Patent Publication Number: US-8973291-B2

Title: Motorized foam greeting card

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/905,420, filed on Nov. 18, 2013. This application is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/568,482, filed on Aug. 7, 2012, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/459,553, filed on Apr. 30, 2012 (now abandoned), which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/004,544, filed on Jan. 11, 2011 (now U.S. Pat. No. 8,205,365). 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is in the field of social expression products. More specifically the invention is in the field of greeting cards having motorized effects. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A greeting card which contains a foam body covered by a front and rear surface material and one or more cavities contained therein for accommodating components of a sound and motor module. The greeting card contains a mobile object, which in a preferred embodiment includes a bundle of individual fiber strands. The bundle of fiber strands are attached to the motor module such that activation of the motor module cause the bundle of fiber strands to separate and spin or twirl. The bundle of fibers strands are attached to the motor through an opening in an upper perimeter surface of the foam body. The bundle of fibers together with the printed front and back surface material combine to resemble a character having a tuft of hair which spins upon activation of the motor module. The greeting card also contains a sound module which plays back audio upon activation. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the front of the greeting card. 
         FIG. 2  is a front tear away view of the internal components of the greeting card of  FIG. 1  in the direction of arrows  2 - 2 , with pivot panel in a first position. 
         FIG. 3  is a front tear away view of the internal components of the greeting card of  FIG. 1 , with pivot panel in a second position. 
         FIG. 4  is a rear view of the greeting card of  FIG. 1  with sentiment panel opened and pivot panel in second position. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED AND ALTERNATE EMBODIMENTS 
     The present invention includes a foam greeting card having audio and motorized effects. A foam greeting card body contains one or more cavities therein into which electronic components of the greeting card are inserted. The front and rear surfaces of the foam greeting card body is covered by a planar sheet material which conceals the foam and inner electronic components of the greeting card. The greeting card may additionally contain one or more mobile objects which are attached to a motor within the greeting card. The mobile object may come in a variety of shapes, sizes and textures. 
     The greeting card body  10 , in a preferred embodiment, includes a single piece of hardened foam or foam-like material. The foam may be formed into any shape or profile, examples which include, but are not limited to: a cupcake, a tree, a dog, a person, a character, etc. The greeting card body  10  may alternatively be shaped like a traditional rectangular greeting card. The foam body  10  contains a cavity therein to accommodate a device such as, for example, a motor module, a sound module, a light module, a multimedia player device, or any other such device or combination of devices. There may be multiple cavities carved into the foam  10  to receive multiple devices or device components such as, for example, batteries  22  or other power source, a speaker  24 , a circuit board  20 , a switch  18 , a motor  26 , a memory device, a recording device, etc. The foam shape  10  has a generally planar front and rear surfaces with a thickness or outer perimeter therebetween. The foam  10  is both lightweight for ease of handling and to facilitate postal mailing and sturdy for the protection of the electronic components of the greeting card. The foam body  10  may be covered by a sheet material  12  made of heavy gauge paper-like material such as paper, cardboard, cardstock or any other like material. In an alternate embodiment, the sheet material  12  may be made of plastic or other lightweight, durable material. The sheet material  12  is generally cut into the shape of the foam body  10 . The front surface material  12  may contain printing thereon of a front view of a character, animal or other object while the rear surface material  12  may contain printing thereon of a rear view of a character, animal or other object which matches the front surface material. The front and rear surface materials  12  may alternately contain right and left side views of a character, animal or other object. The surface material  12  is attached adhesively or otherwise to the foam body  10 . The material  12  can also further contain three-dimensional embellishments such as gems, googly eyes, and other such adornments. In addition to the front and rear surface material  12 , the greeting card  100  may contain an additional panel, referred to herein as a sentiment panel  28 . The sentiment panel  28  is connected along a fold line to either the front or rear surface material  12 . It is folded over the front or rear surface material  12  and serves as a front or rear cover of the greeting card. If the sentiment panel  28  is attached to the front surface material  12 , it would serve as the front cover of the greeting card and the left inside panel while the front surface material  12  would serve as the right inside panel of the greeting card. If the sentiment panel  28  is attached to the rear surface material  12 , as shown in  FIG. 4 , it would serve as the rear cover of the greeting card and the inside left panel while the rear surface material  12  would serve as the left inside panel of the greeting card. In either case, pivoting the sentiment panel  28  away from the foam body  10  reveals an inner surface onto which a greeting may be contained. The sentiment panel  28 , along with the front and rear surface material  12  may contain text sentiment, drawings, photographs, drawings or any other printed material. The sentiment panel  28  may be shaped and/or decorated similar to the foam body and front and rear surface material  12 . The sentiment panel  28  can cover the entire front or rear surface of the foam body  10  or it may cover only a portion thereof. 
