Toy clock using marbles

In a toy clock, the combination comprising:

• a housing having a viewable surface adapted for vertical positioning and a compartment formed within said housing behind said surface;
• means on said surface for indicating the time, said means having drive means coupled thereto for varying the time so-indicated;
• a transparent cover secured to said housing in spaced parallel relation with said viewable surface to form a front compartment;
• means coupled adjacent said surface for guiding marbles from the top to the bottom thereof under the force of gravity with said cover at least partially guiding said marbles, said guiding means including a trackway formed within said front compartment, said trackway including a plurality of discrete downwardly inclined track segments;
• at least one figure pivotally mounted to said surface adjacent the lower end of one of said track segments in a position for pivoting in response to impact thereagainst of a marble traversing said track segment;
• means communicating with said guiding means adjacent the bottom of said surface for conveying said marbles to the top of said surface in response to actuation of said drive means;
• means communicating with said conveyor means for retaining said marbles adjacent the top of said surface;
• means operable by said drive means for selecting from said retaining means a number of marbles corresponding to the hour of the time so-indicated;
• and
• means for releasing the so-selected number of marbles at the top of said surface into communication with said guiding means.

In a toy clock, the combination comprising:

• a housing having a viewable front surface adapted for vertical positioning, said surface having a clock face thereon;
• a transparent cover assembled to said housing in spaced parallel relation with said surface to form a front compartment, at least one of said surface and said cover forming track means within said compartment for conveying marbles from the top to the bottom thereof under the force of gravity;
• a rear cover spaced from the rear of said surface and secured to said housing for forming a rear compartment;
• an hour hand and a minute hand rotatably coupled to said surface through an aperture centrally disposed with respect to said clock face;
• a manually-rotatable handle secured to said surface through said transparent cover;
• means coupling said handle to said hands to vary the position thereof in proportional relation in response to rotation of said handle;
• digital readout means including a rotatable disc and a concentric annular disc co-planar with with said first disc, each of said disc and annular disc member having indicia thereon for displaying through a viewing window in said front surface, said digital readout means being operatively coupled to said handle for providing a digital readout indicative of the time indicated by said hands on said clock face;
• conveyor means secured to said housing within said rear compartment and having means communicating with the bottom of said front compartment said conveyor means being operatively coupled to said handle for conveying marbles from the bottom to the top of said rear compartment;
• marble storage means within said rear compartment communicating with said conveyor means for receiving marbles therefrom;
• marble selector means in operative relation with said marble storage means, said marble selector means being operative in response to rotation of said handle for pre-selecting a number of marbles corresponding to the position of said hour hand;
• and
• means communicating with said marble storage means and said front compartment for sequentially releasing the so-selected marbles for transversing said track means under the force of gravity.