Manipulative amusement device

In a manipulative amusement device including an upper plate and lower plate parallel to and in coaxial alignment with the upper plate and rotatable relative to said upper plate, each plate having a common center-point and including a plurality of openings on the outer periphery thereof alignable in vertical registry upon relative rotation, each plate further including a pair of spaced collar pieces disposed on opposite sides of of each of said plurality of openings which when said plate openings are in vertical registry mating pairs of said collar pieces define a plurality of coaxially disposed spaced pairs of collar members each having a pair of coaxially aligned recesses, a plurality of cylinder assemblies each formed about a respective longitudinal axis and comprised of an even number of cylinder segments numbering at least six, and each said cylinder assembly having opposing annular end projections for being rotatably received by each said pair of annular recesses in one of said pair of spaced coaxially aligned collar members and in coaxial alignment therewith for permitting rotation of each of said cylinder assemblies about said axis of one of said pairs of collar members the improvement in combination therewith, comprising

• a knob portion having an inner generally cylindrical recess projecting axially outwardly from said upper plate, said upper plate further having a central aperture disposed axially thereof and coaxially aligned within in said generally cylindrical knob portion,
• said lower plate having an axial post projecting outwardly from the inner face thereof for registering with and projecting through said upper plate central aperture and coaxially into said knob portion generally cylindrical recess,
• force exerting means cooperating with said lower plate projecting post and the interior of said upper plate knob portion generally cylindrical recess for securing said upper plate to said lower plate in rotational relationship thereto and biasing said upper plate into radial contact with said lower plate for forming said pairs of cylinder members, said force exerting means permitting limited axial separation of said upper and lower plates in response to outward forces exerted therebetween,
• each of said collar members having disposed within said annular recesses a plurality of circumferentially-spaced longitudinally disposed projecting lugs, and
• each of said cylinder assembly annular end projections having a plurality of circumferentially-spaced longitudinally disposed recesses registering with said plurality of collar member circumferentially-spaced projecting lugs,
• wherein when said circumferentially-spaced lugs and recesses are in registry said force exerting means biases said upper plate into contact with said lower plate and one half of said cylinder segments comprising each said cylinder assembly is axially aligned within each of said pairs of spaced collar pieces for permitting planar rotation of said upper and lower plates and said circumferential displacement of said one half of said cylinder segments from one plate opening to an adjacent plate opening,
• wherein when said circumferentially-spaced lugs and recesses are out of registry said lugs ride out of said recesses and contact the circumferential surface of said annular end projections to produce an outward force acting between said upper and lower plates against said force exerting means for permitting limited axial separation between said vertically registering collar pieces and said pair of plates for facilitating axial rotation of each said cylinder assembly.