INTERACTIVE TOY

Abstract

The present invention is directed to an interactive tube that when stretched and released compresses to a random configuration.

Description

Field of the Invention

The present invention is directed to an interactive toy that utilizes a flexible toy that is manually manipulated into various shapes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

All kinds of toys which are manually manipulatable into various shapes or configurations have been available for many years for use by children and adults, as well. Such toys range from quite complicated cubic puzzles to the very simple glob of moldable “clay”. Most such toys do not have a plurality of separable parts or components. The enjoyment of the toys resides in the ability to change the shape, configuration or condition of the toy at the will or whim of the user. Simple toys of this nature are quite favorable for preschool children, because they do not involve various parts that can become lost and thereby destroy the complete effectiveness of the toy.

This invention is directed to providing a new and interesting toy of the character described above, which may be a one-piece structure and which is capable of being manipulated into a myriad of shapes or configurations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A fuller understanding of the foregoing may be had by reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGS. 1A-1D show an interactive tube in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 2A-2C show an interactive tube manually manipulated from a compressed configuration to a stretched configuration to a random configuration;

FIGS. 3A-3C show interactive tubes in accordance with various other embodiments of the invention;

FIGS. 4A-4D show random configurations of the interactive tubes;

FIGS. 4E-4F illustrate other embodiments of the invention that incorporates various tubes to create toys;

FIGS. 5A-5D illustrate two tubes connected to each other;

FIG. 6 illustrate other types of connection used to connect an end of a tube to a toy; and

FIGS. 7A-7E illustrate an air tight tube in accordance with another embodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

While the invention is susceptible to embodiments in many different forms, there are shown in the drawings and will described herein, in detail, the preferred embodiments of the present invention. It should be understood, however, that the present disclosure is to be considered an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the spirit or scope of the invention and the embodiments illustrated.

Referring to the drawings in greater detail, and first to FIGS. 1A-1D, the invention is embodied in a manually manipulatable flexible toy, generally designated 100, which includes an elongated tube, generally designated 102, between opposite end caps 104 and 106. The tube 102 includes

The entire structure, including tube 102 and ends 104 and 106, is a one-piece structure unitarily fabricated of semi-rigid material, such as plastic or polypropylene. The Tube 102 is well known in the industry as a collapsible flexible tubing. It is constructed with a plurality of larger diameter rings and a plurality of smaller diameter rings joined in an alternating array lengthwise of the tube by a plurality of frusto-conical walls. With this construction, a pair of frusto-conical walls diverge radially inwardly from any given larger diameter ring to any adjacent pair of smaller diameter rings when in the extended condition of the tube. On the other hand, each pair of the radially inwardly diverging walls will extend radially inwardly offset to one side of any given larger diameter ring when the tube is in its retracted condition. Again, the tube or any portion or axial section thereof will maintain either of these conditions when manually manipulatable thereto.

Still further, when tube 102 is curved out of its linear configuration, a certain number of the ring areas will be extended on the outside radius of the curve and retracted on the inside radius of the curve. When the tube is curved, a certain number of ringed areas will become extended only on the outside of the curve. In each one of these ringed areas, it can be seen that a pair of frusto-conical walls between an adjacent pair of larger diameter tings converge toward the smaller diameter ring therebetween. Yet, in each ringed area, the tube is retracted about the inside circumference of the closed/circular configuration. This extended-on-the-outside/retracted-on-the-inside condition of the ringed areas will result whenever tube is bent or manually manipulated into curves.

It is because of this structure that the tube is enjoyed as a fidget toy as it can be twisted, turned, stretched, and compressed. However, that is the extent of the enjoyment. As the toys must be manually manipulated into a configuration, including the original configuration. However, the invention includes other elements that the current marketplace has not seen or taught.

As used throughout the application, the term elastic member means any member that has elasticity properties such that it can be stretched from a normal resting configuration and has a tendency to return to its normal resting configuration, such as an elastic band, rubber band, o-ring, elastic fiber, or spring.

The tube 102 includes an elastic member, which is shown as an elastic band 112 secured within the tube at end caps 104 and 106 by pins 108 and 110 that transects the end caps. The elastic band 112 is a flexible, such as a rubber band or o-ring, etc., that is in a relaxed or semi-relaxed state.

Referring now to FIGS. 2A-2C, the user with grab the end caps of the tube 100 in their hands and stretch the tube, thus stretching the elastic band 112. The user can then release one end of the tube 100 causing the elastic band 112 to snap back the ends towards each other, and further causing the tube to bend in a random configuration. This random configuration increases the enjoyment of the toy.

In FIGS. 3A-3C, the toy 300 can include different elastic members, shown as a spring 302, an O-ring 304, or elastic fiber or string 306, all placed inside of the tube to accomplish the same effect.

As illustrated in FIGS. 4A-4D, the random configuration can also twist upon itself, the user can twist the tubes into various configurations, or the tubes can wrap around objects, such as a person's arm.

Illustrated in FIG. 4e, multiple tubes similarly configured can be assembled together as a toy 400; having the tubes 100 as arms, legs, and hair strands.

Referring to FIGS. 5A-5D, two tubes 502 are connected together with a coupler 512. The coupler 512 connects to and secures to the end caps thereby joining the two tubes together. In addition an cap 514 can be secured to an open ended tube to prevent foreign objects or dirt from entering the tube.

