US 5,857,891 AGranted

Mounting for paddle wheel of a water activity toy

AssigneeAquaplay AB

InventorLennart Dahlgren

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Abstract

A water activity toy has a channel for a stream of water which floats a vessel on the stream, and a paddle wheel that moves through the channel to generate the stream. The paddle wheel includes a plurality of blades on axle stubs which are removably mounted on mountings at opposite sides of the channel. A crank used to rotate the paddle wheel is connected with one axle stub which is liftable out of its mounting. Lifting the crank tilts the paddle wheel to provide clearance for a tall vessel floating by the paddle wheel mountings. The mountings have similar constructions and are oppositely facing. Each mounting includes a horizontal open ended bearing slot having a side slot with a constriction at the outboard end of the slot. Each axle stub includes parallel flattened surfaces which form a reduced dimension region that enables the axle stub to pass radially through the constriction, provided that radial protrusions on the flattened surfaces are out of alignment with the constriction. Otherwise this axle stub must be tilted and withdrawn through the inner open end of the bearing slot.

Claims14

Dependent claims

A water activity toy including:

a channel with opposed sides and through which a stream of water may move;
a rotatable paddle wheel including at least one blade extending across said channel, and with said paddle wheel rotating about an operational axis, said at least one blade dipping into said channel to generate the stream of water through said channel;
said paddle wheel also including axially spaced coaxial first and second axle stubs that extend in opposite directions from said axis;
first and second mountings on said opposite sides of said channel to support said paddle wheel positioned with said first and second axle stubs in rotational operating position on said axis;
each said mounting including an axially extending bearing passage, said axle stubs being disposed in said bearing passages when said axle stubs are in said rotational operating position;
each of said mountings including a side slot into the respective said bearing passage, said side slot having an open section and a constricted section outboard of said open section, said bearing passage having a bearing surface to rotationally support an axle stub, said first axle stub having a cross-section with circular sections connected by a narrowed section, said circular sections and said bearing surface being generally of equal radii;
said narrowed section of said first axle stub having a radially projecting rib that is positioned to interfere with said constricted section of said first mounting and thereby prevent said first axle stub from being inserted radially through said side slot into rotational operating position in said bearing passage of said first mounting.

4 more elements

A water activity toy comprising:

means defining a channel with opposed sides through which a stream of water may move;
first and second axle mountings on the opposite sides of the channel;
a rotatable paddle wheel, the wheel including at least one blade extending across the channel;
the paddle wheel including axially spaced apart first and second axle stubs that extend in opposite directions from the paddle wheel and define a rotational axis, the first and second axle stubs being respectively received in the first and second mountings on the opposite sides of the channel for rotation therein;
each of the first and second mountings including an axially extending bearing passage for receiving an axle stub for rotation therein, each of the mountings also having a side with a radial slot communicating into the respective bearing passage;
a respective constriction at each mounting at each bearing passage, narrowing the respective radial slot sufficiently to inhibit the passage thereby of the respective axle stub;
the first axle stub having a projecting rib at a location axially therealong such that when the first axle stub is installed in the respective bearing passage, the rib on the axle stub prevents movement of the first axle stub out of the first bearing passage through the respective slot, and when the first axle stub is moved axially through the bearing passage sufficiently, the rib is no longer blocked by the constriction against radial movement of the first axle stub out of the bearing passage through the slot.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.