BASE WITH INTERCHANGEABLE TICKET HOLDER DOLLS

Abstract

A system and device for holding and displaying parking tickets including a base that is placed on or securely mounted onto a vehicle's dashboard or glass, and at least one toy or doll, which is preferably a bobblehead doll having a clip or other securing means, secured in the base. When the vehicle operator pays for parking and obtains a parking ticket, the operator secures the ticket in the clip or other securing means of the bobblehead doll, so that the parking ticket does not become lost or dislodged and the time remaining is visible from outside by the traffic officers checking parking tickets.

Description

[0001] This patent application claims priority to provisional patent application Ser. No. 62/008,403, filed on Jun. 5, 2014, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

[0002] This invention was not made pursuant to any federally-sponsored research and/or development.

THE FIELD OF INVENTION

[0003] The system and device of the present invention relate to functional novelty dolls, particularly interchangeable dolls enabled to hold parking tickets so that they are visible to traffic officers. The interchangeable dolls are used with a base mounted or positioned on or about the dashboard of a vehicle, under the windshield.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0004] In-vehicle toys and dolls are loved by the adults as much as children. Many dolls are specifically designed for vehicles or moving vehicles, such as dolls utilizing suction cups to be mounted on the interior of the vehicle glass, including under the front or back windshield, and bobblehead dolls, such as people, animals, and the like. Whenever the vehicle moves or is experiencing any measurable vibration, the toys move, or the bobbleheads nod, providing the vehicle occupants with endless entertainment. Certain individuals assemble entire collections of these toys or dolls in their vehicles, and, indeed, the collectability factor is an important reason why individuals collect such toys, giving others such toys and dolls as gifts and souvenirs.

[0005] Other variations of such toys and dolls include occupation-specific dolls (i.e., doctor or policeman), dolls that represent sports teams, actors or politicians, dolls that represent a particular cat or dog breed (i.e., Chihuahua), movie, comic book or cartoon characters (such as zombies), holiday-themed dolls, special edition dolls, and dolls with compartments to hold pictures or photographs. Other variations known in the art include electrical actuators to provide movement for such toys and dolls, including actuators powered by batteries or solar panels.

[0006] In addition to the entertainment and collectability factor of these toys and dolls, it is desirable to have these toys and dolls perform necessary in-vehicle functions, such as holding and displaying a parking ticket issued by a parking meter machine, including municipal parking meters that accept coins, cards, and credit cards. If these tickets are simply left on the dashboard, under the windshield, as they frequently are left, they may become displaced or dislodged, or even be blown off the dashboard by the air gust from a closing door.

[0007] Another problem that exists with simply leaving parking tickets on the dashboard in hot weather is that, when the dashboard is especially hot, it may react with the paper and the ink used to print the ticket, and the ticket becomes dark and unreadable shortly after being placed on the dashboard. Because of these numerous problems, the ticket cannot be observed by the traffic officer even though the vehicle operator paid for parking, which results in the issuance of an expensive parking violation citation.

[0008] The present invention solves this problem by securely holding the parking ticket under the windshield, all at the cost of less than one parking violation. The present invention relates more particularly to a system and device that includes at least one toy or doll, adapted to hold a parking ticket, which may be a bobblehead doll, and a base for securely holding the toy or doll.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0009] It is an object of the present invention to provide a secure hold of a parking ticket to avoid costly parking violation citations. The preferred embodiment of the present invention achieves this goal with at least one toy or doll, which is preferably a bobblehead doll having a clip or other securing means known in the art attached to the doll, and a base. The base is securely attached, mounted or placed onto the dashboard of a vehicle, under the windshield, and the bobblehead doll is secured to the base. When the vehicle operator pays for parking and obtains a parking ticket, the operator secures the ticket in the securing means of the bobblehead doll, such as a clip or alligator clip, so that the ticket and the time remaining are visible from outside by the passing traffic officers.

[0010] The system and device of the present invention prevent the ticket from being blown off the dashboard or slipping into the cracks between the wheel column and the dashboard, and the present invention prevents the ticket from becoming dark after reacting with the dashboard in especially hot weather.

