Patent Document

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   Not Applicable. 
   STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
   Not Applicable. 
   REFERENCE TO MICROFICHE APPENDIX 
   Not Applicable. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   Field of the Invention 
   This invention is a snowball forming and throwing toy for use by people of all ages. It is, however, generally a toy for use by children. 
   Snowball forming and throwing toys have been known in the past. Such toys generally provide an elongate tubular handle that is closed at one end and flared to an enlarged, smooth bore, open-ended cup. In use the handle is grasped and the enlarged open end is pushed into snow so that snow is compacted into the enlarged cup. The compacted snow is then discharged from the enlarged open end towards a target, or for a desired distance, by the user grasping the handle and whipping the enlarged end to a desired direction for flight of the snowball emerging from the enlarged open end. 
   It is well recognized that a solid snowball, and particularly one made of heavy wet or slushy snow compacted into the flared, smooth bore, open end cup of a snowball forming and throwing toy, is more likely to injure a person hit by the projected snowball than will a projected snowball that is more loosely packed. It has been found that a cup bore having both a properly patterned portion and a smooth portion will result in an otherwise dangerously hard packed snowball partially breaking apart as it discharges from the toy and during flight. The breaking snowball travels towards a target, while retaining sufficient mass and collective shape, to less dangerously impact the target. 
   Snowballs that are formed and firmly packed into the flared open cup end of a snowball forming toy by insertion of the flared open cup end into accumulated snow, are best controlled during discharge by releasing compressed air from the handle of the toy during snowball forming; preventing air flow into the handle during initial throwing action, and permitting the air to flow into the hollow handle when it is desired to release the snowball from the cup. 
   In using snowball forming and throwing toys in the past, the accuracy of thrown snowballs has been affected by the reduced pressure developed in the hollow, tubular handle as the packed snowball is discharged by a throwing motion. Better throwing accuracy is achieved if a snowball is retained until it is discharged at a selected time during the throwing motion by equalizing pressure in front and behind the snowball. 
   OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
   Principal objects of the snowball forming and throwing toy are to form a packed snowball and to release the packed snowball as safely and accurately as possible. 
   Other objects are to provide a snowball forming and throwing toy that will break up dangerously formed snowballs that might otherwise injure a person hit by such a snowball. At the same time, it is an object to provide a toy that will allow softer packed snow to retain a ball shape when projected. 
   Still another object is to provide a snowball forming and throwing toy that will allow a formed snowball to be quickly released at a chosen time during the throwing movement of the toy. 
   FEATURES OF THE INVENTION 
   Principal features of the invention include an elongate tubular handle opening at one end into a flared snowball forming cup. 
   The forming cup has a patterned portion with lands and grooves therein that will break up icy snowballs formed in the cup and that will have little effect on softer snowballs. A smooth base portion of the inner wall of the cup is flared slightly outward to direct all broken up parts of a discharging snowball into the same direction as the snowball flies from the cup. 
   Other features of the invention include control holes that are used to control air flow into and out of the hollow handle, and a plug to be selectively inserted into the holes during forming and throwing of snowballs. The holes serve an additional function of allowing the toy to be used as a bugle-type snow maker. For this purpose a hole in the end of the handle opposite to the cup opens to a flared opening in a knob at the flared opening to provide proper positioning of a user&#39;s lips during bugling. 
   Additional objects and features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains from the following detailed description, drawings and claims. 

