Mechanical Accelerator For A Vehicle Toy

Abstract

An action toy wherein the sides of small unpowered toy vehicles traveling along a track or roadway are engaged by a pair of gripping members disposed adjacent opposite sides of the roadway and wherein the toy vehicles are accelerated by the rectilinear movement of the gripping members before being released by these members.

Parent Case Text

This application is a division of application Ser. No. 752,232 now U.S. Pat. No. 3,641,704, filed Aug. 13, 1968, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION:

The background of the invention will be set forth in two parts.

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention pertains generally to the field of toy vehicles and tracks or roadways upon which they travel and more particularly to a novel technique to accelerate unpowered vehicles along a track or roadway.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Toy unpowered vehicles are well known in the art. Generally, these vehicles, for example, are either adapted to be pushed along a horizontal surface such as a floor and on the ground or they are designed to follow a track or roadway and caused to accelerate therealong through the force of gravity by elevating a portion of the roadway. There are certain obvious disadvantages to these prior art toys utilizing unpowered vehicles. In the first example above, there is provided no means to control the direction of travel of the vehicles and requires a manual motivating force by the user such as by simply pushing. In the second example, the roadway must be provided with an elevated portion and after each "run," the vehicle must be manually replaced at the top of the elevated runway.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:

In view of the foregoing factors and conditions characteristic of unpowered vehicle toys, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a new and improved unpowered vehicle toy not subject to the disadvantages enumerated above and having a track or roadway for guiding unpowered toy vehicles, adjacent which roadway is disposed linearly moving propulsion means for engaging and accelerating these vehicles along the track.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an unpowered vehicle toy that does not require a portion of a roadway upon which the vehicle travels to be elevated and which provides an acceleration force on the vehicle independently of the force of gravity.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an unpowered vehicle toy of the type described wherein the accelerating means is manually cocked and triggered and wherein the vehicle is engaged by the accelerating means for that portion of travel of the vehicle along the track that the accelerating force is applied.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide an unpowered vehicle toy wherein vehicles of varying sizes and weights may be accelerated along a track or roadway.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an unpowered vehicle toy wherein the vehicles are accelerated by propulsion means along a track in a stable condition so that energy is not wasted in friction between the vehicle's tires and the side portion of the track and reduces the chance of having the vehicles leaving the track due to instability.

It is still a further object of the invention to provide an unpowered vehicle toy wherein the propulsion means may be operated in three modes: (1) automatic triggering, (2) manual triggering, and (3) no triggering.

According to the present invention, unpowered toy vehicles are accelerated along a predetermined path of travel by apparatus having means for engaging the toy vehicles including gripping members disposed on opposite sides of the path of travel, the members being adapted to move rectilinearly in the direction of vehicle travel and to successively engage and disengage the sides of the vehicles with substantially equal force. Operatively coupled to the gripping members are means for moving the gripping members at a predetermined rate and thereby accelerating the vehicles along the path in a stable condition.

A manual cocking bolt-action type propulsion unit may be used that has two pressure arms, each on opposite sides of the track means, that are continuously biased toward each other and both are also biased equally in the direction of vehicle travel by the manual cocking of the unit. Upon release or triggering of this propulsion unit, the bias in the direction of travel forces the arms to move a predetermined distance along the sides of the track at the end of which movement the arms are forced apart a sufficient amount to release a vehicle therebetween.

The manual propulsion unit may be triggered either manually by a trip-lever, for example, or automatically by a vehicle-actuated trip wire.

The features of the present invention which are believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention and specific embodiments thereof will be described hereinafter by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements or parts.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an unpowered vehicle toy of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, cross-sectional perspective view of a portion of the track or roadway taken along line 2--2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of a manually actuated propulsion unit shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the manually actuated propulsion unit shown in FIG. 3 taken along line 4--4 thereof;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged, cross-sectional view taken along line 5--5 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged, cross-sectional view taken along line 6--6 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 7 is an enlarged, cross-sectional view taken along line 7--7 of FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT:

Referring again to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1-7, an unpowered vehicle toy constituting a presently preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a track or roadway 13 to guide unpowered toy vehicles (not shown) along a predetermined endless course or path. The roadway 13 as here shown has a first straightaway 15 and a second straightaway 17 parallel to the first with curved opposite end sections 19 and 21 connecting the two.

