Patent Abstract:
A recovery and storage device suitable for picking up children&#39;s toys and placing them in a storage container has an appearance of a novelty animal, primarily an elephant, including an anatomical frame member with a vacuum motor integrated with a vacuum housing including a flexible hose, which picks up the toys through the flexible hose and directs the toys through the vacuum housing to a chute, where the toys are deposited in a removable storage bin, the device having several safety features which are suited to deter use by small children, requiring an adult or older child to operate the device. The removable storage bins may be placed on a shelf when full and replace with an empty removable storage bin, segregating toys by lot and kind.

Full Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   None 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of Invention 
   A recovery and storage device is suitable for picking up children&#39;s toys and placing them in a storage container, the device having the appearance of a novelty animal, primarily an elephant, although other animals could be used to form the non-functional outer shell of the device. Within the shell of the device is a vacuum motor integrated with a cylindrical channel system and a hose, which sucks up the toys through the hose and directs the toys through the channel system to a chute, where the toys are deposited in a storage container, the device having several safety features which are suited to deter use by small children, requiring an adult or older child to operate the device. The storage container is removable for placement on a shelf with multiple storage containers being insertable within the device for picking up and segregating toys by lot. 
   2. Description of Prior Art 
   The following United States patents were discovered and are disclosed within this application for utility patent. All relate to vacuum devices or devices intended to pick up small toys. 
   A cover for a vacuum is simply a decorative animal cover which is placed over an upright vacuum cleaner, presented in U.S. Pat. No. 5,904,196 to Wickers. An attachment for a standard vacuum hose is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,048,249 to Vandenberg, which picks up small toys and deposits them into a bag attachment, while allowing dirt and debris to pass through vent holes into the vacuum cleaner. A third U.S. patent to Zaleski is a vacuum cleaner located within the body of a container appearing to be a real dog, has a retractable hose coming from the tail of the dog, but is also convertible to a heated dryer, the device intended to be used by a pet groomer to reduce fear in pets being groomed of conventional vacuum cleaners, the inventor apparently assuming that the pet would be less nervous about having a vacuum appearing to be another dog. 
   An elephant shaped car cleaner and air pump is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,656,687 to Wei, having a vacuum end at the front of the rigid device (no hose is included on the vacuum end) with a retractable air hose coming out of the rear of the device for providing air through an air chuck apparently to a low tire, the device utilizing a air flow means to generate suction for the front end and compressed air to the rear end of the hand-held device. 
   None of the devices, alone or in combination, provide a toy pick-up and storage device having the safety features of the current device, the flexible air hose and air channeling system, the retractable cord presented in the current device, the wiring and electrical components disclosed in the current device, and the removable storage containers within the present device with which the segregated toys may be stored outside the container in open basket containers. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   Picking up children&#39;s toys is a task most parents find time consuming and children find to be a task not worthy of their efforts. Conventional means involves simply bending over and picking up the toys a piece at a time, putting them into some form of container and repeating this process daily. Many toys contain many small pieces that are difficult to see and gather. The present invention involves a device which allows toys to be picked up using a vacuum system by a device that is appealing to children and might stimulate an interest in the child to pick up their own toys, with the assistance and supervision of an adult, an adult required to activate the device by activation of safety features required to operate the device. The device also allows for pickup of one type of toys with the device, removal of an internal storage container and replacement of a different storage container for a different type of toy. The device will pick up any toy smaller than the hose end, which would include building blocks, doll clothing and accessories, small cars, marbles and even candy. Several safety features prevent activation of the device by a small child, including a power switch located behind a child resistant panel, a retractable electrical plug at the rear of the device beneath a tail, and a switch or electrical contact means in the lid of the device, requiring the lid to be securely fastened to the device in order for the device to operate, preventing access by a child to any working components of the device, other than the small hose end. 
   The primary objective of the invention is to provide a safety device to pick up small toys using a vacuum hose and a vacuum channel system directing the small toys to a removable storage container, the removable storage container being replaceable with a plurality of storage containers. 
   A secondary objective of the invention is to provide the device with safety features requiring the operation and activation of the device by an adult or older child. A third objective of the invention is to provide the device in an attractive and entertaining embodiment to invoke desire in the child to pick up their toys. 

   
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The following drawings are submitted with this utility patent application. 
       FIG. 1  is a side view of the toy vacuum device. 
       FIG. 2  is a side cross sectional view of the toy vacuum device. 
       FIG. 3  is a side cross sectional view of the vacuum motor, channel, chute and hose connection. 
       FIG. 4  is a diagram of a first embodiment of electrical wiring system including contacts in the lid. 
       FIG. 5  is an upper view of the device with the removable lid detached. 
   

   DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
   A novelty animal vacuum device  10  for picking up small children&#39;s toy items and placing the toy items into removable storage bins, shown in  FIGS. 1–5 , comprises a frame member  20  having an outer shape and appearance of a novelty animal, more specifically an elephant for purposes of the drawings, the frame member  20  having an anatomical head  21 , a body  23  including a removable lid  24  and a belly  25 , four legs  26  and a rear portion  28  including a tail  29 , a vacuum producing means  30  located within the head  21  integrated with a vacuum housing  40 , the vacuum housing  40  having a vacuum hose end  41  connected to a flexible hose  42 , a ventilated end  43  connected to the vacuum producing means  30 , and an ejection end  46  connected to a chute  47 , the chute  47  directing objects gathered through the flexible hose  42  into the vacuum housing  40  to a removable storage bin  50  located within the belly  25  of the frame member  20 , the novelty animal device  10  further providing an electrical wiring system  60  including retractable electrical cord  62  extending from the rear portion  28  of the frame member  20  underneath the tail  29 , the retractable electrical cord  62  on a cord reel  63  further connected to at least one safety contact means  64  by electrical wiring  65   a  closing the electrical wiring system  60  when the removable lid  24  is secured in place and opening the electrical wiring system  60  when the removable lid  24  is displaced, the safety contact means  64  further connected to a safety power switch  68  by electrical wiring  65   b , said safety power switch  68  located in the head  21  of the frame member  20 , the safety power switch  68  connected to the vacuum producing means  30  by electrical wiring  65   c  to provide power to operate the vacuum producing means  30 , wherein the device  10  operates by activating the safety power switch  68  once the removable lid  24  is secured, and using the flexible hose  42  to gather small toys on the floor into one of the removable storage bins  50  within the device  10 , deactivating the safety power switch  68  when finished picking up the small toys, removing the removable lid  24 , extracting the now toy filled removable storage bin  50  from the belly  25  of the frame member  20 , and placing another removable storage bin  50  into the belly  25  of the frame member  20  for later use, re-securing the removable lid  24  on the frame member  20  prior to the later use of the device  10 . 
   The vacuum producing means  30 , shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 , further comprises an electrical vacuum motor  32  connecting to a vacuum fan blade  34  producing the vacuum, the vacuum fan blade  34  contained within a ventilated vacuum screen  36  to isolate the vacuum fan blade  34  from any object. The vacuum motor  32  should be selected and matched to produce a vacuum sufficient to drawn objects through the flexible hose  42  into the vacuum housing  40  with enough velocity to propel the objects into the chute  47  for deposit into the removable storage bin  50 , yet not so powerful as to retain the drawn objects within the vacuum housing  40 . 
   It is preferable that the vacuum housing  40 , shown in  FIG. 3 , include an object deflection panel  44  within the vacuum housing  40  prior to the ventilated end  43 , and prior to the vacuum producing means  30 . This object deflection panel  44  prevents objects from entry into the ventilated end  43  and the vacuum producing means  30 , diverting the objects into the ejection end  46  to the chute  47 . The object deflection panel  44  should be positioned at an angle to optimize the deflection of the objects to the ejection end  46 . Even more preferably would be the inclusion of a removable filter panel  45  within the object deflection screen  44  to catch dirt, lint and debris prior to entry within the vacuum producing means  30 , the removable filter panel  45  periodically removed and cleaned, similar to the filter screen in a clothes dryer. 
   The safety contact means  64  is further disclosed as a depression contact switch  66 , in  FIGS. 4–5 , which closes the electrical wiring system,  FIG. 4 , when depressed and opens the electrical wiring system when not depressed. When the removable lid  24  is in place, the depression contact switch  66  is depressed and when the removable lid  24  is not in place, the depression contact switch  66  is not depressed. Since the electrical wiring system  60  is operated by A/C power, the electrical wiring  65   a ,  65   b ,  65   c  is double or triple wire, if a ground is incorporated into the wiring, which is recommended. One of the power wires of the electrical wiring  65   a ,  65   b ,  65   c , would be connected to the depression contact switch  66 , the depression contact switch  66  completing that wire&#39;s circuitry from the retractable power cord  62  to the safety power switch  68 , the safety power switch  68  also being an intentionally activated switch required to be activated to operate the vacuum producing means  30  or the electrical vacuum motor  32 . 
   For portability purposes, the legs  26  may be supported by wheels  27 ,  FIGS. 1–2 , which allow the device  10  to be rolled to a location for use. The tail  29  is also used to conceal the location of the end of the retractable electrical cord  62 ,  FIGS. 1 and 5 . The device  10  may also be used as a simple toy box when not being used as a vacuum with the removable lid  24  attaching to the frame member  20  when toys are put away manually or by use of the vacuum producing means  30 . It is preferred that the removable storage bin  50  be made of a type of rigid open mesh, similar to a milk crate, which would promote the displacement of any dirt and debris which might be picked up during the vacuum process, intermingled with the toys being picked up and deposited within the removable storage bin  50 , the debris being displaced through the removable storage bin  50  while the toys are retained in the removable storage bin  50 . An optional trap door in the belly, not shown, may be included to allow for removal of the debris gathered below the removable storage bins  50 . 
   The safety power switch  68  may also be placed within some type of protective housing which would require some degree of advanced skill beyond that of a child of tender years to open. This protective housing is not shown in the drawings, but is contemplated within the scope of this invention. This protective housing may include a complex opening latch, a combination of activities resulting in the opening of the housing, a hidden location or even a keyed lock. In the device  10  which bears the shape of the elephant, as illustrated by the drawings in  FIG. 5 , the safety power switch  68  is concealed behind an ear  22  of the elephant, the ear  22  possibly including a spring loaded means of urging the ear against the head  21  of the elephant with some degree of required intentional force to pull the ear away from the elephant&#39;s head  21 . 
   The device  10  is used by first moving the device  10  to the location for use. The retractable electrical cord  62  is plugged into an available A/C outlet. The removable lid  24  is secured to the frame member  20  once a removable storage bin  50  is placed within the frame member  20 . The safety power switch  68  is then activated, providing power to the vacuum producing means  30  and items such as toys, doll clothing, doll accessories, building blocks or other items small enough to fit within the flexible hose  42  are gathered into the flexible hose  42  and deposited in the removable storage bin  50  until the items are picked up. The safety power switch is then deactivated and the removable lid  24  is removed, allowing removal of the filled removable storage bin  50  an empty removable storage bin  50  is replaced. The device  10  is then ready for later use for other items or another time of use. The device  10  is then unplugged and put away for later use, the retractable electrical cord  62  being wound within the cord reel  63  an concealed beneath the tail  29  of the frame member  20 . 
   While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Technology Classification (CPC): 0