Wheel Apparatus And Rack And Pinion Launcher Enabling Repeated Strokes And Having Automatic Ejector

Abstract

A toy apparatus is disclosed in which a launcher is utilized to propel a wheel. The launcher comprises an output shaft upon which the wheel is mounted. The shaft is rotatably driven by a gear train with the input gear thereof being connected to a slidable gear rack. The gear rack is hand manipulated to slide within a guideway formed in the launcher. The input gear is floatingly mounted within the launcher to positively drive the gear train in the forward direction, when the gear rack travels in one direction along the guideway, and to move out of engagement with the gear train when the gear rack moves in the other direction along the guideway. This uncoupling movement enables the gear rack to repeat its drive cycle while the gear train is still moving in the forward direction. In this manner, the gear rack need not be completely withdrawn from the guideway to repeat its drive cycles. These repeated drive cycles greatly increase the rotational speed of the output shaft before actual launching. A wheel ejector is pivotally mounted adjacent the output shaft and is slidingly coupled to the gear rack to pivot and force the wheel off of the shaft when the gear rack is finally withdrawn completely from the guideway.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to toys and more particularly to amusement devices for launching a toy vehicle.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Toys which are adapted to be launched into movement have long been popular with children of all ages.

One of the oldest toys of this type is the top. The conventional top is given its rotary impetus by means of a helically threaded shaft acting on a cammed bore located on the main body of the top. Another method of applying a rotary impetus to a top, besides merely twirling one's fingers upon a small shaft portion of the top, is to wind a string around the shaft of the top and quickly pull it away.

Another method of applying a rotary impetus to a toy top or other rotary toys is to utilize a rack and pinion drive mechanism. In this type of device, an elongated rack is slidingly positioned within a slotted guideway, with the teeth of the rack engaging a pinion mounted within the guideway. To operate the apparatus, the rack is quickly pulled out of the slotted guideway to rotate the pinion at a high rate of speed. If the toy is a top, the pinion is integral with the top and the rotary motion of the pinion is transferred to the top. If the toy is a small vehicle, such as a toy racer, the pinion is rotatively mounted in the vehicle to be drivingly connected to the wheels of the vehicle. After the pinion is rotatably driven up to speed, the vehicle is placed by hand onto a flat surface to be driven by the drive wheels.

A major shortcoming with such an apparatus is that the gear rack can only travel through the guideway a single time for each drive cycle. No means are provided to uncouple the pinion gear from its drive mechanism to enable the gear rack to reverse its direction in the guideway to get back to the starting position to repeat the drive cycle. Quite often the speed of the pinion is not sufficiently high enough to drive the vehicle an appreciable distance. Because the drive cycle cannot be repeated once the pinion is rotating, the drive mechanism must be completely stopped to enable the rack to be inserted within the guideway to repeat the entire procedure.

Another shortcoming with such an apparatus is that the vehicle must be placed on the ground by hand, rather than being automatically launched by the launching device. Any automatic launching combined with the gear and rack drive has never been accomplished before, particularly with any type of repeatable gear and rack drive.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention obviates the above-mentioned shortcomings by providing a launching apparatus having a gear rack and pinion drive in which the gear rack can repeat its drive cycle to greatly increase its rotary speed. The apparatus also includes an ejector which automatically launches the vehicle from the apparatus when the vehicle reaches its desired speed.

The apparatus comprises a launcher having an output shaft adapted to receive a wheel. The shaft is rotatably driven by a gear train with the input gear opening into a guideway. A hand manipulated gear rack is adapted to be slidably inserted within the guideway to drivingly engage the input gear. The input gear is floatingly mounted within the launcher to positively drive the gear train in the forward direction when the gear rack travels in the one direction, and to move out of engagement with the gear train when the gear rack moves in the other direction. The ejector comprises a spring biased fork pivotally mounted on the launcher adjacent the output shaft and is slidingly coupled to the gear rack to pivot and force the wheel off of the output shaft when the gear rack is finally withdrawn completely from the guideway.