Along the first straightaway 15 is disposed a manually operated vehicle propulsion unit generally designated by reference numeral 23. This unit, as can be seen, is disposed adjacent the roadway 13 and includes side gripping members 25 and 27, a slotted housing structure 29, a manual cocking lever 31, and a vehicle actuated trip wire 33. Thus when, as will be described in more detail later, the cocking lever 31 is manually pulled into the position shown against the force of a spring and a toy vehicle (not shown) on the roadway 13 moves the trip wire 33, the two side gripping members 25 and 27 are caused to engage and grip with equal force opposite sides of the vehicle and immediately move in the direction of vehicle travel to thereby accelerate the unpowered vehicle along the roadway 13. At the end of travel of the side gripping members, these devices are caused to separate simultaneously and thereby disengage from the vehicle and thus propel it in a stable condition.

In order to prevent undue frictional force being introduced and to assure that the toy vehicles do not leave the track, the end sections 19 and 21 of the roadway 13 are banked in a manner similar to banked tracks used in fullsized auto raceways. An enlarged sectional view of such a banked end section taken along line 2--2 of FIG. 1 is shown in FIG. 2. Here, it can be seen that the roadway 13 is banked and is also elevated by an end wall 35 so that further acceleration will take place when the vehicle travels down that portion of the end section 19 joining the second straightaway 17. A similar operation occurs on the other end section 21. This figure further provides a more detailed view of the construction of the roadway 13 by showing an outer side wall 37 and an inner side wall 39 that restrain the toy vehicles from leaving the roadway 13.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a top plan view of the vehicle propulsion unit 23 is shown in more detail. Tis figure and FIGS. 4, 5, 6 and 7 can preferably be viewed together so that a clear understanding of this structure may be obtained. The unit 23 comprises generally the slotted housing structure 29 with a base 41 and a perpendicular slotted side member 43. The side member 43 includes a longitudinal slot 45 in which the manual cocking member 31, restrained from transverse movement by dowel guides 47, is adapted to move.

The cocking member 31 has a pin 49 affixed to its inner portion and a rigid cocking arm 51 is pivotally attached thereto and maintained thereon by conventional restraining washers or nuts 53. The arm 51, at its other end, is pivotally connected to the upper portion of a sliding pin 55 that is adapted to move transversely with respect to its longitudinal axis along a slot 57 in an intermediate guide plate 59. This intermediate plate is positioned between the roadway 13 and the base 41 by end portions 61 and 63 of the propulsion unit 23 (see FIG. 4). The sliding pin 55 is provided with a bias force by means of a helical spring 65 attached at one end thereof to the lower section of the sliding pin 55 and at its other end to a spring tie post 67 attached in a fixed position between the intermediate plate 59 and the base 41 adjacent the end portion 63. The sliding pin 55 is restrained from moving vertically by guides 69 fixed to the pin 55 on each side of the intermediate plate 59.

Two rigid diagonally disposed arms 71 and 73 are also swivelly attached at one of their ends to the sliding pin 55, at its uppermost portion. The other ends of these arms are in turn swivelly attached to the bottom portion of vertical posts 75 and 77, as can be seen in FIG. 5, may include reduced diameter lower portions 79 and 81 and head ends 83 and 85, respectively. Also disposed about the reduced diameter portions of the posts 75 and 77 are, respectively, cam follower elements 87 and 89 that follow cam surfaces 91 and 93 at the sides of the roadway 13 at the vehicle propulsion unit 23. And between the head portions 83 and 85 of the posts 75 and 77 and the cam follower elements are swivelly mounted a second set of rigid diagonal arms 95 and 97.