   
     THE DRAWINGS 
     In the Drawings 
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a snowball forming and throwing toy of the invention, with the travel paths of the tethered plug shown with broken lines; 
       FIG. 2 , a front elevation view with the plug inserted in the hole in the side wall of the handle; 
       FIG. 3 , a bottom plan view; 
       FIG. 4 , a top plan view; 
       FIG. 5 , a vertical section, taken on the line  5 - 5  of  FIG. 1 ; 
       FIG. 6 , an enlarged fragmentary central section through the handle end of the toy, with the plug inserted into the hole at the end of the handle remote from the cup; 
       FIG. 7 , a view like that of  FIG. 5 , but with the plug inserted into the side wall of the handle; 
       FIG. 8 , a pictorial view showing the toy in use for snowball throwing; and 
       FIG. 9 , a view like that of  FIG. 7 , showing the toy in use for bugling. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
   Referring now the Drawings 
   In the presently preferred embodiment of the invention, the toy, shown generally at  10 , includes an elongate hollow handle  12  with an enlarged flared cup  14  formed at one end. A knob  16  is formed at the opposite end of the handle. 
   Cup  14  has a smooth inner bore wall exit portion  16  that extends from the outermost edge  18  of the cup interiorly to a patterned inner wall portion shown generally at  20 . Patterned wall portion  20  extends between the exit portion  16  and a smooth bore  22  of a flared section  24  that interconnects cup  14  and handle  12 . 
   The patterned inner wall portion  20  consists of a series of spaced apart grooves  28 , each extending from the top edge  26  of the patterned portion  20  to a bottom edge  30  of the patterned portion. Spaced apart grooves  32  are formed to extend around the interior of cup  14  and within the patterned portion  20 . Lands  34  are formed between the intersecting grooves  28  and  32  and each of the lands  24  projects slightly inwardly, into cup  14  from the inner wall of the cup. 
   It has been found that when a hard-packed, and particularly when an icy or slushy snowball is formed in cup  14 , it will be thrown from the cup, as will be further explained. The patterned portion  20  somewhat loosens and breaks up the outer surface of the snowball that has been packed into the grooves and around the lands, as the snowball slides from the grooves and past the lands. This reduces the possibility of injury to a person hit by the thrown snowball. The smooth inner bore wall portion  16  directs all broken pieces of a thrown snowball to maintain all pieces of the thrown snowball in a somewhat looser, but still collective mass. A desired degree of accuracy is maintained during flight of the formed snowball, even though the density of the thrown snowball has been reduced during release from the patterned portion  20 . The lands and intersecting grooves of the patterned portion  20  are not intended to, and do not fully break up a packed snowball discharged from cup  14 . Rather, the lands and intersecting grooves loosen snow only at the surface of the snowball. The loosened material does not then fall away from the snowball, but instead is made to follow the path of the smaller central mass of the snowball, being directed by the smooth inner bore wall portion  16 , through which the snowball passes immediately before discharge. 
   Handle  12  is hollow and is made sufficiently long to allow a user to grasp the handle by one or both hands. The end of the handle remote from cup  14  preferably is formed with spaced apart rings  40  to limit sliding of the handle from the grasping hand of a user. 
   A hole  42  extends through the wall  44  of handle  12 . 
   The knob  16  formed at the end of handle remote from cup  14  extends outwardly of the handle wall  44  to provide a stop that will prevent the handle from slipping from the grasp of a user. The knob has a concave inner wall surface  48  that extends from a rim  50  of the knob to the bottom  54  of the handle. A hole  56  extends through the bottom of the handle and interconnects the hollow interior of the handle with the concave surface  40  of the knob. 
   A tapered plug  62  projects from a backing surface  64 , and the backing surface  64  is connected by a tether line  66  to an ear  68  projecting outwardly from the knob  16 . One end of the tether line  66  is tied through a hole  70  in the backing surface  64  and the other end of the tether line is tied through the ear  68 . The tether line  66  is sufficiently long to allow the small end of tapered plug  62  to be selectively inserted into either hole  42  or the hole  56  so that the inserted plug seals the holes. 
   In using the toy  10 , plug  62  is selectively inserted into hole  42  or hole  56 , or is removed from both holes to be held by the tether line  66 . 
   During forming and throwing of a snowball, the cup  14  is inserted, open end first into snow until the snow is packed in the cup. The toy  10  is grasped by handle  44  and the user swings the toy in an arc in the manner in which a person swings a tennis racquet. The snowball is frictionally held in the cup until the momentum of the snowball causes it to fly from the cup. The lands  34  and grooves  28  and  32  of the patterned portion  20  of the cup inner wall serve to initially fractionally hold the formed snowball in the cup and to break up the outer surface of the snowball as the snowball slides from the cup. The smooth portion  12  of the inner surface of the cup then directs material loosened from the outer surface of the snowball to fly along with and in the same direction as the center mass of the snowball, as has been previously described. 
   By inserting plug  62  into hole  56  before swinging the toy to discharge the formed snowball, i.e., either before or after formation of the snowball, the toy is readied to provide a controlled vacuum in the handle as the ball is released. The controlled vacuum is achieved by the user placing a thumb or finger over the hole  42  prior to swinging the toy to discharge the snowball. The thumb or finger is then released as the toy is pointed in the general direction of a target, or at an optimum point in the arc of the swing to obtain maximum distance of the discharged snowball. 
   Better control of the discharging snowball is thus obtained by closing of the hole  56  with the plug  62 , and then closing hole  42  until it is reopened to achieve a desired flight path of the snowball  72 . 
   As shown in  FIG. 9 , with plug  62  removed from both holes  56  and  42 , the user can also use the toy  10  as a “bugle”. In so using the toy, the user&#39;s lips are placed against the rim  50  of knob  16  and the user blows through the hole  56 , handle  12  and cup  14  to provide a discharging sound. The sound pitch is varied by selectively opening or closing the hole  42  with a finger. 
   The toy  10  serves as a safer snowball forming and throwing toy with improved throwing control and may also serve as a noise maker having a controlled bugle sound. The toy is preferably molded of plastic, or the like. 
   Although a preferred form of my invention has been herein disclosed, it is to be understood that the present disclosure is by way of example and that variations are possible without departing from the subject matter coming within the scope of the following claims, which subject matter I regard as my invention.

Technology Category: 1