Abstract:
One or a set of toy artificial finger nails for attachment to natural finger nails. Switches, such as direct contact type or inertial type cause the nails to respond to tapping on a hard surface to produce flashes of light and/or sounds, like one major octave of the musical scale when eight different nails are used.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    This invention relates to toy artificial fingernails which produce light, sound or other forms of annunciation when activated.  
           [0002]    Many manually actuated sound producing and light producing toys are available to entertain children. With the availability of small efficient batteries, integrated circuits on a chip, and other micro devices, electrical toys have become practical and economical to produce.  
           [0003]    One manually actuatable toy is a rubber finger extension for use at Halloween where forcing the end of the fake finger into a hard objects closes a switch and produces a light. Other toys that produce light and sound are actuated by impact against hard surfaces, or through manual pushing on various portions, such as dolls that when squeezed, laugh, shake or produce a variety of entertaining language phrases in the major language of the country in which the toy is sold. However, up to this time, no one has exploited the availability of micro devices to produce entertaining objects which are really small and thin.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0004]    The present invention is an artificial fingernail primarily intended for girls from ages five to twelve. Although the artificial nail can be semi-permanently attached to a natural nail using cyanoacrylate instant glues, as is the practice for adult artificial nails, in the present invention, the preferable attachment method is thin double-sided adhesive tape such as that available from the 3M Company.  
           [0005]    Preferably, the artificial nails are provided as a set of at least three active nails and a fourth dummy nail so that when the child taps her nails on a table or other hard surface, annunciations such as light and/or sound occur. An entire set of eight nails of the present invention can be provided, with each producing a different tone of a major scale so that, by tapping nails in the proper order, a tune can be produced.  
           [0006]    Preferably, the nails include a moisture proof, sealed plastic body containing batteries, an annunciator and a switch. Numerous types of switches may be used in the present invention including inertial switches positioned in the nail, and membrane switches which may be positioned in the nail or at the outer end thereof. In more sophisticated embodiments, the switch, instead of directly operating the annunciator, activates a timer so that the annunciator is held on for a predetermined length of time or for a predetermined number of pulses. When the switch is positioned at the end of the nail, the timing circuit may be eliminated and the length of time of annunciation can be controlled by the length of time the tip of the nail is pressed against a hard surface.  
           [0007]    Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide toy artificial nails that can provide surprising entertainment value to young children or playful female adults.  
           [0008]    Another object is to provide an artificial fingernail extension which produces light signals which can be used much like a firefly to announce the presence of a female within a dark room.  
           [0009]    Another object is to provide a toy artificial nail which can be easily removed and replaced.  
           [0010]    Another object is to provide artificial nails with which it is possible to play a musical tune.  
           [0011]    These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art after considering the following detailed specification and the accompanying sheets of drawing wherein: 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]    [0012]FIG. 1 is a view of a hand with the present artificial nails installed thereon shown being used to produce a light signal;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 2 is a top cross-sectional view of an artificial nail of the present invention;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 3 is a highly enlarged cross-sectional plan view of an inertial switch as used in some embodiments of the present invention;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 showing a weighted membrane switch and timer useful to control the annunciations of the present invention;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 2 of a modified embodiment of the present invention having a membrane switch at the end of the nail;  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 6 is a side partial cross-sectional view of the present invention installed on a finger;  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 7 is an enlarged detailed view of a portion of FIG. 6 showing the adhesive connection of the present invention to a natural fingernail;  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 8 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention including both light and sound annunciators;  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 9 is an enlarged plan view of a modified version of the present invention wherein a light emitting diode (LED) is incorporated into the end of the nail; and  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 10 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on line  10 - 10  of FIG. 9. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0022]    Referring to the drawings, more particularly by reference numbers, number  20  in FIG. 1 refers to a left hand having artificial nails  22 ,  24 ,  26 , and  28  constructed according to the present invention attached to the finger nails at the end of fingers  30 ,  32 ,  34  and  36 , respectively. Similar nails could be applied to the right hand as well.  