Natural looking puppet device

Abstract

The attachment between a puppeteer and a puppet is often ridged and fixed. The result is a puppet that does not look natural in some positions and movements and does not allow the puppeteer the flexibility to change articles, such as costumes or clothing, which are attached to the puppet. Methods and articles are described for creating natural looking puppet devices. These methods and devices allow illusion articles, such as a fake arm, to slide so as to have natural looking contact between the puppeteer and the puppet. The methods and articles also include means for reversible attachment of the puppet from the rest of the puppet device. The result is a puppet that has natural looking positions and movements and allows puppeteer the flexibility to make changes to the articles attached to the puppet.

Claims

1. A puppet comprising: an arm-mounted display support capable of partially or wholly supporting said puppet; said arm-mounted display support having an attachment to an article attached between its self and the puppeteer; said arm-mounted display support capable of allowing said article to slide its attachment position in one or more directions while retaining said attachment to said article and with said article capable of sliding as a self-adjustment as a result of movement of said puppet and/or said puppeteer, giving the movement between said puppeteer and said puppet a natural look.

2. The puppet of claim 1, wherein said attachment of said article to said arm-mounted display support is caused by magnetic or paramagnetic attraction.

3. The puppet of claim 1, wherein said article's movement is further guided by a groove in said arm-mounted display support.

4. The puppet of claim 1, wherein said article is a fake arm.

5. The puppet of claim 4, wherein said fake arm is part of the puppeteer's costume or clothing.

6. The puppet of claim 4, wherein said fake arm's said attachment to said arm-mounted display support has a detachable and re-attachable means.

7. The puppet of claim 4, wherein portions of said fake arm are further filled with material comprised of cloth or foam.

8. The puppet of claim 4, wherein said fake arm is further comprised of one or more shoulder pads.

9. A method of using a puppet, the method comprising: providing a puppet device having an arm-mounted display support and an article attached via a magnetic attraction between said article and said display support; manipulating said puppet in such a way that said article can slide its attachment position in one or more directions while retaining an attachment to the surface of said arm-mounted display support giving a natural look to said attachment between said article and said puppet.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 shows a right side view of a puppet with a puppeteer's fake arm.

(2) FIG. 2 shows a fake arm with magnets on the sleeve of the puppeteer's fake arm and metal magnet plates on the puppet.

(3) FIG. 3 shows a cross section of a puppeteer's fake arm.

(4) FIG. 4 shows a device inside the puppet that secures the magnet plates for the puppeteer's fake arm attachment and allows the puppeteer to insert his or her real arm through the puppet.

(5) FIG. 5 shows a front view of the puppet with a puppeteer's fake arm.

(6) FIG. 6 shows a rear view of the puppet with a puppeteer's fake arm.

(7) FIG. 7 shows a left side view of a puppet with a puppeteer's fake arm.

(8) FIG. 8 shows a top view of a puppet with a puppeteer's fake arm.

(9) FIG. 9 shows a bottom view of a puppet with a puppeteer's fake arm.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(10) In general, embodiments of the puppet device as described herein relates to a puppet wherein the puppet may contain an article that is able to slide its attachment position on the puppet while retaining its contact with the puppet so as to give the article a natural looking sliding movement with respect to the puppet.

(11) The article refers to a means of contact between the puppeteer and the puppet. In some embodiments, the article may be a puppeteer's fake arm which is attached to the puppet. The fake arm may be part of the puppeteer's clothing or costume. In some embodiments, the article may be some other part of the puppeteer's clothing or costume. In some embodiments, the article may be part of the puppet such as an arm or a leg that is part of the puppet figure. In some embodiments, the article could be a direct contact point between the puppet and the puppeteer's clothing or costume.

(12) In some embodiments, the article, such as a puppeteer's fake arm, may contain filler material. The filler material may be comprised of foam. Further, the filler material may be comprised of pillow filler material such as feathers or cotton. In some embodiments, the fake arm may be comprised of a hollow tube. In some embodiments, shoulder pads may be used to give a more natural look to the overall puppet-fake arm device. In some embodiments, a groove in the puppet may be used to help guide the movement of the article with respect to the puppet. Furthermore, the groove may be in the form of a half pipe.

