Toy vehicle
AssigneeJames S. Lee
InventorsKwong-Wai Chow, Alfred T. Y. Lau, Ming-Ngar Chow, James S. W. Lee
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A toy vehicle has a gear box containing a clock spring which is wound by pushing the vehicle backward. A two part toggle-linkage system connects the gear box to the frame. When the clock spring is wound, the resulting spring bias urges the toggle-linkage system to one over center position which locks the gear box in order to preserve the energy stored in the wound spring. When the toggle-linkage system is pressed near its center, it moves over center to another position, which unlocks the gear box and releases the energy stored in the wound spring in order to propel the vehicle. When the vehicle is next moved backward, the toggle-linkage returns to the locked position which once again locks the gear box.
Claims9
A toy vehicle having toggle-linkage means comprising a gear box containing a spring and a trigger lever arm, said gear box having a first end pivotally attached onto said vehicle at a particular point, said trigger lever arm having one end pivotally attached to said vehicle at a different point which is remote from said particular point, a second end of said gear box engaging another end of said trigger lever arm, the relative lengths of said gear box and trigger lever arm being such that said toggle-linkage may move back and forth between two over center positions, said spring urging said toggle-linkage to one of said two over center positions when said spring is wound, means responsive to backward motion of said vehicle on a support surface while said toggle-linkage is in said one of said positions for storing energy in said spring, and control means for applying a force to said toggle-linkage for moving said linkage to the other of said two over center positions, said gear box being coupled to drive said vehicle in a forward direction responsive to said toggle-linkage in said other over center position, whereby said gear box winds said spring responsive to a rotation of gears in said gear box in one direction and drives said vehicle on a support surface responsive to rotation of the gears in said gear box in an opposite direction with an unwinding of said spring.
A toy wheeled vehicle comprising toggle-linkage means, spring means, transmission means with a reverse gear controlled by said toggle-linkage and said spring means;
- means responsive to turning at least one wheel on said vehicle when said vehicle is rolled backward on a supporting surface for transmitting energy from said wheel through said transmission and automatically operating said toggle-linkage for storing and locking energy in said spring, means responsive to a manipulation of said toggle-linkage for unlocking and releasing said energy stored in said spring, said release of said energy engaging said reverse gear, and means responsive to said release of said energy stored in said spring and to said engaging said reverse gear for turning at least said one wheel and propelling said vehicle in a forward direction on a supporting surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.