Not applicable.
The present invention is related to amusement devices, and more particularly, may be embodied as a greeting card product utilizing motion as a primary form of attraction. Components of the invention are usable in other devices, such as in various types of ornaments, such as Christmas ornaments and other ornaments.
Over the years, designers have utilized a wide variety of features to make greeting cards and related gift items more attractive and desirable to consumers. In addition to the use of various colors, pictures, designs and phrases, cards have also been designed with selectively moveable portions in an effort to draw attention to the card. A popular means for incorporating some form of motion into a greeting card is to employ paper mechanics technology with the moving items being located inside the card. The particular arrangement of folds in the paper inside the card make it such that the motion is generally caused by the opening and closing of the card, creating what is commonly referred to as a “pop-up” effect. While paper mechanics technology is well known and can provide for various types of movement, this method of imparting movement in the card is limited to the interior of a card and requires opening and closing of the card for activation which can partially obscure the moving objects. Therefore, it is desirable to provide a different method of imparting movement to objects on a card which are not limited by the drawbacks of the prior art. Further, there is a desirability to incorporate movement in objects on other gift items, such as an ornament.
The most obvious input source for such a motion is a small electric motor. The motor can be used to turn or pivot objects on the front of the card. This solution, however, has serious drawbacks. First, motors are bulky and make undesirable noise while turning. Second, they are expensive and limit the affordability of products containing the motor. These and other limitations are overcome and additional features are provided by the present invention.
A modular design motion device for incorporation in a greeting card or other gift item is disclosed for providing an animated gift product. The modular design allows for integration of reconfigurable motion mechanisms into a greeting card or other gift items, enabling a wide variety of animation effects to be created for amusement of the product recipient. Furthermore, the modular design provides a compact product for ease of handling by the user.
In one aspect, the system takes the form of an amusement device, or animated greeting card assembly, including a packaging structure, a module drive mechanism and one or more visual elements set in motion by the user's interaction with the drive mechanism. The packaging structure includes a cover panel, and optionally a bottom panel, for concealing the drive mechanism. The module drive mechanism is formed of a base tray and a cap, with a plurality of motion components disposed therebetween and operatively supported on the base tray. The visual elements are interconnected with the motion components through openings in the packaging cover panel and the drive mechanism cap, such that the visual elements are positioned adjacent to the cover panel and viewable by the user. Upon the user providing manual input to the module drive mechanism, the motion components initiate animation of the visual elements. The animation may encompass a variety of movement schemes, including a pivotable action, a translational or path-tracing action, a circular or non-circular looping action, and other simple and complex motion patterns.
In another aspect, the motion components of the module drive mechanism may include one or more drive gears and output gears. The drive gears may be positioned at multiple locations on the mechanism base tray, depending on the desired orientation of the greeting card and where manual input is to be received on the system. The output gears may connect directly to the visual elements, or may transfer rotational motion to certain “action” components that convert the rotation into other animation patterns (e.g., a reciprocating pivot, translation, looping). A pulley system may be employed to directly receive the user input and transfer the applied force to the drive gears. Additionally, because the drive mechanism tray may be formed with a plurality of bearing regions for supporting motion components, such components are easily reconfigured on the tray and coupled to other action components to create new animation patterns.
In yet another aspect, the amusement device takes the form of an animated ornament, including a housing, a module drive mechanism and one or more visual elements set in motion by the user's interaction with the drive mechanism. The housing defines a cavity for containing and concealing the drive mechanism. Like with the greeting card, the module drive mechanism includes a plurality of motion components interconnected with the visual elements through openings in the housing, such that the visual elements are viewable by the user. Upon the user providing manual input to the module drive mechanism, the motion components initiate animation of the visual elements. The animation may encompass any variety of movement schemes and may include sound and light generation.
Additional advantages and features of the invention will be set forth in part in a description which follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
The present invention is described in detail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, wherein:
Various embodiments of the modular design greeting card motion device are shown throughout the figures. As explained more fully herein, the motion device employs a module drive mechanism, or “module”, to generate animation of certain visual elements in response to user initiated input. The module may be integrated into a modified version of a traditional greeting card or similar structure. The visual elements being animated, along with other indicia positioned on the packaging forming the greeting card, provide a theme for the amusement of the user. Additionally, certain motion components of the module are configured for interchangeability and repositioning within the module by the greeting card designer, enabling new animation patterns to be readily generated. The compact nature of the module facilitates the integration of the module into other amusement devices besides greeting cards, such as books and other items.
