Abstract:
A noise maker includes a face piece, a blow tube, and noise making tongue. The face piece may be a small planar representation of a face or of a portion of a face if a clown, monster, cartoon character, or the like, and may be made from cardboard or plastic. The blow tube extends inwardly from the face piece and the tongue extends outwardly from the face piece. The blow tube includes a tube passageway running the length of the blow tube, and the tongue includes a tongue passage running the length of the tongue. Blowing into the blow tube results in producing a raspberry noise at an opening end of the tongue. A lanyard may be attached to the face for carrying.

Description:
The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/452611, filed Mar. 6, 2003, which application is incorporated herein by reference. 

   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention relates to noise makers, and in particular to a toy face having a noise making tongue. 
   Various activities such as play, parties, and celebrations, involve some form of noise making as part of the activity. In many cases, loud and obnoxious sounds add to the festive mood. Further, a plain whistle or other noise making device, for example, the Rubber Razzer distributed by Triple Play in Cleveland, Ohio, may detract from the mood associated with the occasion, and children in particular enjoy colorful, clown-like, or fantasy-like toy faces. Therefore, a need exists for a noise maker which is attractive to children and others. Also, commercialization motivated a construction allowing the noise maker to be packaged in a substantially flat retail packaging. 
   BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention addresses the above and other needs by providing a noise maker comprising a face piece, a blow tube, and noise making tongue. The face piece may be a small flat (or planar) representation of a clown, monster, cartoon character, or the like, and may be made from cardboard or plastic. The blow tube extends inwardly from the face piece and the tongue extends outwardly from the face piece. The blow tube includes a tube passageway running the length of the blow tube, and the tongue includes a tongue passageway running the length of the tongue. Suitably blowing into the blow tube results in producing a raspberry noise at an opening end of the tongue. For example, a user may vary the degree of blowing into the blow tube to determine a suitable degree of blowing to obtain the desired raspberry sound. A lanyard may be attached to the face for carrying. 
   In accordance with one aspect of the invention, there is provided a packaged noise maker comprising a packaging for retail sales, a face piece, a blow tube, and a tongue. The blow tube has a mouth end, a tongue end opposite the mouth end, and a tube passageway extending through the blow tube between the mouth end and the tongue end. The tongue is substantially flat and has an open end opposite a tube end, and a tongue passageway running from the tube end to the open end. The tube end of the tongue is affixed to the tongue end of the blow tube, and the affixed tongue and blow tube are insertable into an opening in face piece to assemble the noise maker. Suitably blowing through the blow tube causes a raspberry sound to be produced at the open end of the tongue. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING 
     The above and other aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following more particular description thereof, presented in conjunction with the following drawings wherein: 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an assembled noise maker according to the present invention. 
       FIG. 2A  shows a side view of the assembled noise maker. 
       FIG. 2B  shows a top view of the assembled noise maker. 
       FIG. 3  shows a front view of a face piece component of the noise maker. 
       FIG. 4A  is a side view of disassembled blow tube and tongue components of the noise maker. 
       FIG. 4B  is a top view of the disassembled blow tube and tongue components of the noise maker. 
       FIG. 4C  is a cross-sectional view of the blow tube taken along line  4 C— 4 C of FIG.  4 A. 
       FIG. 4D  is a cross-sectional view of the blow tube taken along line  4 D— 4 D of FIG.  4 B. 
       FIG. 4E  is a cross-sectional view of a second embodiment the blow tube with a tongue flange taken along line  4 C— 4 C of FIG.  4 A. 
       FIG. 5  is a top view of the tongue showing attachment regions of the tongue. 
       FIG. 6  depicts the flow of air through the blow tube and tongue when the noise maker is in use. 
       FIG. 6A  is a cross-sectional view of the blow tube taken along line  6 A— 6 A of FIG.  6 . 
       FIG. 7  shows a thick tongue. 
       FIG. 7A  is a cross-sectional view of the thick tongue taken along line  7 A— 7 A of FIG.  7 . 
       FIG. 8A  depicts a first face piece with a shape suitable for displaying a clown face, monster face, cartoon character face, or the like face or mouth portion of a face. 
       FIG. 8B  depicts a second face piece with a shape suitable for displaying a clown face, monster face, cartoon character face, or the like face or mouth portion of a face. 
