Amusement devices: toys – Rolling or tumbling – Including intrinsic motive power means for propulsion
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-14
2001-03-06
Muir, D. Neal (Department: 3712)
Amusement devices: toys
Rolling or tumbling
Including intrinsic motive power means for propulsion
C446S457000, C446S464000, C185SDIG001, C185S04000C
Reexamination Certificate
active
06196894
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to spring motors and particularly to spring motors which are adaptable for use in toys such as toy vehicles.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,135,329 issued to Kennedy on Jan. 23, 1979 (“the '329 patent”) describes a spring motor that is relatively easily and inexpensively manufactured, and that efficiently delivers a high portion of the energy stored in its spring to the ultimate drive and which is easily and efficiently rewound by a child. The '329 patent eliminated the disadvantageous characteristics of the then prior art motors and comprised a device that has characteristics that various prior art constructions sought to achieve. Essentially the '329 patent disclosed a spring motor for use as an example in a miniature toy vehicle that can be conveniently and reasonably wound up by a reciprocating front and back movement of the vehicle, wherein the backward movement produced substantially more winding up than an unwinding of the spring. The '329 patent disclosed a spring motor that avoided complicated and sophisticated structures in order to produce rewinding of the spring on a backward movement of the car.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,986 issued to Darda et al. on Aug. 4, 1987 (“the '986 patent”) discloses a spring drive mechanism having a spiral spring positioned in a spring encasement as a power source. One end of the spring is connected to a spring encasement gear and the other end to a spring shaft gear. For winding up the spring, the spring encasement gear is in mesh with a first drive pinion and the spring shaft gear is in mesh with a second drive pinion. These drive pinions have a stress-free connection to a wind down/wind up shaft across unidirectional torque transmitters. Each of these unidirectional torque transmitters permits rotation in a direction opposite to the other. A reverse pinion has one pinion sprocket in mesh with the spring shaft gear. The other pinion sprocket is in mesh with the drive pinion in the wind up position. In this position, the spring drive mechanism is blocked in such a way that the tensioned driving spring cannot release. In order to maintain the reverse pinion in this position without any use of external force, an engaging lever is provided and is constructed in such a way that the blocking is released when the wind down/wind up shaft is turned counterclockwise.
The blocking feature of the '986 patent is a desirable feature, but the structure disclosed in said patent to accomplish the feature is relatively complicated and expensive to manufacture. There is a need for an improved spring motor that includes, inter alia, such a blocking feature without the complicated structures of the prior art. There is also a need to accomplish a faster rewind of the spring motor, again, without the complicated structures of the prior art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to spring motors, which are adaptable for use in toys such as toy vehicles and which satisfy the identified needs. The spring motor of the present invention is operable in a run mode and a rewind mode, and comprises first and second spring gears, a spring having a first end yieldably engaged to the first spring gear and its opposite end connected to the second spring gear, a rear wheel axle having first and second drive pinions thereon, wherein the first drive pinion is in mesh with the first spring gear, a rewind gear that is in mesh with the second drive pinion of the rear wheel axle, a fixed gear that is in mesh with the rewind gear, and a floating gear that is in mesh with the second spring gear. During the rewind mode of the spring motor the floating gear is in mesh with the fixed gear. However, during the run mode, the floating gear is disengaged from the fixed gear.
The spring motor is in rewind mode when the rear wheel axle is turning in a clockwise direction. This is accomplished, for example, when a toy vehicle incorporating the spring motor according to the present invention is pushed in the backward direction. During the rewind mode, the spring is tensioned from both of its ends by the two spring gears. This is accomplished by causing the floating gear to engage with the fixed gear thus causing the second spring gear and the inner end of the spring to wind in a clockwise direction. At the same time, the first spring gear causes the outer end of the spring to turn in the opposite or counterclockwise direction. Hence the rewind is accomplished at a faster rate than winding solely the outer end of the spring. The engagement of the floating gear with the fixed gear is maintained by a retainer affixed on the outside of the motor housing, the retainer comprising a detent. The engagement of the floating gear with the fixed gear is maintained by the detent until the rear wheel axle is caused to rotate in the counterclockwise direction, such as when the toy vehicle incorporating the spring motor of the present invention is pushed in the forward direction. The retainer is made of plastic.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the invention, for which reference should be made to the appended claims.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3932956 (1976-01-01), Young
patent: 4116084 (1978-09-01), Masuda
patent: 4135329 (1979-01-01), Kennedy
patent: 4332104 (1982-06-01), Ribas et al.
patent: 4478313 (1984-10-01), Wakase
patent: 4563164 (1986-01-01), Tao
patent: 4582171 (1986-04-01), Jezierski
patent: 4648487 (1987-03-01), Kimura
patent: 4683986 (1987-08-01), Darda et al.
patent: 4842567 (1989-06-01), Hiraide
patent: 5103936 (1992-04-01), Morikawa
patent: 5176223 (1993-01-01), Ito
patent: 5188198 (1993-02-01), Muramatsu et al.
patent: 5638922 (1997-06-01), Morikawa
Kennedy Melvin R.
Nagel Dietmar
Cohen & Pontani, Lieberman & Pavane
Muir D. Neal
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