Referring now to the drawings in more detail and initially to
The base tray 12 includes a bottom floor 22, a perimeter upturned flange wall 24 and a plurality of posts 26 extending upwardly from the floor 22. The posts 26 serve as locations for the axial mounting of the set of gears 14 and pivot hubs 28 that also perform the function of “motion components”. The bottom floor 22 is also formed with a plurality of recesses 30 that serve as bearing regions for operatively supporting the gears 14 and pivot hubs 28 during rotation on the posts 26, as best seen in
Throughout the various embodiments of the module 10 described herein, the term “drive gear” refers to a gear receiving either a direct force input from a user, or a force from another input object with which the user interacts to provide input. The transfer gear 36 is configured to transmit by rotational gear engagement a force from a drive gear 34 to an output gear 38, either directly or through rotational interaction with other transfer gears 36. Each of the gears 14 may have upwardly extending posts 48 spaced from and parallel to the axis of the respective gear. Such posts 48 are particularly utilized by the output gears 38 to engage with the action components 18 and drive the movement of such components 18. Additionally, as can be understood, gears 14 and pivot hubs 28 are not necessarily located on each open post 26 and recess 30. The particular gears 14 and pivot hubs 28 selected are a matter of design choice based on the need to create a specific movement pattern for the visual elements being animated by either the action components 18 or directly by the output gears 38, as explained in further detail herein. It is preferable to form the base tray 12 with a number of posts 26 and recesses 30 sufficient for a module designer to generate many possible combinations of movements depending on the particular motion components implemented in the module 10. Furthermore, a particular gear 14, such as drive gear 34, may also perform the function of another type of gear, such as transfer gear 36 or output gear 38, depending on the particular configuration of the gears 14 selected to produce a desired output motion.
The mid-level cap 16 functions to retain the gears 14 and pivot hubs 28 on the respective posts 26 and within the respective recesses 30 of the bottom floor 22 of the base tray 12. The cap 16 has a number of through holes 49 aligned with the recesses 30. The through holes 49 allow the gears 14 and pivot hubs 28 to at least partially extend through the cap 16, aiding in retention of the gears and hubs while also exposing the posts 48 for engagement with the action components. While a standard cap 16 would be used, the cap 16 could be customized regarding the number and location of through holes 49 depending on the number and location of gears 14 and pivot hubs 28 used in a specific embodiment. Preferably, the mid-level cap 16 has a thickness necessary for a top surface 50 of the cap 16 to be flush with upwardly oriented cylindrical extensions 52 and 54 of the gears 14 and pivot hubs 28, respectively, as shown in
The action components 18 may then be coupled with the output gears 38 and pivot hubs 28, as shown in
Once the desired action components 18 are in place, the top cap 20 is secured over the mid-level cap 16 and the action components 18. The flange wall 24 of the base tray 12 includes corner retainers 74 for securing the top cap 20 on the remaining build-up layers of the module 10. The top cap 20 may be secured with the base tray corner retainers 74 by a variety of methods, such as by sizing the perimeter of the cap 20 to friction fit with the inside walls 76 of the corner retainers 74 or by utilizing an adhesive to secure the cap 20 perimeter to the corner retainers 74. The particular top cap 20 selected should have a number of through holes 78 positioned for alignment with the respective action components 18, enabling the desired visual elements for the greeting card design to be coupled therewith and set in motion by user input on the drive gear 34.
The module 10 is depicted in
In use, a person (e.g., the greeting card product recipient) engages a set of dimples 80 on the lower surface 44 of the drive gear cylindrical extension 42 to effect rotation of the drive gear 34. With continued reference to
As an alternative to the arrangement shown where a user physically drives the motion of the module 10 through drive gear 34, a small electric or spring wound motor (not shown) may be coupled with one of the gears 14 or pivot hubs 28 to drive the movement of the “motion components”. A battery or other power supply (not shown) may be stored within a compartment 88 formed in the base tray 12.
