US2811810A - Weeping doll - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 5, 1957 R. K. OSTRANDER WEEPING DOLL Filed April 4, 1955 5 m w y mm 9 x n: ,1, m a a. H mm \X z 7 \y x M Z Q\ a M n -1 mm A! 00 l l l l l ll w 7 L B United States Patent O i WEEPING DOLL Robert K. Ostrander, Maplewood, N. J.

Application April 4, 1955, Serial No. 499,003

8 Claims. (Cl. 46-135) This invention relates to dolls and more especially to dolls which weep water tears.

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved Weeping doll.

One feature of the invention relates to the location of a tear reservoir in the head of the doll with a passage through which water is supplied to the reservoir housing through the mouth of the doll and with simple and inexpensive check valve means for preventing back flow of the water to the mouth. The construction is simple and inexpensive and is adapted to be assembled in the doll head with a minimum of labor.

Another feature of the invention relates to the construction of a weeping doll with a soft compressible plastic head having sockets for the eyes and having provision whereby the tears come from the eye sockets instead of from holes located adjacent to the eyes as has been necessary in Weeping dolls having hard heads.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear or be pointed out as the description proceeds.

In the drawing, forming a part hereof, in which like reference characters indicate corresponding parts in all the views;

Figure l is a sectional view through the head of a doll constructed in accordance with this invention and with the doll lying on its back;

Figure 2 is a side elevation, partly broken away, showing the location of the tear reservoir housing and the connected parts when the doll is in an upright position;

Figure 3 is a greatly enlarged, isometric view, partly broken away, showing the tear reservoir housing and the conduits and passages leading to the mouth and eyes, the top wall of the housing being shown in raised position in order to expose the interior chambers;

Figure 4 is a reduced scale, sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 3, and also showing parts of the sockets in the head of the doll in section; and

Figure 5 is a reduced scale sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 3.

Figures 1 and 2 show a doll having a head secured to a body 11 by any conventional means. In the pre ferred construction the head 10 is made of soft plastic, such as vinylchloride. It can be compressed and will regain its original shape when released.

The head 14 is molded with sockets 14 for holding the eyes of the doll and the head has a mouth 15 which is open or at least constructed so that it can be opened to insert a nipple for feeding water to the doll. An eye 18, constructed of glass or other material having a realistic appearance, is snapped into each of the sockets 14 by pushing the eye in through the open front of the socket. The eye 18 is large enough so that it is firmly gripped by the socket 14. Only one eye is shown in the drawing, but it will be understood that both of the eyes are of similar construction. i

There is a button 20 at the back of each socket 14. This button is shaped to fit the back of the eye 18 and serves as an abutment against which the eye is pressed by the pressure of the front inside wall of the socket 14. A tube 22 is rigidly secured to the button 20 and leads to a tear reservoir housing 25. The tube 22 extends through an opening in the back of the socket 14; but the outside diameter of the tube 22 is substantially smaller than the diameter of the button 20 so that there is an annular surface on the back of the button which serves as a flange for preventing the button 20 and the tube 22 from being displaced rearwardly.

The head 10 is molded with a socket 27 behind the mouth 15 and there is a button 29 in the socket 27. A conduit 32 connects the button 27 with the tearreservoir housing 25.

The conduit 32 has a small diameter portion 34 extending from the button 29 through an opening in the back of the mouth socket 27 At its other end, the conduit 32 becomes larger and opens into a center distributing chamber 35, best shown in Figure 4. This distributing chamber 35 has openings 37 communicating with tear reservoirs 41 and 42. The center distributing chamber 35, therefore, forms a part of the conduit connecting the mouth with the tear reservoirs 41 and 42.

In order to prevent back flow of water through the conduit 35, which leads from the mouth 15 to the tear reservoirs 41 and 42, there is an automatic check valve located in the conduit. This check valve includes a ball valve element 45 which rests upon an annular seat 47 at the bottom of the center distributing chamber 35 when the doll is in upright position and the parts are oriented as shown in Figure 4. When the doll is laid on its back, the ball valve element 45 drops down against the back wall of the center distributing chamber 35, as shown in Figure 1, and the conduit 32 is open. Although the check valve construction illustrated is simple, inexpensive and reliable, it must be considered as merely representative of automatic check valves in connection with the broader aspects of this invention.

