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US 5,342,048 AGranted
Wall mounted slot car track with moving accessories
AssigneeCalifornia R & D Center
InventorsLawrence T. Jones, Richard L. May
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A combination decorative kinetic poster and vertical vehicle toy racing game includes a substrate having colorful indicia for providing a decorative design. The substrate is designed to be vertically hung on a wall and is capable of supporting complementary kinetic decorative mobiles that extend from the substrate. A track member extends across the substrate to form a continuous path. Toy vehicles can be mounted for translating across the track member and operative interacting with the kinetic mobiles to cause a kinetic movement. The operator can be provided with hand controls for driving the toy vehicles to race across the track set.
Claims21
A combination decorative wall poster and vertical vehicle toy set, comprising:
- a wall having a vertical surface;
- a substrate having colorful indicia for providing decorative designs for a child's room on a front surface and having a substantially planar rear surface;
- means for hanging the substrate vertically on the wall as a decorative wall poster with the rear surface of the substrate being parallel to the vertical surface of the wall;
- a kinetic decorative mobile extending from the substrate and having at least one movable means that is aligned for movement in a plane, substantially parallel to the wall;
- at least one track member extending across the front surface of the substrate to form a continuous path, the continuous path extending beneath the movable means position, the track member includes two pairs of rails extending across the front the substrate adjacent the mobile, each pair of rails having an elongated opening with retention flanges positioned between the rails;
- a pair of toy vehicles, mounted for translating across the track member, the track member being arranged on the substrate to permit the toy vehicles to contact the mobile as it travels along the track member to cause a kinetic movement of the movable means, a first toy vehicle is mounted on one set of rails, and a second toy vehicle is mounted on the other set of rails, each toy vehicle including a non-articulated chassis and a first retainer member that interlocks with the retention elongated opening to maintain the toy vehicle operative in a vertical plane, wherein each toy vehicle can contact the mobile to cause a kinetic movement of the movable means;
- a second retainer member is mounted on the chassis displaced from the first retainer member and extending into the elongated opening;
- and
- means for driving the toy vehicles along the track member, including, on each toy vehicle, drive wheels and electrical motor with magnetic field pieces forming a magnetic attraction with its set of rails, the interlocking of the first retainer member and the retention flanges permit sufficient clearances to enable the drive wheels to drive the toy vehicle across the substrate without interference while prohibiting the magnetic field pieces from losing their magnetic attraction whereby adequate traction of the drive wheels is maintained with the substrate in both a static and translating mode of operation during a vertical alignment of the toy vehicle on the substrate.
6 more elements
An improved road racing set that is operable on a vertical wall or ceiling of a room, comprising:
- a track set forming a closed continuous path, the track set including means for mounting on a wall or ceiling;
- a toy vehicle including a body member with a front and a rear portion and a lower surface, and a set of wheels rotatably connected to the body member;
- an electrical motor mounted on the toy vehicle body member to drive the set of wheels, including a magnetic field piece positioned adjacent the lower surface of the body member;
- a magnetic traction member mounted between the magnetic field piece and the driven wheel set adjacent the lower surface of the body member;
- and
- a first retention member having a shaft extending from the front lower surface having a retention head at its furthest end, the retention head extending further from the lower surface than the driven wheel set;
- the track set including a slotted elongated opening extending along the continuous path with a pair of flanges defining the perimeter of the slotted opening, and a pair of metal rails capable of magnetically coupling with the magnetic field piece and the magnetic traction member surrounding the slotted elongated opening, the retention head being wider than the slotted opening and being capable of interfacing with the pair of flanges to prevent the toy vehicle from releasing from the track set, the metal rails being spaced apart a sufficient distance to be aligned with the magnetic field piece and the magnetic traction member, the strength of the combined magnetic field of the magnetic field piece and the magnetic traction members being sufficient to operatively adhere the toy vehicle to the track set, when in a vertical or upside down arrangement, by magnetically coupling with the metal rails, wherein the track set includes a curved track segment with a notched opening extending from the slotted elongated opening towards the inside of the curve and having a width sufficient to insert the retention member head.
4 more elements
An improved road racing set that is operable on a vertical wall or ceiling of a room, comprising:
- a track set forming a closed continuous path, the track set including means for mounting on a wall or ceiling;
- a toy vehicle including a body member with a front and a rear portion and a lower surface, and a set of wheels rotatably connected to the body member;
- an electrical motor mounted on the toy vehicle body member to drive the set of wheels, including a magnetic field piece positioned adjacent the lower surface of the body member;
- a magnetic traction member mounted between the magnetic field piece and the driven wheel set adjacent the lower surface of the body member;
- a kinetic decorative mobile extending across the track set and movable upon contact with the toy vehicle translating along the track set;
- and
- a first retention member having a shaft extending from the front lower surface having a retention head at its furthest end, the retention head extending further from the lower surface than the driven wheel set;
- the track set including a slotted elongated opening extending along the continuous path with a pair of flanges defining the perimeter of the slotted opening, and a pair of metal rails capable of magnetically coupling with the magnetic field piece and the magnetic traction member surrounding the slotted elongated opening, the retention head being wider than the slotted opening and being capable of interfacing with the pair of flanges to prevent the toy vehicle from releasing from the track set, the metal rails being spaced apart a sufficient distance to be aligned with the magnetic field piece and the magnetic traction member, the strength of the combined magnetic field of the magnetic field piece and the magnetic traction members being sufficient to operatively adhere the toy vehicle to the track set, when in a vertical or upside down arrangement, by magnetically coupling with the metal rails, wherein the kinetic decorative mobile is a movable member that is pivotally attached adjacent the track member and includes a combination speaker and stylus and means for activating the stylus to produce sound when the speaker is operatively positioned adjacent the movable member.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.