Spring Actuated Projectile Apparatus Including Target Pockets

Abstract

A spring actuated toy in which marbles or similar objects can be viewed as they are individually projected toward designated targets by the snap action of a cricket-type spring. The spring underlies a base having a centrally located opening in which one marble is contained and rests freely on the snap action portion of the spring. Manual cocking of the spring ejects the marble toward the target and means are provided to concomitantly register the flexure of the spring to indicate the number of attempts made to successfully place the marble on target.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to a game of skill and, in particular, is directed to a spring actuated device wherein marbles or similar sized objects are propelled within a transparent, hollow hemisphere at suitable targets.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the post is to provide a device for playing a skill game wherein a marble or other suitable object can be propelled to come to rest on a suitable target.

It is another object of the invention to provide a skill game wherein a specifically identified object is caused to be propelled and to come to rest at or on a correspondingly identified target.

It is still another object of the invention to provide a skill game wherein projectiles are contained within a transparent dome.

It is yet another object of the invention to provide a skill game wherein the course of travel of a marble or similar object can be viewed after the marble is aimed and propelled toward a selected target in order to determine the accuracy of the manually controlled attempt to correctly project the object.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a skill game wherein the flight path or progression of a marble or similar object propelled by a spring can be manually altered.

It is a feature of the inventive skill game to have provisions for automatically monitoring and visibly registering each attempt to propel a marble or similar object to come to rest at its designated target.

Briefly, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the game is in the form of a transparent hollow hemispherical dome mounted above and enclosing a concave circular disc having mounted thereon upstanding cups. A centrally located leaf spring is positioned beneath the underside of the disc to receive on its flat span one marble (of several) at a time through a centrally located opening in the disc. Manually actuated means, secured to the bottom of the platform, are provided to flex the spring for propelling the marble toward one of several observable cup-shaped targets. A scoring device is actuated each time the spring is flexed and registers the number of attempts made to land the marble in the cup-shaped target.

The invention consists in the features of construction, combination of elements, and arrangements of parts which will be exemplified in the device hereinafter described in detail and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the appended claims; it being understood that changes in the precise embodiments of the invention herein disclosed may be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the accompanying drawing in which is shown one of the various possible embodiments of the invention:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the spring actuated toy in accordance with one embodiment of the invention showing the projectable marbles at rest on their respective target platforms;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view;

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 4--4 of FIG. 2 including a sectional view of the dome enclosure. The figure illustrates a step in the operation of the toy and shows, by dot and dash lines, the configuration of the spring, and the trajectory of the marble at the time the marble is projected toward its target and the flexing of the spring registered on the indicator;

FIG. 5 is a top full sectional view of the toy taken along a line located as shown by line 5--5 of FIG. 4 particularly illustrating in plan view the projected configuration of the spring and its location in the toy.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The invention generally comprises a large transparent plastic hemispherically shaped dome mounted atop and enclosing a bowl-shaped container --the base of the bowl-shaped container is concave downwardly in configuration. Several upstanding cups (targets) are secured to the base in spatial relationship to each other. In alternate forms of the invention, the cups are substituted by such targets as buckets, baskets, hooks or simulated goal posts which are either secured to the base or attached to the side wall of the dome. There are several marbles or objects of other shapes, such as cubes, rings, or miniature footballs which normally rest on the base below the cups or other targets. The concave base has a central opening into which one of the objects is caused to roll or slide by gravity. The opening in the base is not large enough to admit more than one object at a time. A cylindrical sleeve integrally depends from a casing which surrounds the bowl-shaped container. A cylindrical piston, closed at its bottom end, is slidably received inside the sleeve and is mounted so that it can vertically reciprocate therein. The closed bottom of the piston normally projects below the lower edge of the sleeve. The rim, defining the open top end of the cylindrical piston, contacts the flat span of a horizontally positioned leaf (cricket) spring. The spring is movable by snap action between two positions. The central snap action portion of the flat span of the leaf spring is directly below the opening of the base to receive and support the marble or similar object. At rest, the center portion of the horizontal span of the leaf spring which receives the marble is downwardly bowed. The spring is flexed by an upward movement of the piston relative to the sleeve against the flat span of the spring. As the rim of the upper, open end of the cylindrical piston is forced against the spring, the downwardly bowed center portion of the span of the spring is caused to snap into an upwardly bowed position. As the spring snaps into the upwardly bowed position, it thrusts the marble or other projectile upwardly within the hollow hemispherically dome in an arc shaped trajectory toward the target --i.e., upstanding cup, basket, hook, etc. Each time the leaf spring is flexed, there is also actuated a mechanism which registers the number of repetitive attempts to successfully position the projectiles on the respective targets.

