US3691671A

US3691671A - Expandable doll house

Info

Publication number: US3691671A
Application number: US105230A
Authority: US
Inventors: Frederick H Kroll
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1971-01-11
Filing date: 1971-01-11
Publication date: 1972-09-19
Anticipated expiration: 1989-09-19

Abstract

A multi-room expandable and contractible doll house includes a plurality of slideably telescoping room-defining sections movable between contracted nesting and extended end-to-end positions. Each section includes a roof formed of upwardly converging top panels, a floor panel, a rear panel and an inner end panel, corresponding longitudinal panels of adjacent sections being slideably engageable. At least one longitudinal slot is formed in each rear wall and a headed pin is fixed proximate the inner edge of each rear wall and engages the slot in an adjacent wall to limit the outward movement of the sections to slightly overlapping end-to-end positions. The outer edge of each section is provided with a depending flange which terminate at a common level.

Description

United States Patent Kroll 154] EXPANDABLE DOLL HOUSE [72] Inventor: Frederick H. Kroll, 72 Wood Hollow Lane, New Rochelle, NY. 10804 [22] Filed: Jan. 11, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 105,230

FOREIGN PATENTS QR APPL1CAT1( N S a Australia ..220/8 51 Sept. 12, 1972 Primary Examiner-F. Barry Shay Attorney-William R. Liberman [5 7] ABSTRACT A multi-room expandable and contractible doll house includes a plurality of slideably telescoping roomdefining sections movable between contracted nesting and extended end-to-end positions. Each section includes a roof formed of upwardly converging top panels, a floor panel, a rear panel and an inner end panel, corresponding longitudinal panels of adjacent sections being slideably engageable. At least one longitudinal slot is formed in each rear wall and a headed pin is fixed proximate the inner edge of each rear wall and engages the slot in an adjacent wall to limit the outward movement of the sections to slightly overlapping end-to-end positions. The outer edge of each section is provided with a depending flange which terminate at a common level.

4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures EXPANDABLE DOLL HOUSE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION and bulky device which occupies a large amount of space and is accordingly highly inconvenient. Many forms of collapsible doll houses have been proposed but these likewise possess numerous. drawbacks and disadvantages. They are generally complicated, difficult and time consuming to erect and collapse, usually require a degree of skill not possessed by the child and otherwise leave much to be desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is a principal object of the present invention to provide an improved doll house.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved collapsible and expandable multi-room doll house.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improved doll house which may be easily and rapidly collapsed to a compactcondition and expanded to its extended condition and which obviates the need for separable connectors and fasteners.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a structure of the above nature characterized by its ruggedness, simplicity, ease of use, adaptability, attractive appearance and low cost.

Theabove and other objects of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing which illustrates a preferred embodiment thereof.

In a sense, the present invention contemplates the provision of a collapsible doll house comprising a plurality of slideably telescoping successively smaller sections relatively longitudinally movable between an extended end-to-end position and a contracted collapsed condition wherein each of said sections nests in the next successive larger section, each of said sections comprising a bottom wall above the level of and slideable along the bottom wall of the adjacent larger section, a top wall below the level of and slideable along the top wall of the adjacent larger section, a rear wall extending between said top and bottom wall and disposed forwardly of and slideably along the rear wall of the adjacent larger section, and an end wall extending between said top and bottom walls and slidably registering with the adjacent larger sections, the front of each of said sections being open to provide access thereto.

According to a preferred form of the improved doll house of the present invention, each doll house section,

except the smallest, has a longitudinal slot formed in its rear wall, the slots in adjacent walls being vertically offset, and each of the rear walls, except that of the largest section, has affixed thereto a headed pin whose shank slideably engages the slot in an adjacent rear wall, thereby to prevent the separation of the house sections while permitting their relative longitudinal movement.

A flange depends from the outer end edge of each house section except the largest and the flanges have bottom edges coplanar with the bottom wall of the largest house section. The smallest house section is provided with end walls at opposite ends thereof.

