Patent Application
20080274844
The present invention is directed to motion sensitive activation systems, and more particularly to centrifugal activation systems that reduce false activations in devices equipped with centrifugally-activated functionalities.
Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
Motion activated devices, toy novelty devices, and promotional products are well known to children, adults, and those skilled in the art. Many devices have been developed that respond to physical movement by activating some function. There are, for example, toy balls of all shapes and sizes that light-up or make noise in response to movement or physical touching, pet toys that speak in response to movement, toy dolls that move and speak in response to observed motion, and many more.
The marketplace is full of toy balls that resemble athletic balls in their shape and dimensions, but which have various additional novelty features. Some examples of such toy balls are: footballs that whistle as they fly through the air, Frisbees that light up with multicolor displays, and soccer balls that glow in the dark, etc. All of the novelty devices and toy balls known in the art have one or more serious drawbacks that greatly limit their functionality or their ease of use. Motion activated devices have also been used in many other applications outside of the toy and novelty item industries.
Many devices equipped with motion-activation systems are far too easy to accidently activate. When this is the case, a user may become frustrated with his or her inability to stop the device from activation, or once it has activated to get the device to turn off. Or, if the motion-sensitive device becomes activated unbeknownst to the user, the device may continue to run for long periods of time and thus drain the available power supply. In this situation, the device may completely drain its power supply, usually an imbedded battery, which may be difficult, expensive, or even impossible to replace. The mechanical components of the device may even break down prematurely because of the additional accidental use. Such accidental activation may leave the device unavailable for its intended use at the proper time and place.
On the other end of the spectrum, devices designed to have additional functionality beyond their “regular” use (such as a football that is illuminated by a multicolor light display) may be too difficult or cumbersome to activate. Such a device may have an ON and OFF manual button or switch. In the case of a football or a Frisbee, a manual ON/OFF button means that the user must always travel to the location of the device to turn it off. If a user has just thrown such a football or Frisbee, it will continue to flash or display its lights even after coming to rest and/or becoming abandoned by the user, because unless a user manually turns a switch or presses a button, the device will remain in either the same ON state or OFF state in which it began. Another drawback to such an ON/OFF button or switch is that it must be accessible to a user. This means that the button or switch must be on the outside surface of such a device, probably either protruding from the surface of the ball or recessed from the surface of the ball. In the case of an athletic-type ball or disc, such a protruding (or receded) button/switch may prove to be an annoyance during routine use of the ball or disk because it alters the normally smooth surface. Further, a protruding item would be easily damaged.
A few more sophisticated devices on the market try to solve these problems. More specifically, several devices are known in the art that attempt to utilize centrifugal motion to activate their functionality. These devices have their own drawbacks.
One such novelty device is a flying disc with an electronic signaling device activated by a centrifugal switch, disclosed in Samuel, U.S. Pat. No. 3,798,834. The design disclosed in Samuel is very primitive and cumbersome. A battery is secured within a chamber by a spring and the element it is intended to operate. The circuit is completed by a small, weighted contact element that moves into engagement with one terminal of the battery during rotation of the flying disc. The mechanical nature of the spring-operated centrifugal switch used in Samuel is highly prone to failure after prolonged or rigorous use. Even more detrimental, however, is that Samuel makes use of a single centrifugal switch per functionality to be activated. This means that not only will the centrifugal switch activate during flight, but will often activate accidentally. For example, dropping the Samuel disc, even from a small height, will be enough to cause the weighted spring to close the circuit and activate the functionality. Alternatively, moving the Samuel disc quickly, or with some acceleration, in a straight line—as would happen when a supply-chain worker, a retail worker, or a user carries the disc from location to location—will cause the functionality to activate. Such easy and unintended activation is undesirable.
