US3384074A - Acoustic sleep induction apparatus - Google Patents

Description

y 1968 N. A. RAUTIOLA ETAL 3,384,074

ACOUSTIC SLEEP INDUCTION APPARATUS Original Filed March 2, 1964 TRl-TONE llO BROAD TONE BROAD TONE SAWTOOTH TIME FREQUENCY INVENTORS NORMAN A. RAUTIOLA JOHN M. DIEHL BY A? Q41} ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,384,074 ACOUSTIC SLEEP INDUCTION APPARATUS Norman A. Rautiola, P.O. Box 567, Hancock, Mich. 49930, and John M. Diehl, Madison, Wis.; said Diehl assignor to said Rautiola Continuation of application Ser. No. 348,724, Mar. 2, 1964, which is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 253,893, Jan. 25, 1963. This application Sept. 24, 1965, Ser. No. 495,014

2 Claims. (Cl. 128-1) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An acoustic device in conjunction with a stuffed toy or the like which provides for soothing and tension relief of sleep centers to promote sleep, the acoustic stimuli being in the range of 60 to 400 c.p.s.

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 348,724, filed Mar. 2, 1964, now abandoned having the same entitlement, which application is a continuationin-part of application Ser. No. 253,893, filed Jan. 25, 1963, now abandoned entitled Doll to Tranquilize Infants.

This application relates to a doll and more particularly to a doll provided with means for emitting an audible signal having certain pie-selected characteristics.

The doll may have any desired form, such as that of a baby or a small girl or that of a Teddy bear or other animal. The doll may be made of plastic or rubber if in the human form, and may be articulated in any desired fashion. If in the form of an animal, the doll may be stuffed and provided with a fuzzy covering to provide a soft and cuddly device, or may be made of rubber or polyethylene or other plastic in order to be soft, unbreakable, washable and resilient.

As an essential and critical feature of the invention, there is incorporated within the doll a device which emits sound waves having a frequency of from 100 to 350 cycles per second or usefully 60-400 cycles per second. A doll may be provided with means to cause such a signal to be emitted at all times or may be provided with means to cause such signal to be emitted only upon operation of a switch by an adult or upon the proximity of the doll to a human person.

The cuddly toy such 'as a stuffed animal or doll cooperates with the acoustic signal to create a more restful environment for the infant.

It is an object of the invention to provide a doll which will be popular with adults and infants alike by reason of lulling to sleep readily an infant or small child who possesses the doll. That is, it is an object of the invention to provide a doll which causes an infant or small child possessing the doll to be relatively tranquil despite any tendency of the child to be irritable in the absence of its possession of the doll.

Other objects will become apparent from the drawings and from the following detailed description in which it is intended to illustrate the applicability of the inventidh without thereby limiting its scope to less than that of all equivalents which will be apparent to one skilled in the art. In the drawings like reference numerals refer to like parts and:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective partially cut-away view of the device of the invention;

3,384,074 Patented May 21, 1968 ICC FIGURE 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of modified form of the embodiment of FIGURE 1, in whicl a switch is provided for operation of the means for pro ducing an audible signal;

FIGURE 3 is a modification of the embodiment 0 FIGURE 1 wherein there is provided means for causin; an audible signal to be emitted from the doll when th doll is in close proximity to a human;

FIGURE 4 is a graph of some suitable signals.

Use of the device of the invention by a crying bab has the immediate effect on the subject of producin; quiescence and relaxation comparable to that exhibitel by an infant when picked up by a parent. This is accom plished relatively quickly and sleep usually follows i1 from 30 seconds to 5 minutes. The calming effect is sul ficient so that once the infant is asleep the device may if desired, be turned off or removed and yet the infan will remain asleep.

Referring now to FIGURE 1 there is shown a do? indicated generally as '1. The doll may have a fabri covering 2, and it may be studied with excelsior, cotto: linters or other textile by-products 3. Im-bedded in an supported by stuffing 3, there is provided an oscillate unit 4 which may comprise within a suitable housin a power source such as a battery and also a circuit prel erably transistorized and, if desired, one amplifier stagt preferably transistorized. The output of oscillator unit 4 i a signal in the range of preferably to 325 cycles pe second of sufiicient amplitude to drive speaker 5 wit which unit 4 is connected by wire 6.

