U.S. patent number 3,841,292 [Application Number 05/222,138] was granted by the patent office on 1974-10-15 for hand operated catapult toy.
Invention is credited to John C. Hoffman.
United States Patent |
3,841,292 |
Hoffman |
October 15, 1974 |
HAND OPERATED CATAPULT TOY
Abstract
A catapult toy, embodying a flexible resilient wand, with a
finger grip handle, a tapered whippable shank, and a shaped front
end, to receive a mass to be loosely but frictionally fitted on
said front end, to be catapulted from said wand by a whipping
action by the operator.
Inventors: |
Hoffman; John C. (Delhi,
NY) |
Family
ID: |
22831009 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/222,138 |
Filed: |
January 31, 1972 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
124/5;
124/41.1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F41B
3/04 (20130101); F41B 3/00 (20130101); A63B
59/30 (20151001) |
Current International
Class: |
F41B
3/00 (20060101); F41b 003/02 () |
Field of
Search: |
;124/5,4,41
;273/95,102 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Oechsle; Anton O.
Assistant Examiner: Browne; William R.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A toy comprising
a flexible wand having a handle grip on one end, and the other or
front end having surface irregularities to constitute a frictional
surface;
and a ball-shaped rubber-like mass having an axial opening sized to
permit the mass to be co-axially selectively frictionally disposed
on said frictional surface,
so said wand may be whipped to displace and project the mass in
selected direction and with selective force to attempt to place
said mass in a preselected area.
2. A toy, as in claim 1, in which the axial opening through said
ball mass is of appropriate size to engage the frictional surface
with a slight degree of holding pressure to avoid slipping off
until whipped off by an operator.
3. A catapult toy, as in claim 1, wherein said wand is resilient
and has a tapered whippable shank.
Description
This invention relates to a catapult toy, comprising a flexible
wand having a front or free end shaped to frictionally receive a
mass, preferably in the shape of a round ball, so the wand can be
whipped to project the ball through a selected trajectory and to a
preselected distance, to strike a pre-set target area, thereby to
test and measure the skill of the operator in controlling the
whipping action of the toy.
The wand is provided with a handle at one end which is held by the
operator, and the free outer end of the wand may be shaped in any
suitable way, such as, by the formation of fluted regions along the
front end, to frictionally hold the ball when fitted onto the wand.
The ball is provided with a central axis hole diametrically
disposed to enable the ball to be fitted onto the front end of the
flexible wand, with the ball material having sufficient resilience,
and the diametral hole being of such dimensions, that the ball will
be frictionally held on the front end of the wand until a whipping
operation of the wand will forcibly catapult the ball from the
wand.
The construction of the toy and some of the features of its
operation are shown in the accompanying drawings, in which
FIG. 1 shows a front elevational view of the wand and the ball in
position on the wand; and
FIGS. 1A, 1B and 1C show sectional dimensional views taken along
the shaft of the wand;
FIG. 2 shows the ball positioned on the wand ready to be catapulted
from the wand; and
FIG. 3 shows schematically several trajectories through which the
ball may be projected from the wand, to illustrate how the skill
and dexterity of the operator may be tested and demonstrated by
being able to catapult the ball to preselected areas as
targets.
As shown in FIG. 1, the toy 10 comprises a wand 12 of resilient
flexible material, and a mass in the shape of a ball 14, preferably
consisting of a resilient rubber-like material.
The wand 12 embodies a shaped handle 22, with suitable flutes 24,
to provide good non-slipping hand grip, and further embodies an
elongated shank 26 that extends to a shaped front end 28 whose
surface is shaped to embody irregularities 30, to provide
frictional characteristics to the surface of front end 28. The wand
may be tapered as indicated in the necked region 32 to provide
greater flexibility to the wand, for whipping action, when it is
operated as a whip to snap the wand for the purpose of operation of
the toy, to catapult the ball through a selected trajectory to hit
a selected target.
The ball mass 14 may be of any shape, but for the sake of symmetry,
is more easily formed as a sphere or ball, and is provided with a
hole 40, diametrically and axially through the ball, in order to
permit the ball to be applied and pressed onto the irregularly
shaped front end surface 28 of the wand 12.
As shown in FIG. 2, when the ball 14 is on the wand 12, the wand
may then be whipped as implied by the curved condition of the wand
in FIG. 2, and the ball then catapulted and projected off the wand
to move in a preselected path of projection, such as one of the
many possible paths, of which three are illustrated in FIG. 3, and
identified by the numerals 45, 50 and 55.
The toy may be used in the manner illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, to
test the skill of the operator in being able to catapult the ball
through any selected trajectory to reach a predetermined area as
the target, as indicated by the regions 60-1, 60-2 and 60-3, under
the arrows of the trajectories shown in FIG. 3.
The structural design and formation of the surface irregularities
at the front end of the wand may take any desired shape, since
their function primarily is to provide sufficient friction to hold
the ball against casual displacement, and to require a fair amount
of energy in the whipping action to dispel the ball and cause it to
travel through a preselected distance, corresponding to some such
trajectory as shown in FIG. 3, to reach a selected target area.
The design and construction may be variously modified, without
departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, as defined in
the claims. For example, the wand may be made of wood or metal, and
the mass need not be round and need not be made of resilient
rubber-like material, but may be made of non-resilient material and
may also be made in other forms and shapes such as longer cylinders
or flat shallow cylinders in the shape of a disc.
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