Amusement apparatus for drawing a distorted caricature by tracing an original photograph or the like

An amusement apparatus for use with a drawing medium and drawing implement to draw a distorted caricature of an original picture by tracing of the original picture;

• said apparatus comprising:
• a base;
• a platform, supported from the base for rotation about a platform-rotation axis, for carrying such an original picture;
• a drawing easel, supported from the base, for holding such drawing medium;
• a drawing-implement arm having:
• at one location along the arm, a motion-imparting stylus disposed generally adjacent to the platform for manual manipulation by a user to trace such original picture when in place on the platform.
• at another location along the arm, a drawing-implement holder disposed generally adjacent to the easel for holding such drawing implement for marking on such medium when such medium is in place on the easel, and
• at a third location along the arm, a longitudinal track;
• means, supported from the base, for defining an arm-pivot axis fixed relative to the base, and for engaging the track so that motions of the stylus are resolved into radial and rotary components of motion relative to the arm-pivot axis;
• said radial components of motion of the stylus being produced by relative sliding motion of the track with respect to the arm-pivot axis means, and in turn producing substantially equal radial components of motion of the drawing-implement holder;
• and
• said rotary components of motion of the stylus producing corresponding rotary components of motion of the drawing-implement holder, with an enlargement factor determined by the relative distances of the stylus and the drawing-implement holder from the arm-pivot axis;
• whereby said apparatus produces such a caricature of the original pictured that is distorted by being enlarged with respect to only the rotary components of tracing motion;
• a retainer, carried on the platform, for retaining such an original picture;
• and
• manually operable means for positioning the platform, and the retainer and original picture thereon, in any user-selected one of a multiplicity of angular orientations;
• whereby the user can select and set a desired particular angular orientation of the original picture relative to said radial components of motion of the stylus, and thereby select a desired relationship between directions in which enlargement occurs and features of the original picture;
• and wherein:
• the positioning means comprise manually releasable detent means for holding the platform against rotation;
• the platform is a generally circular disc having a downward-extending central shaft;
• the base has a generally circular recess to receive the platform, and a central hole within the recess to receive the shaft;
• the manually releasable detent means comprise first detent elements formed in the platform, and second detent elements formed along the recess for engaging the first detent elements;
• a bottom end of the shaft protrudes below the base and is there captured by a fastener;
• the fastener is positioned sufficiently far downward along the shaft to permit the platform and shaft to be raised out of the recess, to disengage the first detent elements from the second detent elements;
• and
• finger-grip orifices are formed in the platform disc;
• whereby the user can repetitively and selectively release the holding of the platform in a particular orientation and restore the holding of the platform in another particular orientation, by inserting fingers through the orifices to grip the platform disc, raising the disc to disengage the detent elements, rotating the disc to differently align the detent elements, and lowering the disc to reengage the detent elements.