Patent Application
20090031757
The present invention is directed toward a modular toy bracelet. More specifically, the present invention relates to a modular toy bracelet that can be easily constructed by removably engaging the interchangeable pieces together and to further hold articles while being worn.
Children of various ages enjoy constructing toy sets to make different toy items. Young girls particularly like to play with fashionable jewelry items such as bracelets, necklaces, watches, hairpins, rings, and other accessories. To provide such fashionable jewelry items that are somewhat modular and practical in limited uses as described below, practitioners in the arts have come up with various combinations of jewelry items, particularly rings and bracelets, for children's use.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,699 issued to Yoshida (“the '699 reference”) sets forth toy accessories having a plastic accessory base having plural engaging parts. At least two different ornamental parts, containing a composition for writing particularly a polyolefin, are attached to the base. The different ornamental parts in the '699 reference can be detachably engaged with the base to provide a bracelet and detached from the base to be used as tools for writing. The detachable and different ornamental parts in the '699 reference are limited to being used as writing tools.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,357,260 issued to Lutz (“the '260 reference”) sets forth a scented friendship bracelet kit containing several ornamental beads. The bracelet in the '260 reference can also be used as a tie string holding the fabric bundle with the beads and pellets together in the bundle. The ornaments can be beads in a variety of shapes, each having a through-hole for stringing on the tie string to form a bracelet. The ornaments in the '260 reference are limited to being attached to the scented string by putting the tie string through the holes of the ornaments.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,887,448 issued to Gilbert et al. (“the '448 reference”) sets forth a toy jewelry kit with assembly workstations for making rings and tube bracelets. Bracelets may be formed by filling hollow tubular structures with water and coloring or other particulates and threading the charms onto the bracelet before sealing the tubes using the jewelry kit machine. Bracelets of the '448 reference are limited to construction by using the jewelry kit machine, and the threading charms can be attached only by putting the hollow tubular structure through the holes of the threading charms to form a bracelet.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,222,503 issued to Golove (“the '503 reference”) sets forth a ring with interchangeable settings and attachable charms and methods for their use. An item of jewelry includes a ring having removable and interchangeable settings and attachable charms that can be easily removed. The use of this jewelry item in the '503 reference is limited to a ring with interchangeable settings and charms in a wide range of designs by coupling a short chain captured on the ring by the setting.
All of these references disclose jewelry items limited to particular purposes and have various drawbacks, including interchangeable parts being used as writing tools or constructing a ring. Other drawbacks of the bracelet kits include relatively simple designs without having compartments to store small articles while the bracelets are being worn. The present invention is directed to overcoming the foregoing and other disadvantages. Accordingly, it is desirable for children to have easily constructable, interchangeable, and fashionable jewelry items such as a bracelet that can hold articles such as cosmetics, vitamins, candy, toy items, and other small items. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a modular toy bracelet that can be easily and interchangeably engaged to construct the bracelet and to further hold articles in the plurality of cases forming the bracelet.
According to the present invention, the modular toy bracelet is easily adjustable, interchangeable, lightweight, fashionable, and constructable to be worn by anyone. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the modular toy bracelet includes a plurality of connecting cases with each connecting case having a top portion and a bottom portion with engaging means on the back side. The top portion of the connecting case is removably and hingedly connected to the bottom portion on the back side by connecting the extending member of the top portion to the receiving member of the bottom portion using a clasping mechanism. In a preferred embodiment, the top portion has a latch at the frontal side to fit and close over a catch of the bottom portion also located at the frontal side. By closing the top portion over the bottom portion by any engaging means, the connecting cases can hold articles such as edibles, cosmetic items, and other small items.
According to the present invention, the modular toy bracelet includes a plurality of connecting cases with each connecting case having the engaging means on the first and second lateral sides of each connecting case to removably and interchangeably link to one another. The step in which a first connecting case is removably and interchangeably linked to a second connecting case is demonstrated whereby a first connecting case removably and hingedly links to a second connecting case via the engaging means on the lateral sides to assemble the modular toy bracelet. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, each connecting case has a protruding member on the first lateral side, the protruding member having a protruding structure shaped like a ladder with two protruding outer portions perpendicularly attached to the middle portion of the first lateral side, and a crossbar is set between the two protruding outer portions to form the ladderlike protruding member on the first lateral side of the connecting case. In the preferred embodiment, each connecting case also has a support member on the second lateral side with a protruding structure attached to the middle portion of the second lateral side with an aperture that is generally shaped inwardly cylindrical with the aperture having the same length as the crossbar to removably receive the crossbar. The crossbar attached between the two protruding outer portions of the protruding member from the first lateral side of the connecting case is gently pushed into the aperture of the support member on the second lateral side of another connecting case to removably and hingedly link the connecting cases together. The hinged engagement of the protruding member and the support member of the connecting cases on the lateral sides allows flexible and pivotal movement of the plurality of connecting cases forming the bracelet around the wrist of a user.
According to the present invention, the upper side of the top portions is preferably provided in a wide range of designs, including but not limited to different geometric shape themes, flower themes, various color themes, and other fun themes to appeal to children. In one preferred embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of connecting cases with different shapes, colors, and designs are removably and hingedly linked together for flexibility and interchangeability. Therefore, the plurality of connecting cases with different shapes, colors, and designs may be interchangeably and hingedly linked to each other by mixing and matching the different connecting cases. The modular toy bracelet may be easily constructed or deconstructed without much complexity and allows the user to interchange the different connecting cases and top portions of the connecting cases to construct, lengthen, shorten, decorate, and adjust the different portions and connecting cases according to the user's preferences. The user may also access and replace articles from the interior cavity of the connecting cases while mixing and matching the top portions and the connecting cases.
