Here you will find patent information as registered with the United States Patent Office by Mattel and inventors working for Mattel (most notably Jack Ryan). Note that only those patents that have been found are included and there is an active search for additional Patent numbers.
These Patents were found during a juxtaposition of time, energy and people - sort of a Star Trekian "Nexus" moment. A member of the Major Matt Mason email list (Graeme Walker in Canada) sent out some information about three Patents being available on a pay site, where you could order copies for framing (these included the Space Crawler, the Space Sled and the un-produced Space Rover - which eventually made it into production rather mutated as the Astro Trac). The information contained was enough for another list member (Pat LeBlanc) to do some research on the US Patent Office website, where he found the original downloadable files (free downloads, I might add). When Graeme saw the originals on the USPTO website, it set him to research under Patents issued to Mattel. Unfortunately only patents filed after 1975 are available for searching by name and attributes. However, while looking around at some of these later Patents, there are often references to earlier patents - looking for references in the 1965-1971 range and especially under the principal inventor, John W. Ryan, he found the original patent for the MMM figure! Inspired by this luck, I began doing the same hit-or-miss research and have uncovered patents for Capt Lazer, the Moon Suit, Supernaut Power Limbs, the Or Orbitor and others. I've attributed those who took the time to find these below each listing.
During our search we found two types of patents, sometimes covering the same toy:
- Design patents: (D prefix to the patent number) cover how an item -looks- and not much more. These are relatively simple, and therefore useful in obtaining some basic patent protection for any toy as soon as possible (within 12-18 months, judging by the dates on Mattel patents).
- Utility (regular) patents: (no prefix to the number) cover how an item -works- and are therefore much more elaborate, detailing both the mechanical and innovative aspects of a new invention. (A nice example of this type of patent is the one for the Gamma Ray Gard - 3,515,212). These patents take a lot more effort to prepare properly, and also take longer to be evaluated by the Patent Office (some 2-3 years).
However, in both cases it is required to refer to previous inventions or other sources (books, magazines, catalogues etc) to illustrate the "state of the art," compared to which the new invention is to be judged for originality and uniqueness.
Note that the following is organized by Date Patent Granted.
Originally these image files were only available in TIF format but recently the USPTO has made PDF format available - click on the image or the title to access the PDF which you can then view and/or download. Note that I'm hosting the PDFs in a Google Drive that should be accessible by anyone as the USPTO may store them in a different place in the future - hopefully this will prevent any broken links.
ADJUSTABLE FIGURE TOY HAVING IMPROVED ARMATURE MEANS (MMM figure)
3,325,939 June 20, 1967 Filed Nov 21, 1966
J. W. Ryan and Ralph Dunn
"A simulated spaceman doll has a soft, pliable body supported by a soft wire armature which is encompassed by rigid stiffeners embedded in the limbs of the doll between its joints and in its body for preventing bending of the limbs and body between the joints. The stiffeners have a non-cylindrical shape and the portions of the wires which are encompassed by the stiffeners are flattened to a non-cylindrical shape for preventing relative rotation between the limbs of the toy and the stiffeners and between the stiffeners and the wires, respectively."
Patent Found by Graeme Walker
John's Notes
It's interesting to note that on the patent document, the figure originally was to have magnets in the boots so the figure could attach to surfaces, like the sled shown (you would pull the sled with a string to have the figure move). Sounds like the beginning of the Space Sled concept to me, and probably pre-dates the Space Station with the boot tabs for holding the figures to the platforms.
PNEUMATIC SPACE CAPSULE (Moon Suit)
3,346,989 Oct 17, 1967 Filed Nov 14 1966
J. W. Ryan, Cecil F. Adickes Jr, Jacob de Gelder
"A rigid hollow casing having two hinged halves with opposed notches in their edges so that a doll may be placed in the casing with its legs extending through the openings defined by the notches when the casing is closed. A pair of flexible, hollow, resilient arm members extending from the casing and communicating with a bladder chamber in the casing, and pump means connected to the bladder chamber to apply air pressure in the arm members to cause them to change shape or position."
Patent Found by John Eaton
John's Notes
What became the Moon Suit was pretty much envisioned and executed to market exactly as the patent describes. It's a testament to great engineering.
CRAWLER-TYPE TOY VEHICLE (Space Crawler)
D209,220 Nov. 14, 1967, Filed Dec. 21, 1966
J. W. Ryan and Gerald W. Schmidt
"The ornamental design for a crawler-type toy vehicle, as shown."
