Talking stick horse

This is a continuation of patent application Ser. No. 09/968,069, filed Oct. 1, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,524,156, issued Feb. 25, 2003.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to interactive toys for children that talk and sing, and in particular, to interactive ride-on toys such as stick horses.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Ride-on toys, such as stick horses, are well known in the art and allow the child to pretend that he or she is riding an actual horse. Stick horses typically comprise a toy resembling a horse's head connected to one end of a rigid stick. The child “rides” the stick horse by straddling the stick while holding the head portion.

Stick horses and similar toys are useful for enhancing a child's motor skills, and developing the child's imagination. However, such toys have limited play value because they are essentially static. Thus, there is a need for stick horse or similar ride-on toy that can interact with a child to encourage creative play and add teaching value to the toy.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

These needs and other needs are satisfied by the interactive ride-on toy of the present invention, comprising a stuffed toy animal's head connected to a riding member, such as a stick. The head includes a movable mouth, a nose, eyes and ears. At least one button is positioned on at least one ear, the button having an icon depicting an image. In a preferred embodiment, one ear contains two buttons and the other ear contains a single button. An electronically programmed chip responds to activation of the ear button(s) to operate a speaker to produce sounds relating to the image and to operate a mechanism for moving the mouth. Electrical power is supplied by a battery located in a compartment provided, e.g., in the back of the head, such as within the mane of the horse or pony. Where the riding member is a stick, it may comprise two or more parts to facilitate packaging. Where the animal is a play horse or pony, a mane of simulated horse hair is provided, together with a comb for combing the horse's or pony's mane.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1

is an exploded front perspective view of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2

is a partial rear perspective view of the head portion of the embodiment of

FIG. 1

, showing the battery compartment and battery.

FIG. 3

is a side section view of the head portion of the embodiment of

FIG. 1

, schematically showing the electrical and mechanical parts.

FIG. 4

is a section view taken along lines

4

—

4

of FIG.

3

.

FIG. 5

is a side section view of the mouth operating mechanism of the embodiment of FIG.

1

.

FIG. 6

is a top section view of the mechanism shown in FIG.

5

.

FIG. 7

is a circuit diagram of the control system of the embodiment of FIG.

1

.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, an interactive stick horse or pony

10

is described, comprising a toy resembling a horse's head

12

that is connected to a riding member, such as a stick

14

. As shown in

FIG. 1

, horse's head

12

is a stuffed toy, with left and right ears

16

,

18

, a movable mouth with upper and lower mouth portions

20

,

22

, and a rigid base

24

. As shown in

FIG. 2

, a mane

26

conceals a closure

28

for accessing the interior of horse's head

12

. In a preferred embodiment, closure

28

is a velcro strip.

Stick

14

is a two-piece hollow cylinder comprised of a short upper tube

30

and a longer lower tube

32

. To facilitate packaging of stick horse

10

, lower tube

22

has roughly the same length as height of upper tube

20

plus horse's head

12

. Stick

14

is assembled from upper and lower tubes

30

,

32

of by means of a connector

34

, which consists of a pair of sleeves

36

positioned on either side of a spacer

38

. Sleeves

36

are sized and shaped to fit within the inner circumference of upper and lower tubes

30

,

32

, and hold the two tubes together by friction.

As shown in

FIG. 1

, the bottom end

40

of lower tube

32

is provided with a friction fit cap

42

. The top end

46

of upper tube

30

is connected to base

24

of horse's head

12

. Base

24

is provided with a cylindrical collar

44

that has an inner circumference sized and shaped to receive top end

46

of upper tube

30

. To secure upper tube

30

to collar

44

, complementary openings

48

,

50

are provided in top end

46

of upper tube

30

and in collar

44

, respectively. Rivets

52

are inserted through both openings

48

,

50

to fasten upper tube

30

to collar

44

. As shown in

FIG. 1

, a decorative scarf

54

is attached to the base of horse's head

12

to conceal the connection between upper tube

30

and base

24

.