Referring now in detail to the drawing, the reference numeral 10 denotes a spring actuated projectile game suitable for play by one or more players.

The spring actuated projectile game includes a transparent generally hemispherically shaped imperforate dome 12 securely mounted atop a bowl-shaped member 18. The dome 12 and the bowl-shaped member 18 define a sufficiently large internal cavity for the projectiles 14 to be flipped towards the upstanding cup-shaped targets 16 secured to the base 20 of the bowl 18. The bottom or base 20 of the bowl is in the shape of a slightly concave disc having a centrally located opening 22. The opening 22 in the base 20 is only large enough to admit one marble or other projectile 14 at a time. The marble to be propelled toward the target 16 is caused to roll by gravity on the concave disc and be received by the central opening in the disc.

The bowl-shaped member 18 is disposed snugly within an outer circular casing 24 and is positioned and secured against rotary motion by two vertically projecting pins 44 formed integral with the casing which projects through corresponding openings 46 in the base of the bowl member. The casing has a wall 26 which contacts and surrounds the wall of the bowl and which extends upwardly and terminates in a flange 28 which registers with the flange 30 of the hemispherically dome to form surfaces for sealing the dome to the casing and confining the bowl therein.

Depending integral with the casing 24 is a cylindrical sleeve 32 which slidably receives a piston 34. The lower end 36 of the said 34 is closed and the rim 38 defining the open upper end of the cylindrical piston contacts the leaf spring 40. The piston 34 is constructed with a radially outward extending collar 48 affixed to and encircling the piston. The collar 48 cooperates with a shoulder 50 on the casing to act as a stop to prevent the piston from completely separating from the sleeve. However, it is formed at a location vertically on the wall of the piston to permit adequate vertical motion of the piston to flex the spring and permit the spring to return to an unflexed configuration.

A leaf (cricket) spring 40 stands freely on the upper rim 38 of the piston 34 and is located centrally beneath the bowl shaped member 18. The cricket spring is held in its central location by four lugs 42 formed integral with the casing and which project upwardly. The cricket spring is formed from flat sheet metal resilient stock and has a rectangular-in-plan configuration. More specifically, the cricket spring is all of one piece and includes two opposed upwardly and outwardly diverging like legs 52, 54 each of which extends from a line of angular bend 53 and terminates in a small outwardly, protruding substantially horizontal foot 56 which rests against the under surface of the bowl-shaped member 18. Except for orientation, the spring is very similar to that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,356,369.

The span 58 of the cricket spring substantially closes the open end of the piston 34. The piston is vertically centered beneath the span of the cricket spring.

The span 58 has centered thereon and integral therewith a downwardly concave shallow circular depression 60 that is smaller in diameter than the span dimensions. On opposed sides of the depression and spaced therefrom are two outwardly diverging triangular shallow crowns 62. The span 58, depression 60, and crowns 62 jointly constitute the snap action position of the spring. When the span of the spring is urged upwardly by the upward movement of the piston relative to the sleeve, it is the centrally located concave portion of the spring supporting the marble in the centrally located opening in the base of the bowl which snaps or pops into a convex position and, in so doing, thrusts the overlying marble as a projectile toward the target.

A small rectangular vertical post 64 having a circular flat base 66 integral therewith rests on the span of the spring proximate one corner thereof. The post projects through an opening in the base of a U-shaped frame 68 on which is rotatably mounted a spur gear 70 affixed to a wheel 72. The upper end of the post is in contact with one of the teeth of the spur gear. The frame 68 is suitably secured to the base 20 and is contained in a casing 76 formed in said base.