Another similar device is a sound and light emitting football disclosed in Hamilton, U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,293. Hamilton describes a football that when centrifugally activated can emit sound or light. The Hamilton centrifugal activation system utilizes one weighted arm switch which is designed to move and thus close the circuit in response to spinning flight. There are several drawbacks to such a design. The mechanical components of the weighted arm switch are likely to break after prolonged or rigorous use, and rigorous use should be expected for a football. More importantly, the use of only a single centrifugal switch proves very ineffective in such a motion activated toy ball. As in the Samuel disclosure, the Hamilton design is overly easy to activate, meaning that the system will regularly be activated accidently. For example, dropping the Hamilton football, even from a small height, will be enough to cause the weighted arm to close the circuit and activate the sound and/or the light display. Alternatively, moving the Hamilton football quickly, or with some acceleration, in a straight line—as would happen when a supply-chain worker, a retail worker, or a user carries the football from location to location—will cause the functionality to activate. Such easy and unintended activation is undesirable for a number of reasons, chiefly because it will drain the power supply prematurely. It could also be dangerous, if, for example, the ball was activated in a car while in transport due to a bump in the road.
It is apparent that there is a need for a motion-activation system that can reduce or eliminate accidental activations. It is also advantageous for such a system to be able to withstand prolonged and rigorous use. The presently disclosed centrifugal activation system fulfills this market need by greatly reducing accidental activations while being resistant to severe or prolonged use. The disclosed system is able to achieve these goals by utilizing at least two centrifugal switches in combination to reduce accidental activations, by positioning the switches within an object to take advantage of the object's shape and motion; and by utilizing an elegant electrical circuit design that minimizes mechanical components to reduce long-term mechanical fatigue.
a is a view of the football from
The present invention is directed to a false activation reducing centrifugal activation system. The system is an activation system that may be used to activate a wide variety of functionalities in a wide variety of devices. The functional elements to the system are a device housing, a power supply module, and one or more activation modules that are activated by a particular motion of the housing, such as when the device housing is able to at least partially spin or rotate about one or more axis' of rotation. The disclosed activation modules include a centrifugally activated electronic system that allows a device's functionality to be turned on or off by moving the device's housing in a particular fashion. In this way, a device equipped with the disclosed centrifugally activated electronic system does not need to have a manual ON/OFF switch or fragile mechanical switch. Instead, the disclosed system allows one or more of a device's functionalities to be activated (or de-activated) when the device's housing moves in the proper manner, while reducing unwanted activations that would be caused by slight and/or unintentional movement.
The false activation reducing centrifugal activation system may be implemented in any device where activation of an electronic circuit should depend on a particular type of motion of the device's housing. Such suitable devices include, but are not limited to, promotional products such as children's toys, pet toys, corporate giveaways, and novelty items. As used throughout this application, the phrase “promotional product(s)” is meant to include commercial toys and novelty devices which may be sold at retail as well as devices given away at corporate events and functions. An example application of the disclosed system is in a novelty toy foam football, the surface perimeter of which is lined with LEDs that illuminate when the football rotates about its longitudinal axis, as would naturally occur when a user throws the football with some degree of spiral spin. Another example application is a pet toy designed to keep a pet's interest without the need for human intervention, the pet toy being capable of automatically moving erratically across a surface in response to the pet pushing or hitting the toy in some fashion. Both example applications take advantage of the disclosed system to activate one or more device functionality in response to the device housing's rotation about an axis, while advantageously avoiding unintended functionality activations. Both applications will be explained in detail below.
There are, of course, many permutations of these example applications, as well as many other possible applications of the disclosed false activation reducing centrifugal activation system. For example, the pet toy might be oddly shaped, like a jumping jack, so it will bounce erratically when dropped. Such a toy might require a pair of switches that activate when moved around one axis and one or more additional pairs of switches that are activated when the device is moved in another axis of rotational motion, not around the one axis. Thus, the device may not activate simply when moved or carried around by an animal, but once triggered by rotational motions will activate when dropped, or each time it bounces after being dropped, at least for some predetermined period of time.