Referring now to FIG. 6, the internal aspects of toy shown in FIG. 4e are shown. There is shown a toy body 400 with various tubes 520 attached thereto at their end caps 524. The tubes 520 are as defined above, having an elastic member 522 secured on pins 526 defined at the end caps 524. The tubes are then secured within or two the toy body 400 by attachment sections. The attachment sections could be a single attachment 530 that just secured the tube to a portion of the body, a double straight attachment 528 that secures two opposed tubes are a straight junction, or a double angled attachment 532 that secures two opposed tubes at an angle.

Referring now to FIGS. 7A-7E, there is shown an airtight suction tube 702 that uses air to expand the tube. The tube 702 may or may not include an elastic member 714. The tube does include a flapper valve 710 to maintain the air inside of the tube. This tube 702 could be used to keep air inside of the tube allowing it to float. If created as a large tube with a diameter of 3 inches to 5 inches, it could float in a pool. The air pressure within the tube will keep it expanded. However, when the air pressure is released, the internal elastic member, if included, would return it to a compressed configuration or random configuration.

From the foregoing and as mentioned above, it will be observed that numerous variations and modifications may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concept of the invention. It is to be understood that no limitation with respect to the specific methods and apparatus illustrated herein is intended or should be inferred. It is, of course, intended to cover by the appended claims all such modifications as fall within the scope of the claims.

Claims

1: A manually manipulatable flexible toy, comprising: an elongated tube, said tube having a one-piece structure unitarily fabricated of semi-rigid material, said tube constructed with a plurality of larger diameter rings and a plurality of smaller diameter rings joined in an alternating array lengthwise of said tube by a plurality of frusto-conical walls, wherein a pair of frusto-conical walls diverge radially inwardly from any given larger diameter ring to any adjacent pair of smaller diameter rings when in an extended condition of said tube, and each pair of radially inwardly diverging walls extends radially inwardly offset to one side of any given larger diameter ring when said tube is in a retracted condition, and said tube maintains either of these conditions when manually manipulatable thereto;opposite end caps, said end caps secured to said tube; andan elastic member secured within said tube at said end caps, said elastic member being stretchable from a normal resting configuration and having a tendency to return to its normal resting configuration, wherein stretching said elastic member and subsequently releasing it causes said tube to bend into a random configuration.

2: The toy of claim 1, wherein said tube is capable of being manually manipulated into various configurations, including being twisted, turned, stretched, and compressed.

3: The toy of claim 1, wherein said elastic member is an elastic band, a rubber band, an o-ring, or an elastic fiber.

4: The toy of claim 1, wherein said tube can be twisted upon itself or wrapped around objects.

5: The toy of claim 1, wherein multiple tubes having the same configuration can be assembled together to form a toy with arms, legs, and hair strands.

7: The toy of claim 1, wherein two tubes are connected together using a coupler.

8: The toy of claim 1, further comprising an airtight suction tube that uses air to expand said tube, said airtight suction tube including a flapper valve to maintain air inside, and optionally including an internal elastic member, wherein said tube is capable of floating when the air pressure is maintained and returns to a compressed or random configuration when the air pressure is released.

9: A toy assembly, comprising: a toy body with a plurality of tubes, said tubes having a one-piece structure unitarily fabricated of semi-rigid material, said tubes constructed with a plurality of larger diameter rings and a plurality of smaller diameter rings joined in an alternating array lengthwise of each tube by a plurality of frusto-conical walls, wherein a pair of frusto-conical walls diverge radially inwardly from any given larger diameter ring to any adjacent pair of smaller diameter rings when in an extended condition of each tube, and each pair of radially inwardly diverging walls extends radially inwardly offset to one side of any given larger diameter ring when each tube is in a retracted condition, and each tube maintains either of these conditions when manually manipulatable thereto;an elastic member secured to each tube at end caps; andattachment sections securing an end of one of the tubes within the toy body, wherein each of the tubes is configured such that when stretched and released the elastic member snaps back the ends towards the other end of said tube, causing said tube to bend in a random configuration.

10: The toy of claim 9, wherein said attachment sections being a single attachment that secures a tube to a portion of the toy body, a double straight attachment securing two opposed tubes in a straight junction, or a double angled attachment securing two opposed tubes at an angle,

11: The toy of claim 1, wherein the tubes can be assembled into the toy to form arms, legs, and hair strands.

12: An airtight suction tube toy, comprising: a tube with a one-piece structure unitarily fabricated of semi-rigid material, said tube constructed with a plurality of larger diameter rings and a plurality of smaller diameter rings joined in an alternating array lengthwise of said tube by a plurality of frusto-conical walls, wherein a pair of frusto-conical walls diverge radially inwardly from any given larger diameter ring to any adjacent pair of smaller diameter rings when in an extended condition of said tube, and each pair of radially inwardly diverging walls extends radially inwardly offset to one side of any given larger diameter ring when said tube is in a retracted condition, and said tube maintains either of these conditions when manually manipulatable thereto; anda flapper valve to maintain air inside the tube, wherein the tube is capable of floating when the air pressure is maintained and returns to a compressed or random configuration when the air pressure is released.