Patent Publication Number: US-11642602-B2

Title: Retrofittable posable toy hand assembly and method

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Not Applicable 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Not Applicable 
     THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT 
     Not Applicable 
     INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM 
     Not Applicable 
     STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR 
     Not Applicable 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     (1) Field of the Invention 
     The disclosure relates to toy figure retrofittable glove device and more particularly pertains to a new toy figure retrofittable glove device for allowing a person to alter the appearance of a doll in such a manner that facilitates a photogenic nature of the doll by providing simulated personality. More particularly, the device herein will allow a person to create hand gestures with a doll where before the static nature of the doll&#39;s hands, that lack of fingers on the doll&#39;s hands, or the inability to retain a pose with the doll&#39;s hands, rendered the dolls less appealing as a medium for social networking and marketing purposes. 
     (2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98 
     The prior art relates to toy figures that included the ability to remove and replace hands, particularly those of action figures, to allow the toy figure to engage a different activity. However, these required a number of different hand attachments and still did not allow for full functionality with respect to posing fingers of a hand into particular gestures or positions as desired. Moreover, these require the removal of the original hands of the toy figure. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a simulated glove including a hand portion and plurality of finger members attached to and extending away from the hand portion. The hand portion has a free edge positioned opposite of the finger members. Each of the finger members is bendable and retained in a bent position. An attachment member is positioned on the simulated glove adjacent to the free edge. The attachment member engages a mittened hand of a doll such that the mittened hand is obscured by the hand portion. 
     In another embodiment, a simulated glove includes a hand portion and plurality of finger members attached to and extending away from the hand portion. The hand portion has a free edge positioned opposite of the finger members and each of the finger members is bendable and retained in a bent position. An attachment member is positioned on the simulated glove adjacent to the free edge. The simulated glove is positioned such that the simulated glove obscures the mittened hand. The simulated glove is secured to the doll with the attachment member and the finger members are bent to selective positions relative to each other and the hand portion to define a pose. 
     There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. 
     The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) 
       The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein: 
         FIG.  1    is a rear isometric exploded view of a retrofittable posable toy hand assembly and method according to an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG.  2    is a rear isometric view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG.  3    is a front isometric view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG.  4    is a rear and top isometric view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG.  5    is a rear and top isometric view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG.  6    is a front and top isometric view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG.  7    is a bottom and rear isometric view of an embodiment of the disclosure including an alternate attachment member. 
         FIG.  8    is a top and rear isometric view of an embodiment of the disclosure utilizing the attachment member of  FIG.  7   . 
         FIG.  9    is a front in-use view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG.  10    is a front in-use view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG.  11    is a front in-use view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to  FIGS.  1  through  11    thereof, a new toy figure retrofittable glove device embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral  10  will be described. 
     As best illustrated in  FIGS.  1  through  11   , the retrofittable posable toy hand assembly  10  and method generally comprises a simulated glove  12  including a hand portion  14  and plurality of finger members  16  attached to and extending away from the hand portion  14 . More particularly, the simulated glove  12  will visually approximate a “gloved” hand for a toy figurine, doll, and the like. The terms doll, toy, and figurine are used interchangeably and are to be understood to include any type of action figure, toy doll and the like. More particularly, the dolls  18  in the present invention will most often include arms  20  terminating in mittened hands  22  wherein the mittened hands are attached to the arms  20  such that the mittens and mittened hands  22  are not removable to provide a static feature of the doll  18 . The hand portion  14  has a free edge  24  positioned opposite of the finger members  16 . Each of the finger members  16  is bendable and thereafter retained in a bent position such that the finger members  16  are posable to show hand gestures as shown in  FIGS.  10  and  11    as well as allowing using the assembly  10  for gripping objects  26 . 
     The simulated glove  12  more particularly comprises a pair of panels  28 ,  30  each having a glove shape including first panel  28  and a second panel  30 . Each of the first  28  and second  30  panels includes a hand shaped section  32  and a plurality of finger shaped sections  34 . The hand shaped sections  32  would correspond to the back of a hand and its oppositely positioned palm. The finger shaped sections  34  would typically correspond to the five fingers of a human hand though, because the assembly  10  may be used with a doll, less or more finger members may be utilized but will usually always include at least three, and more preferably four, finger shaped sections  34 . Each of the panels  28 ,  30  has an outer surface  36 , an inner surface  38  and a perimeter edge  40 . The perimeter edge  40  includes the bottom edge  24  positioned opposite of the finger shaped sections  34 . The panels  28 ,  30  are secured together such that the inner surfaces  38  face each other and the perimeter edges  40  are aligned with each other. The panels  28 ,  30  may be secured together in any conventional fashion including adhesives, stitching, chemical bonding, heat bonding and the like. The panels  28 ,  30  are comprised of a flexible material and may particularly comprise a cloth material. Often the material chosen based upon the materials used on the toy or doll  18  on which the assembly  10  is to be placed such that the assembly  10  matches the replaced or adjacent materials on the doll  18 . 
