Abstract:
A system directed to the art of rubber chew toys for pets, and dogs in particular, is provided. The rubber chew toy system has multiple rubber toy members which may be removably attached to one another. The rubber toy members have a pocket and an appendage. The appendage of one member is receivable within the pocket of another rubber member and is removable by pulling the members in opposite directions.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    One of the many joys of dog ownership is purchasing a new toy for man&#39;s best friend and getting hours of entertainment out of the toy that is beneficial for both dog and owner alike. However, many dogs attain satisfaction from dismantling an object or toy without much thought about the mess it creates or the owner&#39;s bank account for replacing the object or toy. 
         [0002]    Accordingly, the art of animal toys would benefit from a more durable toy that provides the ability to be repeatedly dismantled and reassembled. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    The present invention relates to a more durable rubber toy that is constructed to be repeatedly dismantled and reassembled, thus providing a dog with the satisfaction of ripping something apart but not requiring the purchase of a replacement toy. The present invention comprises a plurality of rubber members, each component comprising an appendage and a pocket, whereby the appendage of one member may be repeatedly removably engaged within the pocket of another member. 
         [0004]    One object of the present invention is to provide a rubber toy member, as part of a rubber toy system, the rubber toy member having a body with an exterior surface, a pocket within the body, an appendage extending outward from the body, and an access opening on the body opposite the appendage extending from the exterior surface to the pocket. 
         [0005]    The appendage may have a neck portion which extends outward from the body into an interlock portion. The interlock portion may be substantially frustoconical. Additionally or alternatively, the interlock portion may have a distal end, with a distal end diameter, and a proximal end, with a proximal end diameter; the distal end diameter may be smaller than the proximal end diameter. 
         [0006]    The access opening may have a substantially circular entrance hole with a pair of oppositely disposed slots extending radially outward from the entrance hole and along the body. The entrance hole may have a tapered entrance surface, an inner diameter at the pocket and an exterior diameter at the exterior surface of the body, wherein the inner diameter is smaller than the exterior diameter. 
         [0007]    The pair of oppositely disposed slots may have a length of approximately the same dimension as the exterior diameter of the entrance hole. 
         [0008]    The exterior surface may have textural features. The textural features may be at least one of a plurality of domes, a plurality of channels, or a plurality of ridges. 
         [0009]    The pocket may extend throughout a majority of the body. 
         [0010]    Another object of the present invention is to provide a rubber toy system having a plurality of rubber toy members, each member comprising a body having an exterior surface, a pocket within the body, an appendage extending outward from the body, and an access opening on the body opposite the appendage extending from the exterior surface to the pocket; wherein the appendage of one rubber member is removably receivable within the pocket of another rubber member. 
         [0011]    The appendage may have a neck portion which extends outward from the body into an interlock portion. The interlock portion may be substantially frustoconical. The interlock portion may have a distal end, with a distal end diameter, and a proximal end, with a proximal end diameter; the distal end diameter may be smaller than the proximal end diameter. 
         [0012]    The access opening may have a substantially circular entrance hole with a pair of oppositely disposed slots extending radially outward from the entrance hole and along the body. 
         [0013]    The entrance hole may have a tapered entrance surface, an inner diameter at the pocket, and an exterior diameter at the exterior surface of the body, wherein the inner diameter is smaller than the exterior diameter. 
         [0014]    The pair of oppositely disposed, slots may have a length of approximately the same dimension as the exterior diameter of the entrance hole. 
         [0015]    The exterior surface may have textural features. The textural features may be at least one of a plurality of domes, a plurality of channels, or a plurality of ridges. 
         [0016]    The plurality of rubber toy members may comprise at least one of a ring or an elongated member. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0017]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a rubber toy according to the present invention. 
           [0018]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a first toy member according to the present invention. 
           [0019]      FIGS. 3A-3E  are various elevation views of the rubber toy member of  FIG. 2 . 
           [0020]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view of a second rubber toy member according to the present invention. 
           [0021]      FIGS. 5A-5E  are various elevation views of the rubber toy member of  FIG. 4 . 
           [0022]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view of a force being applied to the first toy member of  FIG. 2 . 
           [0023]      FIG. 7  is a cross-sectional view of the rubber toy along line  7 - 7  of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0024]      FIGS. 8 and 9  are side views depicting the coupling of the first toy member and the second toy member according to the present invention. 
           [0025]      FIG. 10  is a perspective view of a plurality of rubber toy members coupled together. 