An advantage of the present invention is that the gear rack can repeat its drive cycle without withdrawing from the apparatus and while the gear train is still moving in the forward direction these repeated drive cycles greatly increase the rotational speed of the output shaft before actual launching. Moreover, this repeated drive cycle operation is akin to "revving up" a motor while waiting to start a race. Such an operation is highly amusing to children.

Another advantage of the present invention is that the wheel remains secured during this "revving" cycle and is only released upon complete withdrawal of the gear rack from the guideway.

The features of the present invention which are believed to be novel 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 drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a toy launcher and wheel apparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the toy launcher;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of the toy launcher taken along lines 3--3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view of the toy launcher taken along lines 4--4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a similar cross sectional view of the toy launcher with the input pinion out of engagement with the driven gear;

FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view of the toy launcher taken along lines 6--6 of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 7 is a similar cross sectional view of the toy launcher with the wheel ejector partially actuated.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a toy launcher apparatus 10 in the process of being actuated to launch a wheel 20.

The toy launcher apparatus 10, more clearly illustrated in FIGS. 2-7 comprises a rear housing 11 and a front housing 12 united to form a compartment 13. A handle 14 is integrally formed with the rear housing 11 and is dimensioned to receive the hand grip of the operator. (See FIG. 1).

A shaft is journaled within the side walls forming the rear and front housing 11 and 12. A hexagonal portion of the shaft 15 extends through the front housing wall 12 to receive and support the wheel 20. An output gear 16 is integrally mounted on the portion of the shaft 15 located within the compartment 13. The gear 16 is adapted to engage with an intermediate gear 17 mounted on a shaft 18 which, in turn, is journaled within a pair of elongated slots 21 formed in the housing walls 11 and 12. The shaft 18 further includes an input pinion 22 integrally mounted thereon for rotation with the intermediate gear 12.

The input pinion 22 is positioned to partially extend into a slot or guideway formed within the compartment 13. As shown in FIG. 4, the guideway is formed by two windows 24 and 25 formed on the mating peripheral edges of the housing members 11 and 12. The guideway functions to slidably receive a gear rack 30 which is adapted to engage the input pinion 22 for imparting a rotary motion thereto. The one end of the gear rack 30 includes a handle 31 which is adapted to be gripped by an operator (see FIG. 1) for pulling the gear rack 30 out of the guideway.

The wheel 20 is preferably fashioned in the form of a miniature automobile tire which includes a pair of hubs 32 and 33 integrally joined within the wheel 20 to form a unitary wheel assembly. The hub 33 includes a cylindrical center portion 34 having a hexagonal aperture formed therein for receiving the hexagonal portion of the shaft 15. An annular flange 35 is formed on the extremity of the center portion 34. The function of the flange 35 will be described hereinafter.

A spring biased wheel ejector 40 is adapted to be pivotally mounted on the front housing 12 for urging the wheel 20 off of the shaft 15. The wheel ejector 40 comprises a fork 41 mounted on the outside of the housing 12 and extending through a slot 42 formed on the housing 12. The interior end of the fork 41 is integrally connected to a pivot pin 43 which is journaled within a pair of bearing mounts 44 formed on the interior side of the front housing wall 12. The outer end of the fork 41 extends across the shaft 15 and further includes a transverse hook 45 which extends perpendicularly therefrom for engagement with the flange 35 of the wheel 20. A spring 46 is mounted on the pivot pin 43 with one end thereof biasing against the housing wall 12 while the other end is biased against the interior side of the fork 41. An arm 47 is also integrally formed with the pivot pin 43 and is adapted to extend into the compartment 13 across the guideway to slidingly engage the gear rack 30.

OPERATION

To operate the launcher apparatus 10, the gear rack 30 is inserted through the window 21 and moved entirely through the guideway to extend out of the rear window 25. As the gear rack 30 moves through the guideway, it engages the input pinion 22 to impart a rotary motion thereto in the clockwise direction as shown in FIG. 5. Because the input pinion 22 is supported in the elongated slots 21, the force of the gear rack 30 on the input pinion 22 forces the shaft 18 forwardly to carry the intermediate gear 17 out of engagement with the output gear 16. (See FIG. 5). As a result, no rotary motion is transmitted to the gear train when the gear rack 30 is moved through the guideway in the forward direction.

