Abstract:
The sound generator includes a housing having a front cover, a back layer, and a peripheral wall defining a casing. An actuator, a control circuit, a sound emitter and a power source are mounted in the housing. The actuator is accessible by the user to selectively activate playback of pre-recorded sound via the control circuit. The sound generator may include selectively actuable lights for added visual appeal.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention relates to adornments, more specifically, a sound generator for emitting pleasant sounds as an enhancement to gifts or packages. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0004]    Gift-giving is a longstanding custom for positive social interaction. It helps to welcome guests and friends or pave the way for negotiations, and it provides a pleasant token of affection for one&#39;s significant other. While the gift itself is a boon, a gift with an additional personal touch has more positive impact on the recipient. 
         [0005]    Many products exist for that additional personal acknowledgement. These generally comprise cards, ribbons and balloons with a note or message for the recipient. While such adornments have a certain degree of visual appeal from the design and/or personal message, they still lack a certain amount of sensory impact to make the gift especially memorable. Thus, it would be a benefit in the art to provide an adornment with aural and/or visual emitting means for memorable impact. 
         [0006]    Thus, a sound generator solving the aforementioned problems is desired. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    The sound generator includes a housing having a front cover, a back layer, and a component mounting means sandwiched therebetween. An actuator, a control circuit means, a sound emitter and a power source are mounted in the mounting means. The actuator is accessible by the user to selectively activate playback of pre-recorded sound via the control circuit means. The sound generator may include selectively actuable lights for added visual appeal. 
         [0008]    These and other features of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]      FIG. 1  is an environmental, perspective view of a sound generator according to the present invention. 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the sound generator according to the present invention. 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  is another perspective view of the sound generator according to the present invention with the front cover removed. 
           [0012]      FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram of the sound generator according to the present invention. 
       
    
    
       [0013]    Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0014]    The present invention relates to a sound generator, generally referred to in the drawings by reference number  10 , configured to produce preselected sounds upon activation of a switch. As shown in  FIGS. 1-3 , the sound generator  10  includes an adornment, attachment or housing comprised of a composite structure. The housing includes a front cover  12 , a back cover  18 , and a peripheral wall  16  extending between the front and back covers to define a casing. The housing may be in the form of a heart (as shown in  FIGS. 1-3 ), but other celebratory or decorative shapes such as snowmen, bears, rabbits, four-leaf clovers, flowers, etc. may equally be employed. Both the front and back covers  12 ,  18  and/or the peripheral wall  16  may include a variety of indicia or visual designs representing a festival occasion or other personal messages. The front and back covers  12 ,  18  are preferably made from durable paper or cardboard, but other materials such as plastic, metal foil, wood or composites may also be used. 
         [0015]    To clearly and positively present the adornment or housing, the sound generator  10  includes a mounting stick, rod or tube  20  detachably mounted to the housing. The mounting stick  20  is adapted to be insertably mounted to a gift G such as a bouquet of flowers. The mounting stick  20  includes a distal, pointed or sharpened end or conical tip  24  and a plurality of protruding barbs  22  disposed along the length of the mounting stick  20  adjacent the tip  24 . The conical tip  24  permits easy insertion of the sound generator  10  while the barbs  22  obstruct easy removal of the sound generator  20 . The barbs  22  may be triangular in shape (as shown in  FIG. 2 ), but other similar obstructive shapes are feasible alternatives. The mounting stick  20  is preferably made from plastic, but other materials such as wood, paper, metal or composites may also be used. 
         [0016]    Referring to  FIG. 3 , the casing encloses or houses the components for generating preselected sounds. The casing may be made from plastic, foam, paper, cardboard, metal, wood or other similar materials that can mount the components and provide impact protection thereof for durability. The components include a switch  34 , a control circuit means  30 , a power source  38 , a sound emitter  32  and wiring  36  embedded within recesses of the casing, and that may be mounted on or connected to a printed circuit board. Activation of the switch  34  causes the control circuit means  30  to generate pre-recorded audio signals that may be played back by the sound emitter or speaker  32 . The front cover  12  may include a plurality of holes or a grill  14  permitting the sound to escape from the speaker  32 . 
         [0017]    Referring to  FIG. 4 , the circuit control means  30  may be configured to provide a variety of different functions. At a minimum, the circuit control means  30  includes a pre-recorded sound storage  44  and a sound playback circuit  42 . The pre-recorded sound storage  44  may include music or a voice message file for the recipient that can be played back via the playback circuit  42  with activation of the switch  34 . Alternatively, the sound storage  44  may include a number of music or voice files that can be played back in a pre-selected order or randomly. Moreover, the control circuit means  30  may include recording capabilities via a record sound circuit  48 . The record sound circuit  48  includes an integrated microphone for recording user-generated sound that overwrites or replaces a previous sound file for an even more personalized message. 
         [0018]    In addition to the above, the control circuit  30  may further include a lights circuit  46 . The sound generator  10  may include a light source or a plurality of light sources such as LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) operatively connected to the lights circuit  46 , which, upon activation of the sound generator  10 , flashes in different colors and/or patterns. The lights display may be configured to operate alone or in sync with the sounds emitting from the speaker  32 . In this manner, the sound generator  10  provides both aural and visual impact to the recipient of the adornment. 
         [0019]    In the preferred embodiment, the sound generator  10  includes the manual switch  34 . However, the sound generator  10  may also include other types of switches, such as a motion sensor  40  that operates in conjunction with or separately from the manual switch  34  to activate the sound generator  10 . 
         [0020]    It is to be understood that the sound generator  10  includes a variety of alternatives. For example, the power source  38  for the sound generator  10  may be a battery embedded in the control circuit means  30 . However, power may also be supplied via external sources such as an outlet or an external battery pack. Moreover, the housing may include a removable frame wherein the user may place photos. Alternatively, the removable frame may be replaced with an electronic display, e.g., an LCD panel, for displaying the photos. 
         [0021]    It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims.