US 7,066,820 B1Granted

Illusion toy

OwnerWilliam L King, Mark Setteducati +2inventors

InventorsWilliam L King, Mark Setteducati, Robert Carignan, Terry Chan

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Abstract

An illusion toy has a housing in which a blade is rotated in one direction too rapidly to be seen through 270 degrees between rest positions on respective opposite sides of an article receiving through hole, providing the illusion that the blade has rotated in an opposite direction across the through hole, through the article. An actuating lever for a blade rotating overcenter mechanism has a loop aligned with the through hole so that a trigger end of the lever can be visibly moved between opposite sides of the through hole in the same direction as the apparent movement of the blade. A hollow housing handle forms a candy dispensing store and connects to a delivery chute extending across the housing obscuring a radially outer portion of the blade path providing an impression that rotation of the blade in the one direction is blocked by candy.

Claims26

Dependent claims

An illusion toy comprising a housing having a side wall defining a bounded area, said side wall having an elongate slot extending perimetrically, a windowed front cover coextensive with said bounded area, said cover being formed with an article receiving through hole, a partition spaced rearward of said front cover defining therewith and with the side wall, a front compartment and, a rear cover defining with said side wall and partition a mechanism compartment concealed behind said partition, said partition and said rear cover having respective through holes aligned with the though hole on said front cover, said partition having a shaft opening in it, offset from the through holes, and an illusion producing mechanism having a shaft extending perpendicularly to said partition through said shaft opening into the front compartment, said shaft carrying at a front end a blade extending parallel to said partition and extending radially from said shaft a distance greater than the distance between the shaft and said article receiving through hole, a pinion connected to a rear end of said shaft and axially aligned therewith, an arcuate segment rack engaging said pinion, an elongate actuating lever pivotally mounted between its longitudinal ends in the rear compartment and having an outer trigger forming end projecting through and beyond said sidewall slot out from the housing and an inner end with means for anchoring a spring, and overcenter means operatively connected to said lever and said segment rack for rapidly and suddenly displacing said rack in response to movement of said lever through a given arc past an overcentered position, whereby said pinion, shaft, and hence said blade is rotated too rapidly to be seen through at least 270 degrees from a rest position on one side of said article receiving through hole to a rest position to the other side thereof, said overcenter means comprising a quadrant yoke mounted on a pivot within said rear compartment, said quadrant yoke having arms between outer ends of which the segment rack extends and having means for anchoring a spring at a location spaced apart from the pivot, and a spring having one end mounted by the spring anchoring means of the actuating lever and its other end by the spring anchoring means on said quadrant yoke, the improvement residing in that:

the actuating lever arm is pivotally mounted at a location further away from the trigger forming end than the article receiving through hole and is formed with a loop at a location adjacent the through hole so that the actuating lever extends across the rear compartment past the through hole without crossing the through hole in all operative positions but appears to have crossed the article receiving through hole to a spectator viewing the trigger forming end during movement to opposite sides of the article receiving through hole to actuate the overcenter mechanism, enhancing an illusion that the blade has also moved across the article receiving though hole.

A combined illusion toy and candy dispenser comprising a housing having a side wall defining a bounded area, said side wall having an elongate slot extending perimetrically, a windowed front cover coextensive with said bounded area, said cover being formed with an article receiving through hole, a partition spaced rearward of said front cover defining therewith and with the side wall, a front compartment and, a rear cover defining with said side wall and partition a mechanism compartment concealed behind said partition, said partition and said rear cover having respective through holes aligned with the through hole on said front cover, said partition having a shaft opening in it, offset from the through holes, and an illusion producing mechanism concealed in the mechanism compartment having a shaft extending perpendicularly to said partition through said shaft opening into the front compartment, said shaft carrying at a front end a blade extending parallel to said partition and extending radially from said shaft a distance greater than the distance between the shaft and said article receiving through hole, an elongate actuating lever pivotally mounted in the rear compartment and having an outer, trigger forming end projecting through and beyond said sidewall slot out from the housing and an inner end operatively engaging the mechanism whereby manually moving the trigger causes said mechanism to rotate said shaft, and hence said blade rapidly through at least 270 degrees from a position on one side of said article receiving through hole, away from said through hole, to a position to the other side thereof, while providing an illusion that the blade has rotated in an opposite rotational direction across the article receiving though hole, the housing further comprising means for dispensing candy.