Found by Pat LeBlanc after Graeme WalkerJohn's Notes
This seems to be a preliminary patent on the overall observable physical design of the Space Crawler. The next patent filed shows the inner workings that contain the real engineering design innovation.
ROCKET LAUNCHING TOY (Rocket Launch Pak)
D209,764 Jan 2, 1968, Filed Feb 1, 1967
J. W. Ryan and John H. Northrop
No abstract provided.
Found by Paul Vreede
John's Notes
Not many details to the launching accessories - they're pretty much "ornamental design" patents.
HOOP LAUNCHING TOY (Satellite Launch Pak)
D209,765 Jan 2, 1968, Filed Feb 1, 1967
J. W. Ryan and John H. Northrop
No abstract provided.
Found by Paul Vreede
John's Notes
Not many details to the launching accessories - they're pretty much "ornamental design" patents.
OUTER SPACE VEHICLE TOY (Space Rover)
D210,085 Feb 6, 1968, Filed Jan 19, 1967
J. W. Ryan and Gerald W. Schmidt
"The ornamental design for an outer space vehicle toy, as shown."
Found by Pat LeBlanc after Graeme Walker
John's Notes
This is that crazy prototype that appeared in the Star Log Guide to SF Toys and on the back cover of the 1967 Mattel Toy Fair Catalog (for retailers). This eventually made it into production as the Astro Trac. See "String Monorail" below for the detailed Technical Explanation - Amazing!
ROCKET-LAUNCHING TOY (Space Probe Pak)
D210,398 Mar 5, 1968, Filed Feb 1, 1967
J. W. Ryan and John H. Northrop
No abstract provided.
Found by Paul Vreede
John's Notes
Not many details to the launching accessories - they're pretty much "ornamental design" patents.
SLED-TYPE TOY FOR DOLLS (Space Sled)
D210,610 Mar. 26, 1968, Filed Feb. 1, 1967
J. W. Ryan and Jacob de Gelder
"The ornamental design for a sled-type toy for dolls, as shown."
Found by Pat LeBlanc after Graeme Walker
John's Notes
Note that the Control Column is backwards in the illustration.
STRING MONORAIL (Space Rover)
3,439,448 April 22, 1969, Filed Feb 8, 1967
"A three-wheeled toy vehicle may be driven over a suitable surface by an electric motor having output shafts engaging the outer periphery of the rear wheels while the vehicle is steered by a child-user manipulating a string attached to the single front wheel. Alternatively, the vehicle may be driven on an elevated string forming a rail engageable by a pulley on the vehicle. The pulley is driven through a gear train including a pinion gear affixed to one of the output shafts. Upon elevation of the vehicle the rear wheels drop out of driving engagement with the output shafts."
J. W. Ryan and Albert R. Baginski
Found by Paul Vreede
John's Notes
It's hard to imagine this toy actually making it into production - the complexity of set up would be daunting to most kids of my era (and more importantly, to the dad who was expected to get it working). Probably why it never made it into production as defined. My theory is that the Reconojet was produced to provide a simpler solution and the Rover obviously mutated to become the Astro-Trac.
SELF-PROPELLED CRAWLING TOY (Space Crawler)
3,475,854 Nov. 4, 1969, Filed Feb 3, 1966
J. W. Ryan, Robert A. MacMeekin and Daniel Henry Meggs
"A fuselage-shaped body has ground-contacting tail and carries a powered axle transversely across a front portion thereof. The ends of the axle extend outwardly from the sides of the body and carry radially extending spokes having ground-engaging ends inscribing a circle extending substantially forwardly of the body facilitating movement of the toy over rough terrain. The toy carries a winch which is selectively driven in clockwise and counterclockwise directions by an electric motor through a gear train and clutch arrangement which also supplies power to the axle."
Found by Paul Vreede
John's Notes
Quite the complicated series of gears to make this engineering marvel work.
PROJECTILE FIRING GUN TOY (Gamma Ray Gard)
3,515,112 June 2, 1970 Filed Oct 16, 1968
A. R. Baginski, David T. Okada and Edwin O. Stastny
"A gun toy of the type including a multi-chamber rotatable cylindrical magazine, in which each chamber is adapted to hold an energy-storing projectile. The energy stored in each projectile causes the projectile to be ejected up to several feet out of the toy's barrel when the projectile chamber is aligned with the barrel's bore. The energy-storing projectile comprises a helical, spirally wound strip by compressing it endwise and then inserting it into a chamber of the magazine."
Patent Found by Paul Vreede
John's Notes Notice page two - a helmet for Captain Lazer??!! Also, note the Engineering Head changes with this from Ryan to Baginski.
