Abstract:
A stimulator for stimulating human female genitalia including an electrically powered vibration device and a first external massage surface for engaging the genitalia which is vibrated by the vibration device. The first massage surface includes a first surface portion surrounding a protrusion which extends above the first surface portion. The first massage surface is provided with two adjacent surfaces areas having different vibrational characteristics, a first surface area provided by the protrusion and a second surface area provided by the first surface portion surrounding the protrusion.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims priority under all applicable rules and statutes to pending United Kingdom Patent Application No. GB1103323.0 filed 25 Feb. 2011, entitled “A Stimulator,” and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
       FIELD 
       [0002]    This disclosure relates to the field of stimulators. More particularly, this disclosure relates to stimulators for applying vibrations to human female genitalia. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    Stimulators, otherwise known as vibrators or massage devices, are well known. The majority of such devices are phallic shaped, for instance the devices illustrated in GB2350797, GB2366734 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,573,499. It is known also to provide a different shaped head portion for such a device, for instance in EP0684032 a tongue-shaped head is used. 
         [0004]    Cake-shaped massage devices are disclosed in CN2136655, CN2604990, CN2269206 and CN201208385, although none are specifically designed for stimulation of human female genitalia. The hand held message devices of CN2604990 and CN2136655 are not vibrating devices, but are solid devices. The massage surfaces are smooth cambered faces with no discontinuities or protrusions. CN2269206 is a massage device which vibrates, which has a massage surface which is in part domed, but which has a flat top surface, which forms the central section of the massage surface. CN201208385 discloses a hand held massager which includes a vibrator which is capable of vibration. The massage surface has roller balls which protrude through apertures of a flat surface. 
         [0005]    The present disclosure relates to an improved stimulator configured for stimulating human female genitalia. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0006]    The present disclosure provides a stimulator for stimulating human female genitalia including an electrically powered vibration device and a first external massage surface for engaging the genitalia which is vibrated by the vibration device. 
         [0007]    The first massage surface includes a first surface portion surrounding a protrusion (which is preferably located centrally on the first surface portion) which extends above the first surface portion. The first massage surface is provided with two adjacent surfaces areas having different vibrational characteristics, a first surface area provided by the protrusion and a second surface area provided by the first surface portion surrounding the protrusion. 
         [0008]    The stimulator devices according to the present disclosure provide massage surfaces which can apply vibrations in a way not provided by any of the prior art. The protrusion can provide concentrated vibration e.g. on a clitoris, whilst the surrounding dome surface applies vibration on the surrounding area of the female genitalia. This provides stimulation in a way not provided by any of the prior art devices. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]    Further advantages of the disclosure are apparent by reference to the detailed description when considered in conjunction with the figures, which are not to scale so as to more clearly show the details, wherein like reference numbers indicate like elements throughout the several views, and wherein: 
           [0010]      FIG. 1  is a cross-section through a first preferred embodiment of stimulator according to the present disclosure; 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  is an exploded view of the preferred embodiment of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view in part cross-section of the first preferred embodiment of  FIGS. 1 and 2 ; 
           [0013]      FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional viewed in perspective of a second preferred embodiment of the present disclosure; 
           [0014]      FIG. 5  is a view showing an alternative external appearance of the  FIG. 1  embodiment of  FIGS. 1 to 3 ; 
           [0015]      FIG. 6  is a partially exploded view of a fourth preferred embodiment of stimulator according to the present disclosure; 
           [0016]      FIG. 7  is a perspective view of the underside of a first casing component of the stimulator of  FIG. 6 ; 
           [0017]      FIG. 8  is a perspective view of the outside of the casing component of  FIG. 7  without a protrusion shown; 
           [0018]      FIG. 9  is a perspective view of the protrusion of the stimulator of  FIG. 6 ; 
           [0019]      FIG. 10  is a perspective view of the underside of the cover of the stimulator of  FIG. 6 ; and 
           [0020]      FIG. 11  is a perspective view of the housing of the stimulator of  FIG. 6 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0021]    Turning first to  FIG. 1 , there can be seen in the Figure a stimulator  10  comprising a housing  11  which houses an electric motor  12  which has an output spindle  13  on which a weight  14  is eccentrically mounted so that when the motor rotates the spindle  13  a vibration is applied to the whole device  10 . The electric motor is connected to batteries which will be located in battery compartments  15  and  16 . The motor  12  will be switched on and off by a switch provided in an aperture  17  (see  FIG. 2 ) provided in a lower part  18  of the housing  11 , which will be attached by screws to the remainder of the housing  11 . The lower part  18  also forms a cradle for holding the motor  12  in place within the housing  11 . A cover  58  is provided for covering the battery compartments  15 ,  16  and this cover  58  is a removable cover. It has a flat cover plate section, from which extends an inner skirt portion  19  and an outer skirt portion  20 . The outer skirt portion  20  is an annular skirt extending around the cover  18 , as can be seen in  FIG. 2 . The inner skirt  19  is formed from two arc portions, again this can be seen in  FIG. 2 . The arc shaped portions  19  have grooves, e.g. the groove  50 ,  52  shown in  FIG. 2 , which are L-shaped in nature and each has a mouth  50  for receiving a tang (e.g.  21  in  FIG. 1 ) of the housing  11  and then a slot ( 52  in  FIG. 2 ) in which the tang  21  can be received on rotation of the cover  58  relative to the housing  11 , in order that the cover  58  can be secured in place on the housing  11 . An O-ring  23  is provided in a groove  24  provided on an external surface of the housing  11  and provides a seal between a radially inward facing surface of skirt  20  and the radially outward facing surface of the housing  11 . This ensures that the battery compartments  15 ,  16  remain substantially water tight. 
