIG. 4

is a diagram illustrating an example of an animal body in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention;





FIG. 5

is a diagram illustrating the animal body of

FIG. 4

, together with facial features and body features; and





FIG. 6

is a diagram illustrating a doll house in accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention.











DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS




Referring first to

FIG. 1

, examples of a stuffed, three-dimensional body


22


are shown in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention. The three examples are proportionally similar but differ in size. The body


22


includes a head


24


, a torso


26


, two arms


28


and two legs


30


. Each arm


28


has one end attached to the torso


26


and another end attached to a hand


32


having fingers


34


and a thumb


35


. One end of each leg


30


is attached to the torso


26


and another end attached to a foot


36


, having toes


38


.




Attached to the head


24


is a set of ears


39


(which may be removable). The portions of the body


22


are arranged in a humanoid or human-like form.




The body


22


is covered with a cover member


40


comprising, in one embodiment, a looped fabric which may be made of any suitable material such as woven textile material having loops extending therefrom that are stitched together. This may be referred to as the looped portion of a hook-and-loop “Velcro” type fastener to which hook fastening material is releasably held. In the preferred embodiment, the cover member


40


may be made of any textile material that releasably holds hook fastening material, and is not necessarily made of loop material. The cover member


40


is extended over a stuffing material, (not shown) which may be of any suitable cushion-like material such as plastic foam.




Referring now to

FIG. 2

, a doll kit


20


is shown in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention. The doll kit


20


includes changeable accessories whose back portion is provided with a mounting surface, such as mounting surface


61


on the back portion of nose


63


(shown in

FIG. 2A

) covered, at least in part with hook fastening material


65


such that the accessories are receivable upon the cover member


40


of the body


22


. The accessories are removable and positionable upon the three-dimensional body


22


by placement of the hook fastening material on the mounting surface of the accessories onto selected locations of the body. The changeable accessories comprise facial and body features including eyes


60


, nose


62


, hair


64


, eye brows


66


, teeth


68


, tongues


70


, moustache


72


, lips


74


and mouths


71


. Such facial and body features may be in the form of flannel outer cover members that are backed at least in part by hook fastening material as part of a “Velcro” type fastener. The facial and body features may be made of any material, soft or rigid, provided the back portion thereof is provided with the aforementioned mounting surface covered, at least in part, with hook fastening material.




Also provided are clothes


80


that may be attached to the body


22


, such as shirts


82


, pants (or shorts or skirts)


84


, shoes


86


, socks


88


and belt


90


. These are merely illustrative. The clothes


80


may be any clothes wearable by humans or animals. The clothes


80


may also have the aforementioned mounting surfaces on their back portions to releasably hold the clothes


80


to the body


22


.




Additional accessories are shown in

FIG. 3

, including a hat


92


sized to fit onto the head


24


of body


22


. The hat


92


may be any type of headgear or head attire and may have the aforementioned mounting surfaces to releasably attach the hat to the head. A glove


94


is sized to fit over the hand


32


of body


22


. Other accessories may be a ball


96


, a bat


98


and any other items identified with a sport, profession, etc.




A display member


50


is also provided as part of doll kit


20


. The display member


50


is formed of a member


52


comprising material similar to the cover member


40


of the body


22


and preferably may be made of any textile material that releasably holds hook fastening material. In one embodiment, cover member


52


may be covered, at least in part, with the looped portion of a “Velcro” type fastener. The member


52


preferably is cloth material that can be rolled, folded or otherwise manipulated. Alternatively, the cover member


52


extends over a rigid material, (not shown) which may be of any suitable rigid material such as wood or cardboard. The facial and body features


58


, clothes


80


and accessories will therefore be operable to releasably attach to cover member


52


of the display member


50


for storing and displaying the facial and body features


58


, clothes


80


and accessories when they are not attached to the body


22


. The display member


50


may have a hanging rope or thread


54


or a support means (not shown) so that the display member


50


may be hung on a wall, door or other supporting structure at a raised elevation, or supported in an upright position. Displaying the facial and body features


58


, clothes


80


and accessories allows a user to compare and select the facial and body features, clothes and accessories that satisfy the requirements of the user.




