Patent Publication Number: US-2005136790-A1

Title: Ultrasonic toy for animals

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The invention broadly relates to sound producing toys for animals and ultrasonic sound producing devices.  
      2. Prior Art  
      Dogs need toys to keep them occupied. Some dog toys are comprised of a plush body embedded with a noise generator which produces noise when bitten as feedback for the dogs. The noise perhaps simulates the noise of a captured pray animal to stimulate the dogs.  
      The noise generator is typically comprised of an air bladder fitted with a reed valve which squeaks when the air bladder is squeezed. The reed valve produces noise which is audible to dogs and humans, wherein the range of human hearing is between about 20 Hz and about 20 kHz, and the range of dog hearing is up to about 50 kHz. Acoustic frequencies above 20 kHz are known as ultrasonic frequencies. However, the noise produced by squeaking dog toys can be annoying to humans.  
      Other acoustic devices specifically made for dogs include dog whistles or electronic ultrasonic devices which produce ultrasonic noise at high enough decibel levels to signal a dog over a large distance in the case of an ultrasonic whistle or serve as an aversive stimuli to dogs and other animals in the case of electronic ultrasonic devices. Such sound producing devices produce noise levels up to about 120 dB (decibels). Considering the logarithmic relationship between loudness and dB level, and that a whisper is about 20 dB, a normal speaking voice is about 60 dB, a car horn is about 100 dB, and a jet engine is about 130 dB, such ultrasonic devices are extremely loud—about 2-8 times louder than a car horn. Although these noises are not annoying or harmful to humans because they are inaudible, they may be frightening, harmful or otherwise aversive to a dog if used in a device which produces the noise within inches of the dog&#39;s ears.  
      Prior art sound producing devices found in dog toys are typically comprised of a reed valve with three parts that require more tooling, and include moving parts that require more careful and lengthy assembly. Further, they are made of different materials that must be separated for recycling.  
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The objects of the present ultrasonic toy for animals are: 
          to produce ultrasonic noise which is audible to animals;     to produce ultrasonic noise which is inaudible to humans to avoid annoying people;     to produce noise levels low enough to avoid being aversive, frightening or harmful to animals; and     to be easier to manufacture and recycle.        

      The ultrasonic toy for animals is comprised of a noisemaker arranged to produce ultrasonic noise which is audible to an animal, such as a dog, but not humans to avoid annoying people. The noisemaker is arranged to produce noise at about 30 to 70 dB, which is loud enough to be clearly heard by the animal but not enough to be aversive, frightening or harmful to the animal. The noisemaker is comprised of a resonance tube attached to an air bladder. The resonance tube includes a closed outer end, an axial hole open to the inner end, and a notch on a side wall communicating with the hole. An insert is positioned inside the hole. A first key in the hole is engaged with a second key on the insert to radially align the insert within the hole. A third key in the hole is engaged with a fourth key on the insert to limit the insertion of the insert to a proper depth. An alternative embodiment of the noisemaker is comprised of an electronic transducer driven by an oscillator which is activated by a pressure sensitive switch. An alternative air bladder includes a recess wherein the resonance tube is positioned to prevent the tube being blocked or inadvertently dislodged. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the ultrasonic toy for animals.  
       FIG. 2  is a sectional view taken along line  2 - 2  in  FIG. 1 .  
       FIG. 3  is a perspective exploded view of a noisemaker of the ultrasonic toy for animals.  
       FIG. 4  is a sectional view taken along line  4 - 4  in  FIG. 3 .  
       FIG. 5  shows the noisemaker of  FIG. 4  assembled.  
       FIG. 6  is an end view of the noisemaker of  FIG. 5 .  
       FIG. 7  shows an electronic noisemaker.  
       FIG. 8  shows an alternative airbladder.  
       FIG. 9  shows an alternative air bladder.  
       FIG. 10  shows the noisemaker in a plush covering.  
    
    
     DRAWING REFERENCE NUMERALS  
     
       
         
           
               
               
               
             
               
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
            
               
                   
                 10. Noisemaker 
                 11. Resonance Tube 
               
               
                   
                 12. Air Bladder 
                 13. Outer End 
               
               
                   
                 14. Hole 
                 15. Inner End 
               
               
                   
                 16. Notch 
                 17. Insert 
               
               
                   
                 18. First Key 
                 19. Second Key 
               
               
                   
                 20. Third Key 
                 21. Fourth Key 
               
               
                   
                 22. Flat Portion 
                 23. Channel 
               
               
                   
                 24. Transducer 
                 25. Oscillator 
               
               
                   
                 26. Switch 
                 27. Air Bladder 
               
               
                   