It is preferred to construct stick

14

and base

24

of a durable, lightweight material, such as plastic. As shown in

FIG. 4

, rivets

52

are similarly made of plastic and are provided with slotted, tapered ends

54

, that may be compressed to permit rivets

52

to inserted through openings

48

,

50

. Once end

54

passes completely through openings

48

,

50

, end

54

expands to its original shape to hold rivet

52

in place and lock upper tube

30

to collar

44

.

As shown in

FIG. 1

, left and right ears

16

,

18

are provided with buttons

56

,

58

,

60

, which mark the position of switches

56

a

,

58

a

,

60

a

(shown in

FIG. 7

) concealed within the ears. Depressing or squeezing buttons

56

,

58

,

60

activates the corresponding switches

56

a

,

58

a

,

60

a

, which causes a speaker

62

concealed within horse's head

12

to play a song, speak a phrase or make other sounds. In a preferred embodiment, buttons

56

,

58

,

60

are cloth patches embroidered with different icons depicting various images, such as a horse, a musical note or other design that relates to the sounds produced by activating that button.

For example, button

56

may have an icon depicting a horse's head and may be activated to play a short phrase, such as “let's go for a ride.” Activating button

56

a second time may produce an alternate phrase, such as “I like it when you brush me.” Button

58

may have an icon depicting a whole horse and may be activated to play the sound of a horse's neigh or galloping sounds. Button

60

may have an icon depicting a musical note and may be activated to play a song.

In addition to playing sounds, the activation of buttons

56

,

58

,

60

also causes the horse's mouth to move while the sounds are being played. As shown in

FIGS. 3

,

5

and

6

, horse's head

12

contains a gear box

64

, that controls the up and down movement of lower mouth portion

22

. Gear box

64

comprises a housing

66

, which contains a motor

68

that drives a series of gears

70

,

72

,

74

. An arm

76

is pivotally connected to gear box

64

at pivot

78

. End

80

of arm

76

extends beyond gear box

64

and is connected to a plate

82

, which is sized and shaped to fit within lower mouth portion

22

. Opposite end

84

of arm

76

is connected to gear

74

through a push rod

86

, which is pivotally connected to gear

74

at pivot

88

and arm

76

at pivot

90

.

As shown in

FIG. 5

, the operation of motor

68

causes the rotation of gear

74

, which raises and lowers push rod

86

. The movement of push rod

86

raises and lowers end

84

of arm

76

, causing arm

76

to rotate on pivot

78

through a short arc A. The rotation of arm

76

causes the up and down movement of plate

82

through an arc B, which results in the opening and closing movement of lower mouth portion

22

as shown by arrow C in

FIGS. 1 and 3

.

FIG. 7

depicts a general circuit diagram of the control system

91

of the present invention. The operation of the speaker

62

and gear box

64

is controlled by an electronically programmed chip

92

contained within horse's head

12

, such as a W583 speech synthesizer chip (Winbond Electronics Corp., Taiwan). Depressing or squeezing buttons

56

,

58

,

60

actuates switches

56

a

,

58

a

,

60

a

, which send a signal to the corresponding trigger inputs

56

b

,

58

b

,

60

b

, directing chip

92

to actuate speaker

62

to play a preprogrammed sound or operate gear box motor

68

to move lower mouth portion

22

.

A power supply of 4.5 V, 3 AA sized batteries, is required for operation of chip

92

, speaker

62

and motor

68

. As shown in

FIG. 2

, the batteries are stored in a battery compartment

94

concealed beneath mane

26

of horse's head

12

, such that battery compartment

94

is readily accessible through closure

28

, which may be a hook and loop fastener (such as Velcro), snaps, a zipper, or other suitable fastening closure means.

Although it is preferred that horse's head

12

is a stuffed toy, it will be understood by those of skill in the art that horse's head

12

may also be made of a rigid material, such as wood or plastic, having a hollow interior to accommodate the speaker, gear box, control system and batteries described above. The stick horse

10

may also be provided with various accessories to enhance interactive play, such as a bridle

96

and brush

98

(FIG.

1

).

In addition to the stick horse

10

described above, the present invention is readily applied to rocking horses, spring horses, and other ride-on toys.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made in the embodiments illustrated herein, without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention. Thus, the invention is not to be limited to the particular forms herein shown and described except insofar as indicated by the scope of the appended claims.