The present invention relates to a toy figure, especially a doll's head, com¬ prising a head being divided into a facial part and a hollow skull part, the fa- cial part and the hollow skull part having complementary annular abutting surfaces extending along border regions from the surface of the head and inwardly into the head, and where means are arranged for mounting or fas¬ tening the hollow skull part on the facial part, and where the hollow skull part is made from a soft pliable elastic material having artificial hair sewn into the skull part.

The terms facial part and skull part may in the following be understood in a wide sense, eg such as to cover also a horse's head and its mane, since the advantages accomplished with the invention also relates to toy figures that do not typify humans

From US patent nos 3 225 489, 5 041 050 and 4 874 345 doll's heads are known having replaceable wigs. The head part is shaped as a natural head, such that the head will be lifelike and attractive even without the wig. In or- der for the hair to look natural, the wig is formed from any relatively thin elas¬ tic material as a hemispherical cap, and hair strands are sewn into the cap. The wig is mounted on the head part by snap engagement or by means of other releasable securing means, such as hook and loop fasteners. Swiss patent application No 1311/96 discloses a doll's head having a wig made of a relatively thin, flexible material, such as textile material. The doll's head comprises a facial part and a skull part being made of plastics material, such as polystyrene. The wig is attached to the outer surface of the skull part, and the skull part is thereafter mounted on the facial part by snap en¬ gagement means.

Especially in relation to small dolls, the above mentioned prior art gives rise to the problem that the wigs are very fragile and therefore a small child could relatively easy tear the wigs when playing with the dolls.

Furthermore, the wigs according to the above mentioned prior art are easily released from the doll's head either intentionally or unintentionally. This represents a hazard as small children can unintentionally swallow the wigs.

In this relation it is therefore generally known to make hollow doll's heads in a rotational or slush molding process, and wherein artificial hair is sewn onto the head after the molding process. Such doll's heads are preferably made in one piece from polyvinyl chloride because polyvinyl chloride provides advan¬ tageous properties for both the printing, stitching and rotational moulding processes necessary for finishing the doll's head.

From US patent no. 3 448 540 is also known a doll's head comprising a separate facial part and a skull part both made from softened polyvinyl chlo¬ ride, and where the facial part and the skull part have complementary, annu- lar, abutting surfaces extending along border regions from the surface of the head and inwardly into the head. Plates are arranged inside the head in or¬ der to ensure correct

positioning of the abutting surfaces of the skull part and the facial part.

A problem in relation to the prior art according to US patent no. 3 448 540 is that the process of assembling the doll's head is relatively complex, and that it requires many separate components.

It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a novel head construction in which the number of different components is reduced, and at the same time providing a doll's head that is very resistant to tearing off the wig from the doll's head, but is easy to assemble.

According to the invention this is obtained by providing means for mounting or fastening the hollow skull part on the facial part, and wherein the means for mounting or fastening the hollow skull part on the facial part comprises a plug having means at one end for engaging with one or more protrusions ar¬ ranged in the hollow skull part, and the other end extending into the facial part and having means for engaging with one or more protrusions in the fa¬ cial part.

Hereby it is obtained that the complete doll's head consists of only the facial part, the skull part and the plug for mounting the skull part on the facial part.

In an embodiment of the invention, a relatively soft material for the facial part of the head is used, which in particular cases are advantageous.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention a relatively rigid material for the facial part of the head is used, so that it is obtained that no specific means are necessary to hold the abutting surfaces of the skull part and the facial part in correct alignment and abutment.

In this relation the plug is also advantageously made from a relatively rigid plastics material, such as polystyrene or polyoxymethylene.

The means at the other end of the plug for engaging with protrusions in the facial part comprises in a preferred embodiment of the invention a one-way, snap-engaging means, being arranged such as to resist pulling of the plug out of the facial part after insertion of the plug into the facial part, so as to avoid that a child pulls off the skull part from the facial part.

In a further preferred embodiment of the invention the facial part of the toy figure has a neck portion which is engageable with a body portion of the toy figure for connecting the facial part to the body portion.

In this relation the plug may - according to a further embodiment of the in¬ vention - extend through the facial part and below the neck portion, and where the plug at the end below the neck portion is shaped as a ball for en¬ gaging with a corresponding socket portion on the body part of the toy figure. The process of assembling the doll's head and the process of mounting the doll's head on the body part of the toy figure can thereby be done simultane¬ ously.

In a further preferred embodiment, the artificial hair is sewn into the skull part and extends from the inside of the head and out between the abutting com¬ plementary shaped annular surfaces of the skull part and the facial part. In

this way the borderline will be hidden by the hairs and the doll's head will look more realistic.

