Plush Puzzle Toy

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates in general to a child's plush toy, and, more specifically, to a plush toy having plush appendages releasably secured thereto by hook-and-latch material provided within recesses in the body of the toy.

2. Description of the Prior Art

It is well-known in the art to provide plush toys configured to represent bears, dogs, kittens and other animals. One drawback with such plush toys is the lack of any provision for manipulating the toy or allowing the toy to interchange parts with other similar plush toys to create hybrid toys and stimulate a child's imagination.

While it is known in the art to provide hard plastic toys with interchangeable parts, the hardness of such toys limits their desirability. While it would be desirable to provide a plush toy having such interchangeability, hard materials have heretofore been required to obtain the friction required to prevent interchangeable appendages from inadvertently dislodging from the bodies of the toys. The difficulties encountered hereinabove are substantially eliminated by the present invention.

The present invention comprises a plush toy having a body and an appendage. The body is provided with a recess into which fits a male member of the plush appendage. The male member is of a size capable of fitting into mating alignment with the recess. Securing means, hook-and-latch material in the preferred embodiment, is secured to both the recess and the male member. The securing means allows releasable attachment of the plush appendage to the plush body upon the insertion of the male member into the recess of the plush body. In the preferred embodiment, the recess is of a sufficient depth to hide the hook-and-latch material from view when the male member is secured within the recess of the plush body.

In the preferred embodiment, the plush body is provided with a plurality of recesses and a plurality of appendages. Legs, arms, a tail and a head are provided to fit into recesses, and are secured by the hook-and-latch material. In a preferred embodiment, when the toy is completely assembled, the toy is substantially indistinguishable from a standard plush toy. Additionally, a plush toy of similar construction, but having features of an animal or doll unrelated to the first toy, may be provided. The similar toy is preferably provided with recesses and male members of a similar size to the first toy to allow the interchangeability of parts between the toys. Furthermore, the heads of the toys may be provided with a switch, an audio signal generating means and a speaker to allow the toy to reproduce sounds of an associated animal when the switch is depressed.

FIG. 1 is an exploded front elevation in partial phantom showing the plush toy of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation showing the plush toy of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is the plush toy of FIG. 2 shown with an alternative embodiment face portion connected thereto;

FIG. 4 is a side elevation of an alternative embodiment of the present invention shown with the plush toy in the configuration of a dog; and

FIG. 5 is a side elevation of a plush toy having portions of the preferred embodiment of the present invention releasably secured to portions of the alternative embodiment of the present invention to form a novel plush toy.

With reference to the drawings, a plush toy of the present invention is indicated generally as 10 in FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 1, the plush toy 10 is in the configuration of a tiger and includes a right arm 12, a left arm 14, a right leg 16, a left leg 18, a tail 20, and a head 22.

The plush toy 10 is also provided with a body 24. Provided in the body 24 are a right arm recess 26, a left arm recess 28, a right leg recess 30, a left leg recess 32, a tail recess 34, and a head recess 36. As shown in FIG. 1, the right arm 12 is provided with a paw section 38 and an upper arm section 40. Secured to the upper arm section 40, is a small piece of hook-and-latch material 42 such as Velcro..RTM. As shown in FIG. 1, the right arm recess 26 is provided with dimensions which match the upper arm section 40 of the right arm 12, preferably a four-centimeter diameter cylinder in the preferred embodiment. The right arm recess 26 is also provided with a base 44 to which is secured a portion of hook-and-latch material 46. The left arm 14, right leg 16, left leg 18, tail 20, and head 22 are all similarly constructed to fit into secured mating alignment with their respective recesses 28, 30, 32, 34 and 36.

As shown in FIG. 1, the head 22 is provided with a recess 48 sized to accommodate a male member 50 of a face section 52. Like the rest of the plush toy 10, the face section 52 and male member 50 are preferably plush to eliminate the undesirability of hard edges on the plush toy 10. Similarly, the recess 48 is provided with hook-and-latch material 54 and the male member 50 is also provided with hook-and-latch material 56.

As shown in FIG. 1, provided within the head 22 is a sound generation system 58 for producing audio signals corresponding to the animal represented by the plush toy 10. The sound generation system 58 is provided with a touch switch 60 which, as shown in FIG. 1, is preferably provided near the top of the head 22 to allow activation by depressing the top of the head 22. The touch switch 60 is coupled to a battery pack 62 which, in turn, is coupled to a signal generator preferably incorporated into an integrated circuit chip 64. As shown in FIG. 1, the integrated circuit chip 64 is coupled to a speaker 66 secured to the rear of the head 22 of the plush toy 10.

To operate the plush toy 10, the right arm 12 is inserted into the right arm recess 26, the left arm 14 is inserted into the left arm recess 28, the right leg 16 is inserted into the right leg recess 30, the left leg 18 is inserted into the left leg recess 30, the tail 20 is inserted into the tail recess 34, the head 22 is inserted into the head recess 36, and the male member 50 of the face section 52 is inserted into the recess 48 of the head 22.

When fully assembled, the plush toy 10 appears to be an ordinary plush toy. The plushness of the appendages and body 24 cover and act to hide the connection points between the appendages and the body 24. Additionally, the plushness of the appendages and body 24 eliminate any uncomfortable hard edges or connectors which would be undesirable in such a plush toy 10. Preferably, the recesses and appendages are uniformly sized so that the appendages may be placed within any of the recesses to form a jumbled plush toy 10 which may be then carried or given to someone to reassemble in the correct orientation.

Shown in FIG. 3 is an alternative embodiment of the present invention in which an alternative face section 68 may be inserted into the head 22 to place a different demeanor on the plush toy 10. Shown in FIG. 4 is yet another alternative embodiment of the present invention in which a plush toy 70 is configured in the shape of a dog. The alternative plush toy 70 is provided with a head 72, a pair of fore legs 74, a pair of hind legs 76, a tail 78 and a body 80.

As shown in FIG. 5, the alternative plush toy 70 may be interchangeably connected with the plush toy 10 of the preferred embodiment, wherein the body 80 and hind legs 76 of the alternative plush toy 70 are provided. As shown, the tail 20, right arm 12, and head 22 of the preferred embodiment of the plush toy 10 are secured to the body 80 of the alternative embodiment of the plush toy 70, to create a novel and imaginative toy 82 different from either the preferred embodiment of the plush toy 10 or the alternative embodiment of the plush toy 70. Given the uniformity of the appendages and recesses, the number of different possible combinations for toys is large.

Although the invention has been described with respect to a preferred embodiment thereof, it is to be understood that it is not to be so limited, since changes and modifications can be made therein which are within the full intended scope of this invention as defined by the appended claims. For example, it is anticipated that various styles of plush toys may be created in the form of humans or other various shapes which may be provided with uniform appendages and recesses to be interchanged with one another or with the preferred and alternative embodiments of the present invention noted hereinabove.