Wheeled miniature toy vehicle with easily selectable plural modes of use

A plural-speed toy vehicle for use by a human user, both in generally conventional-toy operation at at least one speed on generally flat surfaces, and in climbing-toy operation at at least one reduced speed with greater torque on steeper and/or on more irregular surfaces;

• said vehicle being adapted for use with an electrical battery and comprising:
• a housing adapted to receive such battery, and having a front end and a rear end;
• a motor mounted to the housing and having a motor shaft, the motor and shaft being adapted for powering of the shaft by such battery when such battery is received by the housing;
• at least two wheel means rotatably mounted to each of said front and rear ends of the housing;
• means for establishing a mechanical advantage between the motor shaft and the wheel means, and for selecting among a plurality of values of the mechanical advantage;
• said plurality of values comprising:
• at least one value that provides a combination of relatively high speed and relatively low torque whereby the vehicle is operable as a generally conventional toy on generally flat surfaces, and
• at least one other value that provides a combination of relatively lower speed and relatively higher torque whereby the vehicle is operable as a climbing toy on surfaces that are steeper and/or more irregular;
• said establishing and selecting means comprising, rotatably mounted to each of said front and rear ends of the housing,
• a worm adapted to be powered by the motor shaft, and
• a worm gear adapted to engage and be driven by the worm, and to power the wheel means;
• whereby the motor drives the wheel means at both the front and rear ends of the housing;
• and
• said establishing and selecting means also comprising manually manipulable means for effectuating the said selecting among plural values;
• whereby such user by manipulating the effectuating means may operate the vehicle either as a generally conventional toy or as a climbing toy.

In a plural-speed electrical-battery-powered toy vehicle, a mechanism for establishing a mechanical advantage between a motor shaft and wheel means, and for selecting among plural values of the mechanical advantage, said mechanism comprising:

• a plurality of worms adapted and disposed to be powered from the motor shaft;
• a worm gear that is:
• adapted to engage and be driven by any of the worms,
• movably mounted for motion into any one of a plurality of positions in which it respectively engages the plurality of worms, and for motion between said positions, and
• adapted and disposed to power the wheel means;
• and
• means for shifting the worm gear between the plurality of positions, whereby such electrical battery may power such wheel means through selectable plural values of such mechanical advantage.

A plural-speed miniature wheeled toy vehicle for use with electrical battery means that comprise a dry-cell battery, and for both generally conventional-toy operation at at least one speed on a generally flat surface and climbing-toy operation at at least one reduced speed with greater torque on a steep and/or irregular surface;

• said vehicle being driven at front and rear, and comprising:
• a chassis;
• wheel means mounted to the chassis for rolling rotation about at least one laterally extending axis at the front of the chassis, and about at least one laterally extending axis at the rear of the chassis;
• means mounted to the chassis to releasably support such electrical battery means;
• an electric motor mounted to the chassis, and having a driveshaft;
• means on the chassis for electrically connecting such battery means, when supported in the supporting means, to the motor, so that such battery means power the motor driveshaft;
• a speed-reduction mechanism mounted to the chassis and connecting the motor driveshaft to said wheel means at both the front and the rear of the chassis, to transmit rotation from the driveshaft to the wheel means with a mechanical advantage;
• and
• manually manipulable means associated with the speed-reduction mechanism and disposed externally to the chassis for access by users, for use in manually selecting among a plurality of values of the mechanical advantage, including at least one value providing such generally conventional-toy operation for generally flat surfaces and at least one other value providing such climbing-toy operation with greater torque for steep and/or irregular surfaces.