An advantage to the false activation reducing centrifugal activation system herein disclosed is that while it is not overly difficult for a user to intentionally activate such a system, it is not overly easy either. The requirement of at least two tilt switches per type of motion ensures that simply tilting the device housing relatively slowly in one direction or another will not activate the system. Nor will simple straight line movement on its own activate the system. As will be described below in one embodiment, activation of the disclosed system requires at least partial rotation creating sufficient centrifugal force. Such a threshold level of required centrifugal force ensures that a device equipped with the disclosed system may not be accidentally activated, thus avoiding unnecessary or unwanted consumption of the power supply. The requirement of a threshold centrifugal force level also allows such a device to be carried from one location to another without activation, because such carrying would only involve straight-line movement. Thus a device may be transported, even at a very high rate of speed or acceleration, without system activation. In other embodiments, such a system could also be equipped with one or more additional switches that are activated by straight line movement, but must be accompanied by some additional motion, such as rotation about an axis within a predetermined period of time to fully activate a device.
The disclosed system's characteristic of relative difficulty of accidental or unwanted activation has all sorts of beneficial applications. Devices equipped with the false activation reducing centrifugal activation system may be manufactured without worry that basic manufacturing-related physical movements will activate the system and thus prematurely drain the power supply. For example, production of the illuminateable football example, described below, may be designed so that the power supply is embedded within the football early-on within the manufacturing cycle without worry that subsequent physical transportation of the football to other steps within the manufacturing cycle will accidentally activate the illumination system and drain the battery. The football may then be shipped to retail stores and handled by supply-chain workers and retail workers, again without worry of accidental activation and premature battery drain.
A further benefit to the disclosed system's characteristic of relative difficulty of accidental or unwanted activation is that such a device will not accidently activate while in the user's possession. It is disadvantageous to have an overly sensitive motion activated device because such a device could easily activate while sitting in a closet. An owner of such a device may be moving other items on the other side of the closet, and set off a chain reaction of moving closet items which in turn bumps the motion-activated device. If the device is overly easy to activate, just a small bump will set it off and waste its power supply. But with the disclosed false activation reducing centrifugal system, such a bump will not activate a device's functionality. As will be described, one embodiment of the disclosed system requires at least a pair of opposing tilt switches to be closed at the same time, meaning that bumping, slow turning, or even high-impact jarring of the system is not enough to activate the system—only centrifugal rotation is enough to activate the system.
Two opposing tilt switches 105 per axis of rotation may be connected in series to provide for centrifugal activation of the system. A tilt switch is a type of electrical switch which can either allow or interrupt the flow of electric current in an electrical circuit, depending on the tilt switch's physical position or alignment relative to the direction of earth's gravitational pull. A tilt switch consists of one or more sets of electrical contacts in a sealed glass envelope which contains a bead of metal (such as mercury, etc.) or any other suitable material. The bead sealed within the glass envelope does not necessarily have to be a metal—it can be any material suitable for conducting electrical current to complete the circuit while also being amenable to the earth's gravitational pull—but this application will refer to the suitable material as a bead of metal. Similarly, the tilt switch's sealed envelope need not be glass. The sealed envelope may instead be plastic, metal, or any other suitable material. Tilt switches most commonly use sealed glass envelopes, but the phrase “sealed envelope” is meant to encompass any such suitable material used to enclose the one or more sets of contacts and the gravitationally amenable bead. The sealed envelope may also contain air or some other inert gas, or instead may be a vacuum.
In the most common application of a tilt switch, gravity is constantly pulling the bead of metal to the lowest point in the sealed envelope. When the tilt switch is tilted in the appropriate direction, the metal bead touches a set of contacts, thus completing an electrical circuit through those contacts—in other words, closing a switch. Tilting the tilt switch the opposite direction causes gravity to pull the metal bead away from the set of contacts, thus breaking the electrical circuit—opening the switch. As stated, centrifugal activation may be achieved by using two opposing tilt switches connected in series at 105. In order to complete the circuit and activate the system, both tilt switches must be closed.