         [0022]    The exterior of the device is defined by two separate casing components. The first casing component  30  is secured to the cover  58  and provides a massage surface having a convex domed exterior surface  31  and a centrally located protrusion  32  which extends away from the domed surface  31  and which is surrounded by the domed surface  31 . A lower cup-shaped casing component  40  is secured to the housing  11 . The casing component  40  has a planar bottom section  41  and a frusto-conical wall section  42  (see  FIG. 2 ) which is corrugated in nature, being formed of alternate ridges and grooves which extend from the flat bottom base portion  41  along the frusto-conical wall section  42  to a top annular surface  43  (see  FIG. 1 ) of the casing component  40 . 
         [0023]    The casing component  30  is provided with shoulders  1  and  2  which provide flat surfaces abutting the flat surface of the cover  18  and allow the component  30  to be adhered to the cover  18 . The component  40  has shoulders  3  and  4  which provide flat surfaces which can engage corresponding shoulders  28 ,  29  of the housing  11  and allow the component  40  to be adhered to the housing  11 . The casing component  30  is moulded from a resilient rubber-like material such as polyvinylchloride. It is flexible and compressible. The component  40  is also made out of polyvinylchloride and again is flexible and compressible. 
         [0024]    The wall thickness of the casing component  30  is (apart from in the region of the protrusion  32  and the region of the shoulders  1 ,  2 ) half or less than half of the wall thickness of the component  40 . The thickness of the wall of the domed surface  30  will typically be between 2 and 3 millimeters. The protrusion  32  will have height of roughly 1 centimeter above the surrounding surface  31 . Considering the protrusion  32  in plan view (not shown), the diameter of protrusion  32  will be between 1 and 2 centimeters. 
         [0025]    The flat base portion  41  of the component  40  will have a diameter typically 52 millimeters, the height of the wall section  42  will be typically around 50 millimeters and the side wall section  40  will flare outwardly to a maximum of between 55 and 60 millimeters. 
         [0026]    As shown in  FIG. 1 , there is a void between the central part of the casing component  30  and the cover  58 . This allows the central part of the casing component  30  to flex downwardly into engagement with the cover  58  when the stimulator is applied and pressed on to a human body. However, the void  50  could be filled with a compressible material of a different compressibility to the casing component  30 . 
         [0027]    The massage surface  31  with the central domed protrusion  32  provides for stimulation of female genitalia in a way that has not been provided before by phallic shaped devices. Specifically, the massage surface provides the central protrusion  32  which will have first characteristics of contact and vibration, which is immediately surrounded by the more gently curving domed surface  31 , i.e. a surface with much greater radius of curvature, which will vibrate in a different manner. The domed surface  31  will provide for an area of contact with the female genitalia which allows a significant portion of the female genitalia to be covered, vibrated and stimulated. The casing component  30  is a single integer, typically moulded and the thickness of the component  30  in the region of the domed protrusion  32  is significantly greater than the thickness of the casing component  30  elsewhere. This has the effect that more powerful vibrations are transmitted via the domed protrusion  32  than via the surrounding domed surface. Two different surface areas of contrasting sizes, shapes and vibration characteristics are therefore provided side by side. 
         [0028]    As illustrated, the stimulator has been configured to have the external appearance of a cupcake. The applicant has realized that the provision of a domed protrusion in the centre of an overall domed massage area leads to a construction which looks like the top surface of a cupcake and therefore has configured the device as a whole to resemble a cup cake. This makes the device as a whole appealing and renders it a novelty item. Additionally, this means that the device as a whole has a shape and configuration which is comfortable to be held in the hand, with a five finger hold. The corrugated walls of the casing component  40  also provide a contrasting surface area which can be applied, if desired, to female genitalia, in order to provide a contrast in sensation compared with the smooth domed massage surface area of casing component  30 . 
