Abstract:
A method of making a stuffed toy comprises fabricating a container with an elongated opening; attaching a slide fastener having an auto-locking biasing member to the elongated opening; inserting stuffing into said container through said opening; applying a wedge tool to said biasing member to force said biasing member to a released position; closing the opening, and removing the wedge tool from said slide fastener. A wedge tool having a tapered wedge tip is disclosed for operating the sliding member.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   Not Applicable. 
   STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
   Not Applicable. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   This invention relates generally to clothing and, more particularly, to an apparatus for closing an opening in the skin of a stuffed toy after the toy is filled with stuffing material. 
   2. Description of the Related Art 
   Stuffed animals and toys are typically formed by filling a sewn fabric skin with a resilient material such as polyester-cellulose fibers alone or along with polystyrene beads or other filler materials, creating a three-dimensional soft and resilient representation of an animal or other toy. 
   In some custom manufacturing, an injection tube is inserted through the stuffing opening and the stuffing material is then injected or pumped through the tube into the interior of the stuffed toy. 
   When the stuffed toy is sufficiently filled with stuffing material, the stuffing opening must be closed. Where possible this has entailed sewing the stuffing opening closed using a sewing machine, which produces an outside ridge which is readily apparent on the skin of the finished stuffed toy. It is desirable to eliminate the need for a sewing machine and to eliminate this ridge. Further, closing the stuffing opening after the stuffing material is inserted can be a relatively time consuming and costly procedure. It is also desirable that the stuffing opening be closed in such a way that considerable time is saved compared to the traditional and costly sewing method. 
   U.S. Pat. No. 6,109,196 issued to Silber on Aug. 29, 2000 discloses a method of closing that provides openings for stitching, lacing of the stitching filament through the openings prior to stuffing, and pulling the stitching to close the opening after stuffing. 
   Stuffed objects, such as pillows, are often closed with slide fasteners of a type that can be locked in position, thereby preventing unintended reopening, which would allow stuffing to escape. Various auto-locking slide fasteners are known in the art and include is U.S. Pat. No. 4,081,883 issued April 1978 to Ishii et al., U.S. Pat. No. 139,928 issued Feb. 2, 1979 to Aoki et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,220 issued December 1983 to Oda, 4,768,263 issued September, 1988 to Fikuroi, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,286 issued Jul. 16, 1991 to Kudzierski, U.S. Pat. No. 5,884,373 issued Mar. 23, 1999 to Kawamura, U.S. Pat. No. 5,896,628 issued Apr. 26, 1999 to Oda and U.S. Pat. No. 6,314,624 issued Nov. 13, 2001 to Lin. Each of these patents teaches the use of an integral portion of the slide fastener that permits unlocking the slide fastener. Typically, the slide fastener includes a locking member that is biased to a locked position and a fastener pull that forces the locking member to an unlocked position when a distal end of the fastener pull is moved to a determined position. 
   A slide fastener having an integral lever for unlocking the fastener is not advantageous for a stuffed toy as such opening a fastener would allow a user to readily unlock the fastener, thereby allowing stuffing material to escape. 
   BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention overcomes many of the shortcomings of the prior art by providing an improved method for closing the opening used to insert stuffing materials into a stuffed toy. First, fabric members are fastened to make a container, the exterior defining the shape of the toy and an interior volume. The container includes an opening in communication with the interior volume. The opening has a first and a second lip. Two rows of teeth of a slide fastener having an auto-lock function are affixed to the first lip and the second lip such that closure of the slide fastener completely closes the stuffing opening and conceals all or part of the slide fastener and rows of teeth by the first lip and the second lip. The slide fastener used may be of a type which requires an external wedge tool to permit movement. A stuffing apparatus is provided which has an injection tube and a means for propelling a stuffing material through the tube. The injection tube is inserted into the opening between the first and second rows of slide fastener teeth and stuffing material is injected into the interior volume of the container through the tube. The tube is then withdrawn and the slide fastener closed to draw the rows of teeth into abutment. In this way, stuffing is retained in the interior volume. 
   The present invention further comprises a slide fastener of a type having a self-locking mechanism with a detached instrument for unlocking the fastener, thereby preventing inadvertent opening of the stuffed toy. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a front elevation view of a stuffed toy; 
       FIG. 2  is a view of a stuffing opening and slide fastener for closing the stuffing opening according to the method of the present invention; 
       FIG. 3  is a view of a stuffing opening, slide fastener and a wedge tool to position the slide fastener; 
       FIG. 4  is a view of the slide fastener positioning wedge tool; and 
       FIG. 5  is a view of the stuffing opening after positioning the slide fastener in the closed position. 
       FIG. 6  is a cross-sectional view of a representative prior art slide fastener lock mechanism. 
       FIG. 7  is a cross-sectional view of a representative prior art fastener with the wedge tool of the present invention. 
   

   DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     FIG. 1  shows one type of stuffed toy  10 , a stuffed bear. Stuffed toy  10  is constructed by filling a sewn fabric container  12 , which creates the skin of stuffed toy  10 , with a stuffing material  11 , which is commonly known in the art. Stuffing opening  13  is left for filling container  12 . Container  12  is then filled with stuffing material  11 . In the prior art applications, stuffing opening  13  is traditionally sewn shut. 