As the gear rack 30 is inserted and moved forwardly through the guideway, it also contacts the arm 47 to pivot it and the fork 41 in a clockwise direction as shown in FIG. 6 against the bias of the spring 46. At the end of this movement, the hook 45 is positioned to engage the flange 35 of the wheel 20 to secure the wheel 20 against axial movement as it is mounted on the hexagonal shaft 15.

At this point, the gear rack 30 is in the ready position to impart a rotary movement to the wheel 20. This is accomplished by simply pulling the gear rack 30 rearwardly to rotate the input pinion 22 in the counter-clockwise direction as shown in FIG. 4. This movement also creates a rearward force on the input pinion 22 to cause the shaft 18 to move rearwardly to enable the intermediate gear 17 to engage the output gear 16. (See FIG. 4). As a result, the rotary motion of the input pinion 22, caused by the rearward movement of the gear rack 30 transmits a rotary movement through the gear train to rotate the hexagonal shaft 15 and the wheel 20 mounted thereon.

As the end of the gear rack 30 moves past the arm 47, the retaining force on the arm 47 is released and the spring bias of the spring 46 causes the arm 46 and the fork 41 to pivot in the counter-clockwise direction as shown in FIG. 7. This movement causes the hook 45 to be disengaged from the wheel flange 35 and the fork 41 to force the freed wheel 20 off the shaft 15. Once the wheel 20 is moved off the shaft 15, it drops to the ground and its rotary momentum enables it to travel in the forward direction.

This operation was described for only one pull of the gear rack 30. However, if it were desired to impart a faster rotational speed to the wheel 20 before ejection, the operator would not withdraw the gear rack 30 completely out of the guideway past the arm 47. Instead, after partially pulling the gear rack 30 through the guideway to start the wheel moving, the operator moves the gear rack 30 forward again to the initial position. This forward force on the input pinion 22 causes the shaft 18 to again move forward to disengage the gear 17 from the gear 16 as shown in FIG. 5. This uncoupling of the gear train enables the shaft 15 and wheel 20 to continue rotating in the forward direction while the gear rack 30 is returning to the start of its drive position.

After reaching this position, the operator then pulls on the gear rack 30 to again move it rearwardly. As before, this rearward force on the input pinion 22 causes the gear train to again be coupled to transmit a rotary movement to the wheel 20.

As can be seen, the drive cycle of the gear rack 30 can be repeated as often as desired to increase the rotational speed of the wheel 20. When the desired speed is reached, the operator pulls the gear rack 30 completely out of the guideway to enable the fork 41 to force the wheel 20 off the shaft 15. As can be seen, the wheel 20 remains secured to the shaft 15 and cannot become accidentally disengaged or launched until the operator desires to do so.

It should be noted that various modifications can be made to the apparatus while still remaining within the purview of the following claims. For example, noise making devices can be connected to the moving parts of the apparatus to enhance and simulate the roaring sound of a motor. Moreover, any standard toy vehicle can be modified to be launched by the launcher of the present invention.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A toy launching apparatus comprising:

a housing;

an output shaft rotatably mounted within and extending partially out of said housing, the portion of the shaft extending out of the housing having means adapted to support a rotatable member in driving relation therewith;

means for rotatably driving said output shaft, said means comprising a gear train, including an input pinion on a shaft, rotatably mounted within said housing coupled to said output shaft, and a gear rack movably mounted in a guideway in said housing and drivingly connected to the input pinion of said gear train, said gear rack being movable in one direction of the guideway to impart a rotary motion to the input pinion and the rest of the gear train, said means further comprising means for uncoupling said input pinion from the rest of said gear train during the movement of said gear rack in the opposite direction of the guideway to enable the gear rack to repeat its driving cycle while said output shaft continues the rotary movement imparted by the previous driving cycle, in order to increase the rotational speed of the gear train and said output shaft; and

ejector means mounted on said housing responsive to appropriate movement of the gear rack at the end of the driving cycle for automatically forcing the rotatable member off of the output shaft to launch the rotatable member in motion.