         [0029]    The base portion  41  is flexible to allow depression of a section of the base portion  41  aligned with an underlying switch provided in the aperture  17 , in order to allow for the electric motor to be switched on and off. Preferably a small surface depression will be provided in the base surface  41  aligned with the switch, in order to provide a visual indication to the user of where the switch is located. Alternatively surface coloration could be provided to provide such an indication. 
         [0030]    Whilst above the casing components  30  and  40  may be made of the same material, e.g. flexible and compressible materials such as rubber or PVC, silicon or any soft flexible plastic, or hard and inflexible materials such as ABS, the casing components could be made of differing materials if wished. Also, instead of using flexible, compressible PVC, silicon or any soft plastic, each component or one of them could be made of a plastic which is substantially rigid (e.g. ABS), but which may be coated with a soft plastic layer on the outer surface thereof. 
         [0031]    Optionally, a further layer of hard material may be provided on the outer surface of the flexible compressible material to provide a surface for printing decorative patterns (such as dots). This additional layer would be thinner than the underlying layers. The thickness may be in the region of 2 mm to 3 mm. 
         [0032]    Dot decoration may be achieved by painting dots directly onto silicon/soft plastic material via machine application. 
         [0033]    Whilst above the cover  58  is secured to the housing  11  and the motor  12  vibrates the stimulator as a complete entity, a variation of this is possible. In this variation the cover  58  would be allowed to translate relative to the housing  11 . The electric motor  13  would be connected to a crank with a connecting arm pivotally attached to the crank and then pivotally attached to a point on the cover  58 . Rotation of the electric motor would thus cause the cover  58  to translate backwards and forwards relative to the housing  11 . Since the massage surface is provided on the casing component  30  attached to the cover  58  the massage surface would also be moved backwardly backwards and forwards relative to the housing  11 . By a suitable choice of pivotal connection points, it is also possible to provide that the cover  58  and the surface  31  rotate relative to the housing  11  as well as translating backwards and forwards. 
         [0034]    A second variant of the stimulator according to the present disclosure is illustrated in  FIG. 4 . This variant is identical to the first variant described above except that the protrusion is not a simple dome shape, but instead comprises external toroidal section  100  with a central dome section. The central dome section  103  has a thickness which is the greatest thickness, with the toroidal surrounding section  100  having a lesser thickness and then the wall thickness of the surrounding domed section of the casing component being less than the thicknesses of both the toroidal section  100  and the central section  103 . In aesthetic appearance the protrusion will look like a flower. 
         [0035]      FIG. 5  shows the external appearance of a third embodiment of the disclosure. Here again there is a domed surface  500  from which extends around a centrally located domed protrusion  501  which has a radius of curvature less than half the radius of curvature of the domed surface  500 . In this case the domed protrusion  501  is located in a recess  502  in the domed surface  500 , in order to give an aesthetic appearance more similar to that achieved when a cherry is located in icing on top of a cupcake. The surface  500  is also provided with drip like portions  501 ,  502 ,  503 , which extend downwardly from the generally annular periphery  504  of the top component  500 . The embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 5  provides five different surface areas for engagement female genitalia, namely: the central dome section  501 ; the surrounding domed area  500 ; the drip-like extensions  501 ,  502 ,  503  of the domed surface  500 ; the corrugated frusto-conical surface  505 ; and the flat underneath base surface (not shown). Each of the surface areas will provide a different vibratory effect, particular to that surface area of the device. 
         [0036]    In a known manner, the electric motor  12  can be controlled to have different modes of operation and provide different speeds and intensities of vibration. 
         [0037]    Ripple features could be formed on the generally domed surface, again to provide areas of different vibrational characteristics and also mimicking in appearance the top of a cupcake formed with an unevenly applied icing. 
         [0038]      FIG. 6  shows a fourth embodiment of the device. This embodiment is similar to the earlier embodiments except that the first casing component  230  is manufactured in two parts. Specifically, the component forming the convex exterior surface  231  and the centrally located protrusion  232  are each separate articles. 
         [0039]    As shown in  FIG. 8 , an attachment member  236  is formed on the convex exterior surface  231 . Attachment member  236  may be a column (preferably a generally cylindrical column), extending outwardly from the convex exterior surface  231  to which a protrusion  232  may be attached. Preferably, the attachment member  236  extends normal to the convex exterior surface  231 . Preferably, attachment member  236  is located in a recess on the convex exterior surface  231 . 
         [0040]    As shown in  FIG. 9 , the protrusion  232  may be a generally spherical or generally hemispherical solid (or a truncated sphere) having a depression or bore  233  arranged to receive the attachment member  236  to thereby prevent lateral movement of the protrusion  232  relative to the convex exterior surface  231 . 
