US1930450A - Toy - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 10, 1933. Q A LANGQS 1,930,450

TOY

Filed Deo. 17, 1931 zz 39 X33;

W2 11 "L lml Il l. i m` Patented Oct. 10, 1933 UNITED STATES TOY tion of Illinois Application December 17, 1931 Serial No. 581,570

6 Claims.

lVIy invention relates to a toy and particularly to a spring-driven wheeled toy adapted to runon any smooth surface.

In many of the spring-driven toys on the marliet today, in almost every instance the spring is wound by a key which either is detachable, or if not, protrudes from the mechanismso as to be easily gripped and turned. If the liey is detachable it invariably becomes lost, and if not detachable it will turn with the shaft as the spring is unwound, and in its exposed position often catches on various objects, as the toy is propelled so as to halt its progress. Also, such a toy ordinarily will stop when the spring has become completely unwound.

An object of my invention is to provide a spring-driven toy in which the winding member is permanently secured to the shaft carrying the driving spring, said winding member so designed and mounted as to be readily gripped and moved, yet in a position so as not to catch on various objects and halt the toys progress when being propelled.

. A further object of my invention is to provide a spring-driven toy having a free or over-running friction clutch which will enable the toy to go forward under its own momentum after the spring has become completely unwound.

A further object is to provide a spring-driven toy sturdy in its construction, with a compact driving mechanism capable of moving the toy over considerable distances.

Other objects and advantages will appear as the description proceeds.

Referring now to the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a plan View of a chassis with the mechanism of my invention mounted thereon,

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same,

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view of the driving and clutch mechanism taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary View of the driving mechanism taken on line 4 4 of Fig. 3,

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view showing the position of the winding lever, and driving spring when completely wound,

Fig. 6 is a perspective of the friction pawl, and,

Fig. '.7 is a view of the pivot screw by which the friction pawl is secured to the main gear.

In the accompanying drawing I have illustrated simply a chassis l0 upon which any kind of a toy body may be mounted. This chassis is provided with wheels 1l and 12 carried by axle 13, and wheels lll and 15 secured to the driving axle 16.

I provide a driving mechanism for the toy mounted in franiev17, which in turn is secured to the chassis l0, in a position adjacent the driving axle 16. In my driving mechanism the motive power is supplied by a spring 18 carried by the shaft 19. This spring is secured at one end to the frame 17 by means of a bolt 2l, and the other end of spring is secured to a drum 23 by means of a bolt 22. The drum 23 is permanently `secured to the shaft 19 in any desired manner. A winding lever 24 fits over one end of shaft 19 protruding from frame i7, with said lever 24 rigidly secured to the shaft by means of pin 26 or in any other desired manner. Shaft 19 is carried by the frame 17 as shown particularly in Fig. 3.

The driving gear 27 is also carried by the shaft 19. The side walls of frame 17 are so spaced as to act as collars upon the shaft 19, as well as bearings and when frame 17 is completely assembled driving gear 27 will be held in a position on the shaft 19 so that one face is flush with the edge of the flange on theV open face of the drum 23 (Fig. 3). Within the drum and secured to the gear 27 I provide a free or overrunning friction clutch composed of friction pawls 28 and 29 (Fig. 4) pivotally connected to gear 27 by pivot screws 31 and 32 respectively. The friction pawls are held in spaced relation just off center on the face of the gear 27 by springs 33 and 34. These springs are secured to the gear 27 at one end and to a friction pawl at the other end; .The pivot screws 3l and 32 are tightened into threaded holes drilled into the gear 27, on a line representing the diameter of a circlerformed by the circumference of the gear. The springs 33 and 34 hold the friction pawls 28 and 29 in position so that the points of engagement 35 and 36 of the outer edges of these pawls are just oi center of this line.

I also provide a reduction gear 37 rigidly secured to shaft 39 along with pinion gear 38, said shaft 39 carried by frame 17. Gear 27 meshes with pinion gear 38, and reduction gear 37 meshes with driven gear 41 rigidly secured to driving axle 16.