In FIGURE 2 there is shown another embodimer wherein a toy doll indicated generally as 10 may coir prise a shell '12 of soft plastic such as polyethylene c polyvinylfluoride or of soft rubber. The doll made c such material may be suitably manufactured by use c slush-molding, blow-molding or injection molding tecl niques as may be desired. Attached to the interior sui face portion of shell 12 there is provided oscillator un: 14 which may suitably comprise a power-pack such a one or more batteries, an oscillator circuit and, if desirec an amplifier. The output of unit '14 is fed through wire 16 to speaker 15, being of sufficient amplitude to suit ably drive speaker 15. Speaker 15 may be attached t shell 12; a suitable opening as indicated at 15 may b provided in the shell to provide for a relatively suflicier emission of sound from the speaker. Oscillator unit '1 may suitably be provided with a switch 17 which, if dr sired, may extend as shown through shell 12. Switch 1 may be utilized to turn unit 14 on or off by suitably inte1 rupting a circuit therein and may be operated by an adu or by 'a child-user of the device. The switch may suitabl be opened to prevent undue drain on the battery pow: source and may be closed to cause the unit 14 to ope] ate and speaker 15 to emit an audible signal to tranquiliz a child or infant within the range of the device which preferably about no less than 4 feet.

Referring now to FIGURE 3, there is shown a to animal indicated generally as 20 which may simulate common animal such as a dog, kitten or lamb and ma be made in the manner of FIGURE 1 in order to be prc vided with a fiutfy outer surface or if desired may 1: made, as shown, by blow-molding, slush-molding, injer tion-molding or other suitable techniques to provide she 22 of soft material which may be a plastic such as poly ethylene or polyvinylchloride or may be a soft rubbe Attached to the interior of the toy 20 in any suitabl manner (such as in the manner shown, by attachment t 1e interior surface of shell 22) there may be provided scillator unit 24. A suitable housing 24 may contain a ower source, an oscillator circuit and, if desired, one or Lore amplifier stages to drive speaker 25 to cause the peaker to emit an audible si nal. Instead of being spaced part as individual units, speaker 25 and oscillator unit 4 may be provided as in integral unit as shown. The two ian be attached together and by attachment of any poron of either to any portion of the toy they may be held iitably in place. Attached to shell 22 or otherwise suitbly located on or within toy 20 there may be provided a Witching device 27 which may be suitably connected by ires 28 into a circuit of unit 24 to cause the circuit to e interrupted when the toy is not in close proximity to person and to cause the circuit to be closed when the 3y is within a certain desired distance of a human person, ay 6 inches. Such a switch may operate by reason of a hange in capacity produced between two capacitative iembers by the presence of a human or in any other conentional manner. Such switches are commonly used to perate elevators by merely placing a hand or finger against 1e switch. Another suitable switch may be a switch in Ihich there is included means which are sensitive to infraed radiation and thereby adapted to detect the presence f a human by reason of the infra-red rays emitted by a uman. Such means may incorporate an element or comound sensitive to infra-red radiation, such as, for examle, silicon, germanium or compounds of the III-V eleients of the Periodic Table such as for example indium rsenide and indium antimonide. The device may be suitbly adjusted to provide for creation of a sufficient signal 3 actuate a switch to turn on the sound emitting device nly when the doll is in relatively close proximity to a uman, preferably within two feet of a human. A thermoouple may be used as an infra-red sensitive device if uitable means for focusing the infra-red radiation is proided to cause a relatively large amount of it to fall on re relatively small thermocouple surface. Said switches re of particular usefulness in that sound is emitted by the .011 only when it is in close proximity to a human or an nimal; thus when placed in such close proximity the ound emitter will be actuated and when the device is emoved from such close proximity the sound emitter is utomatically deactuated.

In unpreferred embodiments of the invention, the inven- Ion may be applied to objects'other than dolls or toy nimals and in fact may be applied to any object in close hysical proximity to a sleeping infant, such as, for examle, a pillow, a bed frame, a mattress, a covering such as comforter or blanket, or the like. In accordance with uch unpreferred embodiments, a noise emitting device of my one of the above embodiments may be introduced into ac interior of such an object, that is, may be introduced ito the interior of a mattress or a pillow or quilt or omforter or the like.