In the idle position of the inventive toy, the cricket spring is depressed with the marble or other projectile freely non-constrainedly lying on the central circular depression of the span. The idle position of the toy is shown in FIG. 4 with the closed end of the piston projecting below the lower edge of the sleeve.

The toy is actuated by an upward thrust of the flat surface of the bottom of the piston by the fingers of the player as the entire toy is held in both hands. Alternatively, the toy can be actuated by placing it on a flat support and, with the palm of the hand on dome, pressing the toy downwardly against the surface supporting the bottom of the piston. The sleeve guides the piston in its upward movement and as the piston moves upwardly, the rim of the piston transmits to the cricket spring the upward force applied to the piston.

Said upward force indicated by the arrow A in FIG. 4 flexes the cricket spring from its idle position to a position shown by the dot and dashed lines of FIG. 4 wherein the legs 52 and 54 have slid on the undersurface of the base 20 of the bowl and spread further apart and the outward rotation of the legs has exerted torque couples on both sides of the span 58 so that the span begins to bow upwardly. When the cricket spring is stressed, so that its legs start to spread outwardly and its span bowed upwardly to a certain extent, the depression 60 on the span, initially downwardly concave or indented in a direction opposite to the direction A of initial movement of the spring, snaps, i.e., rapidly moves in said direction A of initial movement and thereupon reverses its configuration to flowingly merge into the upwardly bowed configuration of the span (dot, dash line of FIG. 4). When the central portion of the span is curved upwardly so as to merge into the bowed configuration of the remainder of the span, the triangular crowns 62 also substantially merge into the same configuration and a further stress is imposed thereon which is concentrated at the apices of the crowns adjacent the upwardly bowed center portion of the span.

The rapid upward movement of the indented central portion of the span throws the marble resting thereon upwardly but containedly within the dome and bowl toward the target 16.

By slightly tilting the toy, the direction of the flight of the marble can be controlled to some degree and, hopefully, it can be caused to fall and come to rest on the target. The path of the marble during its movement toward the target can be observed through the transparent dome and suitable adjustment made in the angle at which the toy is tilted for each attempt to project the marble onto its target.

As the span of the spring is bowed upwardly to cause the central portion to snap into a convex configuration, the bowed span forces the post upwardly at a slight angle against the tooth of the span gear (as shown by the dot and dashed line of FIG. 4) and causes the gear to rotate and drive the wheel through an increment of rotation. Located on the face of the wheel are indicia which are individually observed through the window 74 of the housing 76 enclosing and containing the gear, wheel and frame. The indicia show the number of the attempt (or success) of placing the marble on target.

When the fingers at the base of the piston are relaxed, the internal stresses at the apecis of the crowns in the span are sufficient to trigger the cocked central portion of the span for snapping downward motion. That is to say, the central portion of the span is triggered into sudden return movement and is thereby rapidly thrust in the direction B of return movement of the span to regain its original configuration protruding downwardly from the remainder of the span. The return movement of the span releases the post from contact with the tooth of the gear and permits it to move vertical downward and into a position whereat the upper end of the post is in contact with the next tooth of the gear.

As previously stated, the scoring mechanism is comprised of a rotatable wheel having indicia which may be observed through a small window in the topmost part of the outer casing 76 for the scoring device. Each increment of movement of the rotatable wheel of the scoring device registers a succeeding number to be observed through the window.

The skill game device as shown in the drawings is representative and has been described and illustrated as a skill game for projecting marbles onto upstanding cup-shaped targets. As will be readily recognized by those skilled in the art, many modifications of the devices are possible and yet within the spirit of the invention. For example, baskets or brackets mounted on the side wall of the hemispherical dome can be substituted for the upstanding cups and marbles simulating the design of basketballs can be employed. Alternatively, two baskets diametrically opposed representing the baskets at two ends of a basketball court may be employed and one marble used for two or more players to play a simulated game of basketball. Similarly, the baskets can be replaced with small simulated football goal posts and in place of the marbles, a football may be used as the projectile.

