US184847A - Improvement in toys - Google Patents

Description

T. A. CURTIS.

TQYS.

Patenged Nov. 28,1876.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

TriEoDoEE A. ounTis, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN TOYS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 1 845847, dated November 28, 1876; application filed September 18,1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THEODORE A. CURTIS, of Springfield, in the State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Boxes for 'Merchandise; and that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

My invention relates to a box for containing dry merchandise of any kind, its object being to assist in the removal or placement of a tight-fitting cover, and to use the box as .a toy, after the merchandise is removed therefrom; and it consists of a cylindrical-shaped box, open at the top, and having a series of elongated narrow apertures made vertically in the upper part, combined with a cover to close the open end of the box, and also combined with a plug having a hole therein, secured in the center of the bottom of the box, so that a wire or pivot being inserted into said plug from below, the box, with strips, having pictures or figures printed thereon placed inside, may be rotated upon the pivot to furnish amusement, as will be more fully hereinafter described.

Figure I is avertical central section of my invention, with the cover on, and arranged for use to contain merchandise, and Fig. IT is a central vertical section of the same, showing the wire or pivot inserted in the plug, the cover removed from the box, and the latter arranged to be rotated and used as a toy.

In the drawings, A represents a cylindrical box, provided with the narrow vertical apertures b 1) near the top, and at suitable dis tances apart, and with the plug D, secured to the center of the bottom inside, with a cylindrical hole made in the bottom of the box, and extending up into the plug nearly to the top, as shown atf. A small wire, 0, is made of the proper size to be inserted into the holef of the plug D, and for convenience in handling, and preventing the wire from getting lost, I secure it in a conical piece, 0, and attach the piece to the inside of the cover B at its center, both the piece 0 and the plug D being best secured in place by glue, or other similar adhesive substance.

This box, of the form herein shown, is quite suitable to contain collars and similar goods,

and when the collars are rolled together and tated sufficiently'fast to give the pictures the appearance of moving, and to do this successfully the series of pictures should be printed in successive stages of the movement it is desired to represent. For example, to represent the figure of a man walking, the first picture on the strip might show the man with the right foot 011 the ground, the next with the same foot a little advanced, and so on until the middle picture showed the step taken with the right foot. The next picture would show the left foot lifted, and so on, until the last would show the step taken with the left foot. As these pictures have heretofore been made, they need no particular description.

Some prefer that the apertures shall be exposed below the cover to attract attention, when the boxes are placed on the shelf, and thereby serve as an advertisement. Others prefer that the apertures be made a little higher, or the rim of the cover shut down a little lower, and completely close the apertures, and more perfectly preserve the goods inside from injury from the dust which might otherwise get in.

In either case, however, the apertures are a manifest advantage, as in many cases the boxes being made air-tight, and the cover being made to fit the box tightly, it is oftentimes difficult to put on the cover, and being once on itis equally difficult to remove it, owing to the air not being able to pass out or in snfficiently fast between the cover and the box.

This arrangement of the apertures entirely obviates this difficulty, as the air is perfectly free to pass out or in through the apertures, and the cover is put on the box or is removed with great ease, and very quickly.

I am aware that a cylinder provided with and perforated plug D, arranged to be rotated. slots has heretofore been arranged to be turned upon pivot e, in combination with cover B, to upon a pivot to exhibit pictures placed thereform a combined toy and box, substantially in, and I do not claim the same, nor any part as and for the purpose described.

thereof; but THEODORE A. CURTIS.

Having described my invention, what I Witnesses: claim as new isr J AMES ABBE,

The cylinder A, provided with apertures I), G. H. BLANDEN.

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