Facial features, clothes and accessories selected and releasably attached to the doll may be adjusted, added, moved or removed to provide a variety of expressions, ages, professions and features thus varying the appearance of the doll according to the desires of the user. The doll kit may be used to work with children in psychological, educational, law enforcement or artistic settings to construct a doll that resembles real or hypothetical persons and enables the child to exercise artistic and creative expression.




Referring to

FIG. 4

, a stuffed, three-dimensional body


102


is constructed in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention. The body


102


includes a head


104


, a neck


105


, a torso


106


, and four legs


108


. One end of each leg


108


is attached to the torso


106


and the other end is attached to a paw


110


. Also attached to the torso


106


is a tail


112


(which may be a removable body feature). A collar


115


with a medallion


116


may surround the neck


105


. The portions of the body


102


are arranged in an animal-like form. Other forms contemplated herein are insect, fantasy, monster, prehistoric, extinct, futuristic, or the like.




The body


102


is covered with a cover member


118


similar to aforedescribed cover member


40


and, thus may be made of any suitable material such as woven textile material that releasably holds hook fastening material. In one embodiment, this material has loops extending therefrom, such as the looped portion of a “Velcro” type fastener. The cover member


118


is extended over a stuffing material, (not shown) which may be of any suitable cushion-like material such as plastic foam.




Referring now to

FIG. 5

, a doll kit


100


is shown in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention. The doll kit


100


includes changeable accessories whose back portions are provided with mounting surfaces covered, at least in part, with hook fastening material that is releasably attached to cover member


118


of the body


102


. The accessories are temporarily stored on a display member, similar to display member


50


, from which they are removable and positionable upon the three-dimensional body


102


by placement of the hook fastening material upon selectable portions of body


102


. The changeable accessories comprise facial and body features including eyes


122


, nose


124


, hair


126


, eye brows


128


, snout


129


, teeth


130


, tongues


132


, whiskers


134


, freckles


136


and ears


138


. Other animal, insect, monster prehistoric and fantasy creature features may be included. Such facial and body features may be in the form of flannel outer cover members similar to what was described in conjunction with

FIGS. 2 and 3

, whose back portions are provided with the aforementioned mounting surface covered, at least in part, with hook fastening material, which is the hook part of a “Velcro” type fastener. The facial and body features may be made of any material, soft or rigid.




Referring now to

FIG. 6

, a doll house


200


is shown. The doll house


200


includes structural members


202


which are rigid and are covered with a cover member comprising, in one embodiment, a looped fabric which may be made of any suitable material such as woven textile material having loops extending therefrom that are stitched together. This may be referred to as the looped portion of a hook-and-loop “Velcro” type fastener to which hook fastening material is releasably held. In the preferred embodiment, the cover member may be made of any textile material that releasably holds hook fastening material, and is not necessarily made of loop material. The cover member is extended over a rigid structural material, (not shown) which may be of any suitable material such as cardboard.




The doll house


200


includes changeable accessories whose edge and/or back portions are provided with mounting surfaces covered, at least in part, with hook fastening material such that they may be fastened together and so that the accessories are receivable upon the cover member of the structural members


202


. The accessories are removable and positionable upon the three-dimensional structure by placement of the hook fastening material on the mounting surface of the accessories onto selected locations of the structural members


202


. The changeable accessories comprise trees


204


, flowers


206


, stepping stones


208


, chimney


210


, shutters


212


, doors


214


, plants


216


, insects


218


and flower boxes


220


. Other structural and accessories features may be included. Such accessories may be in the form of flannel outer cover members similar to what was described in conjunction with

FIGS. 2 and 3

, whose back portions are provided with the aforementioned mounting surface covered, at least in part, with hook fastening material, which is the hook part of a “Velcro” type fastener. The structural members


202


of doll house


200


fold flat when taken apart.




Having now fully described the invention, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that many changes and modifications can be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth herein.