[0011] Bobblehead dolls are typically constructed from a body and a head, which are connected together by a spring or another mechanism that makes the head nod in response to an external disturbance (such as pushing of the head or vibration of the vehicle), or a mechanical or electrical actuator that is part of the bobblehead doll. The spring may be a coil spring or a leaf spring.

[0012] However, any other toy or doll known in the art may be used with the system and device of the present invention instead of the bobblehead doll, provided at least one clip or other securing means known in the art is coupled with the toy or doll for securely holding the parking ticket.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] A base with interchangeable ticket-holding dolls of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

[0014] FIG. 1 is a front view of the bobblehead doll of the present invention;

[0015] FIG. 2 is a side view of the bobblehead doll of the present invention;

[0016] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the base and the bobblehead doll of the present invention; and

[0017] FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the bobblehead doll of the present invention secured in the base of FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0018] It is an object of the present invention to provide a secure hold of a parking ticket to avoid costly parking violation citations. With reference to FIGS. 1-2, the preferred embodiment of the present invention achieves this goal with at least one doll, which is preferably a bobblehead doll 10, preferably having a base 11, a left arm 12, a right arm 14, a head 16, and a body 18, as well as a clip 20 or other securing means known in the art attached to the doll 10, and a base 30 having a top 32 and a bottom 34. The clip 20 or other securing means may be permanently or removably attached to the doll 10 by a variety of methods: glue, screws, bolts, rivets, hook and loop attachments, or the clip 20 may be permanently attached to the doll 10 by being molded into the material from which the doll 10 is constructed, which is the preferred embodiment.

[0019] Of course, whenever the clip 20 is removably attached to the doll 10, it adds yet another factor of customization and collectability to the system and device of the present invention because the clip 20 may be changed on any given doll. For example, a zombie doll 10 may use an alligator clip 20 to hold the parking ticket, but it may also use a clip 20 that is made to look like a severed arm, such as a zombie arm, to add to the comical horror and collectability factor of the present invention. The Applicant cautions that the use of a simulated severed traffic officer's arm may result in the issuance of a citation regardless of the time left on the parking meter.

[0020] In the preferred embodiment, the bobblehead doll 10 is made from a plastic or polyresin that are commonly used for making dolls and toys. However, the bobblehead doll 10 may also be made from wood, metals, glass, or porcelain to add to the artistic and collectability factor of such bobblehead dolls 10. In the preferred embodiment, the bobblehead doll 10 is made from polyresin and the clip 20 is molded directly into the body of the bobblehead doll 10, preferably so that the bobblehead doll 10 holds the clip 20 in the left arm 12 or right arm 14. Of course, other embodiments of the bobblehead doll 10 may include dolls or toys that do not have arms, such as animal shapes or zombie dolls without arms. In such alternative embodiments, the clip 20 may be molded into, or attached to, any other part of the bobblehead doll 10.

[0021] Bobblehead dolls are typically constructed with a body and a head, connected together by a spring that makes the head nod in response to pushing of the head or vibration of the vehicle where the doll is located. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the head 16 is attached to the body 18 of the bobblehead doll 10 by a coil spring or leaf spring 15. Alternatively, the bobblehead doll 10 may include a mechanical or electrical actuator (not shown) coupled with the head 16 and the body 18 of the bobblehead doll 10 so as to enable the movement of the head 16 without external stimulation or vehicle movement. The actuator may be powered by rechargeable or replaceable internal batteries and/or solar panels.

[0022] In use, the base 30 is securely attached, mounted or placed onto the dashboard of a vehicle, under the windshield, and the bobblehead doll 10 is secured to the base 30. When the vehicle operator pays for parking and obtains a parking ticket, the operator secures the ticket in the securing means of the bobblehead doll, such as the clip 20, so that the ticket and time remaining are visible from outside by the traffic officers checking the tickets. The base 30 may be removably or permanently attached to the dashboard of the vehicle. The permanent attachment of the base 30, such as with glue, has the advantage in that the base 30 will not likely move or become dislodged by the operator or while the vehicle is moving. However, it is preferred that the base 30 be only semi-permanently or removably mounted or placed on the dashboard of the vehicle because the base can then be easily removed or changed.

