...that the Eveready Battery began as an invention called the "electric flowerpot," which was a tube with a battery and light bulb inside? The idea was to fasten this gizmo to the side of a flowerpot so it would illuminate the flowers from the bottom. The idea died on the vine and the businessman who licensed the flower pot, Conrad Huber, was left with a pile of useless tubes -- until he found a way to market them as batteries to light the world!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7905760 | Robot toy and assembling method thereof A robot toy including: a first block including a servo; a second block connected to the first block by fitting an output shaft of the servo into a boss; and a servo control section. The servo is provided with, a first disk to rotate with the output shaft; a second d... | 03/15/2011 |
| 7537506 | Toy figure adapted to transfer an object Toy figures having a moveable appendage, an object associated with the toy figure at a first position, and a transfer mechanism configured to couple the moveable appendage with the object, and transfer the object to a second position on the figure. ... | 05/26/2009 |
| 7435153 | Articulating companion doll A companion doll for use in either a patrol car to give the illusion of the presence of an additional officer or for home companion use has a human-like appearance and has several components that articulate including a head that turns, upper and lower arms that rais... | 10/14/2008 |
| 7422506 | Cartwheeling character A cartwheeling toy including an upper assembly including a torso with rigid arms and hands extending therefrom. A lower assembly including legs and a motor means for moving the assembles relative to each other to move the toy into a headstand and then return it to i... | 09/09/2008 |
| 7407426 | Actuation device for toy An actuation device is provided herein to give self-acting toys more lively and appealing moves. The major characteristic of the present invention lies in that a motor is used to drive a gear assembly which in turn drives a gear on top of the gear assembly to rotate... | 08/05/2008 |
| 7364489 | Electromechanical toy A toy includes a body, a motor within the body, an appendage coupled to the body of the toy, a tail device coupled to the body of the toy, and a neck device coupled to the body of the toy. The appendage is actuated by the motor to move along a first path. The tail d... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7356951 | Inflatable dancing toy with music An inflatable toy may include a housing, a balloon-like structure, a blower mechanism, a drive mechanism, and a motor. The balloon-like structure may include a base, an inflatable portion, and an inlet. The base and the inflatable portion may define an air storage a... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7338341 | Dancing toy An animated toy effectively mimics human dance steps such as the Hokey Pokey with upper and lower halves of the torso pivoting about a diagonal waist laterally upwardly sloping to the left so that a left arm may be put forward and back. A spin/shake drive mechanism ... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7264534 | Toys with driven characters Toys for infants in the form of soothers, mobiles, swings, and gyms are provided with a housing, at least one character carried by the housing for movement relative to the housing, the at least one character having a body and at least one appendage that is carried b... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7258591 | Mobile roly-poly-type apparatus and method The present invention generally relates to apparatuses having some characteristic(s) of traditional “roly-poly” toys, which are traditional passive toys that, when struck, wobble about their typically-rounded base but stay upright due to bottom-heavy weighting. ... | 08/21/2007 |
| 7246569 | Electronic predator replica An electronic predator replica is disclosed for controlling pests, particularly unwanted birds, in a specific area. The predator replica may be an electronic owl. The replica senses motion by one or more of a plurality of spaced motion sensors, and the predator head... | 07/24/2007 |
| 7217171 | Toy with moving head A toy with a moving head has a seat, a front and a rear support respectively mounted on the seat, and a gear box provided between the front and rear supports. A series of gears and a series of actuating wheels are rotatably mounted in the gearbox. A first motor is c... | 05/15/2007 |
| 7207860 | Interactive dispensing amusement device The present invention provides an interactive robotic device having a body, a transport mechanism, a drive mechanism, a plurality of inputs and outputs for receiving, delivering and/or displaying information, including aural and/or visual information or signals, a c... | 04/24/2007 |
| 7125311 | Device for positioning a telescopic doll in a packing box A device for positioning a telescopic doll in a packing box includes a telescopic doll and a packing box. The telescopic doll has two feet each with a sole, a seat formed on the sole, and a first hook pivotally mounted on the seat. Two fixed legs respectively extend... | 10/24/2006 |
| 7111905 | Toy cushion for childcare A toy armchair cushioning and entertainment apparatus for use by a caregiver interacting with a child. The apparatus is secured to the chair arm and a caregiver rests his or her arm on or against the apparatus while holding or cradling a child. Moreover, movement an... | 09/26/2006 |
| 7086757 | Formed lighting fixtures An improved formed lighting fixture having a frame, a plurality of bulbs, and a refracting layer, in which the frame is formed by gathering a plurality of rods and profiled in a specific contour, the bulbs are installed on the frame to serve as lighting ornaments, a... | 08/08/2006 |
| 7082710 | Decoy support system A decoy support system for providing animation to existing conventional decoys. The decoy support system includes a housing, a motor, and a mounting bracket pivotally attached to the housing for supporting a decoy in a movable manner. The mounting bracket is mechani... | 08/01/2006 |
| 7077717 | Doll with angled and jointed torso A doll with an angled and/or jointed torso. In some embodiments the doll includes a torso, at least a portion of which is asymmetric about a midline such that an angle formed between a left lateral contour and the midline substantially differs from an angle formed b... | 07/18/2006 |
| 7070521 | Football training device A device which is utilized during practice or other informal situation to teach a football player such as a quarterback or kicker to deliver a football around or over one or preferably a group of linemen. In one embodiment, the device includes a mechanism capable of... | 07/04/2006 |
