Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US6607684?dq=5,778,372
Timestamp: 2018-01-21 01:48:51
Document Index: 769303923

Matched Legal Cases: ['arts 40', 'arts 48', 'art 50', 'art 104', 'art 106', 'art 108', 'art 224', 'art 224', 'art 224']

Patent US6607684 - Method of making a jointed linkage support system - Google Patents
A jointed linkage support system is provided with joints that allow movement and bending in many directions and degrees of freedom. A chain-like linkage system made up of a series of joints is molded in a single step from materials having different melting temperatures in a series of alternating communicating...http://www.google.com/patents/US6607684?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US6607684 - Method of making a jointed linkage support system
Publication number US6607684 B1
Application number US 09/665,031
Also published as US6932669, US20030205842
Publication number 09665031, 665031, US 6607684 B1, US 6607684B1, US-B1-6607684, US6607684 B1, US6607684B1
Patent Citations (87), Non-Patent Citations (6), Referenced by (20), Classifications (19), Legal Events (5)
Method of making a jointed linkage support system
US 6607684 B1
A jointed linkage support system is provided with joints that allow movement and bending in many directions and degrees of freedom. A chain-like linkage system made up of a series of joints is molded in a single step from materials having different melting temperatures in a series of alternating communicating mold cavities. The jointed linkage support system emerges from the mold fully assembled. An electrical switch may be provided within.one of the joints between sleeves and rods whereby movement of the rod relative to the sleeve actuates the switch.
1. A method of making a jointed linkage support system, the method comprising:
making a plurality of ball parts, each of the plurality of ball parts comprising a first ball and a second ball and having a melting point equal to or higher than a first melting point;
providing a mold with a plurality of socket part mold cavities, each of the plurality of socket part mold cavities being configured for receiving at least two balls, and a plurality of ball part mold cavities which communicate with the socket part mold cavities;
positioning the plurality of ball parts in the ball part mold cavities such that each of the plurality of socket part mold cavities receives a ball from one of the plurality of ball parts and a ball from another of the plurality of ball parts, and at least one of the ball parts is positioned between two identical socket part mold cavities; and
introducing a material into the socket part mold cavities to form a socket part within each socket part mold cavity, wherein the material has a second melting point lower than the first melting point and the material is introduced into the socket part mold cavities at a temperature lower than the first melting point and equal to or higher than the second melting point; and
allowing the material to cool, thereby forming the jointed linkage support system.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the material has a shrink characteristic for gripping the ball part upon cooling of the material.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein the shrink characteristic grips the ball part with a predetermined amount of friction.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the ball parts and socket parts are plastic.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of providing a mold further comprises providing a mold with at least one switch assembly mold cavity in communication with adjacent ball part mold cavities, and the method further comprises positioning a switch assembly made from a material having a melting point higher than the second melting point within the at least one switch assembly mold cavity prior to introducing the material into the socket part cavities.
6. The method of claim 5 wherein the switch assembly is associated with one of the plurality of ball parts and the step of positioning the switch assembly within the switch assembly mold cavity includes positioning a portion of the ball part associated with the switch assembly within a socket part cavity.
7. A method of making a jointed linkage support system, the method comprising:
providing a mold having a first set of cavities with contours corresponding to a first part and a second set of cavities with contours corresponding to a second part, wherein the first and second sets of cavities are in communication and positioned such that a plurality of individual cavities of the first set of cavities alternate with a plurality of individual cavities of the second set of cavities, and wherein at least one of the first set of cavities is bisected by a plane of symmetry between two identical socket part mold cavities;
making a plurality of first parts, each of the plurality of first parts having a first melting point;
placing the plurality of first parts into the first set of cavities with a portion of the first parts extending into the second set of cavities;
introducing a material into the second set of cavities to form a plurality of second parts, wherein the material has a second melting point lower than the first melting point and the material is introduced into the cavities at a temperature lower than the first melting point and equal to or higher than the second melting point; and
8. The method of claim 7 wherein the plurality of second parts have a shrink characteristic which upon cooling the second parts grip the first parts with a predetermined amount of friction.
9. The method of claim 7 wherein the first and second parts together form a ball and socket joint.
10. The method of claim 7 wherein each of the plurality of first parts comprises a first ball and a second ball, and each of the plurality of second parts each comprises sockets to capture the balls of the first parts.
11. The method of claim 7 wherein the second parts capture the portions of the first parts which extend into the second set of cavities to form movable joints between the first and second parts.