(13) In some embodiments, the article may be reversed so that the article may protrude from the puppet and the sliding attachment position is on the puppeteer.

(14) In some embodiments, the attachment means may be achieved via a magnetic or paramagnetic attraction between the article and the puppet. For example, the attachment of the article may be via a magnet or magnets and a metal plate, or between two magnets. Furthermore, the magnets and plates may be covered with material to hide the magnets and plates so that the magnetic or paramagnetic attraction occurs through the covering material. In some embodiments, the magnets and/or plates may be mounted on rigid surfaces so that they stay in place. This will prevent the wrong attachments taking place. For example, if there is more than one magnet on a fake arm sleeve, those magnets may stick to each other instead of creating an attachment to the puppet.

(15) In some embodiments, the article may include a detachable means from the puppet. The detachable means may include a button, snap, zipper, Velcro or similar reversible attachments. Furthermore, the reversible means may include a magnetic or paramagnetic attraction such as between a magnet and a metal plate. The reversible attachment may allow the puppeteer to change his or her clothing or costume and still use the same puppet. Furthermore, the reversible attachment may allow the puppeteer to change puppets while keeping the same clothing or costume. Furthermore, the reversible attachment may allow the puppeteer the option to hold the puppet on either side of his or her body.

(16) Embodiments of the invention may include a method of using a puppet. In some embodiments, one may obtain a puppet which may contain an article that is able to slide its attachment position on the puppet while retaining its contact with the puppet. For example, a fake arm and magnetic attraction between the fake arm and puppet. Next, the puppeteer may hold and manipulate the puppet in such a way that the fake arm can slide its attachment position in one or more directions while retaining an attachment to the puppet surface, with the result being a natural looking and moving puppet with a fake arm attachment. In some embodiments, the method may include the puppeteer obtaining a puppet with reversible attachments to the puppeteers clothing or costumes and, thereby, provide the puppeteer with a method to change clothing or costumes while keeping the same puppet. Furthermore, these reversible attachments may provide the puppeteer a method for changing the side or position with respect to the puppeteer's body by reattaching the puppet to a different side or part of the clothing, and for changing puppets using these reversible attachments.

(17) One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize many variations, modifications, alternatives and aspects of the methods and devices shown and described in the present disclosure.

Example

(18) The embodiments shown in FIGS. 1-9, are of an arm puppet-fake arm device in the form of an emu. The puppet-fake arm device give an illusion that the puppet is being held under the puppeteer's arm. To get this effect, the puppeteer's arm passes through the puppet body and a display support inside the puppet, and through the neck with the hand slipping into the bird's beak. A fake arm over the top of the puppet body gives the illusion the puppet is being held under the puppeteer's arm (FIG. 1). Magnets on the sleeve of the fake arm attach to metal plates that are mounted on the display support inside the puppet (FIG. 2) The metal plates are covered with feathers to hide them from view. The hand on the fake arm is glued to the sleeve to keep it in place close to the puppet. A groove in the puppet and display support help to hold the fake arm in place. In this example embodiment, the fake arm is filled with a foam tube to make it appear that the puppeteer's real arm is inside (FIG. 3). The puppet-fake arm device is built around a hollow display support (FIG. 4). The display support allows the puppeteer to pass his or her arm through the puppet body and hold up the puppet. In this example embodiment, the display support has metal plates mounted on both sides of the puppet so that the puppet can be held on either side of the puppeteer's body. This allows the puppet to be used by both left and right handed puppeteers.

(19) One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize how to make and use the method and devices described.

(20) Although certain embodiments and examples have been described herein, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that many aspects of the methods and devices shown and described in the present disclosure may be differently combined and/or modified to form still further embodiments. Additionally, it will be recognized that the methods described herein may be practiced using any device suitable for performing the recited steps. Such alternative embodiments and/or uses of the methods and devices described above and obvious modifications and equivalents thereof are intended to be within the scope of the present disclosure. Thus, it is intended that the scope of the present invention should not be limited by the particular embodiments described above, but should be determined only by a fair reading of the claims that follow.