| 7066782 | Electromechanical toy A toy is configured to closely resemble a live animal and to respond to stimuli in a realistic manner that is consistent with the way in which a real animal would respond. For example, when the toy is designed to resemble a dog or a cat, the toy may be configured to... | 06/27/2006 |
| 7063590 | Doll having adjustable length hair A toy doll has a doll head having an aperture and a doll body supporting the doll head. A tubular member has a first end extending into the doll head proximate the aperture and a second end extending into the doll body. A plug member is movable within the tubular me... | 06/20/2006 |
| 7047835 | Articulated bending mechanism for legged mobile robot and the legged mobile robot An articulated bending mechanism is formed by connecting links which rotatably support a plurality of gears including input-side gears and output-side gears by engaging the gears. Each link rotatably supports an odd number of gears by engaging the gears, and an outp... | 05/23/2006 |
| 7044245 | Toroidal propulsion and steering system An apparatus comprises a body having a torus skin with inner and outer layers, and a drive system configured to propel the apparatus by moving the inner layer relative to the outer layer. The active skin propulsion system allows movement and steering of a device. A ... | 05/16/2006 |
| 7025657 | Electronic toy and control method therefor Electronic toy receives control information via an input interface and stores the received control information in memory. The electronic toy includes at least one sensor for detecting an external stimulus applied to the toy, and control information is read out from ... | 04/11/2006 |
| 7018068 | Shaped lamp hanger A movable animal-like lamp hanger has a body including a first movable portion, a plurality of ornamental lights attached to the body, a motor disposed in the body, a transmission shaft connected to the motor, and a first drive rod pivotally connected to the transmi... | 03/28/2006 |
| 7014525 | Movable toy and movable toy set for the same A movable toy having movable bodies selected from the group consisting of at least a pair of wheels and leg portions which move when driven by a motor provided in the main toy body, wherein there is provided an energization detecting unit comprising at least three e... | 03/21/2006 |
| 6962518 | Motion toy A motion toy is disclosed to have a swinging mechanism adapted to simulate the swinging action of the wings of a bird, the swinging mechanism including a driving module, two swinging arm assemblies symmetrically coupled the driving module at two sides, two endpieces... | 11/08/2005 |
| 6948686 | Constant rate deployment device A spring-based deployment system deploys a mass at a limited velocity. Using techniques common to the art of timepieces, the motion of a gear, like the rotation of a clock's second hand, is controlled to occur at a substantially constant rate. In a preferred embodim... | 09/27/2005 |
| 6939195 | Toy animal with simulated respiration A toy animal formed of molded plastic provides simulated respiration. An aperture in the upper section of the molded plastic animal is covered with a flexible simulated animal pelt. A battery-powered electric motor within the toy animal provides a rotating output wh... | 09/06/2005 |
| 6935919 | Animation device for head, mouth, arms and body of a toy An animation device is provided for generating movements of limbs and extremities of an animated figure. The device includes a single motor coupled to a gear box assembly. A first drive axle, rotatable about a first axis, is coupled to the gear box assembly. A secon... | 08/30/2005 |
| 6926580 | Robotic toy A robotic toy has a pedestal, a first casing assembly, a first transmission device, a mounting shaft assembly and a toy assembly. The pedestal has a speaker and a battery container. The first casing assembly is trunk-like and is mounted on the pedestal. The first tr... | 08/09/2005 |
| 6790119 | Swimming toy animal A toy turtle is provided with a head, a tail, front right and left flippers, and rear right and left flippers extending from a body. A battery driven gear motor within the body causes linkage in the body to drive the front flippers back and forth, propelling the tur... | 09/14/2004 |
| 6769954 | Christmas deer toy capable of moving head, neck, and tail A Christmas deer toy is capable of moving the head, neck, and tail thereof. The body unit, head unit, neck unit, and tail unit are pivotally connected. By a driving unit, the parts can move vividly to simulate the action of an animal. The driving unit includes a mot... | 08/03/2004 |
| 6758001 | Vivid Christmas deer toy A Christmas deer toy is capable of moving the head, neck, and tail thereof. The body unit, head unit, neck unit, and tail unit are pivotally connected. By a driving unit, the parts can move vividly to simulate the action of an animal. The driving unit includes a mot... | 07/06/2004 |
| 6746302 | Windup spring drive unit A windup spring drive unit improving the operability of winding when incorporated in an apparatus such as a toy, and increasing a degree of freedom in design. The windup spring drive unit comprises: a spring 2 as a power source; a windup shaft 3 which ... | 06/08/2004 |
| 6746301 | Bouncing and dancing toy figure A toy character having a body portion and a pair of legs operated by motor operated linkages that are controlled by a microprocessor. The microprocessor functions to move the legs in unison between sitting and standing positions or move the legs in opposite directio... | 06/08/2004 |
| 6736693 | Rolling and standing toy doll A doll that includes a pair legs pivotally attached to a torso. The torso having a front side and backside. A pair of motor mechanisms separately attached to each leg for pivoting the legs forwards and backwards in accordance to a set of pre-programmed positions tha... | 05/18/2004 |
| 6692331 | Vibration mechanism for motion toy The present invention is to provide an improved vibration mechanism for a motion toy, which comprises a seat disposed on a top surface of a frame, two decorative member formed of a flexible bundle of plastic optical fibers and disposed in a pair of roller... | 02/17/2004 |
| 6681150 | Insect robot External state detection device detects an environmental state indicating whether there is an obstacle, external light, or a pheromone signal. On the basis of the detection result, sensor identification unit determining device determines an identifying un... | 01/20/2004 |
| 6672935 | Somersaulting figure The present invention includes a toy figure that is hinged at the waist. The hinged waist permits the figure to pivot or move the top half of the body relative to the bottom half. A control mechanism controls the movement such that the figure will move fr... | 01/06/2004 |