Patent Publication Number: US-2005136793-A1

Title: Collapsible play box

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      This invention relates generally to play equipment for children and more particularly to a play box capable of holding various play media.  
      Parents of young children have long sought ways to keep their children amused and entertained. Playpens and similar enclosures are widely used to allow a child to play with minimal supervision. However, most currently available playpens are relatively large and inconvenient to store when not in use. While collapsible playpens are available, they still tend to be bulky and difficult to set up and collapse, which limits their portability. Moreover, playpens are confining by nature and do not provide much stimulation to the child.  
      Other items available for child play include sand boxes and wading pools. While these devices provide a medium (i.e., sand or water) for children to play in, they are generally limited to outdoor use and not typically used in a variety of locations.  
      Accordingly, there is a need for a versatile, portable play device that allows children to explore many play media.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The above-mentioned need is met by the present invention, which provides a child&#39;s play box having a pliable base piece and four semi-rigid, planar sidewalls. The base piece has four edges, and each sidewall is joined to a respective edge of the base piece by a folding joint that permits the sidewall to pivot with respect to the base piece. Furthermore, each sidewall is joined to adjacent sidewalls by folding joints that permit the adjacent sidewalls to pivot with respect to each other. The folding joints collectively allow the play box to be manipulated between an open configuration in which the sidewalls extend perpendicularly from the base piece to define an internal cavity and a closed configuration in which all of the sidewalls are arranged in a stack.  
      The present invention and its advantages over the prior art will be more readily understood upon reading the following detailed description and the appended claims with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The subject matter that is regarded as the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding part of the specification. The invention, however, may be best understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing figures in which:  
       FIG. 1  is a top perspective view of a collapsible child&#39;s play box in its open configuration.  
       FIG. 2  is a bottom perspective view of the play box in the open configuration.  
       FIG. 3  is a partial sectional view of the play box taken along line  3 - 3  of  FIG. 1 .  
       FIG. 4  is a top view of the play box being folded into its closed configuration.  
       FIG. 5  is another top view of the play box being folded into its closed configuration.  
       FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the play box in a partially folded condition.  
       FIG. 7  is a top view of the play box in the closed configuration.  
       FIG. 8  is a side view of the play box in the closed configuration.  
       FIG. 9  is another side view of the play box in the closed configuration. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
      Referring to the drawings wherein identical reference numerals denote the same elements throughout the various views,  FIGS. 1 and 2  show a play box  10  for young children. The play box  10  is designed to hold various materials, such as water, sand or paints to name a few, that children can sit and play in. Children can also sit or stand next to the play box  10  and play with the material. The play box  10  includes a flat, rectangular base piece  12  and four connected sidewalls  14 ,  16 ,  18  and  20  joined to the base piece  12 . The sidewalls  14 ,  16 ,  18  and  20  are flat or planar pieces and rectangular in shape. In one possible embodiment, the base piece  12  is a 20-inch by 20-inch square and each sidewall  14 ,  16 ,  18  and  20  is a 4-inch by 20-inch rectangle, although other sizes are possible. Furthermore, each of the sidewalls  14 ,  16 ,  18  and  20  need not have the same length, as will be discussed in more detail below.  
      Each one of the sidewalls  14 ,  16 ,  18  and  20  is joined along one edge to a respective edge of the base piece  12  by a corresponding folding joint that permits the sidewall to pivot with respect to the base piece  12 . In addition, each sidewall  14 ,  16 ,  18  and  20  is joined at both ends to corresponding ends of two adjacent sidewalls by folding joints that permit adjacent sidewalls to pivot with respect to each other, thereby defining four corners A, B, C and D. All of the folding joints (i.e., those between the sidewalls  14 ,  16 ,  18  and  20  and the base piece  12  and those between adjacent sidewalls) are design to provide a full range of pivoting motion between the connected elements. For example, the folding joint between the base piece  12  and the first sidewall  14  permits the first sidewall  14  to pivot through a substantially 360 degree angle relative to the base piece  12 . The folding joints act collectively to allow the play box  10  to be manipulated between an open configuration (shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 ) and a closed configuration described in more detail below. In the open configuration, each sidewall  14 ,  16 ,  18  and  20  is arranged to extend perpendicularly upward from its respective edge of the base piece  12  and to be perpendicular to its adjacent sidewalls so as to form a box with an internal cavity for holding a play medium (e.g., water, sand or the like) and having an opening at the top.  
      The play box  10  includes a set of suction cups  22  attached to the underside of the base piece  12  for anchoring the play box  10  to a support surface. Alternative anchoring means, including but not limited to hooks, straps, adhesive pads and magnets, could be used instead of the suction cups. The play box  10  can also be provided with a closeable drain  24  formed in one of the sidewalls  14 ,  16 ,  18  and  20 , preferably near the base piece  12 . Opening the drain  24  would allow play material to drain from the play box  10 . The drain  24  could be alternatively located in the base piece  12 .  
      The base piece  12  is preferably a pliable sheet of material that is capable of being freely and repeatedly bent or folded without breaking. On the other hand, the sidewalls  14 ,  16 ,  18  and  20  are semi-rigid pieces. As used herein, “semi-rigid” means that the sidewalls  14 ,  16 ,  18  and  20  generally will not bend under their own weight or light forces but are sufficiently flexible so as to bend when a moderate force is applied. Both the base piece  12  and the sidewalls  14 ,  16 ,  18  and  20  are made from waterproof and durable materials. For example, the base piece  12  can be made of a sheet of an acrylic-coated fabric, vinyl or another suitable plastic material. As shown in  FIG. 3 , the sidewalls  14 ,  16 ,  18  and  20  can be constructed of a semi-rigid, relatively thick panel  26  made of plastic or cardboard or the like enclosed by two thin sheets of a waterproof material, which is preferably the same material that the base piece  12  is made of.  
      As mentioned above, the play box  10  is collapsible and can be manipulated between an open configuration for use and a closed configuration for storage when not in use. When in the open configuration, the play box  10  can be converted to the closed configuration by pushing one of the four corners, for example corner B, to its opposing corner, corner D in this example. As corner B is pushed towards corner D with sufficient force, the sidewalls  14 ,  16 ,  18  and  20  will flex or bow inwardly as shown in  FIG. 4 . Eventually, the folding joint at corner B will “flip” so that the inside angle defined between the first and second sidewalls  14  and  16  flips from an acute angle to an obtuse angle and the first and second sidewalls  14  and  16  become bowed outward as shown in  FIG. 5 . Corner B can then be positioned to abut the inside of corner D as shown in  FIG. 6 . In this position, the first sidewall  14  is located flat against the fourth sidewall  20 , and the second sidewall  16  is located flat against the third sidewall  18 . The base piece  12  is folded in half along a line between corners A and C to form a triangular shape.  
      Next, corners A and C are pushed together so that folding joints of corners B and D fold inward. This results in the play box  10  assuming its closed configuration in which all of the sidewalls  14 ,  16 ,  18  and  20  are arranged in a stack with the first and second sidewalls  14  and  16  being positioned between the third and fourth sidewalls  18  and  20 , as shown in  FIG. 7 . Specifically, the fourth sidewall  20  is located flat against, or superposed with, the first sidewall  14 , the first sidewall  14  is superposed with the second sidewall  16 , and the second sidewall  16  is superposed with the third sidewall  18 . The base piece  12  is folded in half again to form another triangular shape extending outward from one edge of the sidewall stack as shown in  FIG. 8 . This extension of the base piece  12  can then easily be wrapped around the sidewall stack as shown in  FIG. 9 . The play box  10  can be provided with a fastener  28  for retaining the base piece  12  in position wrapped around the sidewall stack. Any suitable fastener can be used, such as a hook-and-loop (Velcro) fastener having mating pieces attached to the base piece  12  in appropriate positions so that the outer tip can be secured as shown in  FIG. 9 . Various other snaps and clasps could also be used. The above process is simply reversed to return the play box  10  to the open configuration.  
      While the sidewalls  14 ,  16 ,  18  and  20  can have equal lengths, as mentioned above, it is noted that providing two of the sidewalls with a slightly shorter length than the other two sidewalls facilitates the folding process. By way of example, the first and second sidewalls  14  and  16  could be 19% inches long and the third and fourth sidewalls  18  and  20  could be 20 inches long.  
      While specific embodiments of the present invention have been described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications thereto can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.