       FIG. 8C  depicts a third face piece with a shape suitable for displaying a clown face, monster face, cartoon character face, or the like face or mouth portion of a face. 
       FIG. 8D  is a full face piece of the present invention. 
       FIG. 8E  is a side view of a flat embodiment of the full face piece. 
       FIG. 8F  is a side view of a three dimensional (or contoured) full face piece of the present invention. 
       FIG. 9  shows a face piece with a lanyard attached by lanyard snaps. 
       FIG. 10  is a packaged noise maker according to the present invention. 
   

   Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding components throughout the several views of the drawings. 
   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   The following description is of the best mode presently contemplated for carrying out the invention. This description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of describing one or more preferred embodiments of the invention. The scope of the invention should be determined with reference to the claims. 
   The present invention provides a packagable, assemblable, noise maker  10  as shown in FIG.  1 . The noise maker  10  includes a substantially oval face piece  16  with an outward protruding substantially flat tongue  12 . The face piece  16  may have a shape facilitating the representation of a mouth, mouth and nose, mouth, nose, and chin, or face, to enhance the appearance of the face piece  16 . The face piece  16  may be held in front of a user&#39;s mouth, and the user may blow into a blow tube  14  (see  FIG. 2A ) to make a raspberry sound. The face piece  16  is preferably between 2.5 inches and 5.5 inches high, and between three and 5.5 inches wide, and more preferably approximately 2.875 inches high, and approximately 4.25 inches wide. The face piece  16  is preferably flat (or planar), approximately 0.065 inches thick, and made from cardboard or plastic, and more preferable made from plastic. The tongue  12  further includes laterally extending flanged surfaces  13  providing a full tongue width appearance for the entire tongue  12 . A side view of the assembled noise maker  10  is shown in  FIG. 2A , and a top view in FIG.  2 B. 
   A front view of the face piece  16  is shown in FIG.  3 . An opening  18  in the face piece  16  provides an interference fit to a tongue end  22  and/or a snap fit to a tongue end groove  22   a  (see  FIG. 4B ) of the blow tube  14  inserted therethrough, which opening  18  is preferably approximately centered in the face piece  16 . 
   Detailed side views of the blow tube  14  and tongue  12  are provided in  FIG. 4A , and detailed top views in  FIG. 4B. A  mouth end  20  of the blow tube  14  is opposite a tongue end  22 , a mouth end groove  20   a  is proximal to the mouth end  20 , and a tongue end groove  22   a  is proximal to the tongue end  22 , and the blow tube  14  preferably has an oval cross-section and tapers down from the tongue end  22  to the mouth end  20 . The mouth end groove  20   a  is preferable approximately 0.2 inches from the corresponding end of the blow tube  14 , and the tongue end groove  22   a  is preferable approximately 0.25 inches from the corresponding end of the blow tube  14 . The mouth end groove  20   a  may be held by the user&#39;s teeth to facilitate use of the noise maker  10 . The tongue end groove  22   a  preferable cooperates with the opening  18  for a snap in fit of the blow tube  14  in the face piece  16 , or the blow tube  14  may be held in the face piece  16  by an interference fit of the tongue end  22  with the opening  18 . The blow tube  14  is preferably between one inch and two inches long, and the tongue end  22  of the blow tube  14  is preferably between one quarter inches and one half inches high, and is between one half inch and one inch wide. The blow tube  14  is preferably made from plastic. 
   A tube end  24  of the tongue  12  is opposite an open end  26  of the tongue  12 . The tongue  12  is preferably between two inches and four inches long, the tube end  24  is preferably between 1.25 inches and 2.25 inches wide, and the tongue  12  open end  26  is preferably rounded having a radius of between 0.75 inches and 1.25 inches. The tongue  12  is more preferably approximately 2.5 inches long, approximately 1.5 inches wide at the tube end  24 , and the tongue  12  open end  26  is more preferably rounded having a radius of approximately one inch. The tongue  12  is preferably affixed to the blow tube  14  by gluing the tongue  12  over the tongue end  22  of the blow tube  14 . The tongue end  22  of the blow tube  14  is preferably an approximately one quarter inches long portion of the blow tube  14 , and the tube end  24  of the tongue  12  is affixed to the tongue end  22  of the blow tube  14  wherein the tongue end  22  of the blow tube  14  is substantially covered by the tube end  24  of the tongue  12 . The affixed tongue  12  and blow tube  14  are insertable into the opening  18  in face piece  16  to assemble the noise maker  10 . 