         [0041]    The protrusion  232  is preferably glued or adhered to the component forming the convex exterior surface  231 . 
         [0042]    The convex exterior surface  231  of the fourth embodiment may be shaped as in the first embodiment. 
         [0043]    However, optionally, and in contrast to the earlier embodiments, the convex exterior surface  231  is recessed around the attachment member  236  to provide a smooth annular ridge  238  spaced from and surrounding the protrusion  232 . 
         [0044]    As with the earlier embodiments, the casing component  230  may be moulded from a resilient rubber-like material such as polyvinylchloride. 
         [0045]    Whilst the two components of casing  230 , the protrusion  232  and the convex exterior surface  231 , are made of the same material, (e.g. flexible and compressible materials such as rubber or PVC or, more preferably, hard and inflexible materials such as ABS), the casing components could be made of differing materials if wished. Also, instead of using flexible, compressible PVC each component or one of them could be made of a plastic which is substantially rigid (e.g. ABS) but which is coated with a flexible compressible material. 
         [0046]    The casing component  230  may be solid or hollow. When hollow, the wall thickness of the casing component  230  may be half or less than half of the wall thickness of the component  40 . The thickness of the wall of the casing component  230  may be between 2 and 3 millimeters. The protrusion  232  will have height of roughly 1 centimeter above the abutting surface. Considering the protrusion  232  in plan view (not shown), the diameter of protrusion  232  will be between 1 and 2 centimeters. When ridge  238  is provided, the protrusion  232  will extend approximately 0.75 cm beyond the ridge  238 . 
         [0047]    As shown in  FIG. 6 , the first casing component  230  is mounted on the cover  258 . 
         [0048]    Formed on the surface of the cover  258  may be ribs or flanges  256 ,  266  extending outwardly from a generally planar region  259 . Preferably, the ribs or flanges  265 ,  266  extend normal to the generally planar region  259 . 
         [0049]    The ribs or flanges may form a rectangular wall  266  and/or may be an annularly shaped wall  265  as shown in  FIG. 6 . 
         [0050]    As shown in  FIG. 7 , the first casing component  230  may include one or more grooves  234  arranged to receive the ribs or flanges  265 ,  266  to thereby prevent lateral movement of the first casing component  230  relative to the cover  258 . 
         [0051]    A peripheral curved portion  268  of the cover  258  may surround the generally planar region  259 . One or more spines  267  may protrude from peripheral curved portion  268  to interfit with corresponding notches  235  formed on the underside of the first casing component  230 . 
         [0052]    As shown in  FIG. 10 , protruding downwardly from the underside of the cover  258  extends annular skirt portion  202 . Annular skirt portion  202  may have one or more (preferably at least three) inwardly extending tangs  203  spaced around the radially inner surface thereof. The tangs  203  may be arranged to interlock within corresponding L-shaped grooves  206  formed in the housing  11  (as shown in  FIG. 11 ). 
         [0053]    Preferably, the first casing component  230  is adhered to the upper surface of the cover  258 , which may be attached or detached from the housing  11  by way of the tangs  203  and L-shaped grooves  206 . 
         [0054]    In the description given above, the cover  58 ,  258  and the lower casing component  40  may be detachably attached to each other to thereby enable replacement of the batteries. However, in alternative embodiments, the batteries may be rechargeable. In which case, a socket for a charger may be provided and the cover  30 ,  230  and lower casing component  40  may be permanently connected to form a seal. When the batteries require charging, this may be achieved by use of the charging socket using technology known in the art. The charging socket may be provided in the base portion  41  or, more preferably, in the side wall of the lower casing component  40 . 
         [0055]    In any of the embodiments described above, the casing component  30 ,  230  may be manufactured entirely from silicon. Also, the internal components of the device, such as housing  11  and cover  58 ,  258  may be made from ABS. 
         [0056]    In any of the embodiments described above, the outer surface of the casing component  30 ,  230  may be textured. For example, the protrusion  32 ,  232  may be more roughly textured than the convex exterior surface  31 ,  231 . Alternatively, the protrusion  32 ,  232  may be less roughly textured than the convex exterior surface  31 ,  231 . 
         [0057]    The foregoing description of preferred embodiments for this disclosure has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise form disclosed. Obvious modifications or variations are possible in light of the above teachings. The embodiments are chosen and described in an effort to provide the best illustrations of the principles of the disclosure and its practical application, and to thereby enable one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the disclosure in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. All such modifications and variations are within the scope of the disclosure as determined by the appended claims when interpreted in accordance with the breadth to which they are fairly, legally, and equitably entitled.