Turning to
The module 100 is formed by a built-up configuration similar to module 10 of
Similar to the base tray 12 of module 10, the base tray 108 includes a bottom floor 118, a plurality of recesses 120 formed into the bottom floor 118 to serve as bearing regions operatively supporting particular gears 110 and pivot hubs 122 in rotation, and a plurality of posts 124 extending upwardly from the bottom floor 118 in the bearing regions and with which the gears 110 and hubs 122 may be axially mounted. The gears 110 include the drive gear 104, which receives a rotation inducing force from the user input mechanism 102, one or more transfer gears 126 and one or more output gears 128 coupled with the action components 112. Selected gears 110 (i.e., gears that are likely to be utilized in the module 100 as output gears 128, depending on the configuration selected by the module designer) have upwardly extending posts 130 spaced from and parallel to the axis of the respective gear.
As with the configuration of the module 10 shown in
One example of a user input mechanism 102 is a pulley system. The pulley system 102 includes a driving pulley wheel 136, a crank arm 138 rigidly connected to the axis of the pulley wheel 136 for imparting rotation thereof, and a flexible band 140 for transferring the motion of the pulley wheel 136 to an extension 142 of the drive gear 104. The pulley wheel 136 may be rotatably mounted to a mounting bracket 144 on an underside of the wheel 136, and to the top cap 114 on an upper side of the wheel 136, via an axial pin (not shown) to stabilize the wheel 104 during rotation. The drive gear extension 142 is generally an axially-aligned, upwardly oriented cylinder with a circumferential groove 146 for receiving and frictionally engaging with the band 140. Likewise, the pulley wheel 136 has a circumferential groove 148 frictionally engaging the band 140. The flexible band 140 may be formed of rubber or other suitable materials. It should be also understood that other alternative user input mechanisms may be substituted for the pulley system 102 of the module 100, such as additional gears, linkage arrangements, levers, and other mechanical structures.
Upon the desired gears 110 and pivot hubs 122 being placed on the appropriate posts 124, the action components 112 are then set in place to create the desired movements to be translated into animation by the attached visual elements 300. With the exemplary arrangement shown in
In use, a person applies an input force on the crank arm 138 to induce movement of the action components 112 and ultimately animation of the visual elements 300. The tension on the band 140 extending around the drive gear extension 142 and the pulley wheel 136 enables the rotation of the wheel 136 via the crank arm 138 to induce rotation of the drive gear 104 and corresponding movement of the motion components (i.e., gears 110, action components 112 and pivot hubs 122). The drive gear 104 transfers the rotational motion to the remaining gears 110, and the output gears 128 transfer the rotational motion via the posts 130 to swivel bar 150 and slide blocks 152. In particular, each swivel bar 150 has a hub 156 mating with an upwardly cylindrical extension 158 of the pivot hub 122 and a slotted finger 160 extending radially from hub 156 and configured to receive the post 130 of the respective output gear 128. The hub 156 undergoes a reciprocating pivot motion, or swivel, as the slotted finger 160 undergoes an oscillating action set in motion via the circular travel path of the output gear post 130. Likewise, each slide block 152 has a slotted base 164 configured to receive the post 130 of the respective output gear 128 and an upper member 166 extending from the base 164. The upper member 166 undergoes a linear back-and-forth motion due to both the circular travel of the post 130 received in the slotted base 164 causing oscillation of the slotted base 164, as well as the elongate configuration of the respective top cap through hole 154 through which the upper member 166 extends establishing a linear travel path.
As referenced above, the module 100 is preferably integrated into a greeting card product 400, or packaging structure, having the cover panel 134 and a bottom panel 168 disposed beneath the bottom plate 116. The greeting card product 400 may optionally have a rear panel (not shown) that cooperates with the bottom panel 168 to provide an interior of the card where a greeting may be placed. The packaging structure 400 may be formed from card stock in a similar configuration to the cover panel 82 and bottom panel 84 of module 10.
