Three-dimensional built-up toy with changeable clothes

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6475054
  • Patent Number
    6,475,054
  • Date Filed
    Friday, September 14, 2001
    23 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, November 5, 2002
    22 years ago
  • Inventors
  • Examiners
    • Ackun; Jacob K.
    Agents
    • Troxell Law Office PLLC
Abstract
A three-dimensional built-up toy includes a doll, a coupling element, a plurality of clothes, and a base all in the form of flat pieces. The doll piece is provided at one side near a middle portion with a first slit having a predetermined depth for engaging with a second slit provided on one side of the coupling element, so that the coupling element is perpendicularly connected to the doll. The base is provided with a plurality of insertion slots, any of which is adapted to receive a lower connecting edge of the doll, so that the doll could stand on the base. Each of the pieces of clothes is provided at one side with a third slit for engaging with the coupling element and thereby being changeably attached to the doll via the coupling element at any time as desired.
Description




FIELD OF THE INVENTION




The present invention relates to a three-dimensional builtup toy with changeable clothes. The toy includes a plurality of flat pieces separately forming a doll, a coupling element, a plurality of clothes, and a base. The coupling element is perpendicularly connected to one side of the doll, and each piece of clothes is provided at one side with a slit for engaging with the coupling element. The pieces of clothes may be selectively attached to the doll through the coupling element depending on a consumer's imagination, enabling the doll to change clothes at any time.




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




A conventional three-dimensional built-up toy is usually supplied in the form of a flat panel on which a plurality of flat pieces are formed through die cutting to provide a doll and a plurality of related parts. The flat pieces are removed from the panel for building up a three-dimensional toy according to the consumer's own ideas. The panel after removal of the doll and other parts is usually useless and discarded to form a source of environmental pollution. The doll is usually printed in the manufacturing process to show only one fixed style of clothes and therefore looks monotonous without funds and attraction. It is therefore tried by the inventor to develop a three-dimensional builtup toy with changeable clothes to eliminate the drawbacks existing in the conventional built-up toy.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




A primary object of the present invention is to provide a three-dimensional built-up toy with changeable clothes, so that the toy is more interesting for playing. The toy mainly includes a plurality of flat pieces separately forming a doll, a coupling element, and a plurality of pieces of clothes. The doll is provided at one side near a middle portion with a first slit of a predetermined depth, and the coupling element is provided at one side with a second slit for engaging with the first slit, so that the coupling element is perpendicularly connected to the doll. Each piece of clothes is provided at one side with a third slit for engaging with the coupling element, so that the clothes are selectively attached to the doll via the coupling element depending on the consumer's own ideas, giving the doll different appearances.




Another object of the present invention is to provide a three-dimensional built-up toy with changeable clothes, so that the toy could stably stand on a base. To this purpose, the toy includes a plurality of flat pieces that are initially formed on a flat base through die cutting. By removing the plurality of flat pieces from the flat base, a doll, a coupling element, and a plurality of pieces of clothes are obtained. The doll is provided at a lower end with a downward extended connecting edge for engaging into one of many insertion slots formed on the remained flat base, so that the doll with the clothes changeably attached thereto via the coupling element could vertically stand on the flat base without the need of discarding the base.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS




The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein





FIG. 1

is an exploded perspective view of a three-dimensional built-up toy with changeable clothes according to a first embodiment of the present invention;





FIG. 2

is an assembled perspective view of

FIG. 1

;





FIG. 3

is similar to

FIG. 2

with the toy wearing different clothes; and





FIG. 4

is an assembled perspective view of a three-dimensional built-up toy with changeable clothes according to a second embodiment of the present invention.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS




Please refer to

FIGS. 1 and 2

that are exploded and assembled perspective views, respectively, of a three-dimensional built-up toy according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In this first embodiment, the three-dimensional built-up toy mainly includes a flat piece of doll


11


, a flat piece of coupling element


12


, a plurality of flat pieces of clothes


13


, and a flat piece of base


14


.




The doll


11


is provided at one side near a middle portion with a first slit


111


having a predetermined depth. The coupling element


12


is provided at one side with a second slit


121


. By engagement of the second slit


121


with the first slit


111


, the coupling element


12


can be perpendicularly connected to the doll


11


. The doll


11


also includes a downward extension projected from a lower end of the doll


11


to serve as a connecting edge


112


. The base


14


is provided on a surface at predetermined positions with a plurality of insertion slot


141


, into which the connecting edge


112


of the doll


11


is inserted for the doll


11


to stably stand on the base


14


. Each piece of the clothes


13


is provided at one side at a position corresponding to the first slit


111


with a third slit


131


. The third slit


131


is adapted to engage with the coupling element


12


, so that the clothes


13


are selectively put onto the doll


11


by engaging the third slits


131


with the coupling element


12


that is connected to the doll


11


through engagement of the second slit


121


with the first slit


111


on the doll


11


. A consumer may change the doll's clothes as desired by putting different pieces of clothes


13


onto the doll


11


in the above-described manner.