                 28. Recess 
                 29. Plush Covering 
               
               
                   
                 30. Recess 
               
               
                   
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
      FIGS.  1 - 2 :  
      A preferred embodiment of an ultrasonic toy for animals shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2  is comprised of a noisemaker  10  arranged to produce ultrasonic noise of preferably between about 20 kHz to 30 kHz, which is clearly audible to animals, such as dogs, but not humans to avoid annoying people. Noisemaker  10  is arranged to produce ultrasonic noise levels at about 30 to 70 dB, which is loud enough to be clearly heard by the dog, but not enough to be aversive, frightening or harmful to the dog. The low noise level is important since the toy produces noise close to the dog&#39;s ears when the dog bites on it. Such a noise level is neutral or even positive to the dog or other animal, especially when paired with the positive experience of playing with the toy.  
      In this example, noisemaker  10  is comprised of a resonance tube  11  attached to a hollow resilient air bladder  12 , which may be of any shape. When a dog bites on air bladder  12 , air is forced out through resonance tube  11  to produce ultrasonic noise. The desired noise level of about 30 to 70 dB is measured at about 6 inches from resonance tube  11 . Noisemaker  10  may be used alone, or it may be positioned inside a covering, such as a plush toy.  
      FIGS.  3 - 6 :  
      An exploded view of resonance tube  11  is shown in  FIGS. 3-4 . It includes a closed outer end  13 , and an axial hole  14  open to an inner end  15 . A noise emitting triangular notch  16  is positioned on a side of resonance tube  11  in communication with hole  14 , so that the inner end of hole  14  is open to the outside through notch  16 .  
      An insert  17  is for being positioned inside hole  14 . A first key  18  in hole  14  is engaged with a second key  19  on insert  17  to radially align insert  17  within hole  14 . In this example, first key  18  is comprised of a longitudinal groove in hole  14 , and second key  19  is comprised of a longitudinal rib shaped to mate with groove  18 . Alternatively, first key  18  may be a rib and second key  19  may be a groove.  
      A third key  20  in hole  14  comprising a step is engaged with a fourth key  21  on insert  17  comprising an oppositely shaped step to limit the insertion of insert  17  to a proper depth, as shown in  FIG. 5 . The keys enable resonance tube  11  to be easily assembled.  
      The relative positions of the keys may vary. For example, fourth key  21  on insert  17  may be flush with its inner end, and third key  20  may be at the innermost position of insert  17 .  
      An end view of the assembled resonance tube  11  is shown in  FIG. 6 . Insert  17  includes a flat longitudinal portion  22  which is spaced from a wall of hole  14  to define a channel  23  for passing air between the outer end of hole  14  and notch  16 .  
      The acoustic frequency is determined by the angle of notch  16 , and the length of the resonance chamber defined between the inner end of insert  17  and the inner end of hole  14 . The frequency is also determined by the hardness of the material of which resonance tube  11  is made, wherein higher hardness provides higher frequencies.  
      Resonance tube  11  has only two parts for simpler manufacturing, and the two parts are preferably made of the same recyclable material for easier recycling.  
       FIG. 7 :  
      An alternative embodiment of the noisemaker is comprised of an electronic transducer  24  driven by an oscillator  25 , which is activated by a pressure sensitive switch  26 , such as a spring loaded push button switch, which responds when bitten by the dog.  
       FIG. 8 :  
      An alternative air bladder  27  is shown in  FIG. 8 . It includes a recess  28  wherein resonance tube  11  is positioned to prevent resonance tube  11  from being dislodged. Recess  28  is comprised of a notch in air bladder  27  in this example. Resonance tube  11  is positioned with notch  16  facing but spaced away from a wall of recess  28  to prevent it from being blocked.  
       FIG. 9 :  
      An alternative air bladder  38  is shown in  FIG. 9 . It includes a recess  30  wherein resonance tube  11  is positioned to prevent resonance tube  11  from being dislodged or the notch in resonance tube  11  from being blocked. Recess  30  is comprised of a hole which is wider than resonance tube  11 . The open inner end of resonance tube  11  is communicably connected to air bladder  38 .  
       FIG. 10 :  
      Noisemaker  10  is shown in  FIG. 10  embedded in a plush covering  29 .  
      Although the foregoing description is specific, it should not be considered as a limitation on the scope of the invention, but only as an example of the preferred embodiment. Many variations are possible within the teachings of the invention. For example, different attachment methods, fasteners, materials, dimensions, etc. can be used unless specifically indicated otherwise. The relative positions of the elements can vary, and the shapes of the elements can vary. Therefore, the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents, not by the examples given.