With particular reference to
In a similar fashion, the horse riding scene depicted in
As can be appreciated, the various embodiments of the module drive mechanism and other elements forming a greeting card assembly can provide virtually endless combinations of movement for visual elements present on the front of the greeting card product. Other embodiments of and modifications to the invention are beneficial as well and are within the scope of the present invention. For example, the movement of the components can be used to produce mechanical sounds. This sound can be caused, for instance, by a protrusion on one of the motion components contacting a flexible arm. When the arm is released, it strikes a surface and causes a sound. Sound can also be created by having loose items enclosed in a moving component, such as small metal or plastic balls. When the component turns, the balls strike each other, creating sound. Sound can also be produced by clicking, ringing, stirring, and crinkle plastic.
The modular design of the greeting card assembly allows for interchangeability of moving parts, while maintaining a thin profile mechanism desired for greeting cards and the like. The manual user input also means that the user has control over the motion input, and thus, the motion output. The user can start and stop the motion, can reverse motion direction, and can change the speed of the motion. Still further, it should be understood that various other motion components may be implemented into the module drive mechanism to generate a vast array of animation possibilities. Examples of such motion components include worm and helical gears, multi-linkage assemblies, rack and pinion arrangements, and other known components.
Because of the size and modular nature of the module drive mechanism, its components can be incorporated into an number of small items to impart motion thereto. For example,
Similarly, as the first and second members 506, 508 do not need to be as close to one another, the cavity 510 is larger than in the previous embodiment. This arrangement, where the front 512 and rear 514 walls of the housing 504 are not sandwiched together around the drive mechanism 502, permits greater depth for gears 516 of the drive mechanism 502. As such, the gears 516 do not simultaneously abut the front and rear walls 512, 514 but are instead positioned on a bearing post 518 that extends from one of the front and/or rear walls 512, 514 into the cavity 510. The bearing posts 518 may be integrally formed with a housing members 506, 508 or may take the shape of a pin or screw that is used to attach a gear 516 or other drive mechanism component to the housing 504.
The ornament 500 includes a crank arm 520 on a top or outer surface 522 of the front wall 512. As with the previous embodiment, the drive mechanism 502 includes a plurality of motion components 524 that facilitate movement of various visual elements 526 on the exterior of the front wall 512 of the housing 504. The motion components 524 include a drive gear 528, an output gear 530, and a transfer gear 532. As with the previous embodiment, rotation of the crank arm 520 causes rotation of the drive gear 528. The rotary motion of the drive gear 528 is passed along to an output gear 530 either directly or through one or more transfer gears 532. The output gear 530 may be directly coupled with one of the visual elements 526 or with a mechanical structure 534, whose object is to convert rotational movement to some other type of movement as described above.
In
In the illustrated embodiments, the housing 504 has been made translucent and/or semi-transparent so that operators may view the motion components 524 during operation of the ornament 500. Being able to see the gears 516 and mechanical structures 534 move during operation often enhances interest in the ornament 500. Consequently, several of the gears have been designed to include an ornamental feature, such as the appearance of a snowflake.
The ornaments 500 in
The ornaments 500 in
The light components may take the form of lights 544 that may be positioned in or on the ornament 500 to light up various features. For example, LEDs 544 of various colors are positioned inside the train 538 to illuminate the train 538, as best illustrated in
The sound components may be mechanical sounds, as discussed above, or may be recorded audio stored on a memory component (not shown) concealed in the housing 504. The recorded audio is played through a speaker 548 housed in a base 550 of the housing 504.
The light and sound components may be coupled with the crank arm 520 such that they are activated by initial rotation thereof. From that point they may play a predetermined time, with the lights 544 activating in a pre-programmed sequence and automatic shut off or the continued activation of the components could be tied to interaction with the ornament 500. For example, the ornament 500 may be provided with a switch 552, best viewed in
From the foregoing it will be seen that this invention is one well adapted to attain all ends and objects hereinabove set forth together with the other advantages which are obvious and which are inherent to the structure. It will be understood that certain features and subcombinations are of utility and may be employed without reference to other features and subcombinations. This is contemplated by and is within the scope of the invention.
Since many possible embodiments may be made of the invention without departing from the scope thereof, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative of applications of the principles of this invention, and not in a limiting sense.
This application, having attorney docket number HALC.141446, is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/833,868, filed Aug. 3, 2007, having attorney docket number HALC.130460, which claims the benefit of and priority to commonly owned U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/821,688, filed Aug. 7, 2006, both of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60821688 | Aug 2006 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 11833868 | Aug 2007 | US |
Child | 12269724 | US |