Abstract: An ergonomic food scoop may comprise a scoop bowl, a hand grip and a wrist support. A support member may interconnect the bowl and the hand grip and may be oriented perpendicular to the hand grip. The wrist support may be oriented parallel to the hand grip. One or more hand grip connectors may connect the hand grip to the wrist support.

Abstract: An animated character such as a Santa figure which is capable of moving repeatedly from a sitting to a standing position, and also producing vocal speaking or singing sounds synchronized with movements of the character. The character includes a body having a torso casing containing an electric motor and multiple gears, a head-piece capable of making side-to-side nodding motions, and multiple lever members provided on opposite sides of the casing and pivotably connected together so as to produce the repeated standing motions of the character from a sitting position. Operation of the character is controlled by an electric circuit which is operated either manually or from a light-sensitive switch which can sense motion of any nearby moving object or person and activate movements of the character.

Abstract: An illuminated sign assembly is provided, of the type that includes illuminated alphanumeric characters lying on a dark background, wherein the characters and/or color can be readily changed at low cost. The sign includes a thick rigid structural plate (26, FIG. 3) of colorless translucent material which can be readily placed in a lightbox that shines light through the plate. A thin color sheet (30) which passes light of a selected color, lies on the front face of the translucent plate, and an opaque character sheet (34) which has apertures (20) defining alphanumeric characters, lies on the front face of the color sheet. The color and character sheets are each thin, so new color and character sheets can be provided at low cost for mounting on the plate. The color and character sheets each have a layer of water-soluble adhesive so a water spray (62, FIG. 11) can be applied to greatly reduce the adhesive viscosity to enable squeegeeing (at Z) of each sheet to remove air bubbles.

Abstract: A device for support and electrical control of animated figures including an enclosure which is firmly attachable onto a figure and which contains wiring from an electrical power source. A switch and plug are provided in the wiring, and a socket element is attached to a sidewall of the enclosure. If desired, a second device for support and electrical control of a figure can be plugged into the socket unit provided in the first enclosure. Thus, a separate switch exists for each device and when any switch is opened, such as in a stepwise sequence, all the device downstream from that switch are turned off.