The improved doll house is collapsed merely by telescoping the several house sections into mutually nested positions and it is expanded merely by extending the house sections to the limit permitted by the interfitting slots and follower pins.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred form of device constructed according to and embodying the present invention, and illustrated in expanded condition;

FIG. 2 is a rear elevation view thereof;

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of the device in collapsed, telescoped condition; and

FIG. 4 is an end elevation view, partly n section, of the collapsed, telescoped device.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The doll house of the present invention is indicated generally by reference numeral 10, and includes a number of sections or individual room members, as base or main room 12, intermediate rooms l4, 16, I8 and end room 20. Main room 12, as indeed all rooms, may be and preferably is formed as a unit, by moulding or casting of any suitable thermo-setting or thermo-plastic. Room 12 includes an outer end wall 30, rear wall 32, floor 34 and ceiling roof 36. Ceiling roof 36 may be provided with a decorative chimney element 38, projecting upwardly from the peak 40 of roof 36. It will be readily understood, however, that the precise shape of the roof maybe altered without departing from the spirit of the invention. Roof 36, at the front thereof, includes a downwardly extended flange or edge 42, the reason for the presence of which will be developed below. There is no front wall to room 12, nor is there any front wall provided for any other of the rooms, thereby to provide ready access to the interiors thereof for the placement of miniature furniture and furnishing elements and the like.

The adjacent room 14 is similarly shaped, but of such size and dimension as telescopically to nest and fit closely within room 12 when the house is collapsed into the position of FIGS. 3 and 4. Thus, room 14 includes a side wall 50, rear wall 52, floor 54 and ceiling roof 56, corresponding in shape to the side wall 30, rear wall 32, floor 34 and roof 36 of room 12. Roof 56 is provided with a downwardly extending edge 58, the frontal aspect of which is the same height as the rear face of edge 42 extending downwardly from the roof portion of room 12. It will be appreciated that a complete room, except for the open front, will be defined by

side walls

30, 50, floor 34, rear wall 32 and ceiling roof 36, side wall 50 serving as the leading wall of room 12 and side wall 30 serving as the trailing wall thereof. The leading end of room 14 is provided with a downwardly extended foot portion 44, the height of which is equal to the thickness of floor 34 so that, when the rooms are extended to the position of FIGS. 1 and 2, the floors will be at the same horizontal level.

In like manner, the leading edge of each of the

successive rooms

16, 18 and 20 is provided with a foot as 64, 74 and 84 respectively of progressively increased height so that all room floors will be perfectly horizontal although at successively higher levels with respect to the room immediately preceding each thereof.

Room 16 is defined by a side wall 60, a floor 62, a rear wall 66 and a ceiling roof 68. Room 18 is defined by'a side wall 70, a floor 72, a rear wall 76 and a ceiling roof 78. Each of

rooms

12, 14, 16 and 18 have one integral side wall, the opposite side wall being provided by the trailing wall of the next adjacent room. The foremost or leading room 20, however, has both side walls as integral parts thereof, being made up of

side walls

80, 81, floor 82, rear wall 86 and ceiling roof 88, foot 84 being extended downwardly in line as a part of the leading wall 88. As seen in FIGS. 1 and 4, each ceiling roof but leading room 20 is provided with a downwardly extended forward edge as 42, 58, 69 and 79, the extensions being of successively shorter height, as shown. Thus each room is guided between the floor, rear wall and the extensions, thereby to retain the rooms against rocking movement about the pin and slot connections.

Means are provided to retain the individual rooms in collapsible and extensible relation so that when the leading room 20 is drawn outward of the nested rooms, it will draw the next room 18 out with it, room 18 will draw room 16 and room 16 will draw room 14. This is achieved by providing each of the back walls of

rooms

12, 14, 16 and 18 with a longitudinal, horizontal slot or track as 90, closed at its ends, or with a pair of longitudinal, horizontal slots or tracks as 91. Back wall 32 of room 12 is provided with slots or tracks 91, 91, extending from side to side of wall 32, the tracks being vertically spaced.

A pair of vertically spaced follower-defining guide pins 94 are affixed to and project rearwardly from the inner edge of wall 52 into sliding registry with corresponding slots 91 in wall 32. Each pin 94 includes an end section 96 of reduced diameter secured to wall 52, an enlarged intermediate section 98 slideably engaging a respectiveslot 91 and an enlarged flat head 100 slideably engaging the rear face of wall 32 bordering slot 91. Similarly, a guide pin 102 is affixed to the inner border of rear wall 66 and slideably engages slot 90 in rear wall 52, a pair of guide pins 104 are affixed to the inner border of rear wall 76 and slideably engage respective slots 91 in rear wall 66, and a guide pin 106 is affixed to the inner border of rear wall 86 and slideably engages slot 90 in rear wall 76.