In the operation of the toy of my invention the spring 18 must rst be wound. Inv winding the spring the toy may be held in the hand meanwhile grasping the driving wheels 14 and 15, or the toy may remain on the surface over which it will run. Ihe lever 24 is moved from its normal position as shown in Fig. l, to the position shown by the dotted line. When fully wound, the spring 18 and lever 2d will appear in the position shown in Fig. 5. The winding operation is accomplished with little effort regardless of the size of the spring, because of the ease with which the lever may be grasped, and the length of same which results in a considerable force being applied on the shaft 19 with minimum effort on the part of the person winding.

During the winding operation the gear 27 remains stationary, and consequently so also do the driving wheels. This is accomplished by the operation of the free or overrunning friction clutch e). As explained heretofore, the ends of the dr ing spring 18 are secured to the frame 17 and di um and the spring is carried by shaft 19. Drum 23 is rigidly secured to shaft 19. As the lever 2i is brought up back thereby winding the spring, drum 23 moves therewith. The inner surface of the flange on the open face of the drum, slides over the friction pawls 28 and 29. The force is applied on the pawls in a counterclookwise direction which moves the pawls so that the points 35 35 thereon are out of engagement with the drum. Springs 33 and 34 prevent pawls 2S and 29 from pivoting completely away from the flange of the drum. This gear Z7 to which the friction pawls arey pivotally secured remains stationary during the winding operation.

lis the spring unwinds, force will be applied to the drum in a clockwise direction (looking at drum in position of Fig. e) thereby driving it in such direction. The inner surface of the flange on the open face of drum 23 frictionally engages the pawl 2S on its outer edge at the point 35, and pawl 29 on its outer edge at the point 3e. The pawls are thereby pushed into a wedging engagement withthe inner surface of the flange by reason of the force applied by the drum after the original frictional engagement, and the design of the outer edge of the pawl.. As the drum moves in a clockwise direction in response to the action of the spring 18, the driving gear 27 will also move therewith by reason of the uni-directional clutoh action of the pawls. As motion is imparted to the gear 27 it in turn drives the reduction gear 3'? through the pinion gear 38 both of which are rigidly secured to shaft 39. The reduction gear 3'7 in turn meshes with and drives gear 4l thereby driving axle 16. This, of course, drives wheels 14- and 15 thereby moving the toy forward over the desired surface. Y The spring i8 drives the toy forward until it has reached its normal position. At that particular moment lever 24 is also in its normal positionthat shown in Fig. l-resting against the bed of the chassis 10, and is prevented from moving further. W hen the lever 24 reaches this point and stops, the drum 23 rigidly secured to the shaft 19 and being driven by spring 18 also stops. However, by this time the toy has gained considerable momentum by reason of the speed at which it was propelled by the spring and the relatively heavy weight of the toy, and by reason of the clutch action of the pawls the gear 27 continues to revolve moved by the forward motion of the wheels 14 and l5 transmitting their power through the gear. train described heretoforea Drum 23 having stopped is no longer imparting a pushing force to the'pawls, thereby forcing them into a wedging engagement with the inner surface of the flange, but the gear 27 moving in a clockwise direction now pulls the pawls by means of the springs 33 and 34, and the pawls simply slide on the inner surface of the flange of the drum, allowing the momentum of the toy to completely spend itself.

I have, therefore, a sturdy spring-driven toy, with a powerful compact driving mechanism. Although l have shown my mechanism as mounted vdrum on a chassis adopted to carry any type of body simulating a motor vehicle, I do not confine myself thereto, but recognize that it may be adopted to any kind of a driven toy.

What l claim is new and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States is:-

1. In a toy of the class described, a relatively heavy body, a drive wheel axle and drive gear iixedly secured thereto, a spring carrying shaft, a free-running driving gear on the spring shaft, gearing interposed between the driving gear and vdrive gear, a friction clutch interposed between the spring shaft and driving gear, and a spring having one end secured to the body and the other end secured to the clutch to permit winding the spring by rotation of the spring shaft without rotating the driving gear and whereby the spring shaft and driving gear are thereupon rotated in an unwinding driving direction responsive to the spring to drive the body forward.