A functional circuit able to implement the disclosed false activation reducing centrifugal activation system may obviously be configured in any number of ways. The only essential elements to such a circuit are: one or more pairs of opposing tilt switches 105 configured in series so that both tilt switches within a pair must be closed in order to form a circuit. As should become apparent to those skilled in the art, the exact placement or use of resistors, resistor-capacitor parallel configurations 103, and/or transistor 102 will depend upon what sort of load 104 is to be powered by the power supply 101. As stated,
The circuit as described above and seen in
a and 3b illustrate the centrifugal activation system as practiced in a thrown football. Before the football is thrown, the football is not spinning and is at rest—this is referred to as a static football 301 and is illustrated by
As the football flies through the air after being thrown, the football continues to spin about the axis of rotation. This spinning keeps the beads of metal in the closed position, keeping the electrical circuit completed and the relevant load powered, due to a force sometimes described as centrifugal force. A common way of thinking about this situation is that the spinning device housing, the football in this example, creates a force that propels the beads of metal away from the axis of rotation. This is often referred to as centrifugal force (Latin for “center fleeing” force). Properly understood, however, there in fact is no force propelling the beads of metal away from the axis of rotation. In reality, what is happening is that there is a lack of centripetal force. Whenever an object moves in a circular path—the spinning football in this example—the object is accelerating because the velocity is constantly changing direction. All accelerations are caused by a net force acting on an object. In the case of an object moving in a circular path, the net force is a special force called centripetal force (Latin for “center seeking”). So a centripetal force is a center seeking force, meaning that the force is always directed toward the center of the circle. Without this force, an object will simply continue moving in straight line motion. The centripetal force acting on the football is imparted by the throwing motion of the person who threw the football. This centripetal force keeps the football, and the tilt switch secured to the football, moving in a circular path—what this disclosure refers to as spinning about the axis of rotation. But the beads of metal are not secured to the football; they are free to move within the sealed envelopes of the tilt switches. Because they are free to move, the beads of metal are not subject to the same centripetal force that keeps the football and the tilt switches spinning about the axis. The beads of metal, therefore, continue to move in a straight line even as the football and the sealed envelopes move in a circular path. Looking to
Nevertheless, the physical workings of the disclosed system are more easily conceptualized and understood when described as “centrifugally activated,” and so that convention will be utilized throughout this application. So, although speaking of “centrifugal force” is not quite correct from a pure physics standpoint, it simplifies the discussion and is in fact what humans observe in relevant situations. Throughout this disclosure, the phrase “centrifugal force” has been and will generally be used in place of the phrase “a lack of centripetal force.”
While the system remains activated by constant centrifugal force, the load remains powered. When the football comes to rest, meaning that the football has stopped spinning about the axis of rotation, the system may be designed so that the load remains supplied with some form of power for a short time even while one or both of the tilt switches revert to their open position. This may be accomplished in many ways, with one example being illustrated in
The above described centrifugally activated illuminatable football example may be designed and manufactured in any number of ways. The ball can of course be made of almost any suitable material. One exemplary design is to use a foam substance much like many soft and/or squishy footballs and other balls common in the marketplace. A ball of the desired size and shape is made by blowing heated foamy material into a mold of the appropriate dimensions, and then allowing the foamy material to cool. One way to produce the foamy material, well known in the industry, is by the reaction of polyester with a diisocyanate while carbon dioxide is liberated by the reaction of a carboxyl with the isocyanate. Polyester resin reacts with a compound while CO2 is simultaneously released by another reaction. It is the release of the CO2 gas that creates open pockets within the polyurethane that, in turn, makes the material soft and light. Such toy balls are often marketed to kids because they are fully functioning toy balls and yet they are soft and so they do not hurt kids when caught or thrown. Such soft and/or squishy foam balls are also popular with persons of all ages because they can safely be used indoors without breaking household items. A soft and/or squishy foam football may be made illuminatable by incorporating the false activation reducing centrifugal activation system herein disclosed.