As can be seen in

FIGS. 1 and 2

, the base


14


is initially a complete flat panel from which the doll


11


, the coupling element


12


, and the a plurality of clothes


13


are produced through die cutting of the flat panel. The flat panel with the doll


11


, the coupling element


12


and the clothes


13


removed therefrom is then further provided with the insertion slots


141


and used as a base


14


for the doll


11


. The base


14


may be painted or printed to show different patterns to look like, for example, a floor. The connecting edge


112


of the doll


11


may be inserted into any one of the insertion slots


141


to stand on the base


14


. In brief, the base


14


is fully utilized in the toy of the present invention without being discarded after the doll


11


, the coupling element


12


and the clothes


13


are removed therefrom. The present invention is therefore environmentally friendly.




To make the toy more interesting for playing, some pieces of toy furniture


20


may be provided and attached to the base


14


. The toy furniture


20


may be assembled from a plurality of flat pieces. Each piece of the toy furniture


20


is provided at lower ends with downward extended insertion edges


21


. Through engagement of the insertion edges


21


with the insertion slots


141


on the base


14


, the toy furniture


20


could stably stand on the base


14


.





FIG. 3

shows that the doll


11


in

FIGS. 1 and 2

has changed her clothes and wears a gown now.





FIG. 4

shows a second embodiment of the present invention.




In this second embodiment, the clothes


13


for the doll


11


include a first wing


134


and a second wing


137


, and there are provided a plurality of clusters of flowers


132


. The clusters of flowers


132


are provided at lower sides with downward extended insertion edges


133


for engaging with the insertion slots


141


on the base


14


and thereby vertically stand on the base


14


. The coupling element


12


in this second embodiment includes, in addition to the second slit


121


, a fourth slit


122


provided at a corner thereof to incline at a predetermined gradient. The first wings


134


is provided at a lower end of a predetermined connecting area with a fifth slit


135


for engaging with the fourth slit


122


on the coupling element


12


. The wing


134


is also provided at an upper end of the predetermined connecting area with a sixth slit


136


for engaging with a seventh slit


138


provided at a lower end of a predetermined connecting area on the second wing


137


, so that the second wing


137


is removably connected to the first wing


134


. The wings


134


,


137


are attached to a back of the doll


11


through engagement with the coupling-element


12


at the fourth slit


122


. And, a magic stick


30


is connected to the doll's one hand.




The present invention has been described with some preferred embodiments thereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications in the described embodiments can be carried out without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.



Claims
  • 1. A three-dimensional built-up toy with changeable clothes, comprising:a flat doll piece having at one side adjacent to a middle portion a first slit having a predetermined depth, and a lower end with a downwardly extending connecting edge; a flat coupling element piece having at one side a second slit engaging said first slit, said coupling element piece being perpendicularly connected to said doll piece through engagement of said second slit with said first slit; a plurality of flat clothes pieces, each of which having, at one side at a position corresponding to said first slit on said doll piece, a third slit adapted to engage said coupling element piece, such that said clothes pieces are selectively attached to said doll piece through engagement of said third slit with said coupling element; and a flat base piece having, at predetermined positions, a plurality of insertion slots adapted to receive said connecting edge on said doll piece, such that said doll piece is upright connected to said base piece through engagement of said connecting edge with one of said insertion slots; wherein said plurality of flat clothes pieces each have different designs and patterns to be selectively attached to said doll.
  • 2. The three-dimensional built-up toy with changeable clothes as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a plurality of toy furniture pieces attached to said base.
  • 3. The three-dimensional built-up toy with changeable clothes as claimed in claim 2, wherein said toy furniture pieces comprise a plurality of flat pieces provided at lower ends with downward extended insertion edges adapted to engage said insertion slots on said base, such that said pieces of toy furniture are vertically connected to said base through engagement of said insertion edges with said insertion slots.
  • 4. The three-dimensional built-up toy with changeable clothes as claimed in claim 1, further comprising first and second wings each having a connecting area provided thereon, and a plurality of flat flower cluster pieces each of said flower cluster piece being provided at a lower end with a downwardly extending insertion edge adapted to engage with any one of said insertion slots on said base for said flower cluster to stand on said base, said first and second wings being connected to said coupling element at said connecting areas.
US Referenced Citations (3)
Number Name Date Kind
2395118 Havel Feb 1946 A
3296737 Doyle et al. Jan 1967 A
3753312 Hughes, Jr. Aug 1973 A