Miniature Wheeled Toy Vehicle

Abstract

This is a miniature toy vehicle including an enclosure carried by rotatable wheels. The enclosure is adapted to be easily opened for access to a removable toy figure mounted therein and is fabricated in a single molding process. It generally comprises a lower frame portion to which opposite sidewalls and end plates are hingedly connected and a roof section extending inwardly from the top of one of these sidewalls. Also, a latching arrangement is included at the top of an opposite sidewall for releasably holding a portion of the roof section.

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 wheeled toys and more particularly to a miniature toy vehicle that includes a novel enclosure which is easily opened for access to a removable toy figure in the form of an animal, for example.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Wheeled toy vehicles which incorporate the structure that encloses a toy figure are well known. Generally, these enclosures have relatively small access doors, or no doors at all and thus have the disadvantage of not allowing easy access to the interior of the enclosure to replace or remove a toy figure. This is especially true where the figure is to be held in place by some sort of a restraining or holding means against the forces produced by a reciprocating motion mechanism, for example.

In the past, it was also well-known to include a handle extending outwardly from the toy vehicle so that it could be easily pulled, either by an operator or by another toy vehicle. This was accomplished by means of a hook on the pulling toy being placed through an aperture in the free end of the handle of the toy to be pulled. However, when the vehicle is merely to be pushed or pulled in the opposite direction or worn as a charm, the extended handle became a nuisance and therefore undesirable.

The prior art had the further disadvantage of requiring several molding processes to form a plurality of separate parts that had then to be assembled using adhesives or other costly processes for assembly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing factors and conditions characteristic of wheeled toy vehicles incorporating enclosures, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a new and improved miniature wheeled toy vehicle not subject to the disadvantages enumerated above and having an enclosure structure that provides easy and complete access therein for replacing or removing toy figures.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved means for carrying a handle when the handle is not being used to pull the toy vehicle.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a miniature wheeled toy vehicle having an easily accessible enclosure structure in which is removably held a toy figure that is caused to reciprocally move along a generally vertical axis when the toy is rolled along a surface.

A further object of the invention is to provide a miniature wheeled toy vehicle that is economical to produce in that all but the wheels and axles may be molded in a single process and requires no adhesives for assembly.

Still a further object of the present invention is to provide a miniature wheel toy vehicle that is an action toy and yet small enough to be worn as a charm or pendant.

According to the present invention, a miniature toy vehicle having rotatable wheels comprises a unitary enclosure carried by the wheels and wherein a removable toy figure may be disposed. The enclosure has a lower frame portion to which first and second sidewalls as well as opposite and relatively short front and rear end plates are hingedly connected. The first sidewall includes an enclosure roof section extending generally orthogonally inward from the top thereof and the second sidewall includes latching means adjacent its top for releasably holding a portion of the roof section. Also, the end plates and one of the sidewalls have means for releasably holding the end plates adjacent the associated ends of the sidewalls.

The toy may include toy figure holding means mounted in the enclosures for removably holding the figure.

Opposite end walls parallel to the end plates may also be a part of and extend from opposite ends of the first sidewall.

Also, a flexible toy handle having an apertured free end may be hingedly connected to the front end plate and adapted to be hooked at its free end to a holding post mounted on an adjacent sidewall.

Further, the frame may include a bottom platform upon which the holding means is mounted. The platform may be hingedly held along one of its ends to a stationary lower end portion of the enclosure and include a cam follower on the underside thereof adjacent its free end.

There may further be included an axle that is attached to and rotates with at least one of the rotatable wheels. The axle may thus carry a cam on which rides the cam follower of the bottom platform to cause reciprocating motion of said bottom platform when the wheels are rotated.

The features of the present invention which are believed to be novel and are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The present invention, both as to its organization and manner of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which like reference characters refer to like elements in the several views.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view, partially broken away, of a wheeled toy vehicle constructed according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is an end elevational view of the vehicle of FIG. 1 taken along the line 2-2 thereof;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of the vehicle taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective illustration of the bottom hinged platform and toy figure holding means mounted thereon.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring again to the drawing and more particularly to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, a wheeled toy vehicle constituting a presently preferred embodiment of the invention, generally designated 11, includes an enclosure 13 of unitary body construction carried by rotatable wheels 15 held by axle hangers 17. The enclosure 13 has a lower frame portion 19 to which a first sidewall 21, a second sidewall 23, as well as a front end plate 25 and a rear end plate 27 are all hingedly connected by integral "live" hinges 29, 31, 33 and 35, respectively. The first sidewall 21 includes an integral enclosure roof section 37 extending generally orthogonally inward from the top 39 thereof and the second sidewall 23 includes latching means 41 adjacent the top 43 thereof for releasably holding a portion 45 of the roof section 37. The end plates 25 and 27 are releasably held adjacent associated ends of the sidewalls 21 and 23 by integral holding ends 47 and 49 with their large ends 51 and 53 extending from the leading and trailing edges of the second sidewall 23 and through apertures 55 and 57, respectively.

The latching means 41, as best seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, includes a L-shaped lip section 59 that is adapted to slip over a holding bar 61 and into an appropriate aperture 63 in the portion 45 of the roof section 37. The enclosure 13 is molded from a nonrigid plastic material and thus allows the second sidewall 23 to be deformed enough for the lip section 59 to be forced over the bar 61 and into the aperture 63. Added support for the roof section 37 is provided by two tapered posts 65 projecting inwardly from the wall 23 on each side and just below the position of the bar 61, when the latching means 41 holds the roof section 37.