The foregoing and other objectives, features, and advantages of the invention will be more readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
A modular toy bracelet 5 in accordance with the present invention is shown in the attached drawings for illustrative purposes. The modular toy bracelet 5 of the present invention comprises an easily constructable, adjustable, interchangeable, and fashionable jewelry item to hold small articles, more particularly directed to a bracelet. This disclosure describes numerous specific details that include specific structures in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. One skilled in the art will appreciate that one may practice the present invention without these specific details. As best seen in
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the top portion 80 and the bottom portion 10 are hingedly engaged by connecting the extending member 86 of the top portion 80 to the receiving member 42 of the bottom portion 10 in a clasping mechanism on the back side 40. The extending member 86 of the top portion 80 clasps over the receiving member 42 of the bottom portion 10 by gently pushing and clasping the parts together. In the preferred embodiment, the extending member 86 is a structure attached to and extending perpendicularly downward at ninety degrees from the back side 40 of the top portion 42, and the extending member 86 includes two perpendicularly protruding structures with inwardly and cylindrically shaped openings to hook onto and to engage the receiving member 42 of the bottom portion 10. The cylindrical opening of the extending member 86 of the top portion 80 is flexible to removably and hingedly attach to the receiving member 42 by a clasping mechanism. In the preferred embodiment, the receiving member 42 of the bottom portion is a crossbar attached in a parallel direction in the horizontal axis of the connecting case 100 in the inner space of the back side 40 of the bottom portion 10 to removably and hingedly clasp into and connect to the extending member 86 of the top portion 80 on the back side 40. As the extending member 86 of the top portion 80 firmly, removably, and hingedly clasps onto the receiving member 42 of the bottom portion 10 on the back side, the top portion 80 can be easily opened or closed, providing a pivoting movement as a lid moves up and down over a container. The connecting case 100 of the present invention with the top portion 80 and the bottom portion 10 can be closed by using any engaging means to attach the top portion 80 to the bottom portion 10 on the back side 40, and the engaging means is not limited to the structures of the extending member 86 and the receiving member 42. In the preferred embodiment, the bottom portion 10 of the connecting case 100 is shaped as a rectangular case, creating an interior cavity 50 and a compartment to hold articles inside the connecting case 100, particularly when the top portion 80 is closed as a lid over the bottom portion 10. The interior cavity 50 is preferably big enough to hold articles such as edibles, charms, cosmetic items, small toy items, and the like.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the top portion 80 has a latch 84 at the frontal side 14 to fit and close over a catch 12 of the bottom portion 10 at the frontal side 14. The latch 84 is smooth on the outer section with a slight notch on the inner and lower section to snap over the catch 12, which is a slightly outwardly shaped slit as used in a typical snap fit of a lid over a plastic-like container. The top portion 80 may be simply closed over the bottom portion 10 by gently pressing the top portion 80 and the bottom portion 10 together between any two fingers to snap the two parts together. To open the top portion 80 from the bottom portion 10, the latch 84 may be slightly lifted up by using a gentle force in order to access articles stored in the interior cavity 50. The simple engaging means at the back side 40 and the frontal side 14 allows easy construction of the top portion 80 to the bottom portion 10 and easy access to the articles stored in the interior cavity 50 between the top and bottom portions 80, 10. The connecting case 100 of the present invention with the top portion 80 and the bottom portion 10 can be closed by using any engaging means to fit and close the top portion 80 over the bottom portion 10, and the engaging means is not limited to structures of the latch 84 and the catch 12. Even though the connecting case 100 is described to have a latch 84 of the top portion 80 to close over a catch 12 of the bottom portion 10 by a snap mechanism, it is not intended that the invention be limited thereto, as it is intended that the invention be as broad in scope as the art will allow and that the specification be read likewise. Thus, while the engaging means on the back side 40 and the frontal side 14 of the top and bottom portions 80, 10 are described herein as clasping structures and snapping structures, respectively, other engaging means could be used to connect the top portion 80 to the bottom portion 10 in constructing the plurality of connecting cases 100 and to close the top portion 80 over the bottom portion 10 in order to hold articles in the interior cavity 50.
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Even though the connecting case 100 is described to have a support member 32 with an inwardly cylindrical aperture 34 by receiving the complementary cylindrically shaped crossbar 223 of the protruding member 222 of the second connecting case 200 to removably link with the second connecting case 200, it is not intended that the invention be limited thereto, but that the invention be as broad in scope as the art will allow and that the specification be read likewise. Thus, while the engaging means on the second lateral side 30 of the first connecting case 100 and the first lateral side 220 of the second connecting case 200 are described herein as structures to clasp together, other engaging means could be used to connect the first connecting case 100 to the second connecting case 200 as known to those skilled in the art. The top portions 80, 280 are also interchangeable with other top portions with different design features and colors, since the top portions 80, 280 are removably and interchangeably attached to the bottom portions 10, 210 via the engaging means previously described.
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Numerous modifications and variations of the modular toy bracelet disclosed herein will occur to those skilled in the art in view of this disclosure. Therefore, it is to be understood that these modifications and variations, and equivalents thereof, may be practiced while remaining within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.