     As mentioned above, in a preferred embodiment, the greeting card  100  contains a sound module which is contained within one of the one or more cavities or compartments in the foam body  10 . The sound module is operative to store and playback one or more audio files. The audio files may contain clips of music, singing, spoken word, animal sounds, or any other recordable sound. The sound module may be activated to replay the one or more audio files by a switch  18 . The switch  18  may be a slide tongue switch, a contact switch, a button switch, a light sensitive switch, a contact switch, a motion sensitive switch, a touch sensitive switch or any other type of switch which is known to one having skill in the art. In the preferred embodiment, the switch  18  is a contact switch. A contact switch  18  contains two arms which when in contact, complete an electrical circuit. Separating the two arms breaks the circuit. A small pivot panel  14  is contained beneath the front surface material  12  and inserted in a slot between the front surface material  12  and the foam body  10  and between the two arms of the contact switch. When the pivot panel  14  is in a first position, it is contained between the two arms of the contact switch and substantially within the greeting card body  10  with a portion of the panel  14  visible beyond the front surface material  12 . Pivoting the pivot panel  14  by, for example, grasping the visible portion of the pivot panel  14  between ones thumb and forefinger and pivoting the panel  14  downward, the pivot panel  14  moves into a second position wherein it is removed from between the two arms of the contact switch  18 , allowing the arms to make contact and complete the electrical circuit, and it is substantially contained outside of the greeting card  100  beyond the front surface material  10 . When the pivot panel  14  is moved from the first to the second position, the electrical circuit is complete and thereby providing power to the sound module which will replay one of the one or more audio files. When the pivot panel  14  is moved from the second position, back to the first position, it is again inserted between the two arms of the contact switch  18 , thereby breaking the circuit and deactivating the sound module. The pivot panel  14  may contain an extra surprise greeting, text sentiment or artwork, etc. printed thereon. A portion of the pivot panel  14  may contain the word “pull” printed thereon to instruct the user to pull the panel for further entertainment. The pivot panel  14  may be shaped and printed to look like a conversation bubble and may have a greeting printed thereon which incorporates the theme of the greeting card or the character, etc. upon which the shape and appearance of the foam greeting card body are based, as shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 . 
     In addition to activating the sound module upon moving the pivot panel  14 , the contact switch  18  also controls power to a motor module. The motor module is also contained within the one or more cavities of the foam greeting card body  10 . The motor module contains a small or miniature motor  26  which is used to effect movement of an object attached thereto. The motor module may cause a circular motion, bouncing or up-and-down motion, side-to-side or back-and-forth motion, a quick vibrating motion, or any other type of motion. A mobile object  16  is connected to the motor  26  either directly or via a connection arm. When the motor module is activated, the motor  26  is powered up causing movement of the mobile object  16 . The mobile object  16  can be any type of small, lightweight figure. Examples include, but are not limited to: planar or three-dimensional die cut shapes, planar plastic shapes, three-dimensional plastic moulded shapes, strands of ribbon, etc. In a preferred embodiment, the mobile object  16  is a bundle of strings or lightweight fiber strands which are intended to look like a tuft of hair atop the head of a character (the foam body). The bundled strands  16  are connected at one end to the motor  26  and at the opposite ends are free such that when the motor  26  is activated, the bundle  16  is quickly moved in a circular motion, causing the bundled strands  16  to separate and spin or twirl as a bunch. The strands  16  may be made of yarn, rubber, plastic, or any other type of synthetic or non-synthetic material. The strands  16  may be of a single color or may contain a variety of different colors. In alternate embodiments, the mobile object may be a different type of hair style or may represent a facial feature, a body part of a person or animal, or other appendage. 
     In a preferred embodiment, the sound and motor module are both controlled by the contact switch  18 . Therefore, the process described above with respect to the contact switch  18  and pivot panel  14  apply to the activation of the motor module as well as the sound module. In alternate embodiments, the sound and motor modules may be controlled by different switches which may be of the same type of switch or different. When the pivot panel  14  is in its first position, shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the sound and motor modules are deactivated. Moving the pivot panel  14  from the first to second position, shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 , causes simultaneous activation of the sound and motor modules and causing playback of an audio file and movement or spinning of the mobile object (fiber strands)  16 . Moving the pivot panel  14  from the second position back to the first position again deactivates the sound and motor module causing the sound and movement of the mobile object  16  to cease. 
     The foregoing embodiments of the present invention have been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. These descriptions and embodiments are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above disclosure. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principle of the invention and its practical applications to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention in its various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.