To produce such a centrifugally activated foam ball, a flexible plastic clamshell substructure may be used to encase the previously described circuitry and battery. (See
The appropriate circuitry 503, including tilt switches 507 and LEDs 504, would be laid out and encased within the clamshell substructure 502. The substructure 502 is described as “clamshell” because one way to accomplish the encasement is to design the substructure as a lower half and an upper half, like a clam. The circuitry 503, tilt switches 507 and LEDs 504 would be placed in the lower half and then the upper half would be laid on top and secured to the lower half, thus fully encasing the delicate circuitry, etc., inside the plastic, heat-resistant substructure 502. The LEDs 504 could be coated with any appropriate material—such as a translucent plastic protective layer, for example—designed to protect the LED bulbs from ordinary football wear-and-tear.
Once the substructure is assembled with the circuitry, etc. enclosed, the substructure may be suspended inside a mold. The appropriate foamy material, which may be quite hot (hence, the heat-resistant characteristic), may be blown around the substructure to create the desired football shape.
The preceding is only one example of how a toy ball equipped with a centrifugally activated electronic system may be designed and produced. The ball may be practically any size and shape: spherical such as a baseball or a basketball, longer more like a javelin, flatter more like a disk, or any shape in between. The ball may be made of practically any material: it need not be a foamy material but may instead be hard plastic or anything in between. The substructure may also be made from any other material, such as metal. Or there may be no need for a substructure, depending on the material used to make the ball itself. For example, a leather football, much like a football used by the National Football League (the “NFL”) or the National Collegiate Athletic Association (the “NCAA”), may be equipped with a centrifugally activation system. Most leather footballs are inflatable, enclosing pressurized air within an internal bladder made of one or more layers of plastic, rubber, woven fabric or other material. The centrifugal activation system components can be sown or otherwise attached to the inside of the bladder, for example. In this case, a rigid or protective substructure may not be necessary. A leather football, just like any device equipped with the centrifugal activation system, can be designed to activate any number of functionalities. For example, such a football could be equipped with a heating module that would be activated by centrifugal motion. Such a design is quite practical as football is often played outdoors during the cold fall and winter months.
Based on the geometry of the device's housing, pairs of tilt switches may be connected together to provide different rotational effects on the system. The above described football example only uses two tilt switches opposing each other across one axis of rotation. But a centrifugal activation system could easily be designed to take advantage of more than one axis of rotation, thus calling for more than one pair of opposing tilt switches. For example, in the case of a sphere, two, four, or six tilt switches, two per axis of rotation, may be connected serially to require the centrifugal force of either one, two, or three axis' in order to activate the power supply to the load. Or, the device may be designed so that one pair of opposing tilt switches is in parallel circuit configuration to another pair of opposing tilt switches. In this way, the device may respond to any sort of turning or spinning movement, no matter which axis of rotation is utilized. The practical applications of such parallel and series configuration of tilt switch pairs are almost limitless. One example is that a ball could be designed so that rotation about one axis results in illumination of blue LEDs, rotation about another axis results in illumination of red LEDs, while rotation about a third axis results in production of a auditory sound. Another interesting possible application involves more than one pair of tilt switches positioned at different radii along the same axis of rotation. In such an example, if the ball spins at a certain rate of rotation, the inner-most pair of tilt switches is activated and the ball illuminated green, for example. If the same ball then spins at a certain faster rate of rotation, the outer-most pair of tilt switches is activated and the ball then also illuminates orange, for example. Such a configuration could be utilized as an accelerometer, where different functionalities are activated at different rates of spin. Of course, any combination of serial and parallel configurations for the pairs of opposing tilt switches is possible.