The second set of diagonally disposed rigid arms 95 and 97 are swivelly connected to a latching pin 99 that, like sliding pin 55, is adapted to slide transversely to its longitudinal axis in the slot 57 and restrained from vertical or longitudinal movement by fixed restraining washers or guides 101. The latching pin 99 may be held against the bias force of the helical spring 65 as applied through the sliding pin 55 and the rigid arms 71, 73, 95 and 97 by a bell crank latching member 103 that swivels about a pivot 105. The latching member itself is biased by a relatively weak spring 107 in a manner to bias a hook-like end portion 109 of the latching member 103 toward and against the latching pin 99 when it has been moved to that position by the manual placement of the cocking member 31 in its extreme leftward position, as indicated by a directional arrow 111. The other end of the spring 107 is anchored by conventional means to any convenient point 113 on the adjacent structure such as the bottom face of the intermediate plate 59. The amount of rotation of the latching member 103 is restricted by a stop dog or post 115 so that as the latching pin 99 is moved to the left as indicated by dashed marking 117 and arrows 119 toward the position as shown in FIG. 7, an outer surface 121 of the latch end portion 109 is moved in the direction indicated by arrow 123 against the bias force of the spring 107 (see dashed outline 125 of the latch member 103). This latch member also has a trip surface 127 adjacent to the positioning of a portion of the trip wire 33 so that a downward movement of the upper portion of the trip wire 33 as shown by dashed lines 129 is translated to a bending motion as indicated by dashed lines 131 of FIG. 4 to push the latch 103 away from and thus release the latching pin 99 to travel in the direction shown by arrow 133 in FIG. 7.

In operation, the propulsion unit 23 is first cocked by manually moving the manual cocking member 31 against the bias of the helical spring 65 in the direction of arrow 111 until the latching member 103 is moved and then holds by its hook-like end portion 109 the latching pin 99. An unpowered toy vehicle (dashed outline 135, FIGS. 5 and 6) may then be introduced along the roadway 13 until it depresses the trip wire 33 as seen in FIG. 5 to release the latching pin 99. Once released, the latching pin 99 no longer restrains the pull of the helical spring 65 through the rigid diagonal arms and the sliding pin 55, and all these elements are pulled, along with the posts and associated side gripping members 25 and 27, in the direction of vehicle travel and the force of the spring 65.

The forces on the rigid arms 71, 73, 95 and 97 provided generally by the spring 65 tend to cause the cam followers 87 and 89 to ride on the cam surfaces 91 and 93 of the roadway 13. Thus, as can be clearly seen in FIG. 3, as the vehicle 135 trips the trip wire 33, the gripping members 25 and 27 move equally in the direction shown by arrows 137 in FIG. 5 due to the lessening of the width of the roadway at the left side of the cam surface 91 and resilient gripping surfaces 139 and 141 of a synthetic or rubber material mounted on the side gripping members 25 and 27 engage and hold the vehicle and carry it in the desired direction and thereby impart on it an accelerating force.

This accelerating force is applied to the vehicle 135 until the width of the roadway 13 again widens at the right end of the cam surfaces 91 and 93 to cause the cam followers 87 and 89 to move the posts 75 and 77 and their associated side gripping members 25 and 27 away from and thus release the vehicle 135, as indicated by arrows 143. Since the vehicle 135 is released simultaneously by both side gripping members, the vehicle leaves the vehicle propulsion unit 23 in a stable condition and is thus less likely to catapult off the roadway. Of course, the side gripping members and all the cooperating elements therewith come to a stop at the end of the slot 57 in the intermediate plate 59 either by the compression action of the elliptical spring 65 and/or the impact of the sliding pin 55 on the end of the slot 57 adjacent the end portion 63. The mechanism is then again ready to be manually cocked for repeated use.

The various parts of the roadway and propulsion mechanism above described may be fabricated from any suitable material and there is no critical criterion to be followed. For examples, many parts may be fabricated from plastics such as the roadway 13 and the slotted housing structure 29 including the slotted intermediate plate 59, but the pieces of the mechanism obviously requiring metallic strength and endurance qualities such as the various pins, posts, rigid arm, and the like should preferably be of a suitable metal.

