Back to results
US 4,319,425 AGranted
Gravity operated track
OwnerThomas M. Shineinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A toy that makes use of conventional garden hose or similar flexible tubing to form a rolling track for marbles. The toy includes a number of supports that function to hold the hoses in longitudinal contact at desired height and angular relationships to the supporting surface, thereby defining the course along which a marble will roll. Height may be adjusted by adding or removing lengths of upright supports. Angular "banking" of the track is accomplished by angular positioning clamp members that mount the track to the supports.
Claims6
A gravity operated toy track comprising:
- a spherical object such as a marble;
- a pair of elongated cylindrical tubular sections formed of flexible tubular wall material such as garden hose having prescribed outer diameters;
- a clamp means for releasably securing the cylindrical tubular sections together in abutting longitudinal relationship at spaced intervals along their lengths to form flexible tracks for receiving the spherical object thereon;
- clamp support means for holding the clamp means at selected elevations along the lengths of the tracks above a support surface to enable the spherical object to move along the tracks by the force of gravity in a vertically curved path;
- and
- said clamp means having angular adjusting means for enabling the abutting flexible tracks held thereby to be manually angularly oriented about an adjusting axis that is substantially parallel with respect to the longitudinal dimension of said tracks to bank the tracks and enable the spherical object to move in a desired horizontally curved path without jumping the tracks.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.