Guide pins

94, 102, 104, and 106 are of similar construction and shallow longitudinal grooves are formed in the front faces of

rear walls

32, 52 and 66 registering with the paths of the enlarged heads of

guide pins

102, 104 and 106 to permit the free longitudinal movement thereof. It should be noted that the guide slots in adjacent rear walls are relatively vertically offset as are the guide pins.

Considering now the operation of the improved doll house 10, in its fully extended position only the adjacent peripheral borders of

adjacent rooms

12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 are in telescoping overlapping condition, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, further extension of the house being prevented by the interfitting guide pins and slots. All the rooms are thus of maximum volume and are accessible through the front openings thereto. The house may be rested in a level condition on a suitable level surface by the depending

foot pieces

44, 64, 74 and 84 and floor wall 34. To collapse house 10 to its fully compact condition as illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, the

end walls

81 and 40 are merely contracted or pushed toward each other to telescope the room members into fully nesting positions. It should be noted that if desired, only selected rooms may be collapsed or extended, or that selected rooms may be partially collapsed or extended by correspondingly manipulating respective room sections.

While there has been described and illustrated a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is apparent that numerous alterations, omissions and additions may be made without departing from the spirit thereof.

1 claim:

1. A collapsible doll house comprising a plurality of slideably telescoping successively smaller sections relatively longitudinally movable between an extended end-to-end position and a contracted collapsed condition wherein the largest section comprises a bottom wall, a top wall, a rear wall and an end wall, and wherein each of said smaller sections nests in the next successive larger section, each of said smaller sections comprising a bottom wall above the level of and slideable along the bottom wall of the adjacent larger section, a top wall below the level of and slideable along the top wall of the adjacent larger section, a rear wall extending between said top and bottom walls and disposing forwardly of and slideable along the front face of the rear wall of the adjacent larger section, and an end wall extending between said top and bottom walls and slideably registering with the adjacent larger section, the fronts of a plurality of said sections being open to provide access thereto, including means interconnecting successive sections and means to maintain the bottom walls of all the smaller sections parallel to the bottom wall of the largest section both when the smaller sections are telescoped within the largest section and when the smaller sections are in the extended end-toend position.

2. The collapsible doll house of claim 1 wherein each of said smaller sections is provided with means for maintaining said house in level condition, said latter means including a depending foot piece at the bottom of the outer end of each smaller section, said foot pieces increasing in height with the decreasing size of said sections and terminating at their bottoms at a common level.

3. The collapsible doll house of claim 2 wherein said foot pieces comprise transversely extending depending flanges.

4. The collapsible doll house of claim 1 including flanges depending from the front edges of said top walls of all of said sections greater than the smallest section, the flanges of adjacent sections being in mutual slideable engagement and terminating at their free ends at a common level both when the smaller sections are telescoped within the largest section and when the smaller sections are in the extended end-to-end position.

Claims

1. A collapsible doll house comprising a plurality of slideably telescoping successively smaller sections relatiVely longitudinally movable between an extended end-to-end position and a contracted collapsed condition wherein the largest section comprises a bottom wall, a top wall, a rear wall and an end wall, and wherein each of said smaller sections nests in the next successive larger section, each of said smaller sections comprising a bottom wall above the level of and slideable along the bottom wall of the adjacent larger section, a top wall below the level of and slideable along the top wall of the adjacent larger section, a rear wall extending between said top and bottom walls and disposing forwardly of and slideable along the front face of the rear wall of the adjacent larger section, and an end wall extending between said top and bottom walls and slideably registering with the adjacent larger section, the fronts of a plurality of said sections being open to provide access thereto, including means interconnecting successive sections and means to maintain the bottom walls of all the smaller sections parallel to the bottom wall of the largest section both when the smaller sections are telescoped within the largest section and when the smaller sections are in the extended end-to-end position.