Amusement devices: toys – Rolling or tumbling – Including intrinsic motive power means for propulsion
Patent
1988-02-22
1989-07-11
Yu, Mickey
Amusement devices: toys
Rolling or tumbling
Including intrinsic motive power means for propulsion
446469, A63H 1736
Patent
active
048467561
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a toy automobile for toy roadways, having an electric driving motor supported by the chassis of the vehicle, which, when in motion, is supportable on lateral guide elements of the toy roadways for turning of the front wheels.
With toy automobiles, it is well known to support the front wheels on the single-piece chassis of the toy automobile by means of separate axle journals, and to turn the latter via lever gears in the one or the other direction. In many cases, the lever gears are driven via gear. Aside from the fact that such known toy automobiles are costly to manufacture due to the great number of components needed, such toy vehicles are susceptible to trouble as a result of the complicated design of the steering mechanism.
The object of the present invention is to reduce the number of components of the type of toy vehicles described above, and to make the steering functions thereof safer.
According to the present invention, this object is accomplished by providing a chassis of the toy vehicle divided crosswise, forming front and rear chassis parts; that the two parts of the chassis are pivotably and tiltably linked by an articulated pin with little play; that the rear part of the chassis supports the driving motor and the front part of the chassis supports a common axle for the front wheels, such axle being able to turn freely; that a plate-like extension of the axle, extends to the rear part of the chassis; and that a section of the extension, for turning the axle while the toy vehicle is in motion, is in friction-grip contact with a driving pinion, the latter being rotatable in both directions, whereas such friction grip between the extension and the driving pinion is cancelled when the toy vehicle is not in motion. Preferably, the axle has the extension in the center between the front wheels, and axially on the side averted from the extension, it has a forwardly projecting attachment for receiving a swinging axle for the axle of the front wheels. According to another feature of the invention, the axle, the extension and the attachment may be formed of a single molded part, for example an injection molded part. In this way, a steering system formed of only a few parts is created for the toy vehicle, which steering system automatically turns the front wheels to one side or the other when the vehicle is in motion, such turning of the wheels conforming to the direction of rotation of the motor, whereas the front wheels are not turned when the vehicle is not in motion. The tiltable link between the two parts of the chassis assures the required friction grip between the extension and the driving pinion when the toy vehicle is in motion. By the influence of the thrust applied to the rear part of the chassis by the driving motor, the front part of the chassis tilts downwardly in the forward direction within the region of the joint, whereby the extension is forced or pressed against the driving pinion, so that when the toy vehicle is not in motion, the front part of the chassis with its extension tilts back upwardly due to the absence of thrust, and the active connection between the extension and the driving pinion is cancelled. Finally, the arrangement of the attachment and the design or embodiment of the swinging axle ahead of the axle of the front wheels at the same time result in a torque being permanently applied to the axle when the toy vehicle is in motion, which torque acts as a resetting force in the lengthwise direction of the toy vehicle in the sense of an alignment of the axle and the front wheels. When the toy vehicle is in motion, the turning forces acting on the axle are, of course, greater than the resetting force. The result of the embodiment of the toy vehicle of the present invention thus is that by simple pole-changing and changing the direction of rotation of the driving motor, the axle with its front wheels is turned so as to support the toy vehicle on the one or other guiding element, for example when changing driving lanes.
In order to relieve the dr
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patent: 1927233 (1933-09-01), Forner
patent: 2703534 (1955-03-01), Copeland
patent: 3406480 (1968-10-01), Joffe
patent: 4156987 (1979-06-01), Lahr
patent: 4453712 (1984-06-01), Lee
patent: 4571213 (1986-02-01), Ishimoto
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