The tubes 22 (Figure 3) open into the tear reservoirs 41 and 42 and these tubes are rigidly connected to the front walls of the reservoirs. The entire tear reservoir housing 25 is supported in the head of the doll by the connections of the tubes 22 and the conduit 35 to the sockets of the eyes and mouth, respectively. This provides a particularly convenient assembly because the tear reservoir housing 25 and all of the connected parts are assembled before being inserted into the head. They are then connected to the doll by expanding the openings at the back of the eye sockets 14 and the mouth socket 27 so as to permit the buttons 2% and 29, respectively, to be pushed through the back Walls and into the sockets. After passage of the buttons into the sockets, the openings through which the buttons were forced close around the tubes 22 and the small end of the conduit 32 to grip these parts and hold the entire tear reservoir housing assembly in position in the head.

Figure 3 shows the construction of the tear reservoir housing 25. This housing is preferably a one piece plastic molding. The center distributing chamber 35 is immediately adjacent to the tear reservoirs 41 and 42 and separated from them only by partitions 59. These partitions extend across the full width of the center distributing chamber 35 except for cut out notches at the upper, rear corners of the partitions 50; and these cut out notches provide the openings 37 through which the center distributing chamber 35 communicates with the tear reservoirs 41 and 42.

A common bottom 52 closes the lower ends of the chamber 35 and the tear reservoirs 41 and 42. It will be understood that the partitions 50 extend all the way from the bottom to the top of the chamber 35 so that there is no communication between this chamber and the tear reservoirs 41 and 42, except through the openings 37.

The upper end of the center distributing chamber 35 is closed by a cover 54' which extends all the way from one partition to the other. Top plates 56 fill the remaining space betwen the cover 54 and the under side of a top wall 58 which extends across the entire tear reservoir housing 25. This top wall 58 is lifted from the housing 25 in Figure 4 in order to expose the inside of the housing, but it will be understood that it is permanently connected to the housing in the actual construction of the assembly.

The top plates 56 terminate some distance back from the front wall of the housing 25 so as to leave overflow passages from the tear reservoirs 41 and 42. These overflow passages 62 open into a common center passage which is bounded on the bottom by the top surface of the cover 54, on the top by the top wall 53 and on both sides by the confronting end faces of the top plates 56.

There is a recess 65 in the top edge of the back wall of the center distributing chamber 35 for the flow of water from the passage between the top plates 56 and into a water chamber 67' located immediately behind the center distributing chamber 35. This water chamber 67 is preferably an integral part of the housing 25.

In the construction shown, the water chamber 67 has an outlet fitting 70 (Figure 4) at its lower end, and a tube 72 leading from the fitting 70 to a location in the body of the doll below the head. A ball valve element 75 is preferably provided at the bottom of the water chamber 67 and this ball valve element 75 rests on an annular seat at the end of the fitting 70 when the doll is in upright position. When the doll is lying on its back, the ball valve element 75 is in open position and any water in the chamber 67, above the level of the outlet through the fitting 70, flows into the doll body, as previously explained. This feature whereby the tear reservoirs overflow into a water chamber which communicates with the interior of the body of the doll is provided when it is desirable to have a doll which both wets and weeps.

When the doll is in upright position with water in the tear reservoirs 41 and 42, and the body or head of the doll is squeezed so as to compress the air within the doll, the increased pressure causes air to flow upwardly through the tube 72 and past the check valve 75 into the housing 25. This increase in air pressure in the housing 25 forces water from the tear reservoirs 41 and 42 through the tubes 22 and buttons 20. There are preferably channels 78 (Figure 3) in the front faces of the buttons 2t) so that the eyes cannot block the flow of water from the tear r reservoirs 41 and 42. In order to further reduce the amount of pressure required to cause tears to flow from the eyes of the doll, there are other channels '79 (Figure 4) in the walls of the eye sockets 14 so that water from behind the eyes can flow across the socket walls and discharge from the eye sockets across the eyelids provided by the front openings in the sockets 14.

One function of the tube 72, therefore, is to admit air into the housing 25 when there is an increase in the air pressure within the doll. Such means are required when the housing 25 is made of rigid or stiff material, as it is in the preferred construction. If the housing 25 is made with one or more flexible walls on the reservoirs 41 and 42, then increased air pressure within the doll can be transmitted to the water in the reservoirs 41 and 42 through pressure against the flexible side walls of the reservoir. Such a construction, however, does not permit the draining of as much of the water from the reservoirs as when the air under pressure is admitbd into the tear reservoirs as in the illustrated embodiment.