12. A method of molding a jointed linkage support system, the method comprising the steps of:
providing a plurality of first parts having a first contour, each of the plurality of first parts having a first melting point;
providing a mold having a series of communicating cavities, the cavities in the mold comprising a first set and a second set of cavities, the first set of cavities having contours corresponding to the first contour and positioned such that a plurality of individual cavities of the first set of cavities alternate with a plurality of individual cavities of the second set of cavities, and the second set of cavities having a second contour;
molding a plurality of second parts by injecting into the second set of cavities a material having a second melting point which is lower than the first melting point, wherein the material is introduced into the second set of cavities at a temperature equal to or higher than the second melting point and lower than the first melting point; and
allowing the material to cool, thereby forming a joint between each of the first and second parts to mold the jointed linkage support system in which the first parts pivot with respect to the second parts without an he second parts engaging an adjacent one of the second parts.
13. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of forming the communicating cavities into a geometry of a linkage support system having a moving joint at every, joint between the first and second parts.
14. The method of claim 12 wherein each of the plurality of first parts comprises a first ball and a second ball and each of the plurality of second parts comprises sockets to capture the balls of the first parts.
15. A method of making a jointed linkage, the method comprising:
making a ball part in the shape of a rod with a first ball at one end and a second ball at the other end, the ball part having a first melting point;
providing a mold with a first socket part mold cavity and a second socket part mold cavity, each socket part mold cavity being configured for receiving at least one ball;
positioning the ball part in the mold such that at least a portion of the first ball extends into the first socket part mold cavity and at least a portion of the second ball extends into the second socket part mold cavity;
introducing a material into the socket part mold cavities to form a socket part within each socket part mold cavity to capture the first and second balls, wherein the material has a second melting point which is lower than the first melting point and the material is introduced into the socket part mold cavities at a temperature equal to or higher than the second melting point and lower than the first melting point; and
allowing the material to cool, thereby forming a ball and socket joint and molding a jointed linkage.
16. The method of claim 15 wherein the material has a shrink characteristic for gripping the ball part upon cooling of the material.
17. The method of claim 16 wherein the shrink characteristic grips the ball part with a predetermined amount of friction.
18. The method of claim 15 wherein the step of providing a mold further comprises providing a mold with at least one switch mold cavity in communication with at least one of the socket part mold cavities; and
positioning a switch assembly made from a material having a melting point higher than the second melting point within the at least one switch assembly mold cavity prior to introducing the second material into the socket part mold cavities.
19. A method of making a jointed linkage support system, the method comprising:
positioning the plurality of ball parts in the ball part mold cavities such that each of the plurality of socket part mold cavities receives a ball from one of the plurality of ball parts and a ball from another of the plurality of ball parts; and
introducing a material into the socket part mold cavities to form a socket part within each socket part mold cavity, wherein the material has a second melting point lower than the first melting point and the material is introduced into the socket part mold cavities at a temperature lower than the first melting point and equal to or higher than the second melting point;
allowing the material to cool, thereby forming the jointed linkage support system;
providing a mold having at least one switch assembly mold cavity in communication with adjacent ball part mold cavities; and
positioning a switch assembly associated with one of the plurality of ball parts.
20. A method of making a jointed linkage support system comprising:
providing a mold with a plurality of socket part mold cavities and ball part mold cavities, each socket part mold cavity being configured for receiving at least two preformed balls;
making said ball parts from a first material having a first melting temperature;
positioning at least two ball parts in the mold with a ball of each ball part located in a desired socket part cavity;
introducing into the socket part cavities a second material having a second melting temperature lower than the first melting temperate;
allowing the second material to cool to form a joint between the socket and ball parts;
removing the resulting jointed linkage support system;
providing a mold with at least one switch assembly mold cavity in communication with adjacent ball part mold cavities;
positioning a switch assembly associated with one of the plurality of ball parts; and
positioning a portion of the ball part associated with the switch assembly with a socket part cavity.
21. A method of making a jointed linkage, the method comprising:
making a ball part in the shape of a rod with a first ball at one end and a second ball at the other end, the ball having a first melting point;
providing a mold having at least one switch mold cavity in communication with at least one of the socket part mold cavities; and
Accordingly, it is apparent that a preferred jointed linkage support system should provide for many alternative degrees of freedom. This need for flexibility of design creates a series of challenges. If the jointed linkage is created from an assembly of many loose parts as in conventional systems, the loose parts may have to be manually interconnected, which creates excessive labor costs. Or, if automatic assembly machines are used, they may be prohibitively expensive, especially if they must assemble a number of parts having different sizes and shapes. If such an automatic assembly machine is limited to assembling only parts having the same configurations, the freedom to design new devices using a linkage having many different configurations is lost.
Thus, there is a need to provide a molded, jointed linkage support system which is already assembled when it emerges from the mold. If the system is to be used as a skeleton for toys, there should be a negligible cost differential between the inventive jointed linkage support system and the malleable metal wire inserts used heretofore.