           [0026]      FIG. 11  is a top elevation view of a plurality of rubber toy members coupled together. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0027]    Although the disclosure hereof is detailed and exact to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, the physical embodiments herein disclosed merely exemplify the invention which may be embodied in other specific structures. While the preferred embodiment has been described, the details may be changed without departing from the invention, which is defined by the claims. 
         [0028]    A rubber toy system  10  is illustrated in  FIG. 1 . The rubber toy system comprises at least a first rubber toy member  100  and a second rubber toy member  200 . An embodiment of the first rubber toy member  100  and an embodiment of the second rubber toy member  200  are shown here. As discussed in further detail below, the first and second members  100  and  200  may be removably attached to each other. Each member  100 ,  200  comprises a body  110 ,  210 , with a pocket  120 ,  220 , and an appendage  130 ,  230  extending outward from the body  110 ,  210 , respectively. As illustrated here, the body  110 ,  210  may take on various shapes, sizes, and exterior surface designs, and therefore should not be limited to just those shown here. Additionally, throughout the disclosure, similar numbers are intended to designate like elements in the various embodiments. 
         [0029]      FIG. 2  illustrates a perspective view of the first member  100 . The body  110  of the first member  100  comprises a substantially spherical shape with an exterior surface  112 , a substantially hollow interior defining the pocket  120  and a wall thickness T (see  FIG. 7 ), and an access opening  150  providing access to the pocket  120 . The exterior surface  112  may comprise textural features shown here as, but not limited to, a plurality of protruding domes  114  and/or a plurality of recessed wavy channels  116 . 
         [0030]    Looking now to  FIGS. 3A-3E , side, front, rear, top, and bottom views of the first member  100  are shown. The appendage  130  has an interlock portion  132  extending from a cylindrical neck portion  142  which protrudes outwardly from the body  110 . Opposite the appendage  130  is the access opening  150 . 
         [0031]    The neck portion  142  has a length L 1  and a diameter D 3 . The neck portion length L 1  is preferably substantially the same, if not slightly larger than, the wall thickness T. 
         [0032]    The interlock portion  132  shown here is preferably substantially frustoconical; however, other shapes are within the purview of the present invention. The interlock portion  132  has a frustum cone section  134  and a convexly curved surface section  140 . The frustum cone section  134  has a distal end  136  with a diameter D 1  and a proximal end  138  with a diameter D 2 . Preferably diameter D 1  is smaller than diameter D 2  and the frustum cone  134  increases in diameter at a constant rate from diameter D 1  to diameter D 2 . At the proximal end  138  of the frustum cone section  134 , the appendage  130  decreases in diameter from D 2  along the curved surface section  140  to the diameter D 3  of the neck portion  142 . As shown here, the rate of change in diameter from diameter D 1  to diameter D 2  is less than the rate of change in diameter from diameter D 2  to diameter D 3 . 
         [0033]    The access opening  150  comprises a substantially circular entrance hole  152  and a pair of oppositely disposed slots  156  extending radially outward from the entrance hole  152  and circumferentially along the body  110 . The entrance hole  152  has a tapered entrance surface  154  having dimensions substantially similar to that of the frustum cone section  134 . The entrance hole  152  has an inner diameter D 4  of substantially approximately the same size as frustum cone diameter D 1  and increases in diameter up to an exterior diameter D 5  at substantially the same rate of increase as the frustum cone section  134  from distal end diameter D 1  to proximal end diameter D 2 . 
         [0034]    As shown in  FIG. 3C , the slots  156  have a circumferential length L 2  and terminate with a circular end section  158 . The circumferential length L 2  is preferably substantially approximately the same length as the exterior diameter D 5  of the entrance hole  152 ; however, the circumferential length L 2  may be altered based on the level of pulling force desired to decouple two coupled rubber toy members  100  and  200  (see  FIGS. 7 and 8 ). 
         [0035]    FIGS.  4  and  5 A- 5 E illustrate the second member  200  in greater detail. The body  210  of the second member  200  comprises a bow-tie-like shape. The body  210  has an exterior surface  212  and may comprise textural features shown here as, but not limited to, a plurality of protruding domes  214  and/or a plurality of protruding wavy ridges  216 . Similar to the first member  100 , the appendage  230  extends radially outward from the body  210  of the second member  200 , and opposite the appendage  230  is the access opening  250  to the pocket  220 . 
         [0036]    The appendage  230  comprises an interlock portion  232  and a neck portion  242 . Similar to the first member  100 , the interlock section  232  is preferably substantially frustoconical, but other shapes are within the purview of the present invention. The interlock portion  232  has a frustum cone section  234  and a convexly curved surface section  240 . The frustum cone section  234  has a distal end  236  and a proximal end  238 . The cylindrical neck portion  242  is also substantially similar to the neck portion  142  of the first member  100 . The dimensions of the interlock portion  232  and the neck portion  242  (D 1 ′, D 2 ′, D 3 ′, L′) are substantially similar to the corresponding dimensional designations of the first member appendage  130 . 