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 2 shows the nail  22  in cross-section. The nail  22  includes a plastic case  38  in which are positioned one or more batteries  40  and  42  such as those commonly used for hearing aids. An electrical circuit connects the batteries  40  and  42  to a light-emitting diode  44  (LED) and an inertial sensor  46 . When the nail  22  is tapped on a hard object the inertial sensor  46  completes the circuit between the LED  44  and the batteries  40  and  42  to produce a light output. An inertial switch  46  is shown in FIG. 3 wherein the leads  48  and  50  thereof are connected by contact of a weighted member  52  against a switch contact  54 . The weighted member  52  is normally supported away from the switch contact  54  by a coil spring  56  which forms part of the electrical circuit. When an impact occurs from bottom to top in the orientation of FIG. 3, the weighted member  52  moves in the directions of arrow  58 . If no dampening means are supplied, a tap of the nail  22  causes inertial switch  46  to produce a plurality of short flashes of light as the weighted member  52  bounces up and down on the switch contact  54 .  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 4 illustrates another inertial sensor  60  which includes a membrane switch  62 . In the membrane switch  62 , a weighted member  64  is held above a dished contact  66  by a thin membrane  68  whose normal position holds the weighted member  64  away from the dished contact  66 . When an impact occurs from the bottom of the sensor  60  as shown in the orientation of FIG. 4, the weight  64  closes contact with the dished contact  66  to produce a complete electrical circuit. The membrane switch  62 , which generally has much more internal dampening than the switch of FIG. 3, is connected to a timer circuit  70  which connects the LED  44  to the batteries  40  and  42  for a specific length of time or for a time during which a pattern of light flashes are produced.  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 5 shows a modified nail  80  constructed according to the present invention. The nail  80  includes a sealed plastic case  82  in which is positioned the batteries  40  and  42 , the LED  44 , and a timer/annunciator control  84 , which may be similar to the timer  70  in FIG. 4. The timer/annunciator control  84  is connected to a membrane switch  86  at the end  88  of the nail  24 . The membrane switch  86  includes a membrane  90  extending across an opening  92  in the end of the nail  24 . The membrane  90  is designed with sufficient thickness and resiliency so that it normally maintains a convex curvature, but when pressed against another object flexes inwardly to connect a contact  94  thereof to a switch contact  96  to complete the circuit for the timer/annunciator control  84 . Since the membrane switch  86  can be operated directly, the annunciator control  84  may be eliminated, and the batteries  40  and  42  and the LED  44  can be connected directly to the membrane switch  86 .  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the artificial nail  24  of FIG. 5 attached to the natural fingernail  100  of the finger  32 . FIG. 7 is an enlarged view showing doubled-sided adhesive tape  102  being used to connect the nail  24  to the natural fingernail  100 . For more permanent attachment as when the nails of the present invention are being used by an adult, cyanoacrylate adhesive, known as “instant glue” may be used as is normal practice with decorative artificial nails.  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 8 is an enlarged, partial cross-sectional view of a finger  34  having the nail  26  attached thereto. The nail  26  not only produces a light output but also produces a sound output by means of a small speaker  110  whose output is controlled by a more sophisticated annunciator control  112 . As shown, the nail  26  is activated by a membrane switch  86  at the end of the nail  26  so that a tone, produced by the speaker  110 , can be sustained by pressure on the membrane switch  86 . The annunciator control  112  may produce continuous light from the LED  44  during the time the speaker  110  is activated, or it may produce a series of flashes during that period. The speaker  110  as shown, although tiny, is conventional in construction having a coil  116  driving a permanent magnet  118  to move a speaker cone  120 . The face  122  of the speaker is covered by a membrane  124  extending across a hole  126  in the underside  128  of the nail  26 . Other types of tiny sound producing devices such as piezo-electric buzzers (not shown) can be used. It is preferable that the nail  26  be sealed against moisture so that the user can wash her hands without fear of adversely affecting the operation of the nail  26 .  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 9 shows an embodiment of the nail  28  that is useful when an intense light is to be produced. The nail  28 , whose internal electrical construction may be identical to nail  22 , has its end tip  130  partially formed by the lens case  132  of an LED  134 . The LED  134  is molded into the tip  130  of the nail  28  when it is constructed and then a portion  136  of the lens case  132  is machined away so that a smooth nail results with transparent plastic between the active area of the LED and the outside world.  
         [0029]    When the user wishes the nails to merely flash light, LEDs  44  of different colors may be used and, in fact, for economical embodiments, one annunciator nail may be sold with three dummy nails so that, although the nails of the user look matched, only one produces an annunciation. On the other hand, if musical tunes are to be played, such as by the nail  26 , eight nails  26  can be provided, each tuned to produce a different note of a major scale so that by skillful drumming of the nails  26  on an object, a musical tune can be produced by the user instead of, or as well as, a light display.  
         [0030]    Thus, there has been shown and described novel annunciating artificial nails that fulfill all of the objects and advantages sought therefor. Many changes modifications, variations, uses and other applications of the subject invention will, however, become apparent to those skilled in the art after considering the above specification and accompanying drawings. All such changes, modifications, alterations, and other uses and applications which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention are deemed to be covered by the invention which is limited only by the claims that follow.