GEAR TRAIN AND CLUTCH FOR A SELF-PROPELLED TOY (Space Crawler)
3,529,479 Sept 22, 1970, Filed Feb 3, 1967
J. W. Ryan, Robert A. MacMeekin and Daniel H. Meggs
"A gear train and clutch arrangement may be operated manually to shift the output of a winch-carrying electric toy vehicle having wheel substitutes from the wheel substitutes to the winch. The clutch includes axially slidable members having protuberances which are biased into engagement with matching detents carried by clutch members fixed to the axle. The clutch automatically shifts the output from the winch to the wheel substitutes when the winch encounters a predetermined load."
Found by Paul Vreede
John's Notes
More testament to Mattel's excellent engineers.
SWITCH MEANS FOR CONTROLLING AN ANIMATION DEVICE IN A FIGURE TOY (Capt Lazer)
3,531,890 Oct 6, 1970 Filed February 8, 1968
Manning Citron and Melvin R. Kennedy
"Flow of electric current to electrically-operated animation means, such as light bulbs and a buzzer, is controlled by switch means including a vibratile contact which is caused to vibrate by movement of the switch-closing member."
Patent Found by John Eaton
John's Notes
This was found by me on 2023.10.15 years after the following similar patent was found (also by me). Reading between the patents I think that the second patent filed was used to protect a similar, as yet un-filed idea, mostly to prevent a competitor from coping the basic idea with changes to the delivery system. Conjecture by me, of course but it's interesting that the two patents were filed 3 weeks apart and the Patents issued on the same day.
SWITCH MEANS FOR CONTROLLING AN ANIMATION DEVICE IN A FIGURE TOY (Capt Lazer)
3,531,891 Oct 6, 1970 Filed March 18, 1968
A.E. Goldfarb and Stanley A. Weston
"Flow of electric current to electrically-operated animation means, such as light bulbs and a buzzer, is controlled by switch means including a vibratile contact which may be caused to vibrate by flicking a weight carried thereby."
Patent Found by John Eaton
John's Notes
This version of the Capt Lazer concept was quite different from what made it onto the shelves, although the patent specifies the use of colored plastic rods to transfer the light, which was used in the actual figure - the helmet lit up instead of the eyes, and there were cross-braces across the chest that had small lights as did the belt. Instead of a backpack, the controls and power came from a base. Note that Marvin Glass is also attributed as one of the inventors - he was also attributed to creating both GI Joe and Captain Action - I did not know that he had ever done work for Mattel.
Spaceman Carrier Toy (Supernaut Power Limbs)
3,594,947 July 27, 1971 Filed Nov 29, 1968
John W. Ryan, Donald C. Hartling, Robert E. Hulse and Gary W. Pimentel
"A toy for a spaceman doll to provide the effect of amplification of the stride and reach of the doll. The carrier comprises a pair of adjustable stilts with clamps for holding the boots of a spaceman doll. A frame which simulates a backpack for the doll, pivotally joins the stilts near their top to enable movement of the stilts apart and together to simulate giant doll strides. Long grasping tools on each side of the doll simulate apparatus for extending its reach."
Patent Found by Graeme Walker
John's Notes
What a complicated toy - amazingly the production model varied little from the design patent illustration.
ENVIRONMENTAL SPACE SUIT TOY (Space Power Suit)
3,599,363 Aug 17, 1971 Filed Nov 29, 1968
A. R. Baginski, David T. Okada and Edwin O. Stastny
"A toy comprising an astronaut figure, a space capsule around the upper portion of the figure, pneumatically operated tools mounted on the capsule, an air pump, and tubes for coupling the pump to the tools, the tubes passing through the capsule to provide the appearance that the astronaut figure is controlling tool operation. One grasping tool has jaws operated by a bellows that is expanded by air pressure. Another tool includes a thrust element mounted on the inner turn of a spirally wound band, the spiral expanding lengthwise when pressure air is applied to it."
Patent Found by Paul Vreede
John's Notes
Reading this makes it sound like it can actually provide protection and useful apparatus for exploration in hostile environments, by a toy figure of course.
STRING PROJECTING Toy (Callisto and his Sensor)
3,605,326 Sept 20, 1971 Filed Jan 30 1969
A. R. Baginski, David T. Okada, Floyd E. Schlau and Edwin O. Stastny
"A spaceman toy comprising a spaceman figure and a pneumatically powered space probe or gun mounted on him, which projects and retracts a string. The gun includes a chamber with a long narrow passageway through which the string extends, and a hand pump is coupled by a tube to the chamber to apply compressed air or a vacuum to the chamber to project or retract the string."
