Railways: surface track – Portable track – Simulated roadbeds
Patent
1981-07-22
1983-09-13
Yu, Mickey
Railways: surface track
Portable track
Simulated roadbeds
46 1K, E01B 2300, A63H 3300
Patent
active
044037333
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to tracks for toy trains and, more particularly, to a track assembly comprising a plurality of rails and ties made by injection moulding of a thermoplastic material and provided with coupling means for detachably mounting the ends of the rails on the ties.
Prior art in this field is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,464,624 which describes a track assembly comprising, on the one hand, a plurality of rails in the form of elongated, substantially rod-shaped elements having a longitudinally extending rail-forming rib integral with the upper face of the rail element and a longitudinally extending cavity in the bottom of the rail and, on the other hand, a plurality of ties in the form of rectangular plate elements provided with upwardly extending coupling studs adapted to engage complementary coupling studs located in the cavity of the rails adjacent the ends thereof. In this track assembly, the rails are detachably mounted on the ties by interlocking a pair of the studs on the top face of the ties with the studs in the cavities in the rails and with the side and end walls adjacent the cavities at the ends of the rails.
The present invention constitutes an improvement of this prior art, and the main object of the invention is to provide improved coupling means between the rails and the ties, so as to obtain an increased coupling effect by providing a sort of snap-locking device.
A further object of the invention is to enable the assembly and disassembly of the components to be made easy and convenient for children playing with a building set comprising such rail and tie elements.
According to the invention, these improvements are achieved by modifying the rail and tie elements of prior art, so as to comprise the combination of the following features: adjacent either end of the rail and another aperture (rib aperture) extending transversely through the rib and communicating with the bottom aperture, spaced apart at a distance corresponding to the rail gauge of the track, each of said spring clips comprising a socket having a width substantially equal to the width of the cavity in the rails and a pair of upwardly extending and resiliently deformable tongues adapted to be received in the rib aperture, when the socket is pressed into the cavity of the rails for detachably interlocking the ties with the rails.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, there is provided a tie element which is characterized by the features that the upper ends of the resiliently deformable tongues are provided with outwardly extending projections adapted to engage the upper face of the rails, adjacent opposite edges of the bottom aperture, when the sockets of the spring clips are pressed into the cavity of the rails for detachably interlocking the ties with the rails.
Another embodiment of the tie element according to the invention, wherein the bottom face is provided with side and end walls defining a cavity comprising a plurality of coupling studs for detachably mounting the tie element on complementary studs on the top face of a supporting structure, is characterized in that at least one of the side walls is provided with a longitudinally extending recess adjacent the bottom edge thereof for enabling the tie to be mounted in an inclined position relatively to a horizontal top face of a tie supporting structure having upwardly extending coupling studs adapted to engage the coupling studs in the cavity of the tie.
The details of the invention will now be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein
FIG. 1 shows a plan view of a track assembly,
FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 show a rail element according to the invention viewed from above, from below and from one side, respectively,
FIGS. 5 and 6 show a tie element according to the invention viewed from above and from below, respectively,
FIG. 7 presents a section along the line VII--VII in FIG. 6,
FIG. 8 is an enlarged section of a rail element along the line VIII--VIII in FIG. 3 in a position above one side of a part of a corresponding tie element,
FIG. 9 show
REFERENCES:
patent: 1828536 (1931-10-01), Koerber
patent: 3220141 (1965-11-01), Goss
patent: 3464624 (1969-09-01), Christiansen
patent: 3581987 (1971-06-01), Tomaro
Bach Erik
Ryaa Jan
Interlego A.G.
Yu Mickey
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