The term 'sewing' is used herein to designate any method of fastening the hair strands to the skull part, wherein the hair strands extend into perfora¬ tions in the skull part, eg by means of a hair rooting process.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention the skull part has an annular flange arranged on the innermost part of the annular abutting sur- face on the skull part, and where the annular flange extends from the annular abutting surface and into the facial part in the direction of the neck part of the facial part. Hereby it is ensured that the facial part and the skull part of the head are kept in correct alignment.

In this relation it is further advantageous if the borderline at the surface of the head, which is defined by the abutting complementary shaped annular sur¬ faces of the skull part and the facial part, is shaped as a natural hairline for the toy figure, so that it imparts a natural appearance to the head.

Preferred embodiments will be further described in the following with refer¬ ence to the drawings.

Figure 1 is a view of a fully assembled doll's head according to the present invention, without hair sewn into the skull.

Figure 2 shows a section of the fully assembled doll's head shown in Figure 1 in the symmetrical plane of the head.

Figure 3 is a view of a part of the doll's head according to Figure 1 and 2.

In Figure 1 the doll's head 1 comprises a facial part 2 and a skull part 3 being divided by a borderline 4. The borderline is preferably formed such as to have a curvature which very much resembles the curvature of a natural hair¬ line of a person. According to the invention the skull part is made of a rela- tively soft pliable material being suitable for sewing in tufts of artificial hair,

and the facial part is made of a relatively rigid plasties material, such as poly¬ styrene (PS, ABS) or polyoxymethylene (POM).

The embodiment disclosed in figure 1 and the following figures relate to dolls typifying humans, but as the advantages of the present invention also relate to toy figures typifying other beings than humans, eg animals, such as horses, or other animals or creatures, it is obvious that the skilled person, by the description of the present invention, will be able to suggest alternative shapes for the facial part and the skull part as well as for the curvature of the borderline dividing the facial part and the skull part.

The facial part has a neck portion 5, and a ball-shaped connection part 6 is arranged below the neck part 5 in order to facilitate mounting of the head 1 in a correspondingly shaped socket arranged on a body part of the toy figure (not shown).

Now in Figure 2 a section along the symmetrical plane of the doll's head ac¬ cording to Figure 1 is shown. The doll's head 1 is mounted in a socket 11 which is a part of the body part of a toy figure. By the ball 6 and socket 11 connection it is possible to arrange the doll's head in different positions in re¬ lation to the body part of the doll.

A plug 8 extends through the facial part 2 of the doll's head 1 from the upper part of the facial part 2 and below the neck portion 5 of the facial part 2. At the lowermost end of the plug 8, the ball 6 is arranged so as to engage with the socket 11 on the body part of the doll.

Flanges 13, 19 are arranged at the upper end of the plug 8 so as to engage with inwardly extending protrusions 15, 17 on the skull part 3 so as to hold the skull part against the facial part 2 along the borderline 4. In order to se¬ cure the plug 8 in the facial part 2, a one-way snap means 9, 10 is arranged.

Even though the preferred embodiment disclosed accomplishes easy as- sembly of the toy figure, an alternative embodiment is possible in which the one-way snap-engagement means are removed and the only means holding

the skull part 3 and the facial part together is the ball- 6 and- socket- 11 con¬ nection.

When assembling the doll's head 1 , the skull part 3 is at first mounted on the plug 8, and thereafter the plug 8 is pushed into the facial part 2 until the skull part abuts on the facial part 2 along the borderline 4. In order to push the plug 8 into the facial part 2, a rod-like extension 12 is arranged on top of the plug 8.

As can be seen from Figure 2 the plug 8 and the facial part 2 forms a maze when assembled, and the protrusions 15, 17 and the flanges 14, 16 of skull part3 extend into the maze so as to provide very secure locking of the skull part 3 to the facial part 2.

Artificial hair strands 7 are sewn into the skull part 3 of the doll's head by means of well known methods for this purpose, such as a hair rooting proc¬ ess or the like. In order to hide the borderline and give a lifelike appearance, some of the hair strands are sewn into flanges 14, 16 extending inside the head and the hair strands extend between the abutting surfaces of the skull part 3 and the facial part 2, and out through the borderline 4.

In Figure 3, the skull part 3 is shown in further detail where the skull part 3 comprises a skull surface 20, an abutting surface 21 , a flange 22 extending from the abutting surface, and forming the flanges 14, 16 disclosed in Figure 2, and a further flange 23 extending inwardly from the flange 22 and forming the protrusion 15, 17 disclosed in Figure 2.

Hair strands 7 of artificial hair are sewn into the skull part 3 along the dotted lines 25, and because some of the hair strands are sewn into the flange 22 extending from the abutting surface 21 , it is clear that these hair strands will extend out between the abutting surfaces on the skull part 3 and the facial part 2 as shown in fig 2.