   Referring now to  FIG. 2 , container  12  is filled with stuffing material  11  using an injection tube  20  inserted through the opening  13  from the outside of the container  12  to the inside. Injection tube  20  is part of a stuffing apparatus that includes a device for propelling stuffing material through injection tube  20 . As is known to those of skill in the art, injection tube  20  may come in various sizes but is typically in the range of one to four inches in diameter. Stuffing material  11  is injected through the tube  20  into the interior of the container  12  thereby filling the container  12  with stuffing material  11  and filling out the container  12  to a stuffed shape. 
   Once the container  12  is sufficiently filled with stuffing material  11 , the tube  12  is withdrawn from the stuffing opening  13 . Opening  13  is then closed by slide fastener  14 . As will be clear to one of skill in the art, as the slide fastener  14  is moved, first row of teeth  15  and second row of teeth  16 , are brought securely into abutment thereby completely closing the opening  13 . 
   Referring now to  FIG. 5 , the container  12  is depicted after positioning of slide fastener  14  to close stuffing opening  13  with first row of teeth  15  and second row of teeth  16  drawn into abutment. 
   Slide fastener  14  comprises a type that can be locked in position, thereby preventing unintended reopening, which would allow stuffing to escape. Various auto-locking slide fasteners are known in the art and include fasteners disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,081,883 issued April 1978 to Ishii et al., U.S. Pat. No. 139,928 issued Feb. 2, 1979 to Aoki et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,220 issued December 1983 to Oda, 4,768,263 issued September, 1988 to Fikuroi, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,286 issued Jul. 16, 1991 to Kudzierski, U.S. Pat. No. 5,884,373 issued Mar. 23, 1999 to Kawamura, U.S. Pat. No. 5,896,628 issued Apr. 26, 1999 to Oda and U.S. Pat. No. 6,314,624 issued Nov. 13, 2001 to Lin. Each of these patents teaches the use of an integral portion of the slide fastener that permits unlocking the slide fastener. 
   Referring to  FIG. 6 , a representative prior art sliding fastener  101  is depicted. Fastener  101  includes an upper wing  113 , a lower wing  111  and a cover  109 . Teeth  15  and teeth  16  (not shown) are joined between upper wing  113  and lower wing  111  when in a fastened position. A leaf spring  102  prevents relative movement of fastener  101  in relation to teeth  15  and  16 . In operation, the leaf spring  102  is raised, allowing movement of fastener  101  in relation to teeth  15  and  16  when pull tab  103  is pulled. Such pulling action causes axle  105  of pull tab  103  to slide along guide surface  107  thereby forcing leaf spring  102  to move upward from teeth  15  and  16 . 
   Various other prior art fasteners provide means for biasing a blocking mechanism such as leaf spring  102  against the teeth  15  and  16  and further provide means of disengaging such blocking mechanism by operating a pull tab such as pull tab  103 . 
   Referring to  FIG. 4 , wedge tool  17  of the present invention is depicted. Wedge tool  17  includes a wedge tip  34 , a handle  30  and a connector rod  32 . 
   Now referring to  FIG. 3 , the use of wedge tool  17  is shown to draw slide fastener  14  along first row of teeth  15  and second row of teeth  16  to close stuffing opening  13 . Wedge tip  34  is inserted between upper wing  113  and lower wing  111  (not shown) of fastener  14 , thereby disengaging the blocking mechanism (such as leaf spring  102  of fastener  101 ) that is otherwise biased against teeth  15  and  16 . Wedge tool  17  may thereby be used to move fastener  14  along the rows of teeth  15  and  16 , thereby opening and closing stuffing opening  13 . When a desired position of fastener  14  is located, the wedge  17  may be removed from fastener  14  allowing the blocking mechanism (not shown) to engage teeth  15  and  16 , thereby preventing further movement of fastener  14  in relation to teeth  15  and  16 . 
   Wedge tip  36  is relatively small in relation to a typical pull tab axle. Such relatively small size allows for wedge tip  34  to be readily inserted into an opening in fastener  14  where a pull tab axle would otherwise be placed. The tapered construction of wedge tip  34  between wedge point  36  and connector rod  32  allows for the wedge tip  34  to be slideably inserted between a leaf spring and a segment of the upper wing of a fastener to force the block mechanism away from teeth  15  and  16  while minimizing the transverse forces against the leaf spring. 
   Effectively, the tapered construction of wedge tip  34  allows for forcing a blocking mechanism such as leaf spring  102  into an open position by inserting the wedge tip transversely to the fastener  14 . In conventional fasteners such as fastener  101 , the force applied to the blocking mechanism is applied along the axis of the fastener  101 . 
   An effective application of the present invention is to remove a pull tab from a prior art fastener and to use wedge  17  to unlock the blocking mechanism (such as leaf spring  102 ). 
   Referring now to  FIG. 7 , the operation of the wedge tool  17  of the present invention is shown. A representative prior art fastener  101  is depicted without pull tab  103 . Leaf spring  102  would normally be biased against teeth  15  and teeth  16  (not shown). In the depiction of  FIG. 7  it may be seen that wedge  17  is inserted into the opening between upper wing  113  and leaf spring  102 , thereby forcing leaf spring  102  away from teeth  15  and  16 . Wedge  17  may then be pulled by a user to move fastener  101  in relation to teeth  15  and  16 , thereby opening and closing the opening  13  as required. 
   Referring to  FIG. 4 , the wedge  17  may be provided with a decorative head  38  to associate the wedge  17  with the source of the stuffed toy or animal. 
   The foregoing drawings, discussion, and description are illustrative of some embodiments of the present invention, but are not meant to be limitations on the practice thereof.