Additional elements can be added to a ball equipped with the false activation reducing centrifugal activation system in order to increase a user's enjoyment of the ball. For example, inertial switches may be added for activation of additional functionalities when a ball so equipped hits a target. In this example, the ball may illuminate purple LEDs while flying through the air, due to an incorporated false activation reducing centrifugal activation system like that herein disclosed, and then may illuminate green LEDs when it hits its target, due to additional incorporated inertial switches. Of course, the inertial switches may be designed to activate any additional functionality, such as a sound producing module.
A second proposed implementation of the centrifugally activated system besides an illuminatable football is in the movement of a pet-toy device across a surface. Such a pet-toy's intended use is primarily for typical household pets such as cats and dogs, but may also be suitable for any other pet, such as a hamster, a bird, etc. The disclosed system could be used to keep a cat or a dog interesting in the toy even without human intervention. The disclosed system would be embedded in the ball as previously described to include at least a pair of opposing tilt switches. When a pet pushes, hits, or moves the toy device housing to a sufficient degree the centrifugal activation system would connect the power source to the load, and the load would remain powered for as long as the hang time is configured for. The load in this example may be a rotating weight about an axis which would cause the ball to roll across a surface. For example, if a pet pushed a centrifugally activated ball across a floor, the ball would of course spin. The spin would activate the system as discussed, and the power supply would be connected to the load. The load in this case is a small motor designed to move a weight, or a weighted element, hidden inside the ball. The weight would be moved by the motor from its original position on one side of the inside of the ball to a second position within the ball, in such a manner as to cause the ball to move erratically across the surface. The mechanized movement of the weight within the ball can be designed to repeat, so as to increase the movement. This erratic movement would be of great interest to the pet and would compel the pet to chase and/or push the ball again, thus activating the centrifugally activated system again, again causing the ball to move erratically. In this way the pet is able to play with the ball all on its own and retain interest, even without human intervention.
The centrifugally activated system may be utilized in many ways to create pet toys such as a dumbbell or jack shaped toy that could be designed to activate when dropped in a particular way. Other possible useful loads that may be activated could include LEDs, noise making modules, scent-releasing modules, a microcontroller used to activate and/or control any sort of functionality, or anything imaginable that would prolong a pet's interest in a toy that can be powered by a reasonable power source. It is also possible to design a pet-toy device with a combination of different types of loads for each axis of rotation. For example, spinning the device around one axis produces an interesting sound while spinning the device around a different axis produces a multi-colored LED display. The possibilities are numerous.
The examples herein described are all comprised of a power supply module that is connected to the relevant load when the disclosed system is activated. The power supply module could take many different forms. The supply could be some sort of a battery or capacitor imbedded within device housing. The battery imbedded within the device housing could be a single use battery, such as an alkaline battery with a relatively short life span or a Lithium Iron Disulphide battery with a relatively long life span, for example. In the case of a single use battery, a device so equipped would probably be relatively inexpensive and could be considered a disposable toy which a user throws away after the battery power is drained.
The imbedded battery could instead be a rechargeable battery, such as a Nickel-cadmium battery or a Rechargeable alkaline battery, for example. In the case of a rechargeable battery, the device housing may have a recharge port (see recharge port 405 in
A device equipped with the disclosed false activation reducing centrifugal activation system could also be designed so that a user could remove a fully-drained power supply, such as an alkaline battery, and replace it with a new or newly recharged battery. In this example, the device housing may have a power source port opening on its surface.
Of course, any sort of power supply that can be contained within a device equipped with the disclosed system may be utilized.
While the presently disclosed invention has been illustrated and described herein in terms of several preferred embodiments and several alternatives of each embodiment associated with the false activation reducing centrifugal activation system for use in novelty and other devices, it is to be understood that the various components of the combination and the combination itself can have a multitude of additional uses and applications. Accordingly, the invention should not be limited to just the particular description and various drawing figures contained in this specification that merely illustrate a preferred embodiment and application of the principles of the invention.
This is a utility patent application, taking priority from provisional patent application, Ser. No. 60/927,569 filed on May 3, 2007.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60927569 | May 2007 | US |