[0023] In the preferred embodiment, the base 30 is simply placed onto the dashboard of the vehicle and is held in place by the weight of the base 30. For this purpose, the base 30 may be weighted down with any kind of a filler material like sand. In the preferred embodiment, the base 30 preferably includes a layer of high-friction material 35 on the bottom 34 of the base 30, as illustrated in FIGS. 3-4, to prevent the base 30 from gliding and sliding on the dashboard of the vehicle.

[0024] Furthermore, the base 30 may be semi-permanently or detachably mounted to the windshield by cooperating magnets on the dashboard and in the base 30, or hook and loop attachment or suction cups on the dashboard and on the base 30. The magnets or hook and look attachments reciprocating with the respective magnets of hook and look attachments on the base 30 would be attached to the dashboard by conventional means known in the art such as adhesive, glue, and the like.

[0025] In the preferred embodiment, the bobblehead doll 10 is secured to the base 30 by friction. For that purpose, the top 32 of the base 30 is preferably made to resemble a puffy collar 33, which may have a certain degree of flexibility and malleability. The inside of the collar 33 is preferably filled with material conductive to such properties, such as beads or foam. The collar 33 itself is preferably constructed from a durable material, such as nylon, fabric, leather or other natural or synthetic materials.

[0026] In the preferred embodiment, the base 11 of the bobblehead doll 10 is cooperatively sized and shaped to couple with the collar 33 of the base 30. When in use, the operator inserts the base 11 of the bobblehead doll 10 into though the top 32 of the base 30 and into the cooperating collar 33, until the bottom of the base 11 substantially reaches the bottom 34 of the base 30. The bobblehead doll 10 is then held in place by the base 30 simply by the weight of the bobblehead doll 10 and/or by friction between the substantially vertical outer circumferential wall of the base 11 and the substantially vertical inner circumferential wall of the collar 33 of the base 30. The shape of the base 11 and the base 30 and collar 33 are preferably reciprocating (i.e., substantially circular or oval in shape), but the Applicant envisions that a bobblehead doll 10 with a differently shaped base 11 such as a square, hexagon, or octagon may be inserted into a substantially circular base provided the sizes of the base 11 and the collar 33 are selected to cooperate in such a way.

[0027] Alternatively, the bobblehead doll 10 may be secured in the base 30 by means of magnets, hook and look, and other attachments (not shown), so long there are cooperating means for such attachments on or in the base 30 and/or collar 33 and on or in the base 11 of the bobblehead doll 10.

[0028] To further increase the amusement and collectability factor of the system and device of the present invention, the bobblehead doll 10 may also include clothes, which may be painted on the doll as illustrated in FIGS. 1-4 or be actual interchangeable cloth garments that will enhance the entertainment and collectability factor of the dolls of the present invention and add an infinite number of different interchangeable outfits that may be created, or mixed and matched, to be worn by the bobblehead doll 10.

[0029] Although a bobblehead doll 10 is used to illustrate the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the invention may be used with any number of other toys and dolls, including stuffed toys, dolls, and toys mounted to the interior of the vehicle glass by suction cups, provided a clip or other securing means known in the art is coupled with the toy or doll for securely holding the parking ticket. For example, the base 30 of the present invention may be attached to the interior glass of the vehicle, such as the front windshield by suction cups, and the bobblehead doll 10 may be secured to the base 30 by friction or other means disclosed in this application. Then, the base 30 and the bobblehead doll 10 would be hanging essentially upside down, which is conducive to representing certain animal dolls (monkeys, lemurs, sloths, snakes), zombies, or any other figure that might be entertaining upside down.

[0030] Anyone can use the base and interchangeable dolls of the present invention, providing many hours of fun, amusing activities in collecting, mounting, exchanging, and trading the interchangeable bobblehead dolls of the present invention.

[0031] The base and/or the toy or doll of the present invention may include interior power sources (such as batteries or rechargeable power cells), electronics (including onboard memory chips or modules, computer chips, and wiring), lights (such as LED or fiber optic), and/or means for recording, reproducing or generating images, voice or sound (such as cameras, display screens, speakers or sound recording chips) to further enhance the amusement and collectability factors associated with the present invention.

[0032] While the system and device of the present invention have been shown and described in accordance with the preferred and practical embodiments thereof, it is recognized that departures from the instant disclosure are contemplated within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the true scope of the invention should not be limited by the abovementioned description of the preferred embodiment since other modifications may become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a study of the drawings, description, explanations, and specifications herein. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the principles described herein can be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention and the subject matter of the present invention.