Again, the materials used in the fabrication of this toy are not considered critical and any material suitable for a particular use may be utilized.

From the foregoing, it will be evident that the invention provides a new and useful toy that propels unpowered toy vehicles of varying weights and sizes in a stable condition along a track or roadway.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. Toy vehicle propulsion apparatus for accelerating unpowered toy vehicles along a predetermined path of travel comprising:

vehicle engaging means for engaging a toy vehicle;

guiding means for guiding said vehicle engaging means in movement along said path;

means for urging said vehicle engaging means to move along said path;

holding means for restraining said vehicle engaging means from movement along said path;

trip means responsive to the arrival of a toy vehicle at a predetermined location along said path for releasing said vehicle engaging means from said holding means; and

means defining a cam surface at the up-path end of said guide means for directing said vehicle engaging means out of the way of toy vehicles preparatory to accelerating a toy vehicle, and for directing said vehicle engaging means into engagement with toy vehicles during the first portion of down-path movement of said vehicle engaging means to enable propulsion of a toy vehicle.

2. Toy vehicle propulsion apparatus for accelerating unpowered toy vehicles along a predetermined path of travel comprising:

vehicle engaging means for engaging a toy vehicle;

guiding means for guiding said vehicle engaging means in movement along said path;

means for urging said vehicle engaging means to move along said path;

holding means for restraining said vehicle engaging means from movement along said path;

trip means responsive to the arrival of a toy vehicle at a predetermined location along said path for releasing said vehicle engaging means from said holding means;

said vehicle engaging means including a pair of gripping members disposed on opposite sides of said path of travel of said vehicles, said gripping members mounted for movement together and apart to engage and disengage a vehicle between them.

3. Toy vehicle propulsion apparatus for accelerating unpowered toy vehicles along a predetermined path of travel comprising:

vehicle engaging means for engaging a toy vehicle;

guiding means for guiding said vehicle engaging means in movement along said path;

means for urging said vehicle engaging means to move along said path;

holding means for restraining said vehicle engaging means from movement along said path;

trip means responsive to the arrival of a toy vehicle at a predetermined location along said path for releasing said vehicle engaging means from said holding means;

said vehicle engaging means including a pair of vehicle engaging portions laterally spaced from each other to apply propelling forces at laterally spaced regions of a toy vehicle; and

said guiding means including means defining a pair of laterally spaced guide surfaces for directing said vehicle engaging means along said path, whereby to control the relative positions of said vehicle engaging portions as they move along the vehicle path.

4. The toy apparatus described in claim 3 wherein:

said vehicle engaging means includes a pair of gripper members mounted for movement toward and away from each other and each defining one of said vehicle engaging portions; and

each of said guide surfaces includes an up-path portion and a down-path portion, said down-path portions defining camming surfaces for moving said gripper members away from each other to release a vehicle from between them.

5. Toy vehicle propulsion apparatus for accelerating toy vehicles along a toy vehicle path comprising:

vehicle engaging means for engaging a toy vehicle;

guide means for slidably guiding said vehicle engaging means between up-path and down-path locations along said path;

a spring extending between said vehicle engaging means and a location spaced down-path therefrom for urging said vehicle engaging means to move down-path;

a cocking member mounted on said vehicle engaging means for receiving manual forces to move said vehicle engaging means up-path along said guide means;

means for restraining said vehicle engaging means at said up-path end of said guide means in a position out of the way of toy vehicles moving along said path;

release means extending into the way of vehicles moving along said path, at least when said vehicle engaging means is at said up-path location along said guide means, for releasing said vehicle engaging means from said restraining means;

said vehicle engaging means including a pair of gripper members disposed on laterally opposite sides of said toy vehicle path;

said guide means including a pair of guides that are furthest apart at said up-path location thereof than along most of the length of said guide means;

said restraining means including a latch for preventing down-path movement of said gripper members and cam follower means mounted on said vehicle engaging means and engaged with said guides to hold said gripper members further apart than the width of a toy vehicle at said up-path location along said guide means; and

said release means including a lever for operating said latch to release said gripper members so that they can move down-path and closer together.