Claims
  • 1. A doll kit, comprising:a body having a torso and a head, said body covered with a material for releasably holding book fastening material; facial features having a mounting surface covered, at least in part, with said hook fastening material operable to be attached to said body; and a display member formed of a flexible, rollable cloth material for releasably holding said hook fastening material and operable to receive said facial features for storing and, when said cloth material is unrolled, displaying said facial features when said facial features are not attached to said body, said cloth having a rope secured thereto for suspending said display member at a raised elevation.
  • 2. The doll kit of claim 1 wherein said body includes two arms and two legs.
  • 3. The doll kit of claim 2 and further comprising hands attached to said arms.
  • 4. The doll kit of claim 3 and further comprising fingers attached to said hands.
  • 5. The doll kit of claim 3 and further comprising gloves that are operable to be attached to said hands.
  • 6. The doll kit of claim 2 and further comprising feet attached to said legs.
  • 7. The doll kit of claim 6 and further comprising toes attached to said feet.
  • 8. The doll kit of claim 2 wherein said facial features are humanoid.
  • 9. The doll kit of claim 1 wherein said body includes four legs.
  • 10. The doll kit of claim 9 and further comprising paws attached to said legs.
  • 11. The doll kit of claim 9 wherein said facial features resemble those of animals.
  • 12. The doll kit of claim 9 and further including body features, each having a mounting surface covered, at least in part, with said hook fastening material and operable to be releasably attached to said body and to said display member.
  • 13. The doll kit of claim 12 wherein said body features include different types of tails.
  • 14. The doll kit of claim 12 wherein said body features include different types of ears.
  • 15. The doll kit of claim 1 wherein said body is three-dimensional.
  • 16. The doll kit of claim 4 wherein said body is stuffed with a soft stuffing material.
  • 17. The doll kit of claim 1 wherein said facial features include different types of noses.
  • 18. The doll kit of claim 1 wherein said facial features include different types of hair.
  • 19. The doll kit of claim 1 wherein said facial features include different types of eyes.
  • 20. The doll kit of claim 1 wherein said facial features include different types of eye brows.
  • 21. The doll kit of claim 1 wherein said facial features include different types of moustaches.
  • 22. The doll kit of claim 1 wherein said facial features include different types of mouths.
  • 23. The doll kit of claim 1 wherein said facial features include different types of teeth.
  • 24. The doll kit of claim 1 wherein said facial features include different types of tongues.
  • 25. The doll kit of claim 1 wherein said facial features include different types of whiskers.
  • 26. The doll kit of claim 1 wherein said facial features include different types of beards.
  • 27. The doll kit of claim 1 wherein said facial features include different types of facial markings.
  • 28. The doll kit of claim 1 wherein said facial features include different types of facial hair.
  • 29. The doll kit of claim 1 and further comprising clothes having mounting surfaces covered, at least in part, with said hook fastening material and operable to be releasably attached to said body and to said display member.
  • 30. The doll kit of claim 29 wherein said clothes include different types of shirts.
  • 31. The doll kit of claim 29 wherein said clothes include different types of pants.
  • 32. The doll kit of claim 29 wherein said clothes include different types of coats.
  • 33. The doll kit of claim 29 wherein said clothes include different types of ties.
  • 34. The doll kit of claim 29 wherein said clothes include different types of dresses.
  • 35. The doll kit of claim 29 wherein said clothes include different types of skirts.
  • 36. The doll kit of claim 1 and further comprising accessories having mounting surfaces covered, at least in part, with said hook fastening material and operable to be releasably attached to said body and to said display member.
  • 37. The doll kit of claim 1 and further comprising a hanging means attached to said display member for suspending said display member from an elevated location.
  • 38. The doll kit of claim 1 and further comprising a support means attached to said display member for supporting said display member in an upright position.
US Referenced Citations (8)
Number Name Date Kind
2331776 Heggedal Oct 1943
3210884 Sharff et al. Oct 1965
4122628 Crowell et al. Oct 1978
4979924 Manger Dec 1990
5195917 Russell et al. Mar 1993
5348510 DuPont et al. Sep 1994
5746639 Bloom et al. May 1998
6015358 Spector Jan 2000
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number Date Country
2559676 Aug 1985 FR