Nested toys depicting likeness of celebrities and sports personalities and manufacturing method

Abstract

Nested toy figures are provided depicting the likeness of sports personalities or other celebrities. A method of manufacture is provided for forming the nested toy figures using moisture resistant material, pressed wood and resin, or injection molded plastic. Raised features such as arms, hands, collars, sports equipment or other features are secured to the exterior surfaces of the nested toy figures. Moisture resistant images are printed and applied to provide substantially identical images of faces or other individualistic features in mass production.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A nested toy figure depicting the likeness sports personalities or celebrities comprising: 
 (a) a top half shell body portion composed of material resistant to moisture absorption;    (b) a bottom shell body portion composed of material resistant to moisture absorption, the bottom and top half body portions sized for hand press fit connection at a part-line to form a nested toy figure having an exterior surface;    (c) a raised feature secured on the exterior surface of the nested toy figure; and    (d) a likeness of a sports figure or other celebrity secured on the exterior surface of the nested toy figure.    
     
     
         2 . The nested toy figure of  claim 1 , wherein the top half shell portion and the bottom half shell portion comprise a press molded mixture of wood and resin.  
     
     
         3 . The nested toy figure of  claim 2 , wherein the raised feature comprises a press molded mixture of wood and resin that is integrally formed on the exterior surface of the nested toy figure.  
     
     
         4 . The nested toy figure of  claim 2 , wherein the raised feature comprises a press molded mixture of wood and resin that is secured to the exterior surface of the nested toy figure with glue.  
     
     
         5 . The nested toy figure of  claim 1 , wherein the top half shell portion and the bottom half shell portion comprise an injection molded plastic.  
     
     
         6 . The nested toy figure of  claim 5 , wherein the raised feature is integrally formed of injection molded plastic.  
     
     
         7 . The nested toy figure of  claim 2 , wherein the raised feature comprises an injection molded plastic material that is secured to the exterior surface of the nested toy figure with glue.  
     
     
         8 . The nested toy figure of  claim 1 , wherein the raised feature comprises a top portion of a raised feature and a bottom portion of a raised feature that are secured to the surface of he nested toy figure adjacent to the part-line so that they form a completed feature on the nested toy figure when the top and bottom shell body portions are connected.  
     
     
         9 . The nested toy figure of  claim 1 , wherein the raised feature is selected from the group comprising an arm, a hand, a ball, a bat, a collar, and a sleeve.  
     
     
         10 . The nested toy figure of  claim 1 , wherein the likeness of a sports personality or other celebrity comprises a plastic sheet with the image of the sports personality or other celebrity printed thereon and the sheet adhered to the surface of the nested toy figure.  
     
     
         11 . The nested toy figure of  claim 1 , wherein the likeness of a sports personality or other celebrity comprises a pad printed image of the sports figure or other celebrity printed directly onto the surface of the nested toy figure.  
     
     
         12 . The nested toy figure of  claim 1 , wherein the likeness of a sports personality or other celebrity comprises an ink/paint image transferred and secured onto the surface of the nested toy figure.  
     
     
         13 . A set of nested toy figures, comprising: 
 (a) a plurality of pairs of a top half shell body portions and bottom half shell body portions composed of material resistant to moisture absorption; the bottom and top half body portions of each pair sized for hand press fit connection at a part-line to form a plurality of nested toy figures, each having a size sufficiently smaller than the nest larger nested toy figure so that they can fit within the next larger size, and each having an exterior surface;    (b) a raised feature secured on the exterior surface of at least one of the nested toy figures in the set;    (c) a likeness of a sports figure or other celebrity secured on the exterior surface of the nested toy figures; and    (d) each of the likenesses comprising one of a team of sports personalities.    
     
     
         14 . A method of constructing nested toy figures depicting the likeness of sports personalities or other celebrities comprising: 
 (a) molding a moisture resistant top half portion of a nested toy figure;    (b) molding a moisture resistant bottom half portion of a nested toy figure;    (c) connecting the top and bottom half portions to form a shell body with an exterior surface;    (d) forming a depiction of the likeness of a sports personality or of another celebrity on the exterior surface of the shell body; and    (e) forming a raised feature associated with the sports personality on the exterior surface of the nested toy figure.    
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein molding a moisture resistant top half comprises press molding a mixture of wood and resin to form the top half of the nested toy figure, and molding a moisture resistant bottom half comprises press molding a mixture of wood and resin to form the bottom half of the nested toy figure.  
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein molding a moisture resistant top half comprises injection molding a plastic material to form the top half of the nested toy figure and molding a moisture resistant bottom half comprise injection molding a plastic material to form the bottom half of the nested toy figure.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein forming a depiction of the likeness of a sports personality or of another celebrity on the exterior surface of the shell body comprises: 
 (a) printing an image of the sports personality or other celebrity onto a sheet of paper coated with dries glue;    (b) transferring the image from the sheet of paper onto the surface of the nested toy figure by moistening the paper; and    (c) drying the transferred image onto the surface of the nested toy figure.    
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein forming a depiction of the likeness of a sports personality or of another celebrity on the exterior surface of the shell body comprises: 
 (a) printing an image of the sports personality or other celebrity onto a sheet of heat shrinkable plastic;    (b) wrapping the sheet of heat shrinkable plastic with the image thereon around the nested toy figure;    (c) heat shrinking the heat shrinkable plastic with the image thereon onto the nested toy figure.    
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein forming a depiction of the likeness of a sports personality or of another celebrity on the exterior surface of the shell body comprises: 
 (a) forming the image of the sports personality or other celebrity with separate primary colors onto a plurality pad printing print pads; and    (b) printing the image with the multiple color printing heads onto the surface of the shell body of the nested toy figure so that the colors combine to form one multiple color image.    
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein forming a raised feature associated with the sports personality on the exterior surface of the nested toy figure comprises integrally molding the raised feature onto the shell body of the nested toy figure.  
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein forming a raised feature associated with the sports personality on the exterior surface of the nested toy figure comprises: 
 (a) separately molding the raised feature; and    (b) gluing the raised feature onto the shell body of the nested toy figure.    
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein separately molding the raised feature comprises press molding the raised feature of a mixture of wood and resin.  
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein separately molding the raised feature comprises injection molding the raised feature of a plastic material.