A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. This patent document may show and/or describe matter which is or may become trade dress of the owner. The copyright and trade dress owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright and trade dress rights whatsoever.
This invention relates to plush toys, and more particularly to a compressible viscoelastic or memory-foam based plush toy.
Plush toys are well known and have been a favorite style of toy for generations. Traditional plush toys are not easily compressed, however, for the purpose of reducing their shipping and storage size, and/or to conceal their expanded shape, without damaging the plush toy and permanently deforming it. Traditional polyester fiberfill and wool are used in the prior art, but such fill for a plush toy does not enable the plush toy to be compressed without damage and expand into its original shape.
Therefore, there is a need for a system that allows a plush toy to be compressed to ⅓ of its normal, expanded size, or more, without permanently deforming the plush toy or changing its shape when expanded to its natural size. Such a needed invention could include a package that is either a different shape than the final shape of the plush toy, promoting surprise and mystery for the end user of such a system, or that resembles the shape of the plush toy but in a miniature form, or that includes a plurality of such plush toys placed into a PDQ box or tray, or in other ways. Such a needed invention would be relatively inexpensive to manufacture, transport, and store. The present invention accomplishes these objectives.
The present device is a plush toy system comprising a foam inner formed into a character shape, such as a doll or animal. The foam inner comprises a compressible foam material and has an outer surface. The foam inner, when unconstrained, expands into a natural size.
A flexible outer covering surrounds the foam inner and is, in preferred embodiments, sized in at least one dimension to be smaller than the natural size of the foam inner. In other embodiments the outer covering may be sized substantially the same as the natural size of the foam inner, or larger than the natural size of the foam inner when a loose, baggy look is desired for the plush toy. The outer cover has an inner surface for contacting the foam inner, and an outer surface. The foam inner and the flexible outer covering combine to form a plush toy.
The system may include a package having at least one open side through which the plush toy traversed when compressed to fill an interior space of the package. The package may be a rectanguloid, a two-piece ovaloid, or the like. Preferably the foam inner is stored in its compressed size at 33% or less that of its natural, expanded size when unconstrained by the package.
In use, when the plush toy is compressed and contained within the package, upon opening of the at least one open side the plush toy at least partially expands out of the at least one open side of the package. When removed completely from the package the plush toy expands to the natural size of the plush toy.
The present invention is a plush toy that can be compressed to one-third of its normal, expanded size, or more, without permanently deforming the plush toy or otherwise changing its shape when expanded to its natural size. The present system may include a package that is either a different shape than the final shape of the plush toy, promoting surprise and mystery for the end user of such a system, or that resembles the shape of the plush toy but in a miniature form, or that includes a plurality of such plush toys placed into a point-of-purchase display box or tray, or in other ways. The present invention is relatively inexpensive to manufacture, transport, and store. Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following more detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention.
Illustrative embodiments of the invention are described below. The following explanation provides specific details for a thorough understanding of and enabling description for these embodiments. One skilled in the art will understand that the invention may be practiced without such details. In other instances, well-known structures and functions have not been shown or described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the description of the embodiments.
Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout the description and the claims, the words “comprise,” “comprising,” and the like are to be construed in an inclusive sense as opposed to an exclusive or exhaustive sense; that is to say, in the sense of “including, but not limited to.” Words using the singular or plural number also include the plural or singular number respectively. Additionally, the words “herein,” “above,” “below” and words of similar import, when used in this application, shall refer to this application as a whole and not to any particular portions of this application. When the claims use the word “or” in reference to a list of two or more items, that word covers all of the following interpretations of the word: any of the items in the list, all of the items in the list and any combination of the items in the list. When the word “each” is used to refer to an element that was previously introduced as being at least one in number, the word “each” does not necessarily imply a plurality of the elements, but can also mean a singular element.
A flexible outer covering 60 surrounds the foam inner 20 and is sized in at least one dimension to be smaller than the natural size 50 of the foam inner 20. In some embodiments the outer covering 60 may be sized substantially the same as the natural size 50 of the foam inner 20 (
In preferred embodiments, at least a portion of the inner surface 62 of the outer covering 60 is fixed with the outer surface 28 of the foam inner 20 with stitching 90, adhesive 100 (
The system preferably includes a package 80 having at least one open side 85 through which the plush toy 70 traverses when compressed to fill an interior space 89 of the package 80. The package 80 may be a rectanguloid 110 (
In use, when the plush toy 70 is compressed and contained within the package 80, upon opening of the at least one open side 85 the plush toy 70 at least partially expands out of the at least one open side 85 of the package 80. When removed completely from the package 80 the plush toy 70 expands to the natural size 50 of the plush toy 70.
In some embodiments, the foam inner 20 includes one or more appendages 22 or other sections having within a stuffing 150 (
For example, in some embodiments, the foam inner 20 is comprised of at least two type of compressible foam material 40 that have different natural expansion rates, such that portions 26 (
While a particular form of the invention has been illustrated and described, it will be apparent that various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, it is not intended that the invention be limited, except as by the appended claims.
Particular terminology used when describing certain features or aspects of the invention should not be taken to imply that the terminology is being redefined herein to be restricted to any specific characteristics, features, or aspects of the invention with which that terminology is associated. In general, the terms used in the following claims should not be construed to limit the invention to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification, unless the above Detailed Description section explicitly defines such terms. Accordingly, the actual scope of the invention encompasses not only the disclosed embodiments, but also all equivalent ways of practicing or implementing the invention.
The above detailed description of the embodiments of the invention is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed above or to the particular field of usage mentioned in this disclosure. While specific embodiments of, and examples for, the invention are described above for illustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications are possible within the scope of the invention, as those skilled in the relevant art will recognize. Also, the teachings of the invention provided herein can be applied to other systems, not necessarily the system described above. The elements and acts of the various embodiments described above can be combined to provide further embodiments.
All of the above patents and applications and other references, including any that may be listed in accompanying filing papers, are incorporated herein by reference. Aspects of the invention can be modified, if necessary, to employ the systems, functions, and concepts of the various references described above to provide yet further embodiments of the invention.
Changes can be made to the invention in light of the above “Detailed Description.” While the above description details certain embodiments of the invention and describes the best mode contemplated, no matter how detailed the above appears in text, the invention can be practiced in many ways. Therefore, implementation details may vary considerably while still being encompassed by the invention disclosed herein. As noted above, particular terminology used when describing certain features or aspects of the invention should not be taken to imply that the terminology is being redefined herein to be restricted to any specific characteristics, features, or aspects of the invention with which that terminology is associated.
While certain aspects of the invention are presented below in certain claim forms, the inventor contemplates the various aspects of the invention in any number of claim forms. Accordingly, the inventor reserves the right to add additional claims after filing the application to pursue such additional claim forms for other aspects of the invention.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/564,118, filed Sep. 9, 2019, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,596,475, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/985,595, filed Nov. 22, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,427,061, which claims priority to Application No. 62/508,800, filed May 19, 2017, each entitled “PLUSH STUFFED WITH MOLDED OR SCULPTED FOAM,” and which are expressly incorporated herein by reference.
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Parent | 16564118 | Sep 2019 | US |
Child | 16823030 | US | |
Parent | 15985595 | May 2018 | US |
Child | 16564118 | US |