Claims

1. A combination base and toy, comprising: a. A base adapted to be placed, attached or mounted onto a surface inside a vehicle; b. At least one toy adapted to be placed, attached or mounted onto the base; and c. Securing means coupled with the at least one toy, said securing means adapted to hold and display a parking ticket so that the time remaining on the parking ticket is visible from outside of the vehicle.

2. The combination base and toy of claim 1, wherein the base is removably placed, attached or mounted on the surface.

3. The combination base and toy of claim 1, wherein the base is weighted down so that the base is held in place on the surface by the weight of the base.

4. The combination base and toy of claim 1, wherein the base includes high-friction or non-slip material coupled to a bottom part of the base to prevent the base from gliding on the surface.

5. The combination base and toy of claim 1, wherein the surface is an in-vehicle glass and the base is removably or permanently attached to the in-vehicle glass on the interior side of the vehicle.

6. The combination base and toy of claim 1, wherein the securing means is removably coupled with the at least one toy.

7. The combination base and toy of claim 1, wherein the securing means is permanently attached to the at least one toy by molding the securing means into a part of the at least one toy.

8. The combination base and toy of claim 1, wherein there are two or more of the at least one toy and wherein each of the two or more of the at least one toy is selectably placed, attached or mounted in the base.

9. The combination base and toy of claim 1, wherein the base includes a recess for placing, attaching or mounting the at least one toy and the at least one toy includes a toy base insertable or mountable into the recess in the base.

10. The combination base and toy of claim 1, wherein the base comprises a bottom part and a substantially collar-shaped top part connected to the bottom part and the at least one toy includes a toy base insertable into the substantially collar-shaped top part, said toy base being cooperatively sized and shaped with the substantially collar-shaped top part so as to enable the substantially collar-shaped top part to retain the at least one toy by friction between the substantially collar-shaped top part and the toy base when the toy base is inserted into the substantially collar-shaped top part.

11. The combination base and toy of claim 10, wherein the substantially collar-shaped top part is flexible to permit the insertion of the toy base.

12. The combination base and toy of claim 1, wherein the at least one toy is a bobblehead doll.

13. The combination base and toy of claim 1, wherein the at least one toy further comprises a body and a movable head operatively connected to the body by at least one mechanism, so as to enable the head to move relative to the body in response to external disturbances.

14. The combination base and toy of claim 13, wherein the at least one mechanism is a spring.

15. The combination base and toy of claim 13, further comprising an actuator disposed in the body and operatively coupled to the head so that the head achieves motion independently of the external disturbances.

16. The combination base and toy of claim 15, wherein the actuator is an electric actuator powered by a battery or a solar panel.

17. The combination base and toy of claim 1, wherein the toy is clothed or painted to resemble a member of a profession, a member of a sports team, a famous person, an animal, a cartoon character, or a fictional character.

18. A combination base and toy, comprising: a. A first base adapted to be placed, attached or mounted onto a surface inside a vehicle; b. At least one bobblehead doll adapted to be secured into the first base, said bobblehead doll comprising (i) a second base cooperatively sized and shaped with the first base so as to enable the insertion of the second base into the first base and the retention of the second base in the first base by friction, (ii) a body connected to the second base, and (iii) a head operatively connected to the body, wherein the head moves relative to the body in response to external disturbances; and c. Securing means coupled with the body, said securing means adapted to hold and display a parking ticket so that the time remaining on the parking ticket is visible from outside of the vehicle.

19. A method of displaying a parking ticket in a vehicle, comprising the steps of: a. Placing, attaching or mounting a base onto a surface inside a vehicle; b. Placing, attaching or mounting at least one toy into the base, said toy having securing means coupled with or built into the at least one toy, said securing means being adapted to hold and display a parking ticket so that the time remaining on the parking ticket is visible from outside of the vehicle; c. Obtaining a parking ticket; and d. Securing the parking ticket in the securing means so that the ticket is visible from outside of the vehicle.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the placing, attaching or mounting the base onto the surface inside the vehicle or the placing, attaching or mounting the at least one toy into the base is accomplished using one or more means selected from the group consisting of glue, screws, bolts, rivets, magnets, hook and loop fasteners, and suction cups.

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