2. The invention of claim 1 wherein said uncoupling means comprises mounting means for floatingly mounting said input pinion within said housing.

3. The invention of claim 2 wherein said mounting means comprises a pair of elongated slots formed in said housing for receiving the extremities of said input pinion shaft, said slots being oriented to enable the input pinion to move away from the rest of said gear train.

4. The invention of claim 1 wherein said ejector means comprises a spring biased extension pivotally mounted on said housing.

5. The invention of claim 4 wherein said extension extends adjacent said output shaft, said extension being spring biased to pivot outwardly from said housing to engage said rotatable member and move it axially off the output shaft.

6. The invention of claim 5 wherein said ejector means further comprises an arm for slidingly engaging said gear rack, said arm being connected to said extension for keeping said extension adjacent said housing against the bias of said spring while the arm is engaging said gear rack.

7. The invention of claim 6 wherein said extension further comprises means for securing the rotatable member against axial movement on said shaft while the shaft is being rotatably driven.

8. The invention of claim 7 wherein said rotatable member securing means comprises a hook formed on said extension, said hook adapted to extend over and slidingly engage an annular flange formed on said rotatable member.

9. The invention of claim 8 wherein said hook is oriented to pull away from said flange as the extension is pivoted outwardly to urge the rotatable member off of said output shaft.

10. A toy apparatus comprising:

a launcher having an output shaft for supporting a rotatable member;

a rotatable member removably supported on said output shaft with means forming a drive connection between said rotatable member and said shaft;

drive means on said launcher operable in one direction for imparting a rotary movement to said shaft and said rotatable member;

means on said launcher for uncoupling said drive means from said shaft to enable said drive means to return in the opposite direction in order to repeat its driving cycle while said rotatable member and shaft continue the rotary movement imparted by the previous driving cycle; and

means mounted on said launcher responsive to appropriate movement of said drive means at the end of the drive cycle for automatically forcing the rotatable member off of the output shaft to launch the rotatable member in motion.

11. The invention of claim 10 wherein said drive means comprises a gear train rotatably mounted on said launcher and coupled to said output shaft.

12. The invention of claim 11 wherein said gear train comprises:

an input pinion rotatably mounted on a shaft and drivingly coupled to the rest of said gear train.

13. The invention of claim 12 wherein said uncoupling means comprises mounting means for floatingly mounting said input pinion within said housing.

14. The invention of claim 13 wherein said mounting means comprises a pair of elongated slots formed in said housing for receiving the extremities of said input pinion shaft, said slots being oriented to enable the input pinion to move away from the rest of the gear train.

15. The invention of claim 14 wherein said drive means further comprises a gear rack movably mounted in a guideway and drivingly connected to the input pinion of said gear train, said gear rack being movable in one direction to impart a rotary motion to said input pinion and said gear train.

16. The invention of claim 15 wherein said gear rack is movable along the guideway in the opposite direction to force said input pinion away and out of engagement with the rest of said gear train.

17. The invention of claim 15 wherein said ejector means comprises a spring biased extension pivotally mounted on said launcher.

18. The invention of claim 17 wherein said extension extends adjacent said shaft, said extension being spring biased to pivot outwardly from said launcher to engage said rotatable member and move it axially off the shaft.

19. The invention of claim 18 wherein said ejector means further comprises an arm for slidingly engaging said gear rack, said arm being connected to said extension for keeping said extension adjacent said launcher against the bias of said spring while the arm is engaging said gear rack.

20. The invention of claim 19 wherein said extension further comprises means for securing the rotatable member to said shaft while the shaft is being rotatably driven.

21. The invention of claim 20 wherein said rotatable member securing means comprises a hook formed on said extension, said hook adapted to extend over and engage an annular flange formed on said rotatable member.

22. The invention of claim 21 wherein said hook is oriented to pull away from said flange as the extension is pivoted outwardly to urge the rotatable member off of said shaft.