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US 4,593,911 AGranted
Orbiting action device
AssigneeBruce R. Doyle
InventorRichard Cory
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A manual dexterity toy in which a ball is caused to orbit along elliptical trajectories within the toy for as long as possible without having the ball escape to the exterior of the toy.
Claims12
A manually-manipulatable action toy, comprising:
- (A) a pair of generally dome-shaped hollow members, each having a closed side, an open side and a curved wall between the closed and open sides thereof, said hollow members being arranged in a mirror symmetrical relationship with the open side of one member facing the open side of the other member, each curved wall having an interior ball-guiding surface at the interior of the toy, and an exterior surface at the exterior of the toy;
- (B) means for spacing the hollow members apart from each other and at a clearance between the open sides of the hollow members, said open sides freely communicating with each other and with the exterior of the toy through said clearance;
- and
- (C) a ball movable in repetitive endless trajectories between the hollow members in response to proper manual skillful manipulation of the toy, said ball traveling in each trajectory in rolling engagement along the interior ball-guiding surface of said one member with sufficient momentum to pass through the open side of said one member and to span said clearance in a free-flying manner in one direction, and thereupon traveling in rolling engagement along the interior ball-guiding surface of said other member with sufficient momentum to pass through the open side of said other member and to span said clearance in a free-flying manner in a countercurrent direction which is opposite to said one direction,
- said ball being dimensioned to be smaller than said clearance and to be freely insertable therethrough into the interior of the toy, said ball also being freely escapable through said clearance to the exterior of the toy in response to improper, unskillful manipulation thereof.
2 more elements
A manually-manipulatable action toy, comprising:
- (A) a pair of generally dome-shaped hollow semispherical members, each having a closed side, an open side and a curved wall between the closed and open sides thereof, said hollow members being arranged in a mirror symmetrical relationship with the open side of one member facing the open side of the other member, each curved wall having an interior concavelycurved ball-guiding surface at the interior of the toy, and an exterior surface at the exterior of the toy,
- each hollow member having an annular flange at the open side thereof and extending outwardly away from the interior of the toy, each flange being of sufficient dimension to be gripped by the fingertips of a user;
- (B) means for spacing the hollow members apart from each other and at a clearance between the open sides of the hollow members, said open sides freely communicating with each other and with the exterior of the toy through said clearance, said spacing means including a plurality of elongated support posts equiangularly spaced apart from each other in an annulus about an axis;
- and
- (C) a ball movable in repetitive endless oval trajectories between the hollow members in response to proper manual skillful manipulation of the toy, said ball traveling in each trajectory in rolling engagement along the interior ball-guiding surface of said one member with sufficient momentum to pass through the open side of said one member and to span said clearance in a free-flying manner in one direction, and thereupon traveling in rolling engagement along the interior ball-guiding surface of said other member with sufficient momentum to pass through the open side of said other member and to span said clearance in a free-flying manner in a countercurrent direction which is opposite to said one direction,
- said ball being dimensioned to be smaller than said clearance and to be freely insertable therethrough into the interior of the toy, said ball also being freely escapable through said clearance to the exterior of the toy in response to improper, unskillful manipulation thereof.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.