The preferred construction of this invention has been illustrated and described, but changes and modifications can be made, and some features can be used in different combinations without departing from the invention as defined in the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A doll comprising a head made of soft plastic material and having a face with eye sockets therein of integral construction with the face, each of the eye sockets having a front opening for exposing to view an eye within the socket, and each of the openings having an edge which simulates a lower eye lid of the eye, each socket inward from said opening increasing in cross section to provide a cavity of the general shape of an eye, eyes located in the sockets and in predetermined assembled relation to the doll head, each of the eyes being an individual unit independent of the other eye and the doll head, and each of the eyes being of a size that can be snapped into the eye socket through said front opening and of a size that is gripped by inside surfa es of the socket with a resilient pressure of the soft plastic material, a tear reservoir within the doll, conduits between the tear reservoir and locations in the eye sockets where there is clearance between the eyes and inside surfaces of said sockets, said locations being back from the openings that expose the eyes, and a passage leading from each of said locations to another more forward location near part of the lower eye lid edge of the socket of each eye but within the socket, each eye having a bottom surface confronting and in contact with a bottom surface of the socket, the passage leading from the tear reservoir conduit to the forward location in each eye socket being a clearance formed by a channel in one of the confronting bottom surfaces, the eye lid edge of the socket being closely adjacent to the eye in such relation to the forward end of the channel that water from said forward location flows between the eye and said eye lid edge of the socket to simulate tears Welling up within the eyes.

2. The doll described in claim 1 and in which the doll has a mouth, a conduit leading from the mouth to the tear reservoir, and means through which air pressure is exerted on water in the tear reservoir when the doll is compressed.

3. The doll described in claim 1 and in which the doll has a mouth and a conduit leading from the mouth to the tear reservoir, an automatic valve in the conduit, the valve being oriented to open when the doll is lying on its back and to close when the doll is in an upright position.

4. The doll described in claim 1 and in which there is a second tear reservoir and each of the reservoirs has a conduit through which it communicates with the passage in the socket of a different eye from the other reservoir, a center distributing chamber between the tear reservoirs, passages connecting the distributing chamber with the respective tear reservoirs, said passages being at locations near the top and back of the center reservoir when the doll is in upright position, a month in communication with the center distributing chamber, an automatic check valve located in the conduit in position to open when the doll is lying on its back and to close by gravity when the doll is in upright position, and an overflow conduit communicating with the tear reservoirs and leading to the interior of the doll below the reservoirs.

5. A doll having a body which is deformable by pressure to increase the air pressure within the body, the

doll having a head with eyes and a mouth, a tear reservoir housing within the head of the doll above the level of the mouth and at least partly as high as the level of the eyes when the doll is in an upright position, passages leading from the tear reservoir housing to the face of the doll adjacent to the eyes, a conduit connecting the mouth directly to the tear reservoir housing in the head,

a check valve associated with said conduit and in position to prevent return flow of the water from the tear reservoir housing to the mouth, a passage opening from the interior of the body of the doll into the tear reservoir for admitting air into the tear reservoir when the body contact with a bottom surface of the socket, and there is a channel formed in one of the confronting bottom surfaces in each of the sockets, the channel extending to the front of each socket from a rearward region of the socket, and in which the tear reservoir housing has conduits communicating with the rearward portions of the channels in the sockets.

6. A doll comprising a head having eyes and a mouth, a separate tear reservoir for each eye, the tear reservoirs being located in the head, a center distributing chamber located between the tear reservoirs, conduit structure connecting the mouth with the center distributing chamher, a check valve in the center distributing chamber for preventing back fiow of water from the chamber to the month, said check valve having a valve element in position to drop open by gravity when the doll is laid on its back, the center distributing chamber having passages which are located at the back and top of the chamber when the doll is upright and which communicate with the tear reservoirs, and the tear reservoirs having overflow passages from which water flows to the interior of the doll below the reservoirs, said overflow passages being located at the top and front of the tear reservoirs when the doll is upright, and passages leading from the respective tear reservoirs to the eyes of the doll.

7. The doll described in claim 6 and in which there is a water chamber into which the overflow from the tear reservoirs is discharged and this water chamber is located close to the center chamber and the tear reservoirs and has a passage leading downwardly into the body of the doll. v

8. The doll described in claim 6 and in which the center distributing chamber, the tear reservoirs and the water chamber are all sections of a one-piece housing with partitions separating the tear reservoirs from the center distributing chamber and with a partition separating the center distributing chamber from said water chamber.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,981,333 Schavoir Nov. 20, 1934 2,012,060 Wittman' Aug. 20, 1935 2,148,888 Wittman Feb. 28, 1939 2,157,763 Konikofi et a1. May 9, 1939 2,196,912 Gilbrait-h Apr. 9, 1940 2,748,530 Stecker June 5, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 223,397 Germany Aug. 1, 1909 785,020 France July 31, 1935 1,084,950 France Ian. 25, 1955

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