Race track having lateral edges and bridges for retaining toy ve

Details Race track having lateral edges and bridges for retaining toy ve Race track having lateral edges and bridges for retaining toy ve

1987-09-17

1990-07-10

Hafer, Robert A.

Amusement devices: toys

Rolling or tumbling

Including extrinsic guide or means cooperable with extrinsic...

446444, 446431, 446484, A63H 1808

Patent

active

049404431

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to a race track system for toy vehicles with a raceway formed by straight and curved raceway segments with two driving lanes and current conductors embedded therein, in which system the segments of the raceway have lateral guiding edges on which the toy vehicles slide along with a bridge projecting beyond the lateral surfaces, and the curved segments of the raceway have on the inside an upright supporting wall with a height lower than the guiding edge, such supporting wall extending parallel with and spaced from the inside guiding edge, and in which system the bridge engages the groove-like space between the guiding edge and the supporting wall with a downwardly pointed, rod-like holding element, such bridge being placeable against the supporting wall by means of centrifugal force.
It is known to support high-speed toy vehicles on lateral guiding edges of the raceway with a bridge arranged on the front part of the vehicle by slight lateral tilting of the front wheels in the outward direction in order to avoid the use of track-holding pins. The toy vehicles so guided permit free lane changes. Furthermore, it is known to keep the toy vehicles within the curves on the inside driving lane by guiding a holding element, the latter being arranged on the bridge, on a supporting wall, the latter being associated on the inside with the inside guiding edge with a spacing from the latter. However, at high speeds, the toy vehicles tend to break out sideways by swinging around the holding element with their rearward ends, which adversely effects the operation of the game. Furthermore, toy vehicles driving at high speed and guided by a holding element perform tilting movements on the inside driving lane of curved track segments, causing the holding element to be lifted from the groove-like space between the guiding edge and the supporting wall and the vehicle to be freely thrown without guidance in the outward direction.
The objective of the invention is to safely guide toy vehicles moving at high speeds on the inside driving lane within the curved segments of raceways.
According to the invention, provision is made in a toy system of the type described above that a substantially L-shaped molded part matching in the longitudinal direction the curvature of the inside guiding edge of the raceway segment is detachably arranged on the curved segment of the raceway, such molded part, with one leg, gripping with a spacing across the groove-like space and being fixed on the raceway segment with the other leg; and that the toy vehicle has two bridges arranged with a spacing one after the other, which bridges extend through the gap between the supporting wall and the legs of the molded part and project into the groove-like space with holding elements formed on such legs. With their holding elements, the two bridges prevent the toy vehicle from being thrown off the raceway even when subjected to high centrifugal forces, whereas the toy vehicle is safely prevented from tilting off by the leg of the molded part acting as a cover for the groove-like space, with a clearance left for the passage of the bridges.
Another feature of the toy race track is that with its leg gripping across the groove-like space, the molded part rests on the guiding edge and, with clamping bodies arranged on the other leg, grips under the segment of the raceway, releasably supporting such segment by clamping. In this way, the molded parts can be selectively clipped to or removed from the curved segments of the raceway. Usefully, one curved segment of the raceway can form one quarter circle of the track and the inside guiding edge can receive two clipped-on molded parts. The molded parts, of course, may have any desired length, so that even more than one or two single molded parts may be applied to a curved raceway segment forming a quarter circle. Furthermore, suitably prepared molded parts can be arranged on raceway segments with a curved shape other than the circular form.
Preferably, the molded part is supported on the raceway segment

REFERENCES:
patent: 1286848 (1918-12-01), Walker
patent: 1682974 (1928-09-01), Lukens
patent: 3209491 (1965-10-01), Roeper
patent: 4223476 (1980-09-01), Meyer et al.
patent: 4521206 (1985-06-01), Saffer et al.
patent: 4564438 (1891-07-01), Shaw
patent: 4703697 (1987-11-01), Bell

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