Patent Found by John Eaton
John's Notes
If it wasn't for the Sensor I'm sure this would only have been a design patent. Interesting use of pneumatics to achieve the string mechanism.
ROTOR LAUNCHING TOY (Orbitor and Launcher)
3,605,328 Sept 20, 1971 Filed Dec 10, 1969
Eugene .J. Kilroy, Jr.
"A toy which facilitates the launching of a large rotor, comprising an elongated frame with a launching end having a drive dog for receiving the rotor and an operating end where a handle is located that can be pulled by a child to rotate the drive dog and launch the rotor. The axis of the drive dog is angled away from the vertical so that the rotor will not hit a child at the operating end. The launching mechanism includes a cable having one end normally wound around a spool fixed to the drive dog, and an opposite end extending through the frame to the operating end, where it is attached to a handle. A child launches a rotor by placing his feet on a pair of foot rests at the operating end of the frame, and pulling up on the handle which is attached to the cable."
Patent Found by John Eaton
John's Notes
WOW! What a great toy! Too bad it never went into distribution. The only example to have surfaced thus far is a sample.
TOY AIRPLANE (XRG-1 Reentry Glider)
D219,042 Oct 27, 1970 Filed Nov 13, 1969
Jack M. King, George #. Robson, William D. Stout and Norman .C. Thompson,
"The ornamental design for a toy airplane, as shown."
Patent Found by Bill Bulloch
John's Notes
Still love the simplicity of this functional glider.
TOY WITH VARIABLE TORQUE-PRODUCING MEANS (Unitred)
3,540,152 Nov 17, 1970 Filed Aug 22, 1968
Janos Beny and Donald C. Hartling
"A motion-producing toy such as a vehicle or crane which automatically shifts temporarily from high to low speed operation to obtain a corresponding increase in torque for overcoming obstacles or heavy loads. The toy includes an output gear with ratchets at its side which can shift axially for engagement with either a high speed gear at its periphery or a low speed gear at its side, and an inclined coupling member for axially shifting the output gear when a predetermined torque is reached."
Patent Found by John Eaton
John's Notes
We start getting into the hidden complexity of the Unitred with this patent.
VOICE UNIT BACKPACK (Voice Command Flight Pak)
3,614,110 Oct 19, 1971 Filed Nov 13, 1969
James E. M. Westminster and Richard E. Henderson
"Apparatus in the form of a backpack for holding an astronaut figure, which plays a recorded saying as the pack and figure are lowered to the ground. The pack has a phonograph with a turntable that is rotated to play the record by pulling a string out of the pack. The string is pulled out by holding an outer end of the string and allowing the pack to slowly fall to the ground. The phonograph is contained in a housing, and the housing is supported on a pair of elongated members representing struts, the members having an integral strap for holding the toy figure to the housing."
Patent Found by John Eaton
John's Notes
Taking ideas developed for talking dolls and putting them into something as small as a backpack is quite the feat.
SPACE GLIDER (XRG-1 Space Glider)
3,619,937 Nov. 16, 1971 Filed Dec 10, 1969
Norman C. Thompson and Dennis H. Merino
"A toy airplane with a capsule at the front for holding a medium size toy figure of a type which a child may play with independently of the airplane. The airplane is vacuum formed from a sheet of plastic, with a recess near the front for holding the figure in a backwardly reclining position to more easily accommodate the figure. The figure-holding recess formed on the top of the airplane creates a protuberance on the underside, which serves as a hand hold for use in launching the airplane. The airplane walls are of single thickness, except for a pair of vertical stabilizers that have double walls to facilitate their formation during the vacuum forming process."
Patent Found by Graeme Walker
John's Notes
I like how the summary pretty much describes all the functions of this toy.
PROGRAMMABLE STEERING TOY VEHICLE (Star Seeker)
3,621,608 Nov 23, 1971 Filed March 2, 1970
D. V. Bosley, Donald C. Hartling, Richard E. Henderson, James F. Munday and Conrad B. Sloop
"A toy vehicle which can be programmed to move in a desired course, by inserting plugs into appropriate holes in a programming wheel. The programming wheel has three concentric groups of holes, to receive plugs to designate a left turn, right turn, or straight-ahead movement. The programming wheel is slowly turned so that it makes one revolution while the vehicle makes one complete run along its route, the wheel bringing the plugs successively into position to direct the course of the vehicle. Two sets of cams positioned below the programming wheel are moved by the plugs to turn the vehicle wheels, each set of cams including a turning cam which can steer the vehicle at a predetermined angle, and a return cam which is struck by a plug a predetermined time after the turning cam is struck, to return the vehicle to its straight-ahead position after the vehicle has turned approximately 90 degrees from its previous direction."