2. In a toy of the class described, a relatively heavy body, a drive wheel axle, a spring carrying shaf a clutch drum secured to the spring shaft, a free running driving gear on the spring shaft, a Vspring having one end secured to the drum and the other end to the body, friction clutch'pawls interposed between the drum and gear arranged to permit winding the spring by rotation of the spring shaft in a winding direction without rotating the gear and to drive the spring shaft and gear in an unwinding driving direction by the spring responsive to unwinding of the spring, and gearing interposed between the driving gear and drive wheel axle to drive the body forward responsive to said driving movement of the gear.

3. In a toy of the class described, a relatively heavy body, spring driving means for said toy including a spring carrying shaft, an open faced Ysecured to said shaft, a driving spring having one end secured to the outside face of the drum and the other end to the body, a free 'running driving gear carried by the spring shaft immediately adjacent the open face of the drum, an overrunning friction clutch interposed between the spring 'shaft and driving gear, said clutch comprising friction pawls pivotally secured to the driving gear and springs having one end attached to the gear and the other to the pawl for holding the pawls in sliding engagement with the inner surface of the flanged circumferenceof the drum to permit winding of the driving spring without rotating the driving gear, and said pawls in position to frictionally engage said inner surface of the flanged circumference when the spring shaft is rotated in an unwinding driving direction by the spring whereby said driving gear is moved with the drum, means for moving forward said toy in response to rotation of the driving gear, and means for stopping rotation of spring shaft after unwinding of spring whereby said pawls act in sliding engagement on said inner surface offlange permitting forward coasting movement of the body under the Amomentum of said body.

4. In a toy of the class described, a relatively heavy body, a drive wheel axle and drive gear iixedly secured thereto, a spring carrying shaft carried by said body, a free running driving gear on the spring shaft, gearing interposed between the drivinggear and drive gear, a friction clutch interposed between the spring shaft and driving gear, and a driving spring having lone end secured to the clutch, a winding lever secured to said spring shaft whereby said shaft is moved in a winding direction winding therewith the driving spring, said clutch permitting the winding operation without rotation of driving gear, and causing rotation of driving gear with the spring shaft in an unwinding direction responsive to the spring to drive the body forward, and means for stopping said winding lever after unwinding of spring whereby said spring shaft is stopped and said clutch permitting forward coasting movement of the body under the momentum of same after unwinding of the spring.

5. In a spring motor having a housing therefor, a spring carrying shaft journalled in said housing, a free running driving gear on said spring shaft, a friction clutch interposed between the spring shaft and driving gear comprising an open faced drum secured to said shaft with the open face adjacent the free running gear, friction pawls movably carried by said gear and in sliding engagement with the inner surface of the flanged circumference of the drum, a driving spring having one end secured to the drum and the other end to the housing whereby the clutch permits Winding of the spring without rotation of the free running gear and drives the gear in an unwinding driving direction in response to the unwinding of the spring.

6. In a toy of the class described, a relatively heavy chassis, a drive wheel axle, a driving spring motor carried in a housing mounted on the chassis, said motor comprising a spring carrying shaft journalled in the housing, a free running gear on the spring shaft, a friction clutch interposed between said gear and the spring shaft, a driving spring having one end secured to the clutch and the other end to the housing, gearing between said free running gear and the drive wheel axle to move the toy, an elongated winding lever secured to the spring shaft outside the housing to wind the spring, said clutch permitting the winding operation by movement of the spring shaft Without rotation of the freerunning gear and driving said gear in an unwinding direction responsive to the unwinding lof the spring, said winding lever adapted to move through an arc to wind the spring and subsequently to return through said arc upon the complete unwinding of the spring, whereby the lever rests against the chassis to stop the movement of the spring shaft and said friction clutch permits a forward coasting movement of the toy under the momentum of said body after the spring is unwound.

OTTO A. LANGOS.

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