Another desirable feature is to include a switch integrally formed with the molded, jointed linkage support system. Such a switch may be actuated by relative movement of various components of the linkage support system. The switch may be used to activate special features associated with the jointed linkage support system, such as turning on lights, activating synthesized or recorded speech, or other sounds and the like.
In keeping with an aspect of the invention, these and other objects are accomplished by providing a molded product made of plastics having different meeting temperatures. Using a ball and socket joint, by way of example, the ball part is first formed in any desired fashion such as molding in a separate mold plate. Preferably, the ball is made of a plastic material which has a first melting temperature. An injection mold plate is then provided with communicating cavities in the socket contours. The previously formed ball parts are placed in the corresponding socket cavities of the second mold plate so that the balls effectively become part of the second mold plate, with the balls projecting into the cavities corresponding to the sockets. The mold plate cavities corresponding to the sockets are charged with a plastic having a melting temperature which is lower than the melting temperature of the plastic forming the balls, referred to below as “low temperature plastic”. Thus, after the plastic in the socket cavities solidifies, sockets are molded around the balls. The lower melting point of the plastic material enables sockets to solidify around the balls without fusing to the balls or causing any distortion of the balls.
After the socket plastic cools sufficiently, the mold plates 36, 38 open and ejector pin 52 frees the molded part from the mold. FIG. 2A shows the finished part as an example of a jointed linkage support system that is useful as the lower arm bone 54 of a doll. The arm bone includes the ball parts 40, 42 captured in the socket parts 48, 50.
The outer end of the second socket part 50 is molded in the form of a hand 56. Of course, the molded part may be cast in any suitable shape. The part shown in FIG. 2A may be completed in any suitable manner, as by encasing it in a stuffed plush/vinyl toy, as described below.
After the mold is closed with the ball-parts in place, the second step in the molding process is to inject the low temperature plastic into the sleeve or socket mold cavities, such as 96, thereby forming a low temperature socket part in each end of the sleeve cavity. The molten low temperature plastic.flows into the cavity and around each ball. For example, a socket sleeve formed at 96 (FIG. 5) contains balls 100, 102, thus forming two ball and socket joints at opposite ends of the sleeve molded in cavity 96. After the plastic cools, the jointed linkage support system will emerge from the mold already assembled.
The finished molded, jointed linkage support system may also include other parts which are useful for manufacturing a finished product in the form of a doll or animal. For example, part 104 will support a head of the doll or animal. Part 106 will support he shoulders. Part 108 plays the role of the pelvic bone.
For devices other than a doll or animal skeleton, similar unique parts may be included in the cavity. For example, if a part molded in cavity 120 is to become part of the tail of an animal toy, a special coupler 121 may be the last part of the jointed linkage support system. Depending upon the nature of the end product animal, the tail molded in cavity 120 may be molded as a separate part which is later added to the finished skeleton jointed linkage support system by any suitable means, such as being snapped or bonded into place on the “pelvic bone” 108.
FIG. 8 is a partial side view of the toy of FIG. 7 to show the molded tail linked to the rest of the skeleton system. Here, the separately molded tail 120 has a coupler 136 which slips into a hole 138 in the “pelvic bone” 108. The coupling 136, 138 may be secured by snapping friction, cement, heat bonding, or the like. The point is that essentially the same support system may be assembled in different ways to make a number of different toys.
tion Thermoplastic Melting Temp Injection Temp
2nd Acrylonitrile 110° C. 230° C.
FIG. 11 shows a modified ball part 224 comprising a portion of the electrical to switch. As with the previous embodiment, the modified ball part 224 includes a central rod portion 230 with balls 232, 234 formed at each end. In the switch embodiment, a bore 258 is formed axially through the length of the modified ball part. Counter-sunk bores 260, 262 are formed at each end. A conductive shaft 264 is inserted through the axial bore 258 and extends at least into the counter sunk regions 260, 262. A spring 266 is friction fitted over a first end of conductive shaft 258 within counter sunk region 262 and extends out beyond the end of modified ball part 224. A contact head 268 is mounted at the distal end of spring 266. At the opposite end of the shaft 264 an electrical lead 272 is soldered to the shaft.
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2 "G. I. Joe" figure (Exhibit C).
3 "He-Man" figure (Exhibit E).
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6 Babe Ruth Figure (Exhibit B).
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U.S. Classification 264/230, 264/277, 264/263, 264/250, 264/242, 264/255
International Classification A63H3/46, B29C45/00, B29C65/66, B29C45/14
Cooperative Classification A63H3/46, B29C45/14467, Y10T403/32631, B29C65/665, B29L2031/5218, B29C45/0017, B29C2045/002
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:LEE, JAMES S.W.;KWAN, CHIU-KEUNG;REEL/FRAME:011134/0001