An illusion toy comprising a housing having a side wall defining a bounded area, said side wall having an elongate slot extending perimetrically, a windowed front cover coextensive with said bounded area, said cover being formed with an article receiving through hole, a partition spaced rearward of said front cover defining therewith and with the side wall, a front compartment and, a rear cover defining with said side wall and partition a mechanism compartment concealed behind said partition, said partition and said rear cover having respective through holes aligned with the through hole on said front cover, said partition having a shaft opening in it, offset from the through holes, and an illusion producing mechanism concealed in the mechanism compartment having a shaft extending perpendicularly to said partition through said shaft opening into the front compartment, said shaft carrying at a front end a blade extending parallel to said partition and extending radially from said shaft a distance greater than the distance between the shaft and said article receiving through hole, an elongate actuating lever pivotally mounted in the rear compartment and having an outer, trigger forming end projecting through and beyond said sidewall slot out from the housing and an inner end operatively engaging the mechanism, whereby manually moving the trigger causes said mechanism to rotate said shaft, and hence said blade too rapidly to be seen through at least 270 degrees from a rest position on one side of said article receiving through hole, away from said through hole, to a rest position to the other side thereof, while providing an illusion that the blade has rotated in an opposite rotational direction across the article receiving though hole;

wherein a portion of the housing side wall extending in a quadrant containing the article receiving through hole and between rest positions of the visible trigger portion of the actuating lever and the blade on opposite sides of the article receiving through hole is arcuate, but opposed portions of the housing side wall extending away from such quadrant are non arcuate and of reduced separation, providing an optical illusion to the casual spectator that there is insufficient clearance with the opposed portions of the housing side wall for the blade to rotate between rest positions, away from the article receiving through hole, in which the blade would not sweep across the article receiving through hole.

An illusion toy comprising a housing having a side wall defining a bounded area, said side wall having an elongate slot extending perimetrically, a windowed front cover coextensive with said bounded area, said cover being formed with an article receiving through hole, a partition spaced rearward of said front cover defining therewith and with the side wall, a front compartment and, a rear cover defining with said side wall and partition a mechanism compartment concealed behind said partition, said partition and said rear cover having respective through holes aligned with the through hole on said front cover, said partition having a shaft opening in it, offset from the through holes, and an illusion producing mechanism concealed in the mechanism compartment having a shaft extending perpendicularly to said partition through said shaft opening into the front compartment, said shaft carrying at a front end a blade extending parallel to said partition and extending radially from said shaft a distance greater than the distance between the shaft and said article receiving through hole, an elongate actuating lever pivotally mounted in the rear compartment and having an outer, trigger forming end projecting through and beyond said sidewall slot out from the housing and an inner end operatively engaging the mechanism, whereby manually moving the trigger causes said mechanism to rotate said shaft, and hence said blade too rapidly to be seen through at least 270 degrees from a rest position on one side of said article receiving through hole, away from said through hole, to a rest position to the other side thereof, while providing an illusion that the blade has rotated in an opposite rotational direction across the article receiving though hole;

wherein the windowed front cover is transparent over only a portion of the front compartment adjacent the arcuate portion of the side wall to reveal only the through hole and an article extending therethrough and rest positions of the blade on respective opposite sides of the through hole so that a portion of actual rotational blade movement remote from the through hole is hidden behind an opaque portion of the housing.

An illusion toy comprising a housing having a side wall defining a bounded area, said side wall having an elongate slot extending perimetrically, a windowed front cover coextensive with said bounded area, said cover being formed with an article receiving through hole, a partition spaced rearward of said front cover defining therewith and with the side wall, a front compartment and, a rear cover defining with said side wall and partition a mechanism compartment concealed behind said partition, said partition and said rear cover having respective through holes aligned with the through hole on said front cover, said partition having a shaft opening in it, offset from the through holes, and an illusion producing mechanism concealed in the mechanism compartment having a shaft extending perpendicularly to said partition through said shaft opening into the front compartment, said shaft carrying at a front end a blade extending parallel to said partition and extending radially from said shaft a distance greater than the distance between the shaft and said article receiving through hole, an elongate actuating lever pivotally mounted in the rear compartment and having an outer, trigger forming end projecting through and beyond said sidewall slot out from the housing and an inner end operatively engaging the mechanism, whereby manually moving the trigger causes said mechanism to rotate said shaft, and hence said blade too rapidly to be seen through at least 270 degrees from a rest position on one side of said article receiving through hole, away from said through hole, to a rest position to the other side thereof, while providing an illusion that the blade has rotated in an opposite rotational direction across the article receiving though hole;

wherein the partition has a front surface carrying a graphic behind the blade depicting a figure in a blade holding position, the figure having a center offset further away from the through hole than the shaft of rotation of the blade and the shaft being located intermediate longitudinal ends of the blade so as to provide a fleeting illusion that a pivotal center of the blade is located at the center of the figure further away from the through hole.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.