Although the device of the invention has its greatest tility in its application to infants, variations of the device f the invention may be applied in soothing and facilitating leep of older children or adults or animals.

As signals, monotones repeated at uniform intervals at ."equencies of 101 cycles per second and 325 cycles per :cond have been found particularly suitable for use in a evice of the invention, but whereas, a sound emitting evice adapted to emit such a signal when embodied in a 011 has been found particularly suitable in accomplishig the object of the invention, the signal is not normally ttractive to an older child or an adult. Comparable relltS may be obtained by use of signals which simulate or uplicate the noise of waves gently lapping on a shore or each; the noise of a breeze gently blowing through tree- )ps; the noise of rain on a roof; the noise of a steadily perating automobile, train or airplane; the noise of a lock ticking, or signals having forms shown in FIG- RE 4.

FIGURE 4 is a graph of three signals, each of which is suitable. In the case of signal (tri-tone), the tone or pitch of the signal has three frequencies successively in a preselected pattern. These occur respectively as a lower tone, a middle tone, and the lower tone again. The signal 111 (broad tone) varies continuously from a lowest frequency to a highest frequency and thence to an intermediate low frequency, thence to an intermediate high frequency and then returns to said lowest frequency. Signal 112. (broad tone saw tooth) varies in frequency in a multiplicity of steps, beginning, for example, with a lowest tone and continuing through seven steps to a highest tone and thence returning in seven steps to said lowest tone. The number of steps, however, may be suitably varied. These signals having a fundamental frequency of 60-400 cps. are more pleasing to the adult ear than a single acoustic signal, and are therefore more desirable.

In a preferred embodiment, the signal comprises two components, the first being a monotone, repeated at uniform intervals at a frequency of from 60 to 400 cycles per second and the second component being one of the aforementioned noises which simulates an artificial or natural phenomena.

The signal is preferably emitted for a period of at least 1 minute and preferably for a period of 2 minutes, at a substantially constant average amplitude. The ampli tude may vary from cycle to cycle or from micro-second to micro-second, but it is preferred that the amplitude average over any 5 second period or 30 second period to be equal to that over any other 5 second period or 30 second period.

A noise simulating a purring of a cat may be suitable for a second component. Other suitable signals for a second component may be white noise, softened White noise, or music of a soothing or lullaby type.

It may thus be seen that the invention is broad in scope and includes such modifications as will be apparent to those skilled in the art and is to be limited only by the claims.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. In a doll comprising a torso, head and limbs, the combination within the torso of:

means to emit an audible signal wherein said means comprises;

a source of electric power comprising at least one battery cell;

means supplied with power from said source to generate an electrical signal having a first electrical signal component and a second electrical signal component and means to convert said electrical signal to an audible signal and emit the resulting signal as sound which may be heard by a nearby observer,

wherein said first and second components are present simultaneously and wherein said first component is a uniformly repeated monotone having a frequency of from 60 to 400 cycles per second.

2. In a doll comprising a torso, head and limbs, the combination within the torso of:

means to emit an audible signal wherein said means comprises; a source of electric power comprising at least one battery cell; means supplied with power from said source to generate an electrical signal having a first electrical signal component and a second electrical signal component and means to convert said electrical signal to an audible signal and emit the resulting signal as sound which may be heard by a nearby observer, wherein said first and second components are present simultaneously and wherein said first component is a uniformly repeated monotone having a frequency of from 60 to 400 cycles per second and 5 6 wherein said second component is a simulation of a 3,080,679 3/1963 Handigan 4623 multitonal multifrequency natural noise. 3,103,762 9/ 1963 Glass 4623 3,160,159 12/1964 Hoody et a1 1281.0 References Cited 3,207,847 9/1965 Epstein 179- UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,759,761 5/1930 Salomon 128-103 0 2,644,153 6/1953 Beazley 1281.03 15,655 11/1814 Great Bmam- 2,794,298 6/1957 Mason 128-103 2,859,731 1/1958 Sutton 119 1 RICHARD A. GAUDET, Plzmary Exammel. 95 ,64 10/1960 Jackson 46*232 10 S. BRODER, Examiner.

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