Floating Water Toy

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/732,048, filed on Jul. 8, 2024, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to toys. More specifically, the invention relates to a floating water toy for children.

STATEMENT OF THE PRIOR ART

Water toys are common items used by children during, for example, bathing or swimming. These water toys may be designed to float while others may be designed to sink. Floating water toys have been designed in many configurations over the years to provide interesting new forms of amusement. These toys often resemble animals and common themes include frogs, dolphins and bears.

Bath toys have been disclosed in the past. One such example is disclosed in a United Stated granted U.S. Pat. No. 8,956,196, entitled “Mini-shower bath toy for single-handed adult use and double-handed child play” (“the '196 patent”). The '196 patent discloses a bath apparatus for play and/or bathing having a reservoir, a plurality of substantially co-planar bottom release holes, and a top control aperture. Upon submerging the bath toy, water flows into the reservoir through the release holes as air escapes through the control aperture. When the control aperture is sealed with a thumb or finger and the toy is raised from the water, water in the reservoir is retained in the reservoir. When the control aperture is unsealed, water in the reservoir flows out through the release holes. The control aperture is offset from the top of the reservoir by approximately 12° to be ergonomically located and oriented to allow a thumb to produce an airtight seal when the reservoir is held in a single adult-size hand, or to allow a finger to produce an airtight seal when the reservoir is held by child-size hands in both hands.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention concerns a water toy for children that floats and combines features of a human with an animal. In one aspect of the invention, the toy has two parts, one with animal features and another with human features. The animal features are separable from the human features. If a child has several of the toys, they can mix and match to create new characters. There is a diverse group of both animals and humans so that a child with several toys can create a large number of different characters. One or both of the parts of the toy are fabric covered for easy cleaning and fast drying. The fabric can be removed to allow for washing in a washing machine.

Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a water toy that uses human and animal features.

It is another object of the invention to provide a water toy that has a fabric covering.

It is another object of the invention to provide a water toy that has interchangeable human and animal parts.

It is another object of the invention to provide a water toy having a removable, washable fabric covering.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the inventive water toy.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a second embodiment of the inventive water toy.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a third embodiment of the inventive water toy.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a fourth embodiment of the inventive water toy.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a fifth embodiment of the inventive water toy.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to FIGS. 1-5 the inventive toy, generally indicated by the numeral 10 in FIG. 1, is shown. The invention, which is a floating toy, is in the form of a half man/half animal creature having varying ethnic appearances. For example, the toy 10 can be a half man, half tiger where the man has an Asian appearance, or half deer half woman where the woman has a Scandinavian appearance. The toys are made to appear “ethnic” by way of facial features, skin tone, clothing, etc.

A key aspect of the invention is that the toy 10 can float in water. To that end, the main body 12 of the toy 10, which be made of rigid or semi-rigid plastic material, is hollow. Fabric is used to cover the toy 10, the fabric being appropriate for a particular ethnicity/culture. Alternatively, the toy 10 may be made completely of fabric, the fabric being water resistant and inflatable by way of an interior bladder or the like. If made of fabric, the fabric is a quick drying material, which may be treated to prevent the formation of mold or mildew. The FIG. 10 are designed so that when floating they are normally upright, this being easily accomplished by one of skill in the art by weighting or adjusting the center of mass. Referring now to FIG. 4, the face 11 and upper body 13 of the toy 10 should always be above water when floating except as noted below, with at least enough of the animal part above water so that it is identifiable.

In another aspect of the invention, the toy 10 is washable. The fabric is washable so that it can be washed in a washing machine. The toy 10 may have a removable fabric cover or outfit 13 which can be placed in a machine, the outfit 13 covering an inflatable bladder 15. If the entire toy 10 is made of fabric, it can be placed in a machine for washing, with the toy being optionally deflatable for this purpose. The fabric cover 13 may have hook and loop fastening material 17 positioned at various places thereon in the form of small rectangular patches, the material 17 allowing for the attachment of weighting material 19, which can be used to affect which part of the toy 10 is above water.

In another aspect of the invention, the toy 10 is separable, the human half 18 from the animal half 20. This can be done in several ways. First, hook and loop fasteners (e.g., Velcro®) or other fasteners 17 may be used. The Velcro fasteners 17 may be positioned so that they are not visible when the toy is fully assembled. This can also be accomplished by clothing/fabric 14 that covers the intersection of the two halves, with part of the clothing material overlapping the patch 17 as would be apparent to one of skill in the art. With this arrangement, the user may mix and match animal/human parts to create new and interesting characters.

In another aspect of the invention, the toy 10 can be selectively weighted to position a desired part of the toy 10 above water when floating. To that end a weighting material, which may be a metal slug 19, is placed on the toy 10. The slug is surround by fabric or other material with hook and loop fastening material positioned thereon. The portion of the toy 10 with the slug 19 will be underwater. Referring again to FIG. 4, if slugs 19 are placed on patches 17 positioned on the toy's 10 feet, the toy will float with the head and torso 22 above water. If the slug is placed on the abdomen 24, the wings will be above water.

In another aspect of the invention, different animal types are matched to different human ethnic groups. Referring particularly to FIG. 5, a human of African ancestry is matched to an African lion. Thus, there is a pairing of human with animals with which they are regionally associated with. So there can be a pairing of, e.g., an arab person with a camel or a Chinese person with a panda. Of course, humans can be paired with animals from other geographic regions in keeping with the spirit and scope of the invention.

From the foregoing description, one skilled in the art can easily ascertain the essential characteristics of this invention and, without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, can make various changes and modifications of the invention to adapt it to various usages and conditions.