         [0037]    The access opening  250  has an entrance hole  252  with a tapered entrance surface  254 , and opposing slots  256  terminating with circular end sections  258 . The dimensions of the access opening  250  of the second member  200  (D 4 ′, D 5 ′, L 2 ′) are substantially similar to the corresponding dimensional designations of the first member access opening  150  discussed above. 
         [0038]    As shown in  FIG. 6 , an external force F is applied to the exterior surface  112  of the first member  100  on the same plane as the slots  156  and substantially perpendicular to the entrance hole  152 . The force F brings the opposing circular end sections  158  of the slots  156  closer together and widens the slots  156 . This effectively increases the diameter of the access opening  150 . The now larger diameter access opening  150  allows for easier insertion of, for example, the appendage  230  of the second member  200 , as shown in  FIG. 8 . 
         [0039]    Accordingly, the external force F, as discussed above with respect to the first member  100  in  FIG. 6 , may be applied to the exterior surface  212  of the second member  100  in the same manner to achieve the same result of increasing the diameter of the access opening  250 . 
         [0040]      FIG. 7  provides a cross-sectional view of the first and second members  100  and  200 , illustrating in greater detail the pocket  120  of the first member  100  and the pocket  220  of the second member  200 . As shown in the cross-section of the second member  200 , the pocket  220  may comprise a notch  222  which reduces the wall thickness T from the circular end sections  258  through a portion of the pocket  220 . 
         [0041]    It can also be seen in  FIG. 7  that the body  110  of the first member  100  is substantially hollow, while the majority of the body  210  of the second member  200  is solid. The body  110  of the first member  100  will provide a different tactile feedback to an animal (not shown) when bitten than will be experienced when the body  210  of the second member  200  is bitten. The substantially hollow body  110  of the first member  100  will provide a more resilient/chewy tactile feedback and the substantially solid body  210  of the second member  200  will provide a more rigid/tough tactile feedback. 
         [0042]    Looking to  FIGS. 8 and 9  the first and second members  100  and  200  are shown attached in various arrangements. In  FIG. 8 , the appendage  230  of the second member  200  is positioned within the pocket  120  of the first member  100 . In  FIG. 9 , the appendage  130  of the first member  100  is positioned in the pocket  220  of the second member  200 . Additionally or alternatively, a plurality of first members  100  may be joined together in this manner and a plurality of second members  200  may be joined together in this manner. The substantially similar dimensions of the appendages  130 ,  230  and the pockets  120 ,  220  of the first and second members  100 ,  200 , respectively, provide for numerous arrangements of the present invention. 
         [0043]    The coupled rubber toy system of  FIGS. 8 and 9  may be decoupled by pulling the members  100  and  200  apart. Looking at the rubber toy system  10  of  FIG. 8  for ease of explanation, as the first and second members  100  and  200  are pulled in opposite directions, the curved surface section  240  of the appendage  230  will force the access opening  150  to open wider, allowing the appendage  230  to fully exit the pocket  120 . When an external force (not shown here but similar to that shown in  FIG. 6 ) is applied concurrently to the first member body  110 , the amount of pulling force needed to separate the first and second members  100  and  200  is decreased because the access opening  150  is effectively made larger by the application of the external force to the first member body  110 . 
         [0044]    Looking now to  FIGS. 10 and 11 , the rubber toy system  10  is shown in multiple configurations.  FIG. 10  illustrates a plurality of first and second members  100  and  200  coupled together according to the present invention to form an elongated assembly  12 . The elongated assembly  12  may be used in a manner similar to a rope or a stick. Rubber toy members  100  or  200  may be added or removed to make the elongated assembly  12  longer or shorter. 
         [0045]      FIG. 11  shows a plurality of first and second members  100  and  200  coupled together according to the present invention to form a ring assembly  14 . The ring assembly  12  may be used in a manner similar to a throwing disc. Rubber toy members  100  or  200  may be added or removed to make the ring assembly  14  larger or smaller in diameter. 
         [0046]    It should be noted that various combinations of rubber toy members  100  or  200  may be used to form the elongated assembly  12  or the ring assembly  14 , and therefore should not be limited to only the configurations shown. 
         [0047]    The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Furthermore, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to chose skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described. While the preferred embodiment has been described, the details may be changed without departing from the invention, which is defined by the claims.