It is also conceivable that the cup-shaped upstanding platforms as shown may be constructed so as to have different heights above the disc and thus make the game more difficult when playing with marble projectiles. Alternatively, the marbles may each be weighted off-center so as not to roll uniformly and thus make it even more difficult to correctly land or come to rest on the target.

Additionally, various color schemes and several more targets may be employed in order that a specific projectile be directed toward a correspondingly colored specific target.

It will thus be seen that a device has been provided which achieves the several objects of the invention and which is well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiment set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein described or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Claims

What is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A spring actuated toy for projecting objects onto targets comprising:

a. a casing having an integral sleeve depending therefrom;

b. a piston slidably receivable in said sleeve, the lower end of said piston projecting below the bottom edge of the sleeve and the upper end of said piston disposed within the interior of the casing;

c. a bowl-shaped member snugly fitted within said casing, said bowl-shaped member having a slightly concave base, said base having a centrally located opening sufficiently large to receive only one object at a time;

d. a leaf spring including a rectangular, broad, substantially flat snap acting span resting on the upper end of the piston and located beneath the central opening of the base and formed with two opposed upwardly diverging legs in one piece extending from opposite edges of the span, the upper ends of said legs being in slidable contact with the undersurface of the base whereby when the span is pressed upwardly, by an upward movement of the piston, the upper ends of the legs are spread apart and cause the span to bow upwardly in a snap action, said snap-acting span being constructed to snap upwardly when the span bows upwardly and to snap downwardly when upward pressure on the span is removed from the span;

e. a projectable object adapted to freely rest on the snap-acting span of the leaf spring and to be propelled upwardly by the snap action of said spring;

f. a transparent enclosure sufficiently large to permit an object to be projected by the upward snap of the snap-acting portion of the spring; and

g. at least one fixed target mounted within the area defined by said enclosure and said bowl and constituting a directional objective for the flight of an object propelled by said spring.

2. The spring actuated toy of claim 1 further including means for registering each flexing of the leaf spring comprising:

a. a vertical post having an integral flat base, said base resting freely on the span of the spring;

b. a wheel having indicia affixed to the rim thereof, said wheel rigidly affixed to a spur gear and coaxially rotatably mounted therewith above the post and positioned to effect contact of one tooth of the spur gear with the upper end of the post; and

c. a housing enclosing the wheel, spur gear and upper portion of the post and having a window whereby a portion of the indicia on the wheel is exposed each time the gear and wheel is turned by the substantially vertical upward movement of the post when the span of the spring is bowed upwardly.

3. The spring actuated toy according to claim 1 wherein said sleeve integral with the casing and depending therefrom is a cylindrical sleeve and said piston is a cylindrical piston having a closed lower end and an open upper end.

4. The spring actuated toy according to claim 1 wherein the enclosure is a dome-shaped enclosure.

5. The spring actuated toy according to claim 1 wherein the spring span has integral therewith a snap-acting portion.

6. The spring actuated toy according to claim 5 wherein the snap-acting portion includes a downwardly concave depression located centrally of the span.

7. The spring actuated toy according to claim 6 wherein the snap-acting portion further includes two triangular crowns in the edges of the span and located on opposed sides of the concave depression, the bases of the triangles being at the edges of the span perpendicular to the legs of the span.

8. The spring actuated toy according to claim 1 having a plurality of spatially related targets mounted within the area defined by the enclosure and bowl.

9. The spring actuated toy according to claim 1 having a plurality of projectable objects.

10. The spring actuated toy according to claim 1 having a plurality of objects color related to a plurality of targets.

11. The spring actuated toy according to claim 1 wherein the target is an upstanding cup secured to the base of the bowl-shaped member.

12. The spring actuated toy according to claim 1 having a plurality of upstanding cup-shaped targets secured to the base of the bowl-shaped member.

13. The spring actuated toy according to claim 1 wherein the projectable object is a sphere.

14. The spring actuated toy according to claim 1 wherein the projectable object is an off-center weighted sphere.