The sidewalls 21 and 23 may be either solid or in any other form such as the cagelike structure shown and the first sidewall 21 may include two molded end walls 67. A handle 69 is also formed in the single molding process extending from a thin, flexible section forming a hinge 71 at the top of the front end plate 25. When not in use to pull the toy 11, the free end 73 of the handle 69 may be moved upward and a handle retaining post 75 may be forced through a handle aperture 77, as seen in FIG. 1 represented by dashed lines. An L-shaped tow bar 79 may also be provided at the rear end of the toy 11 for insertion through an aperture in the free end of the handle from another such toy, as indicated by dashed lines 81.

The enclosure 13 further includes a bottom platform 83 hingedly connected along one of its ends 85 to a stationary lower end portion 87 of the enclosure, as most clearly seen in FIG. 4. Formed on the platform 83, is an H-shaped bracket 89 for removably holding the feet of a toy figure, such as a toy animal 91. The bracket 89 is provided with troughs 93 and 95 into which projections (not shown) comprising the feetlike features of the pliable toy figure are inserted and retained. This feature is especially desirable where, as here, the platform is caused to have a reciprocating vertical motion as indicated by arrow 97 caused by a cam follower member 99 formed on the underside of the platform 83 adjacent its free end 101 riding on a plurality of cam arms 103 of a cam 105.

The cam 105 is rotated in a clockwise direction (see arrow 107) by a front axle 109 rotatably held by the axle hangers 17 and connected to the front wheels 15. It can be seen that as toy 11 is rolled across a surface, the forward wheel 15 will rotate accordingly, causing a like rotation of the axle 109 and the cam 105. Each time the cam arm 103 strikes the cam follower 99, the platform 83 and any toy figure held by the bracket 89 will be forced upward. Upon disengagement of the cam 105 and the cam follower 99 as the cam is rotated, the free end 101 of the platform 83 will again return to a lower position 106 (FIG. 3) due to the force of gravity and the resiliency of the "living" hinge formed at the end 85 of the platform 83. The rear wheels 15 are also held by an axle, but the rear axle 111 is not provided with a cam. It can be seen in FIG. 3 that the axle hangers 17 have notched lower ends 113 wherein the axles 109 and 111 may be easily snapped into place for ease of production.

In order to allow the miniature toy 11 to be worn as a charm on a charm bracelet, for example, an apertured member 115 is formed on the top of the roof section 37.

The extent of accessibility to the interior of the enclosure 13 is illustrated in FIG. 2. The first sidewall 21 may be pivoted along the hinge 29 in the direction indicated by arrow 119 by first applying an outward bending force to a top decorative section 121 in the direction of arrow 123 in order to lift the lip section 59 out of the aperture 63 and over the bar 61. The end plates 25 and 27 need not be pulled forward to allow the first sidewall to be pivoted because, unlike the second sidewall, it does not have holding pins projecting into apertures in the end walls. The pins 125 are merely decorative and are molded along with a corresponding portion 127 of the end plates. Thus, when the first sidewall 21 is in its normal vertical position, the portion 127 matches a matching portion 129 of the front end plate 25.

On the other hand, if even more complete access to the enclosure interior is desired, the second sidewall 23 may be pivoted in the direction of the arrow 123 by first pulling the front end plate forward to release the holding pin 47 and in a similar manner releasing the rear end plate 27 from the holding pin 49.

From the foregoing, it will be evident that the invention provides a new and improved miniature toy vehicle not subject to the disadvantages of the prior art and which has a completely accessible enclosure for easily replacing or removing a toy figure therefrom. Also, the enclosure has been shown to be easily and economically fabricated in a single molding process.

Although this invention has been described in its preferred embodiment, it is clear that it is susceptible to numerous modifications and embodiments within the skill of the routineer and without the exercise of the inventive faculty. Accordingly, the scope of this invention is defined by the scope of the following claims.

Claims

We claim:

1. In combination with a miniature toy vehicle having rotatable wheels, a unitary enclosure carried by said wheels, comprising:

a lower frame portion;

first and second opposite sidewalls as well as opposite front and rear end plates hingedly connected to said frame portion, said opposite end plates generally orthogonally extend from opposite ends of said first sidewall;

an integral enclosure roof section extending generally orthogonally inward from the top of said first

sidewall toward said second sidewall;

latching means adjacent the top of said second sidewall for releasably holding a portion of said roof section; and

means for releasably holding said end plates adjacent the associated ends of said sidewalls.

2. In combination with a miniature toy vehicle having rotatable wheels, a unitary enclosure carried by said wheels, comprising:

a lower frame portion;

first and second opposite sidewalls as well as opposite front and rear end plates hingedly connected to said frame portion;

an integral enclosure roof section extending generally orthogonally inward from the top of said first said sidewall toward said second sidewall;

latching means adjacent the top of said second sidewall for releasably holding a portion of said roof sections;

means for releasably holding said end plates adjacent the associated ends of said sidewalls;

a handle of flexible material hingedly attached at one of its ends to an upper edge of said front end plate, said handle having an aperture disposed adjacent its free end; and

a holding post extending outwardly of the end of said second sidewall to removably hold said free end of said handle.

3. A toy vehicle according to claim 1, wherein said enclosure includes a bottom platform upon which a toy figure holding means is mounted, said platform being hingedly connected along one of its ends to a stationary lower end portion of said enclosure and including a cam follower on the underside of said platform adjacent its free end, and wherein an axle is attached to and rotates with at least one of said rotatable wheels, said axle having mounted thereon a cam on which rides said cam follower.