At a recent conference I attended, I was asked if I could put together a number of images related to technology toys from the past few decades. I’m a collector and if the toy has an “on” switch, batteries, and a microchip chances are it’s in my collection. I thought it might be interesting to put together images of these toys found in the patent filings with the US Patent office. The video below plays a montage of these patent images.
If you’re interested in the collection of these images to use as a screen saver, click here to download a zipped file of the images.
Below is a list of the toy patents I refer to in this video. It’s not a complete list by any means of all the great technology toys out there but a list of some noteworthy technology toys. If you have a favorite, please send me an email for a future update.
| Patent No. | Company | Toy Name | Patent Name | Filed | Apprvd |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4162792 | Mattel | Football | Obstacle Game | 01/12/77 | 07/31/79 |
| D253786 | Milton Bradley | Simon | Electronic Game Housing | 04/13/78 | 12/25/79 |
| 4189779 | Texas Instruments | Speak N Spell | Parameter Enterpolator for Speech Synthesis Circuit | 04/28/78 | 02/19/80 |
| D256139 | Parker Brothers | Merlin | Electronic Game Casing | 09/14/78 | 07/29/80 |
| 4249734 | Coleco | Two Player Football | Hand-Held Two-Player Electronic Football Game | 02/26/79 | 02/12/81 |
| 4207087 | Atari | Touch Me | Microcomputer Controlled Game | 09/19/79 | 06/10/80 |
| 4334679 | Parker Brothers | Wildfire | Hand-Held Pinball Game | 01/24/80 | 06/15/82 |
| 4340374 | Texas Instruments | DataMan | Electronic Learning Aid | 01/28/80 | 07/20/82 |
| 4359220 | Milton Bradley | Super Simon | Microcomputer Controlled Game | 02/08/80 | 11/16/82 |
| 4327915 | Coleco | Football | Display Panel for an Electronic Game and Method of Employing Same | 06/12/80 | 05/04/82 |
| 4341383 | Mattel | Basketball | Electronic Basketball Game | 08/04/80 | 07/27/82 |
| 4372556 | Coleco | Soccer | Electronic Soccer Game | 08/08/80 | 02/08/83 |
| 4403965 | Texas Instruments | Touch and Tell | Electronic Teaching Apparatus | 10/01/80 | 09/13/83 |
| 4386776 | Coleco | Two Player Football | Electronic Sports-Action Game with Improved Game-Object Simulation | 02/17/81 | 06/07/83 |
| 4415153 | Nintendo | Game & Watch | Figure Displaying Game Aparatus | 06/15/81 | 11/15/83 |
| 4434967 | Nintendo | Game & Watch | Timepiece Apparatus Having Game Function | 12/10/81 | 01/10/84 |
| 4582322 | Nintendo | Game & Watch | Electronic Toy Having A Game Function | 02/03/84 | 04/15/86 |
| 5184830 | Nintendo | Game Boy | Compact Hand-Held Video Game | 06/15/92 | 02/09/93 |
| 5478268 | VTech | (baby toy) | Electronic Educational Toy Apparatus | 08/29/94 | 12/26/95 |
| 5682171 | Nintendo | Virtual Boy | Stereoscopic Image Display Device and Storage Device Used Therewith | 11/09/95 | 10/28/97 |
| 5855513 | Tiger | (electronic matching) | Electronic Matching and Positioning Game | 08/26/96 | 01/05/99 |
| 5813861 | LeapFrog | Talking Phonics Interactive Learning Device | 06/20/97 | 09/29/98 | |
| 6115477 | Hasbro | Sound Bites Lollipop | Denta-Mandibular Sound-Transmitting System | 12/03/97 | 09/05/00 |
| 5984758 | KidDesigns | (toy laptop) | Simulated Computer | 07/30/98 | 11/16/99 |
| 6554679 B1 | Playmates Toys | Amazing Amanda | Interactive Virtual Character Doll | 01/29/99 | 04/29/03 |
| 6142869 | Hasbro | Handhheld Operation | Hand-Held Electronic Game | 05/27/99 | 11/07/00 |
| D427637 | LeapFrog | Turbo Twist | Mathematical Learning Game | 07/14/99 | 07/04/00 |
| 7120509 | Hasbro | Hit Clips | Sound and Image Producing System | 02/25/00 | 10/10/06 |
| 6353168 | Neurosmith | Music Blocks | Educational Music Instrument for Children | 03/03/00 | 03/05/02 |
| 6792243 | VTech | Talking Book | Electronic Book with Simulated Three-Dimensional Illustrations | 12/21/00 | 09/14/04 |
| 6409511 | LeapFrog | Alphabet Pal Caterpillar | Sequence Learning Toy | 06/18/01 | 06/25/02 |
| 7227526 B2 | Gesturetek | (Sony’s EyeToy / Hasbro’s iOn) | Video-Based Image Control System | 07/23/01 | 06/05/07 |
| D484918 S | Nintendo | Gameboy XP | Hand-Held Electronic Game Machine | 01/29/03 | 01/06/04 |
| 7203455 | Mattel (Fisher-Price) | PowerTouch | Interactive Multi-Sensory Reading System Electronic Teaching/Learning Device | 05/30/03 | 04/10/07 |
| 20040076407 A1 | Hasbro | Video Now | Low Bandwidth Image System | 07/18/03 | 04/22/04 |
| 20050048457 A1 | Mattel (Fisher-Price) | Learn Through Music | Interactive Device | 09/03/03 | 03/03/05 |
| 7083420 | LeapFrog | Leapster | Interactive Handheld Apparatus with Stylus | 02/09/04 | 08/01/06 |
| 7122751 | Cobalt Flux | (dance pad) | Switch Apparatus | 06/29/04 | 10/17/06 |
| 7249950 B2 | LeapFrog | (writing device) | Display Apparatus for Teaching Writing | 10/07/04 | 07/31/07 |
| 20060025218 A1 | Nintendo | Nintendo DS (early design) | Game Apparatus Utilizing Touch Panel and Storage Medium Storing Game Program | 06/19/05 | 02/02/06 |
| 20060050061 A1 | Mattel | (handheld) | Hand-Held Interactive Electronic Device | 08/05/05 | 03/09/06 |
| D540886 S | Zizzle | Iz | Combined Sound Generating Toy and Speaker | 09/13/05 | 04/17/07 |
| D532461 S | Mattel | Pixel Chix | Electronic Toy House | 11/10/05 | 11/21/06 |
| 20060104456 A1 | Hasbro | Tooth Tunes | Apparatus and Method for Boosting Sound in a Denta-Mandibular Entertainment Toothbrush | 11/30/05 | 05/18/06 |
| D532051 S | Nintendo | Nintendo DS | Hand-Held Electronic Game Machine | 01/31/06 | 11/14/06 |
| 7167675 | LeapFrog | LeapPad | Magnetic Switch and Aparatus Including Magnetic Switch | 04/20/06 | 01/23/07 |
| D550673 S | LeapFrog | Leaster TV | Game Controller | 05/30/06 | 09/11/07 |
Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 192 user reviews.
April 18th, 2008 at 1:30 am
I saw http://www.360kid.com/blog/?p=34 and wanted to mention a useful site: http://www.FreePatentsOnline.com
It provides free patent searching, free PDF downloading, allows annoting documents and sharing them, and free alerts for new documents.
If you have a spot, a link to let your users know abou the site would be great.
April 21st, 2008 at 8:29 am
Thanks for your post James. In addition to Free Patents Online, I also regularly use the following patent search sites for US filed patents:
PatentStorm
US Patent and Trademark Office database
PatentMonkey
PatentGenius