Amusement devices: toys – Rolling or tumbling – Including extrinsic guide or means cooperable with extrinsic...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-19
2001-05-15
Ricci, John A. (Department: 3712)
Amusement devices: toys
Rolling or tumbling
Including extrinsic guide or means cooperable with extrinsic...
C446S441000, C446S460000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06231422
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a toy automobile. More specifically, the present invention relates to a toy automobile in which a new steering device and a new power transmitting mechanism are provided for a toy automobile, the toy automobile running along a track.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a toy automobile includes: a driving device for transmitting the power of a DC motor to the rear wheels to make the automobile run; and a steering device for turning the front wheels to left or right.
There are many kinds of steering devices for the conventional toy automobiles. Those which are remotely controlled by a wireless frequency turn their front wheels to left and right by means of an electromagnet to run in the desired direction.
However, a toy automobile which runs along a track do not use a steering device.
In the toy automobiles, some of them transmit the driving power only to the front wheels, and some others transmit the driving force only to the rear wheels. However, recently, 4-wheel driving toy automobiles are seen, in which the driving power is transmitted to the front and rear wheels.
In the conventional 4-wheel driving method as shown in
FIG. 1
, the driving power of a driving motor
100
is transmitted to a pinion
300
of a rear wheel shaft
200
to drive the rear wheels. Further, the rear wheel shaft
200
and a front wheel shaft
400
are provided with power transmitting gears
500
and
600
respectively, and an elongate power transmitting shaft
700
is connected between the gears
500
and
600
, so that the driving power would be transmitted from the rear to the front wheels, thereby driving all the four wheels.
In the conventional automobile which runs along a track having side walls, the rollers which are installed on the bumper contact to the inner wall of the track, and therefore, the automobile body is biased. Under this condition, the wheel which contacts to the bottom of the track is subjected to a braking phenomenon, and therefore, the small electric motor which is driven by a dry cell undergoes an overload. As a result, the power consumption of the dry cell becomes excessive, and the toy automobile is liable to be detached from the track over a curved portion of the track.
Meanwhile, in the 4-wheel driving toy automobiles, the power of the driving motor is first transmitted to the rear wheels, and then, is transmitted to the front wheels. Therefore, the front wheels lag the rear wheels in the power and speed.
In other words, the driving power of the motor is distributed non-uniformly between the rear and front wheels, and therefore, when driving up a sloped face, or when running a curved path, the driving force and velocity are lowered due to the gradient and the rolling resistance. Further, the center of gravity of the toy automobile is biased to one side, and therefore, the automobile body is biased to one side during the running. In a worse case, the toy automobile may be overturned.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is intended to overcome the above described disadvantages of the conventional technique.
Therefore it is an object of the present invention to provide a power transmitting mechanism for a toy automobile, in which the driving power is uniformly transmitted to both the front and rear wheels, so that the force and speed differences would not occur, and that the center of gravity would not be biased, thereby ensuring a safe driving.
In achieving the above object, the power transmitting mechanism for a toy automobile according to the present invention is characterized in that: two driving shaft extend from a driving motor to front and rear directions to output a driving power to front and rear portions; a driving power source is installed at a center of an automobile body; and there are no biased portions in the power transmitting mechanism.
In another aspect of the present invention, in a toy automobile which runs along a track by a dry cell motor, both ends of a front wheel shaft are connected to front wheels by means of universal joints to make it possible to turn the front wheels to left and right; a front bumper is movably attached to a front end of the toy automobile by using rollers; and a bar of a steering device (installed on the bumper) is connected to arms of shaft retainers, whereby during a running through a curved path, the toy automobile is not slipped or braked owing to the steering function of the bumper, and thus the toy automobile is prevented from being overturned.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4187637 (1980-02-01), Nielsen
patent: 4200287 (1980-04-01), Ryan et al.
patent: 4377918 (1983-03-01), Zbriger
patent: 4443968 (1984-04-01), Law
patent: 4453712 (1984-06-01), Lee
patent: 4755161 (1988-07-01), Yang
patent: 4881917 (1989-11-01), Suzuki et al.
patent: 4940443 (1990-07-01), Hesse
patent: 5273480 (1993-12-01), Suto
patent: 6062943 (2000-05-01), Maleika
patent: 2187108 (1986-02-01), None
patent: 62-70591 (1987-05-01), None
patent: 2-58491 (1990-04-01), None
patent: 2-94597 (1990-07-01), None
patent: 4-42896 (1992-04-01), None
patent: 5-82494 (1993-11-01), None
patent: 7-22799 (1995-04-01), None
patent: 3030086 (1996-07-01), None
Feix Donald C.
Francis Faye
Ricci John A.
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