   Cross-sectional views taken along line  4 C— 4 C of FIG.  4 A and along line  4 D— 4 D of  FIG. 4B  show a tube passageway  30  extending through the blow tube  14  between the mouth end  20  and the tongue end  22  in  FIGS. 4C and 4D . The tube passageway  30  at the mouth end  20  is preferably between one eighth inches and five sixteenths inches high, and is preferably between three eighths inches and one half inches wide. 
   A cross-sectional view taken along line  4 C— 4 C of  FIG. 4A , of second embodiment of a blow tube  14   a  with a tongue flange  38  and a second tongue groove  22   b  is shown in FIG.  4 E. The tongue flange  38  helps retain the tongue  12  on the blow tube  14 , and the tongue groove  22   b  provides a channel for retaining adhesive during the assembly process of the tongue  12  to the blow tube  14 . 
   A more detailed view of the tongue  12  is shown in  FIG. 5 , showing attachment regions  28 . The tongue  12  is preferably constructed by bonding two pieces of a flaccid material, for example rubber, together, which bonding is in the attachment regions  28 , or by molding the tongue  12  using a slide to produce the tongue passage  32 , preferably leaving a three eighths inch to a three quarter inch wide gap between the attachment regions  28 , thereby forming a tongue passage  32 . The tongue  12  may further include a tube end ridge  24   a  providing structural strength to the tube end  24  of the tongue  12 , wherein the tube end ridge  24   a  provides an improved grip between the tongue  12  and the blow tube  14 . 
   A first air flow  34  is shown entering the blow tube  14 , and a second air flow  36  is shown leaving the open end  26  of the tongue  12  in FIG.  6 . The tongue passage  32  is seen to slightly bulge when air is blown into the blow tube  14 . A cross-sectional view taken along line  6 A— 6 A of  FIG. 6  is shown in  FIG. 6A , wherein the tongue passage  32  is shown in a bulged state due to air being blown into the blow tube  14 . 
   A thick tongue  12   a  is shown in FIG.  7 . The thick tongue is preferably made by molding using a slide to produce the tongue passage  32  (see FIG.  5 ). A cross-sectional view of the thick tongue  12   a , taken along line  7 A— 7 A of  FIG. 7  is shown in FIG.  7 A. Other than thickness, the tongue  12   a  preferably has the same dimensions as the tongue  12  described in FIG.  1 . 
   In a preferred use, the face piece  16  is presented with a clown face, monster face, cartoon character face, or the like face, or mouth portion, or mouth and nose portion, or mouth, nose, and chin portion of such face, thereon. To facilitate the presentation of such faces, the face piece  16  may be shaped consistently with the face. For example, the face piece  16  may be a first face piece  16   a  as shown in  FIG. 8A , a second face piece  16   b  as shown in  FIG. 8B , or a third face piece  16   c  as shown in FIG.  8 C. The examples shown herein are merely three of a multiplicity of faces, and any face like noise maker with a flat tongue and blow tube inserted into a face piece of any shape is intended to come within the scope of the present invention. 
   A full face piece  16   d  is shown in front view in FIG.  8 D and in side view in FIG.  8 E. The face piece  16   d  includes the opening  18 , and additionally includes eye holes  44 . The face piece  16   d  may be flat, or may be a three dimensional (i.e., contoured) full face piece  16   e  as shown in FIG.  8 F. The full face pieces  16   d ,  16   e  are preferably between eight and eleven inches high, and between six and eight inches wide. Although the face piece  16  is described above in a flat embodiment, the face piece  16  may contoured as the face piece  16   e.    
   A face piece  16  with a lanyard  40  preferably attached by lanyard snaps  42 , and more preferably by plastic lanyard snaps is shown in FIG.  9 . 
   A retail packaging  46  having a label  48  is shown in FIG.  10 . The face piece  16 , blow tube  14 , tongue  12 , and lanyard  40  are contained in the packaging  46 . 
   While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments and applications thereof, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention set forth in the claims.