     A formable material  42  is positioned between the panels. The formable material  42  is bendable and retains a bent shape to allow the finger members  16  to be posable and to further allow some manipulation of the hand portion  14  to allow the assembly  10  to be formed into a gripping position if needed as shown in  FIG.  11   . The formable material  42  may include metallic wire  44  having a diameter between about 0.5 mm and 3.0 mm. The material used for the metallic wire  44  is not overly important though the material should be easily bendable such that it retains its shape and does not easily break after repeatedly bending. Each of the finger members  16  has at least one of the metallic wires  44  therein and the metallic wires  44  extend into the hand portion  14 . The metallic wire  44  may be serpentined and contoured throughout each of the finger members  16  such that only a single wire is utilized, or multiple finger members  16  may include a single metallic wire  44 . Instead of metallic wire  44 , a thin metallic plate may be utilized which is positioned in the hand portion  14  and extended upwardly into the finger members  16 . The metallic wires  44 , or metal plate, are secured to at least one of the panels  28 ,  30 . This may be achieved by any conventional attachment and may include, for example, adhesives. The attachment of the formable material  42  to one of the panels  28 ,  30  prevents the movement of the formable material  42  relative to the panels  28 ,  30 , particularly when the finger members  16  are being manipulated. It should be understood that other materials may be positioned within the simulated glove  12  such that it is posable and in some embodiments the panels  28 ,  30  themselves may comprise the formable material. 
     Adjacent to the free edge  24  of the simulated glove includes an attachment member  46  configured to engage the mittened hand  22  of the doll  18 . In one embodiment, the attachment member  44  includes an elongated strip  48  that is attached to and extends along the bottom edge  24  of the first panel  28  of the pair of panels  28 ,  30 . The elongated strip  48  extends laterally away from the first panel  28  in opposite directions to define a pair of tabs  50 . The elongated strip  48  may be formed from the same, continuous material as the first panel  28  and thereby define a unitary structure with the first panel  28 . A coupler  52  releasably attaches the tabs  50  together to form a closed loop configured to encircle an arm  20  of the doll  18  adjacent to the mittened hand  22 . The coupler  52  may include hook and loop couplers, adhesives, mechanical fasteners such as clips and pins, and the like. The attachment member  46  may instead include a permanent loop of material for receiving the mittened hand  22  and further may incorporate resiliently elastic materials therein such that the permanent loop is stretchable to engage the doll tightly and frictionally. In another embodiment, the attachment member  46  comprises a sleeve  54  which receives the mittened hand  22 . Such an embodiment may include the tabs  50  which are extended around the arm  20  and secured in place as stated above to retain the mittened hand  22  within the sleeve  54 . The sleeve  54  may instead include one of the mating members of a hook and loop coupler to engage with another mating member adhered to the mittened glove  22 . Finally, the attachment member  46  may comprise a connector directly engaging the mittened hand  22  and the hand portion  14  of one of the panels  28 ,  30  such as an adhesive, or mating members wherein one of the mating members is attached to the hand portion  14  of one of the panels  28 ,  30  and one of the mating members is attached to the mittened hand  20 . The mating members may include hook and loop couplers, snaps, buttons, and the like. 
     In use, a doll  18  is provided with an arm  20  terminating with the mittened hand  22 . The simulated glove  12  is positioned on the mittened hand  22  such that the simulated glove  12  obscures the mittened hand  22 . The simulated glove  12  is then secured to the doll  18  with the attachment member  46 . Finally, the finger members  16  are bent and selectively positioned relative to each other and the hand portion  14  to define a pose. In one embodiment, the arm  20  is encircled with the pair of tabs  50  of the attachment member  46  to form an enclosed loop with the tabs  50  and the tabs  50  attached together with a coupler  52 . In another embodiment, the mittened hand  20  is extended into the sleeve  54  of the simulated glove  12 . 
     With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.