Patent Found by Paul Vreede
John's Notes
I think Mattel really took a chance on this complicated toy - they were certainly being edgy.
FLUID-PRESSURE OPERATED THRUSTING AND ROTATING DEVICE (Space Power Suit)
3,695,148 Oct 3, 1972 Filed June 9, 1971
Albert. R. Baginski, David T. Okada and Edwin O. Stastny
"A thrust element mounted on the inner turn of a spirally-wound band, the spiral expanding lengthwise when pressured air is applied to it."
Patent Found by John Eaton
John's Notes
Power Suit Mechanics, especially in the use of a mylar "spring" to propel the hammer.
FIGURE TOY OR THE LIKE (Scorpio)
D221,008 Jun 29, 1971, Filed Feb 2, 1970
Richard W. Irons
"A thrust element mounted on the inner turn of a spirally-wound band, the spiral expanding lengthwise when pressured air is applied to it."
Patent Found by Bill Bulloch
John's Notes
Fairly simple Design patent covering Scorpio's appearance - I'm guessing the Search Probe launcher wasn't important enough to patent.
Honorable Mentions
There are a couple of patents that I've included as they are relevant to MMM toys, perhaps in a somewhat oblique way. More in Notes sections below.
MULTIPLE SPEECH PHONOGRAPH (Talking Command Console)
3,017,187 Jan 16, 1962 Filed Feb 25, 1960
J. W. Ryan
“This invention relates to a phonograph or phonograph device, by way of example in the form of a toy which is operative in response to a simple manipulation to speak or pronounce any one of a number of different sentences.”
Patent Found by Paul Vreede
MULTIPLE SPEECH PHONOGRAPH WITH IMPROVED TONE ARM MOUNTING (Talking Command Console)
3,095,201 June 25, 1963 Filed Feb 2 1962
J. W. Ryan
"This invention relates to improvements in a phonograph or phonograph device, by way of example, in the form of a toy which is operative in response to a simple manipulation to speak or pronounce any one of a number of different sentences. Such a device is disclosed in prior application Serial No. 11,203, filed February 25, 1960 and now Patent No. 3,017,187."
Patent Found by John Eaton
John's Notes This is the second granted to J. W. Ryan that expands on the earlier patent. Although this doesn't look like much as is, it does setup at least 7 other patents in regards to voice modules and speaking dolls.
TOY PHONOGRAPH (Talking Command Console)
3,235,266 Feb 15, 1966 Filed July 5, 1962
F. Scoparino
"The present invention relates to a phonograph, and especially to a hand-manipulated phonograph for the playing of a grooved disc record, of a type that is particularly adapted for installation within a toy, such as a doll or similar figurine."
Patent Found by John Eaton
John's Notes With this patent the module shape and basic engineering is established, with a pull-ring to drive the winding mechanism.
TOY GUN (Lazer Blazer)
D206,542 Dec 27, 1966 Filed Jan 20, 1966
John W. Ryan and Floyd Evan Schlau
"The ornamental design for a toy gun, as shown."
Patent Found by John Eaton
John's Notes
Patent for the test-marketed Lazer Blazer, the same design features were used for the MMM Decontamination Gun.
SOUND AND OPTICAL EFFECTS TOY (Lazer Blazer)
3,397,484 Aug 20, 1968 Filed Oct 22, 1965
John W. Ryan, Berne E. Danielsen and Jacob de Gelder
"A toy gun having a simulated telescopic sight through which a remote target can be viewed through a "half silvered" mirror set at an angle in the line of sight. A film strip in the toy gun is moved so as to cause successive images thereon to be reflected by a V-shaped mirror onto a half silvered mirror. Sound producing means operate synchronously with the film strip to reinforce the psychological effect of the successive images, and a trigger is effective to start a cycle of operation at the will of the user."
Patent Found by John Eaton
John's Notes
Utility (mechanical) Patent for the test-marketed Lazer Blazer, the same design features were used for the MMM Decontamination Gun. Note that the patent was granted some years after the initial design - this may have impacted the actual release of the toy and ultimately killed its release.
CONVERTIBLE GUN TOY (Roto-Jet Gun)
D207,172 Mar 14, 1967 Filed Feb 2, 1966
John W. Ryan and Floyd Evan Schlau
"The ornamental design for a convertible gun toy, as shown and described."
Patent Found by John Eaton
John's Notes
This is the patent for the Lost In Space Roto-jet Gun, which was later reused as the MMM Rotojet gun figure accessory.
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